RUclips broke the first upload and wouldn't let it go public. Thanks, RUclips. This one seems to be working. Find the article over here: www.gamersnexus.net/hwreviews/3376-raijintek-ophion-mini-itx-case-review Or our In Win A1 review over here: ruclips.net/video/yRiCON5PAY8/видео.html
If their recommended configuration was one intake and two exhaust fans then I'm really disappointed that you didn't even test that configuration. I'm not saying they should get a free pass, as obviously adding 3 fans adds to the price of the case and it wasn't that cheap to start with. They certainly can be criticized based on price...but criticizing them based on thermal performance when you're ignoring their recommended configuration seems a bit weird to me. Did anyone seriously think this thing would do OK without any fans? Obviously you're supposed to add fans.
Agreed. I found it strange that Steve was testing thermal performance without actually testing the optimal configuration for this case. If I were to buy this case, I would be using fans with it. Optimum Tech did a review with this case, so make sure to check out their review as well.
Their recommended configuration is no fans, as that's how they ship it. He tested that and it was a failure. A lot of case manufacturers show pictures on their website with more fans than it ships with and nobody complained before. No reason to complain now.
@@mjc0961 They ship it without a motherboard or power supply too. By your logic the recommended configuration must be to not build a PC in it. Fans are not part of a case. They are a separate component that are often bundled with cases but they certainly don't have to be. Plenty of people replace the bundled fans anyway, whether for better thermals, noise, or just for RGB nonsense. If a case manufacturer decides to save you some money by not including fans that you're just going to replace anyway (I mean hypothetically...this particular case is not a good example because it's expensive even without fans) then under this testing methodology they would be severely criticized for it even if it was a fantastic case with good airflow design. And that's what I have a problem with.
MJC, are you seriously that stupid in RL or only in the internet? You can debate if it is good or bad that they ship it without a fan. I replace always the fans and have more trash, because normally the included fans are shit. So for me it is better when they ship it without fans. But when they dont ship it with fans means not this is their recommendation.
I dont think he even tests any case as it shoud.Its obvious that when you build a pc you will by fans..Also i bet he has tons of fans there so its just lazy review.Same hapened with his nzxt s340 elite review.It was stupid.
OHHH, mini itx, YAY! I have the raijintek metis plus and it's really nice. Love these reviews. EDIT: after watching the video, I have to say I was disappointed with the review. I understand the tests are meant to be standardized in order to have all the cases on a level playing field. However, instead of spending the time on explaining over and over again how it does not ship with a fan, it could have instead have been used to show results fitted with a 240mm rad on the cpu. This reason, I believe, is the the true reason why it doesn't ship with a fan, this case is meant for watercooling which come with their own fans. Not all of ITX cases support even 120mm rads, yet this case can fit the 240mm and it wasn't even mentioned. To give an analogy from cpu testing, it would be as if the K models were not overclocked for any benchmark since nonK models are not able to be overclocked and to keep the test equal, overclocking was not tested nor even mentioned. This would completely miss the point of showcasing the true performance capable with the K models and also the reason why people even buy them in the first place. This case is one out of only two or three cases in this form factor that can support a 240mm rad and yet it was never even mentioned.
I'm more interested in what this case's potential is. I wish more cases didn't include fans instead of trying to read my mind. If it is clear it wasn't designed to be operated without fans, what is the purpose of running tests without them? Chassis manufacturer's lesson: if you ship without fans, someone will judge it as fanless. This channel has some brilliant people, I don't understand why the potential value of shipping without fans is lost here.
Because he has to be a dick. Period. Only someone being a dick would run a test on a system without a fan. I agree. Smart people here, but they harp on some of the dumbest shit sometimes.
I think some of that Principled Technologies testing methodology has infected Gamers Nexus. Testing this case with NO FANS, seriously?? What PC builder in their right mind would ever do that? That's almost as bad as not using a cooler on a CPU that doesn't come with one! What a waste of your time, especially in lieu of testing x2 fans which pretty much anyone interested in ITX builds is going to want to know the results of. You've completely failed to cater to the audience for this case unfortunately. I am much disappoint. :(
I don't think you should be bashing this case for high temps without fans. There is clearly space for additional fans, and people building mITX generally know what they are doing and what to expect. You could buy two decent second-hand 120mm fans for $10-12 (total) and be happy. While already paying a premium for the mITX motherboard and possibly an SFX PSU, the extra 10 bucks are insignificant. Thermals with two exhaust fans on the top, please?
yeah would like to see a test with the 3 fans they list on the webpage, noone sane would run any case without fans because "they were not included" uhm motherboard wasn't included either, lets see how well it runs without... oooh it is very cool indeed!
