Here is my review, I haven't really gone into technical details regarding temperatures etc, but it's more my observations when putting it together and what I feel could be improved.
First of all, I’d like to say how grateful I am to BitFenix, Umberto and Connor for the opportunity to test and review the Enso Mesh case.
Although I have received the case, fans and LED strips courtesy of the guys mentioned above, I feel it is only fair to review this as honestly as I can. It not only is good for the consumer but also gives BitFenix real feedback which will hopefully help them design even better cases in the future.
From first opening the box, I did feel that the materials weren’t as premium as I thought it would be. Coming from a Fractal Design R4, the Enso Mesh felt a little less sturdy than what I am directly comparing it to.
The case itself is relatively light and the glass panel is large which gives you a nice view of the internals, however.
The thumbscrews on the back do feel a little cheap, the thumb grip is made of plastic, a fully metal screw would be nicer.
Installation is pretty straightforward, in my case, I did have to remove the rear fan first to attach the motherboard securely.
My motherboard is the Gigabyte Z390 Gaming X, and it does fit snugly inside the case, however, the case is missing one standoff screw option, so when I’m pulling out the motherboard cable, it does start to flex, which wouldn’t be the case if there was another standoff to screw in securely.
I would have liked it if there was another cable grommet further up the case to allow me to feed the motherboard and USB 3 cable horizontally as they droop down, there are cutouts and vents in that section where it could be, I’m not sure what these are for, but I would have preferred for there to be one more section to mount an SSD on the rear side instead of this.
The case barely fits my Noctua NH-D15, as the front fan does touch the glass. I have had to make a small adjustment to two of the screws that hold the glass in place to allow to screw in securely.
Going to the other side of the motherboard tray and cable management, I’ll be honest I’m not the best system builder, but I do like things to be neat, I just felt like everything was a little cramped for me.
The PSU area is a little too small, my PSU fits, but I did have to angle my cables in such a way which makes me a little uncomfortable.
The HDD trays are made of plastic and feel a little flimsy, again I would have preferred for these to be made out of metal with the option to screw the hard drives in before sliding them into the cage.
There are plenty of little mounting points to zip tie the cables securely and make it neat, but I think an extra 1-2 cm in width would have been nice, as trying to close the case can be hard, as it is extremely tight indeed.
There is a large section towards the front fans that I feel could have been covered up more, as when you peer inside the case, you can look through this opening, and particularly with the RGB fans, it's hard to organise all the cables neatly, so it does look a little messy. I do understand that this space is so you can fit rad in the front.
Speaking of the RGB fans, I absolutely love them! My motherboard is not aura sync compatible, but there are plenty of presets for you to get a colour that you like. I know the Noctua colour scheme isn't the most appreciated, but the light purple hue gives them a certain look which I find enhances the system and is my preferred colour scheme.
Changing the colours is easy, there's an easy to access button on the top of the case that lets you cycle through the presets, but as it is located directly next to the power button, I would advise you to go into your power settings and change what the power button does, as I have turned off my computer by accident a couple of times.
The rear of the case is pretty standard, there is a little latch system for the rear ports for the PCI express cards, again these use the cheap feeling thumbscrews.
In terms of noise, it is a lot louder than my old case, but this does benefit temperatures, as idle and max temps have dropped when compared to the Fractal Design R4. I will state that the three front fans are running at full speed, I cannot control the fan speed through bios, unfortunately, so once I figure this out, I will update my review in terms of noise.
EDIT: I am now able to control the fans speed for all the fans and the noise has been reduced significantly. It is only slightly louder than my old case, which was positioned on the floor, the PC is now on my desk, so it is more audible. Fans have been set to silent.
In the beginning, from my initial impressions, I genuinely thought I would just have the case for a week or so to take pictures and video for the review purpose and put everything back in my original case.
But once I got everything up and running, I can definitely say I'm extremely happy that I've made the switch and I won't be going back.
For my needs, it's not quite there, I have four 3.5” drives, so I've had to purchase a couple of 2.5” drives to make up for this, but I feel it's worth the small investment. I also require a DVD/Blu-Ray burner on occasion, so I'll have to look for an adaptor of some sorts to help me when required. Hot swapping the drives isn't as easy as I'd like, as I've mentioned before, cable management is tough in such a cramped space.
I've now moved my case from the floor to my desk, as visually, it is really something to look at and be proud of. I love the way it looks, especially in white, it looks modern, clean and really draws attention to itself.
Would I recommend this case, absolutely. For the price, it's a great deal, looks incredible and well built. A few minor tweaks here and there would make it almost perfect. You just have to be wary of what components can fit inside the case.
System specs
Intel 9700k
Noctua NH-D15
EVGA GTX 980TI
16gb Corsair Vengeance DDR4
Gigabyte Z390 Gaming X
EVGA Supernova G2 650W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply
I will update my review with photos tomorrow.
