Mini Gamer ITX PC Case. This very small PC case can accommodate a full size ATX power supply, a 3.5" HDD, a 5.25" Optical drive, an ITX motherboard and a dual slot Graphics card making it ideal for a mini gaming PC

Having tried several mini ITX cases and found them wanting over the years I went for this one on the basis of the other reviews here. I needed a case that would take a full size ATX power supply as I wanted to use, a GTX480 graphics card and a I5-2500K CPU. Well all I can say is it might not be the prettiest case but layout wise it works very well for such a small case. There are no case fans supplied and the case can take one rear mounted 8cm one only. With this configuration I'd say the I5-2500K at stock speeds with stock cooling fan is pretty much as powerful as it is wise to go heat wise. The GTX480 graphics card is right against the edge of the case where the air intake holes mean it can suck cool air straight in from outside the case and exhaust it out the back. It really heats up the side of the case but temperature wise the card reports the same as numbers as in a much more spacious case I fitted it with one hard drive and an SSD to boot from. The hard drive bay is at the top of the case directly above the motherboard and doesn't get much airflow over the drive so it can run a bit hotter than in a conventional case (probably best to use "greener" drives if you can here). Overall not a thing of beauty (tempted to paint black over that silver bit on the front) but much better value than any other ITX case I've come across.

As the description states, this is a very compact case and looks good. If you do intend using this case to build an ITX based gaming beast, then don't expect everything to just slot in easy! I am using this case to build a gamer with a Gigabyte ITX mainboard, I7 chip, 560Ti graphics card and 750 watt corsair ATX power supply. It will (eventually) all fit, but only after some modifications. The case does accept a full sized ATX power supply, but mine fouled the back of the graphics card. However, the mounting plate for the power supply is attached with screws so it's quite easy to drill some more holes and move it over an inch or so to clear the graphics card. this presents another problem though - you can't then use the supplied power cord that runs internally from the rear euro socket to the power supply euro socket, so modding of the power supply may (or in my case, will) be required. There are no holes in the case to access the cpu cooler mounting screws, so I simply drilled some. If you're thinking of overclocking your rig, bear in mind the cpu cooler has to be quite small to fit, and there's only space for one 80mm fan at the rear. So, in summary, if you're looking to build a gaming beastie and don't mind modding the case to suit your needs, then this may make an excellent choice if size matters. If you are expecting everything to fit easily, without mods, then a larger case might be a better bet. For my requirements, this case is ideal and I'm very happy with it. UPDATE: The system is now built and yes, everything did (eventually) fit. However, I can't really recommend this as an ideal small gamers case as there's simply not enough airflow through the case to provide sufficient cooling. The GPU is fine as it's fans are right beside the side vents. The CPU (i7 95W TDP with a stock cooler) running COD Black Ops II at max everything runs at around 90-95deg. Unfortunately, I'm going to have to do some more serious mods to try and get some more airflow through the case.

Ok, it's a small case as described, and yes it does state that it will take a standard ATX power supply, but.... this unit comes with an internal extender to take power from the supply at the front to a bracket-plug at the rear. More on this below and the problem it causes. First, I'll worry about cooling. There are no fans that come with this, I suggest buying a 25mm extractor fan for the back, and possibly a front bay cooler to draw air in, across, and out the back (you'd have to remove the front drive door though). Despite that though I'm really not comfortable with the average running temperatures. Second thing is, although it does say ATX power supported, I had trouble here. You have two options to install which is basically determined by where your ATX power-in socket is and where the 24/4/SATA power cables actually come out. This is IMPORTANT! With the power supply in one way the 24pin/4/SATA cables will get in the way of your large GFX card because they will be around the mid section of the case. With the power supply flipped over the plug going into the supply ends up jammed (uncomfortably) against the front inside and the internal supplied power lead extender (to connect the IEC power lead to the back of the unit) doesn't reach the back anymore meaning you have to disconnect this and 'feed' your kettle lead into the unit and then connect it to this extender. Also, if you have a lot of 24pin/4/SATA cables coming out of that power supply, there's literally no where to 'store' the ones not necessary for your rig. There's simply no space! To sum up, power supply one way and you can't fit in a larger (GTX 570) GFX card, power supply in the other way and you have a jammed up cable with your main power cable just dangling through the back of the case to reach the internal extender. Ideally, what is required is either an ITX power unit (and I can't find one above 500W with good reviews), or an ATX unit with power in and 24pin/SATA out cables at opposite diagonals (and I can't find one of those period). If you worry about machine sound, buy some screw dampening rubber washers, but make sure they're thin, very very thin otherwise your drive will make noise, fans, and power vibrations. Everything's a very tight fit, which I was expecting, but the above issues mean I'm concerned about the overall design internally and the thought (or lack of) that went into it. I check temperatures every hour or so, and they're not great. I'm really concerned with the fact I have a power cord jammed up against the front inside. As a result I've ordered another, regular sized, case. I don't like the idea of £900+ of components possibly in a slow cooking situation or the possibly that it's simply an accident waiting to happen.