Interior layout
The latest hardware from the Swedish company is a case for Mini-ITX boards. However, thanks to the sensible interior layout, it is also possible to mount larger components. Their cooling is taken care of by the ubiquitous perforation of the outer plates and two 140 mm fans. With or without them? You’ll have to decide what you want to cool more effectively. We measured four different scenarios in our tests.
Interior layout
Looking at the inside of the case, it is clear that the case has to be disassembled first in order to mount components.
The perforated top panel differs from the bottom one only by the holes for the stand. I even happened to mix them up and put them on the wrong way. Underneath is a frame with positions for three 80mm fans. These will fit here but only if you have a graphics card with a maximum width of 125 mm including the power supply cable. Without the latter, it can have a width of 137 mm. The frame also serves as a holder for fans or liquid cooler radiators placed on the side. To remove it, you have to unscrew 12 screws.
There are two powerful fans from the Aspect series in 140 mm format. They even used the PWM versions. If you’d like to swap them, you have the room to do so. The case is also ready for two 120 mm fans, or a liquid cooler radiator of up to 280 mm. But be aware that if you use a larger one than 120 mm, there will be no space left for the graphics card. And even with the smallest radiator you will be limited in your choice of graphics cards, only up to 175 mm in length.
An adapter for the PCI Express connector is required to fit the graphics card in such a tight case. This is built into the rail, shaped to right angle (towards the top, to the expansion card outputs). This adapter is of the older but still relevant PCIe 4.0 interface. The rail on which it is placed also reinforces the structure of the case in its centre via three screws.
The bottom part belongs to the Mini-ITX motherboard and the SFX or SFX-L power supply. There is a special mounting frame for the power supply, under which the cables from the front I/O panel are routed. There is also a plus to the design for better organization of positions for cable management. There are up to ten of these available. At the back of the case, there is an extension cable screwed in for the power supply, as it is located all the way at the front. You can remove the power input from the case if you feel you’re better off fitting your hardware without it.
Inside the front part, two 2.5″ storage compartments can be placed using screws and rubber washers, which are also included. If that’s not enough, there are also two more positions on the left side of the case. You don’t need tools to access them, thanks to pins. Inserting the storage was easy and it held firmly, but was harder to take out. Every now and then I got stuck to the point that I was afraid of damaging the pins. I would use the sideways position primarily so you don’t clog the exhaust in the front. I’ll take up to four 2.5″ storage positions in such a small case as a nice bonus.
From the back you have three PCI Express expansion card slots if you would like to use a thicker card. Its maximum height can be 82 mm without the side fans mounted.
The thickness of the sheets on the structure varies from 0.9 to 0.95 mm, depending on the measuring point. But it’s more oftencloser to 0.9 mm.
- Contents
- Exterior
- Interior layout
- Mounting
- Test methodology
- CPU and GPU cooling tests
- Motherboard cooling tests
- SSD cooling tests
- Conclusion
I wonder how the thermals of an exhaust only setup will look like. So three 80mm exhaust fans, with the two 140mm fans removed. That would be a negative pressure setup which I think will provide the best balance of CPU and GPU thermals, though it will severely limit GPU options.