@@LiLBitsDK the concept is to keep constants and variables very rigid. The variables are the things that come out of the boxes, while the constants are the parts in the build. Adding or changing fans changes the tests from 1:1 comparison within the compile tests, not every m-itx case can use three fans of varying sizes, some may only fit one 120 and one 80 thus putting three 120s in this case completely negates it's comparison to other mitx cases. Testing the shipped configuration means the product is tested, not how does the product perform when we alter the configuration in X or Y way. For 125 dollars the thing could very easily ship with some cheaply sourced fans. They are already cutting costs with the shoddy but adequate riser but the savings are not passed to the customer. In short; The GN team wants to eliminate as many of their input variables as possible, that's the purpose of not normalizing fans as fans cannot be normalized without having to redo testing every time the configuration changes.
Elite 130. 40 bucks, a single 120 intake and single 80 side exhaust, x370gtn was like 80 bucks. The 130 has the option of sfx psu or atx. Allowed for a nearly 13 inch r9 Fury but is short enough to fit in a bookshelf and still has 3.5 and 5.25 support.
Honestly cases like this show the problem with "as is" benchmarking. Stock results are nice because they are easy to test but what many people want to know is the characteristics of a case with fans as well and there is no place to get this information without just buying it. This is especially true when most fans lower end cases come with are of very bad quality and would be replaced anyway.
I can see the dilema but I disagree with era fan testing. This is not a relevant scenario. Imo nobody would be using this without additional fans installed so the results generated from testing are largely practically useless and d think you should find a solution that wastes less of your time benching useless configurations out less of our time watching. See principle technologies: the people going with 2700x+64G RAM probably also try to stick it inside this without case fans (despite the lack of DIMM Slot 3 &4
Yh, & ontop of that, NOBODY (Or atleast nobody with sense) would be using this case & NOT be using a AIO Liquid Cooler or even a custom loop. PLUS, GamersNexus is also using an ATX PSU, when anyone getting this case should be using a gold rated SFX PSU, for more head or breathing room. I have this case with a GIGABYTE RTX 2080Ti, a 3900x AMD CPU with Grizzly Kryonaut Paste on a Gigabyte Aorus X570i mobo, WITH a PCIE Gen4 2tb M.2 Nvme SSD on the front of the mobo, a bottom rgb intake fan pushing upwards to the 240mm CoolerMaster AIO Liquid Cooler pushing heat out the top, & guess what? ?...... Temps are stable & amazing. So yh, I agree. This test is very unrealistic Lol
@@KompletterGeist Ok yh, I see they did use the sfx psu, but that doesn't matter. Everything else I said still stands, & speaking of which,....... you are sooooooooooooo full of shit lol... Yes you CAAAN put a 240mm rad aio within the top of the Ophion. That is the BIGGEST lie within this post. Stop it. Your embarrassing yourself lol One, I just built it with a 240mm aio from Coolermaster, ontop of the 12 core 3900x CPU, duel 32gb 3600mhz Trident Z Neo’s, 600ｗ gold rated sfx psu, Gigabyte Aorus X570i Mobo, 2tb Pcie Gen4 Inland M.2 nvme ssd, 2tb Samsung Evo M.2 Nvme SSD, 2tb Samsung Evo (Standard) SSD, Gigabyte 11gb RTX 2080Ti, Grizzly Kryonaut paste on cpu & in gpu, with allll the rgb goodness allllll inside of the Raijintek Ophion (Non-Evo Version) case. WHAT?! Plus, there are videos here on youtube putting an aio in it, aaaaaand every REEEEEAL PC nerd knows that itx builds DEMAND watercooling for the best performance & thermals, because air is NOT going to cut it, unless you people are just out here making weak ass builds, & if that’s the case, why even buy a mini itx case with ya’lls broke asses in the first place, because mini’s are on the more pricy side. So, your WRONNNG....... Yh, an ophion can fit a 240mm rad in it. As a matter of fact, there is a guy who fit a 280mm rad in the top, but he had to drills some extra holes to make the screws line up. Stop being absurd dude. No where on planet fucking earth does anything say an aio can not go into the case. That's horse shit lol... You can't lie to me my man. I’m no bitch ass newb, & plus I OWN the god damn thing. Go spread those lies to an inexperienced moron, because i’m not the one lol
@@NiteSek4804 didn't read the rest of your first comment. only the first paragraph, my bad. pretty cool to hear that you can fit a radiator. I guess the point is that it is not marketed as supporting radiators and one "should" get the evo for that. I mean (almost) anything can fit into any case with a bit of effort. but yea i actually disagree with nexus gamings review as well (see my other comment). I think testing this without fans and then complaining is like testing an i7 with boxed cooler and then saying "oh intel's cpus have thermal problems" lol...quite ridiculous really I disagree however that aircooling wont cut it. For people that live in a small college dorm and just play esports titles, an i5 with 1060ti is plenty powerful and can be aircooled no problem. And on a sidenode....you need to calm down. I'm not spreading any lies. the normal ophion is marketed as aircooling only so that's where that comes from..
