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Monaco, Monaco
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651 Review
30 Karma

Review on IN WIN 301: High-Performance White Tempered Glass Micro-ATX Mini-ITX Tower for Gaming Enthusiasts by Christopher Lott

Revainrating 4 out of 5

Nice case with some layout issues

Taken together, this is an impressively good looking case. However, I have a few issues that made the build a bit harder than it needs to be. Here are a few thoughts on the case as I assembled it: - During installation, the hard drive bay will bump into long ATX power supplies. In fact, I had to remove the cage to insert the EVGA Supernova G2. This is because one of the thumbscrew attachment points on the back is connected to the edges of the hard drive bay. For this reason, and the other cabling issues below, I definitely recommend using a modular power supply. I'm ambivalent about using a plastic cover to hide motherboard cables. There are cutouts in the bottom half of the jacket that you must punch through, and this area narrows significantly towards the bottom half where many of your cables will pass. Not only is punching the cutouts inconvenient (as it's a constant movement), but the design of the shroud makes it unnecessarily difficult to move cables - I'd prefer rubber grommets, or at least a plastic shroud with a more convenient design - because that lets down the air from the fan in, there is no room for cables. Unfortunately, this is an area where USB ports, SATA cables, front panel connectors, etc. usually pass by the bottom fans. Or at least a little more space under the motherboard. anything to hide those cables! There is space for two SSDs under the HDD slot, but installing them without removing the slot is really annoying. I would recommend using 90 degree SATA connectors for SSDs as the straight cables actually got in the way of the side of the case. Up to 158 mm high coolers can be installed in the housing. From this spec sheet it's clear you can't use the Cooler Master 212 series coolers, but I can confirm that they do indeed fit together perfectly and have *just* enough room to install a tempered glass panel without interference. .-I should also mention that reinstalling the cage is quite a hassle due to the overall complexity of the area and the fact that it takes I believe 8 screws to attach the cage. It's too hard to build if you first remove the hard drive bay (if you have a big PSU) and take care of the wiring. Your efforts will be rewarded with a sleek case that's likely to make even the worst gear shine. In any case, for me one of the most beautiful cases on the market.

Pros
  • A few competitors
Cons
  • A number of factors