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El Salvador, San Salvador
1 Level
710 Review
70 Karma

Review on πŸ–₯️ Zalman S3 ATX Mid Tower PC Case: Smoky Acrylic Side Panel, Three 120mm Fans, Patterned Mesh Design, Black by Joshua Jemison

Revainrating 3 out of 5

This is a really good budget case that does the job. I have a Corsair RMX 850W PSU.

This is a good case and although it is quite small it offers enough space. The case is fairly thin metal which makes it feel cheap, but does it really matter if it just sits somewhere? In fact, it might even be good, less metal = less weight. And the plastic pane is also light as a feather. The details on the inside will weigh it down nicely. The case has multiple USB ports on the top and 3 fans which is a nice touch. The fan on the back uses this tiny 3 pin cable that connects to the motherboard, the two front fans use this large Molex pin, luckily my PSU had a cable for it. So the only fan controlled by the motherboard is the rear fan. However, they are fairly quiet fans so running at full speed is not a problem. There is a hard drive area and a couple of plastic rails that allow you to fit them into the case, which is very handy for large storage. Now let's talk about the problem that people have with this case: the power supply section. There is one complaint here about the space for the PSU, and I'll admit it's tight, but with patience you can get a fairly large PSU. Actually the problem is that the cables are thick, this Corsair rmx 850 w has some of the thickest cables I've seen. These are massive thick braided cables and EVEN after some troubleshooting I hooked them all up without cutting the case or needing anything else. The trick is to connect all the cables to the power supply first if you are using a modular system and connect the power supply first. Huge mainboard that you might want to install first, but otherwise only afterwards, because otherwise the power supply cannot be connected, the cables are in the way and you have to tilt it somehow. Then once it's in you I can gently thread all the other cables. I know you might think I cheated on modular because I only used the ones I needed. NOT CORRECT. I installed a few extras to avoid future problems, even two extra PCIe power cables straight out of the box for an RTX 30 series upgrade coming soon. I used almost all the cables that came with it, believe me you can connect anything. This is a good case and I like its aesthetics. This ribbed PS2 look is the look I like and my laptop is a G5 with the same look. And in this case there's a mesh behind the fins, so you get really good airflow. There is a magnetic filter on the top of the case and a retractable filter for the power supply underneath the case. Unfortunately, not all vents are covered with removable mesh. But this is a budget case, so I agree. Overall, I can really recommend this remedy!

Pros
  • Cool product
Cons
  • Easy maintenance