I think ITX cases should also be tested at "full potential" aka buy and fill in all the fan slots or even AIO's. It's not fair to test a big case with the same fans as a small case, beccause the small case can't get better while the big case can.
Agreed.. who buys a case with even 1 fan and doesn't fill the extra slots? Poor review in my opinion, its like he does not care or like the case, so he just winged it.... Didn't even tidy up the cables.....
Most of all the cases they review is done stock, the point is to review the case with the same hardware in its class. if they added two fans or more then they have to do that with every case from now on and invalidates previous case test also. The cables don't matter since their reviews thermals, not looks.
Maverick M Then they could standardize a “right way” to build in that case. Not half ass it then say oh this sucks. I’d rather not pay for a cheap included fan I wont use anyways.
You pointed out about 15 times that the case actually performs decent with at least 1 top fan, while pointing out about 20 times that it's useless without a top fan. I get it, if you use the case as-is the thermals suck. But Raijintek recommends the case be used with 2 top exhaust fans. I'm assuming they didn't include them to cut costs, and because enthusiasts tend to use their own fans anyway. You didn't test the case in the recommended configuration, and rushed through all other pertinent info so you could spent 90% of your "review" pointing out that the case doesn't have good thermal properties if you use it wrong. Thanks??
So happy that you guys are back to mini itx reviews. I'm a itx user as I don't have much space for a big desktop. Currently using the phanteks evolve shift X.
I used an I7-7700k @4.8ghz with a 240mm AIO. Also had an Asus Dual GTX 1070 in white. I had the white case. With a bottom fan intake and the rad at the top as an exhaust I had no issues with temps but definitely had to cable manage better than I ever had to before!
I have this case with the meta perforated side pannels. Did two 120mm intake on top and one 140mm on the bottom for exhaust. Works good, 3800x good temps and 5700xt doesn't go past 85c. The 140mm fan fits perfect on the bottom, had to drill two holes, all good. Case sits on the floor so exhausted out the bottom is way better for debris and cat hair.
Don’t you think if the company recommends you add a particular fan configuration. It doesn’t come with other components like a gpu or cpu. They acknowledge the cooling is insufficient but perhaps you have left over fans and then it would be a less than hundred dollars investment. Anyways, I would have been curious if you follow factory recommendations what the performance would have been and where that would put it price wise with other cases. You can definitely look at it as a case that gives you options instead of forcing particular fans on you.
No two fan testing? I understand your time is limited, but even just a combined CPU+GPU load result would be nice. I think it would be a fair comparison, seeing how many cases come with 2 or even 3 fans now. Also, while not significant there are good fans slightly cheaper. CF-V12HB for $12 from Cougar for example, although it lacks PWM control.
Alex Zuchotzki tests like this really annoy me since it's obvious the case is meant to be built with your own selection of fans. If you want to include that in the total price fine, but handicapping the case just because "we test it as is" goes against the spirit of fair testing. My inwin 301 doesn't come with fans either, but it's an incredible case that i would hate to see test poorly because it's totally fine as a 2-5 fan case.
