Nice mATX case thats compact and doesn't have terrible thermal performance.

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Hi all,

Planning out an upgrade at some point in the next 6 months. Currently have a Fractal Define R4 which is a nice enough case, but I think I'd like something smaller so I'm looking at mATX cases. Some of the ITX cases are very nice but its too much of a compromise for me.

Case needs to be good enough to keep a Sapphire Vega 56 Pulse happy, have enough room for my Fractal Kelvin S24 AIO, and enough room for a full size ATX power supply as I have an HX850i which I don't really want to replace.

I like the look of the Fractal Meshify C Mini, and I think as a size that's about as large as I'd like to go.

Any suggestions on other cases to look at? Under £100 ideally, but I'd stretch if it was worth it.
 
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Currently building my son his first gaming rig and considered iTX to keep the overall size down. SFF PSU, motherboards and smaller versions of decent GPUs carry a hefty premium - so we went in between and chose the ASRock B450M Steel Legend.

Case wise, I really like my Jonsbo/Cooltek W2 (fits Full-size ATX motherboards, GPU and a 280mm AIO cooler) so we looked for something similar in mATX format.

We found the W2's newer, smaller brother; the C3 Plus.
Fits an M-ATX motherboard, but room for reasonably sized GPU, PSU and a decent cooler or even a 240mm radiator.
Has a PSU shroud, tempered glass side panel and plenty of room to hide cables.

The best part - it was £60 delivered (for Black version the silver is a couple of quid more) .

(I've yet to install everything in The Boy's rig, but first impressions are that it's just a smaller, slimmer version of the W2 (albeit without the separate PSU/HDD zone).

Have a look here:
http://www.jonsbo.eu/en/micro-atx/c3/139/c3-plus-silver

And a video review here:
https://youtu.be/68e9MyizrEM
 
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Not sure if there's room for your AIO and GPU at the same time, so you'd need to check the dimensions, but here's another micro-ATX case for your consideration:
Silverstone SST-PS15B-RGB Micro ATX
CA44JSV_218830_800x800.jpg
 
Soldato
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17 Apr 2009
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Inwin 301c.

Yes. I know the case's reputation. But that's largely come from reviewers being silly. Bit-Tech, for example, insists on testing cases in stock configuration. For the 301, that meant no fans. And Hardware Canucks didn't read the manual; Dmitri used the front fan mounts as intakes when they're meant to be exhausts. The bottom fan mounts (which he didn't populate) are the case's main intake.

Here's my experience. My system is a work in progress; it's currently a bit of a bodge job using cheap and often suboptimal parts. I've got a Ryzen 5 2600 in there, under an NH-U12S which only has a slim 92mm fan mounted (due to RAM clearance issues). The GPU is a reference design 5700XT. The case fans aren't anything special; a set of UpHere ARGB fans that cost ~£40 for 6 (inc a controller).

My idle temps are 35°C for both CPU and GPU. I've just run the system through the FH4 benchmark three times (3440x1440 Ultra). CPU temps peaked at 52°C, while GPU temps hit 70°C with a nice core clock boost to 2020MHz.

30 minutes on The Outer Worlds hit the GPU harder. CPU temps stayed pretty much the same, but GPU temps rose to 79°C peak, with a 2000MHz core clock (so still a decent boost).

Sure, these temperatures aren't anything special. But neither is the cooling hardware that's installed in this case. I've got a CPU tower cooler that doesn't fit properly, the crappy 5700XT reference cooler, and case fans that really aren't up to much compared to the best fans from Noctua or Be Quiet!

Personally, I think it's a decent case. It's a good bit smaller than the likes of the Meshify, looks nice, and offers reasonable cooling performance. It's a shame it gets overlooked because professional reviewers failed to test it properly.
 
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Thanks for the suggestions so far. I'd never considered Inwin, I don't know too much about them. I'll find some videos on the 301C, I'm not too keen on the bright coloured branding on the front but perhaps in a more "real" situation its not so in your face. Spec-wise it does look pretty good!

With the testing, its tricky for reviewers I think. with the 301 example lets say they put fans in for the review, and put in some real nice Noctua fans. Is that fair to the other cases that have basic included fans? Should the testers put those nice Noctua's in every case, replacing what it came with? Stock out of the box configuration is the "fairest" in most ways, even if it penalises some cases.
 
Soldato
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The branding is backlit. On the 301C you can pick any colour you want (or, I believe, turn it off). Aside from that, and a USB-C on the front, it's the same case as the older 301 (which is the case I've got).

Personally, I'd prefer to see cases reviewed in their optimal set-up. That's how pretty much every other component is tested; with a big cooling solutions, a high-end motherboard, and an open test bench. It's odd that cases are an exception.
 
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I have the Fractal Mini C and absolutely love it! Just enough room for 280mm Rad up front, 240mm thin rad/fans up top and a 120mm exhaust. It also features some of the best cable and drive management of any case I've worked on. I'd highly recommend.
 
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