Depends on who's side you are "fair" to I suppose. GN test all their cases as-you-get-them, whether they're ITX or not, wouldn't it be fair to do the same here? On the otherhand, to be fair to Raijintek, they intended you to use your own fans and not run without any. At least they _did_ test with an extra fan (even if it wasn't the recommended setup, which would have been even better), and didn't just leave it as an unfavorable review without one and calling it straight up bad.
I usually stick mid-range CPUs in these mini-itx cases. So, for example, I have a ton of Haswell 4130 based test boxes in these sorts of cases. I have two SG05BB's with Ryzen 2400G's in them, a ton of cases with those Intel fanless 'D' chips (that was a mistake that I won't make again), and so forth. The cases generally have just one cpu fan and one full-sized front intake fan. Always air-cooled because I need to rip the cases apart all the time for testing different mobos and CPUs and such. In terms of GPUs, usually just the built-in iGPU or APU, or something like a 1030. There are tons of decent shorty GPU cards that one can stuff. I primarily use the cases for test boxes... I need small cases so they don't fill up the room. Also, the smaller cases are a whole lot easier to rip up and reuse than the larger cases. Since I don't water cool, and one or two little 2.5" SSDs pack a lot of storage these days, having all that room inside a larger case is worthless to me. However, I also use a SG05BB for my black-sheep-of-the-family windows workstation for occasional game playing. Usually with a mid-range intel and GTX1030, or (at the moment) a 2400G with its APU. I use the slightly larger mini-itx cases like the Coolermaster Elite series when I need a front-facing 2.5" hot-swap bay. The duals and quads work great, though if using a quad 2.5" hotswap in the bay with hard drives, you absolutely have to have a fan pulling air through it to prevent the hard drives from overheating. Think about it, though.... 4 x 4TB 2.5" HDDs in a quad hot swap bay that takes up only one 5.25" external slot. 12TB of storage with RAID turned on in a tiny case. I rip these cases apart so often I actually got modular PSUs for them :-). They are so much nicer to work with when one stuffs a modular PSU, and Silverstone actually makes a nice little SFX modular PSU that works well in the cases. I think the larger Coolermaster Elite series cases can take a full ATX PSU, but the smaller Silverstone cases need SFX PSUs. I usually rip out all the internal mounts (if there are any). The combination of modular cabling and no internal mounts give decent airflow. Storage is either a NVMe SSD, a 2.5" SSD with a hot-swap taking up the second PCI case position in the back, a front-facing hot-swap bay if a 5.25" external bay is available, or a SSD screwed into the inside wall of the case, depending on what I need. One can stuff just about any CPU in these small cases if all you intend to do is air-cool. I've had Ryzen 2600's and 2700's in these cases too. Gotta be careful about headroom for the CPU fan, though. They make for excellent workstations and these little cases just disappear behind the monitor(s). -Matt
In response to your comment/question I am the kind of person that enjoys smaller ITX builds. I use mine primarily for Gaming. Currently running an nCase M1 which I believe is a little smaller than this case. Hardware wise it is running an 8700k @ 5.0ghz and 1080ti @ 2012mhz boost clock. It is currently fairly quiet at the cost of a little higher temps, but nothing too scary.
So, I've been using this case for half a year now for HTPC role. I'm using h100i for exhaust, cooling a stock clock 8600k. For graphics I used my old gigabyte 980ti which is a very warm card under load. Thermals are quite good to be honest. CPU never goes higer than 60 degrees and the GPU stays around 80 degrees under load. Never experienced thermal throttling even when I push the graphics card at it's limit.
@@bashthefash420 I don't think non evo version is high enough for an AIO. Even in evo version you'll need to squeeze the radiator and fans in and if your AIO has long pipes, It would be impossible to fit it in.
If you seal the sides with foam, then put two fans on top, it would probably evacuate heat really well. Or somehow put one high speed fan on bottom and low on top with again the foam strips, you would have some positive pressure. Those foam things give it a directed air flow and reduce noise i am betting.
Because you asked; I just did an ITX build in a Cooler Master Q300L. Ryzen 5 - 2600X, Asus B450i, GTX 1050ti reference (going to upgrade). I stuffed it full of fans, so now it's too loud, but everything stays nice and cool. I was also looking at Corsair Air 240, Phanteks Shift X, and the Silverstone Raven cases, all of which are nicer and higher quality, but this one won me over with cheapness. I may still change my mind. Finding decent "desktop" format cases is hard.
I settled on this case for a team red build with Sapphire Nitro Vega 64 (Huge Card). That card wouldn't fit in a lot of "SFF" cases such as my M1 and Node202/304 due to the HEIGHT of the card being a beastly 2.5+ slots. Similar to the case you recommended as an alternative here, SG13, the height is an issue and form what I read would bulge out the sides. I got 3 corsair fans to go in the case and will see how the one on the bottom handles/fits.
Update in case anyone is considering this case w/ the Sapphire Vega Nitro 64 card--it doesn't quite fit. A quick trim of both the frame and side panel (non glass portion) got it to fit, on the height level. It's long enough to fit on it's own, height was the issue.
Can't find it on your channel, but the website got me here. Now it isn't loading, but thanks for all the great case reviews anyway! I'll just read the article for now
I know this is a year old now but i am just seeing it. Recently picked up a 2080 Super that is a crazy 328mm long and i have been wanting to do a SFF build with it for LAN parties and VR Gaming nights. Love my current Caselabs Mercury S5 but i want something smaller so i have been checking out cases and this one came up in my search
Currently using a beautiful custom liquid cooled enthoo evolv atx build that looks nice... but I'm only using a single graphics card and have no other addon cards (though maybe in the future when I upgrade my vr set up to wireless?). I just dont need a full atx mobo/case worth of expansion slots, its wasted space and weight. So it would be great to build a smaller pc... but I also love the look of vertical gpu mounting and unfortunately not many cases - especially the small ones - go that route (without also laying the mobo flat, which isnt a problem but does make the case chonkier). So, aesthetically the Ophion is what I'm looking for. The sg13 is a bit larger and would normally be acceptable... but it wouldnt show off a custom liquid cooled loop as cleanly as the Ophion. Which is why I wish more companies were exploring this type of design. With better cooling mounting (and maybe a smidge wider to fit low profile addon cards on the mobo side for potential wireless vr card), this would be the perfect case for me.
Really would like to see the temps with the 1 intake and 2 exhaust fans they suggest. I look at cases with no fans as priced $45 under their actual cost (even mid tower atx cases with 1 exaust need 2 intakes and 1 additional top exaust normally)
Id love to see more tower cases on the market. Imagine something like the Sliverstone FT03 but with up to 360mm rad support on the left and right side panels, a 200mm fan intake on the bottom, with the motherboard located at the top the case, rotated 90' with the I/O accessible at the top and a 140mm exhaust fan would be perfect and totally achievable. Not to mention compact watercooled builds just lool awesome.
Thanks for the review, some good info but disappointed with the testing methodology - I don't know anyone who is a PC enthusiast who doesn't have a fan or two laying around or was unable to pull one from their old case.
I am looking to do a high end gaming build in a mini-itx case. Would like to see how the DAN and Loque Ghost S1 fare with something like a RTX 2080, AMD 2700X/Intel 9900K, 32 GB of RAM, and NVMe drives.
I run mine with a custom water loop for cpu and gpu with radiator fans set as intake at the top and the single bottom fan as exhaust and it performs amazingly considering the weak eisbaert lt block/pump combo.
Its basicly a little bigger Dan case, which I have, and I use the open holed side pannels, instead of the plex glass, stay cool on air, 1700x and ref &/or aib 780ti. Using the Nactua NH-L9a. no case fans at all!
I ordered this and a phantek shift. I really like the looks of these style cases but I'm not a fan of the thermal temps. I'm going to replace the tempered glass with plexiglass so I can drill some ventilation in the sides. Also will put risers on the plexiglass for the phantek case just to be extra.
Looks nice to me. I have a Prodigy M with full custom loop in at the mo(that includes RAM, VRM's, GPU(Galaxy GTX 760) and CPU+ an 80mm, 120 and 240 rad), so it looks like a fun challenge.
Ghost S1 would be the most interesting of the sffpc bunch to take a look at imo with its rails and tophats. Hope GN can get their hands on one to test out!
With the Athlon 200GEs release I've been thinking of doing a silent ITX build, no fans, no disk drives, and hopefully a nice looking case with a enough airflow to work.
Hope you review the Raijintek COEUS, in stock but also with added top fans (in exhaust and intake config). 3 front and 2 top fans is often excessive, but it might be interesting to see if that's also true for a semi-open ATX case with gaps everywhere.
I've got a server running in a fractal core 500. 6600k. 16 GB RAM. Z170 rog itx board. GPU varies (sometimes rx580, or GTX 1060, possibly a 1080ti soon). One ssd and HDD, both 2.5". Cooling: 240 rad in the top, 120mm fan in the back. Custom loop, mostly AliExpress parts. GPU was a blower 1060, open 580, and watecooled (same loop) 1080ti Highly recommended
I would say that you should test it with all of the fan sockets filled. Especially since they recommend it. As someone who likes ITX builds, I know that I have to occasionally build in particular ways, sometimes costing a bit more for economy of space. As an ITX user, I would build the computer with at least both top fan slots filled, depending on space, possibly relying on passive intake. On another note, unless I could fit Something on the bottom as intake, I may be reluctant to buy this case in the first place.
Complete waste of my time when not including tests with the recommended 3 fans.. seriously dissapointed! :( You should care more about the final relevance and usability of the test than for standardizing a methodology for its own sake.. (Thank you for a good channel otherwise)
For boxes this size HTPC's come to mind with APU's and the like. However, This case is NOT like those that you shove in the cabinet. This is something I would only ever put a custom loop in. ITX mobo, High end gpu, Strong cpu, m.2 storage. 240mm (if a 280 fits that would be more preferred) rad on top, then decide if it needs a 120 rad or if i can get away with a 120mm fan. I would prefer 240mm rad + 120mm fan.
Are you guys considering doing a piece about the Dan Case cases or are they too small of a production for you guys? I'd love to see reviews of the other SFF cases like the Louqe Ghost S1 or the Cerberus by Chimera.
MSI z270 carbon pro motherboard Intel i7-7700 3.6 quad core G.Skill 16 gig of 3200 mhz ram (XMP Enabled) Corsair H55 water cooler (Modded the central tray for clearance, did not use the EVO case) Evga 650 GM sfx power supply 2 - Noctua NF-F12 iPPC 2000 PWM (Upper Fans) 1 - Noctua NF-A12x15 PWM (Lower Fan, Painted Black) Samsung Pro 960 m.2 drive 512 gig (Eventually will be the 970 pro 1tb) Samsung Pro 850 SSD 512 gig Waiting for the GTX 1160 or the RTX 2060 graphic cards. Will add an RGB light strip to each side eventually. Currently running the side glass panels with no air gaps. My only "Con" is the bright white led power button for use in bedrooms. (I left mine unplugged)
Great review. This is the type of case I’m looking for. SFF Ryzen mid range build with Gtx1060 to replace laptop/console. Loaded with fan it has to be quieter then my laptops fans screaming at 5000+ rpm like a mini jet about to take off.
Yah, the SG13 is very good, except for the really bad choice of putting the system power button at the top. I actually prefer something more akin to the SG05BB, with all the buttons on the front (including a nice reset button which for some reason numerous cases have begun to omit). For a slightly larger but still-small mini-itx case, go with the CoolerMaster Elite series, like the Elite 120. That gives you a 5.25 external slot that you can plug a dual or quad 2.5" hot swap bay into. (when looking for small mini-itx cases. I don't see much point buying a large mini-itx case, because at that point I might as well be buying a case that can accomodate a micro-atx mobo). -Matt
My ITX case is a modded original NES. No ITX case on the market fits on the shelf the NES is on. AMD APU works fine for 1080p streaming which is what I use it for, so it works for me.
I don't know of this company, but in regards to not having fans, I am all for it. I don't like removing fans and having them lay around. Instead I would rather have a lower cost case without crap fans than one that has fans at a higher price. Question would be top down high flow fans? I would be interested to see how thermals look with that configuration. In essence the glass would be the exhaust ports and top would be the intake. I have never tried it, just curious. Great job in what you do btw!
Ive been building PC's since 1996, who doesnt put AT LEAST 2 fans in a case... even just for business / non performance use? I might grab this to build a 2nd HTPC/ gaming case because it will fit inside a BESTA tv stand shelf area and Im in love with tempered glass after building an NZXT case
Good to see more ITX cases. It is going to take a monster of an ITX to make me consider something that isn't the C4 SFX Dan case (whenever that one is released).
I initially tried to build a gaming pc in a SFF case (Thermaltake Core V1,) but was unable to fit an Asus ROG Strix 1080 ti in there. I cut the top front support where I maybe should have cut the front left support instead. A SFF gaming rig is always on my mind. I ended up using a Fractal Meshify C which I do like, but smaller is always on my mind. It would be nice if a case manufacturer designed a case around the best of everything available off the shelf (excluding custom water cooling) that would fit in a SFF with good cooling. I'm surprised no reviewer (to my knowledge) has teamed up with a mfr. to design a case to end all cases. (We all know this is a blanket statement due to differing tastes.)
There is plenty of SFF cases that would take a full GPU such as the mini-ITX Silverstone ones. Was a pretty big thing on youtube a few years ago. Those cases would just take up the space of a PS4 if I remember right.
I still haven't found a decent alternative for my Fractal Design Node 304. It's a big longer that the SG13 but has 3 included fans for even better cooling and is close to perfect for my HTPC setup. I tried the RVZ02 for a while but that was just terrible for thermals.
Silverstone's SG13 looks good, and especially volume-wise (that's result of it being more cube-like), but it's not really portable (excl. moving it from one room to the next) with it's smallest dimension of 18cm () and almost 2.5kg :/ And if a case isn't portable then big part of the motivation to go for m-itx is lost. Still makes very decent htpc
I can see this hot-box case being useful for similar to the old AM1 platforms AMD Athlon 5350 and that's about it. I used the 5350 for HTPC when 1080p x264 was relevant (before 4k), it's a 25W TDP APU so there's not too much heat and the build doesn't need a dedicated GPU. So something similar modern would work in this one though the case itself is more expensive than motherboard+CPU. Raijintek includes a PCIE riser cable indicating it's meant for dGPU not APU so who they are targeting is a good question. As for a modern APU similar to the 5350, not sure what modern 25W part you could use, do they make any? They should because 25W is just low enough to use a passive heatsink and that's nice.
Good review as usual! Just one thing though, I understand doing a baseline using the case how it was shipped (or adding just one fan in this case) but why not do a optimal setup comparison too? If I am interested in buying a case I'd like to know how it would perform if I extract the most of it. After all, it is likely that gamers will add a little bit of money to optimize airflow and cooling. When you test a GPU you give results for stock speeds and then max overclock, it seems appropriate to do the same here.
Extremely horrible review. Of course it's going to cook without fans. Complaining and benchmarking it without any fans is just a waste of your and our time as well as only putting in a single fan which is not what anybody would do when they get this case. Why even complain about the foam inserts? Just don't use them. Why complain and then CONSISTENTLY complain that there aren't fans? Doesn't even review the main selling point of the case which is how it looks. Just horrible review all around which makes me second guess following up on Gamers Nexus's future videos.
Though I agree that I would add fans to this or any build that has space for them, I also understand that this is how they review all cases.They review them as they come. There are those out there that try to spend as little as possible and do not buy extra case fans. Silly, I know, but they exist. GN tends to be critical in their reviews pointing out the flaws as they see them, unlike other outlets that tend to gloss ever or skip them entirely and "everything is great". It important to kow your reviewer/channel and take what they say and make you own conclusion for yourself. Here GN gives us the worse case scenario as the case comes stock. So everyone know that they should budget for additional fans if building in this case. I'm still interested in building in the EVO version of this case. I think GN does a great job and is one of the top tech (PC) outlets around.
The interior is nearly the same as in the DAN A4-SFX case. I think, Dan invented as one of the first this layout with MB and GPU sandwiched together this way and using a riser cable. I've seen this Ophion case on gamescom and it looks pretty great. Only the big button on the front is cruel...
Question for you guys, those PSU's from NZXT that you advertise, do you guys know who the original manufacturer is? I suppose I could just ask NZXT, but, I figure you'd have the hookups, or someone in the know might chime in. I know EVGA's are made by Superflower, and a lot of Corsair's are made by Seasonic (though correct me if i'm wrong, please), but I'm just curious! Also, appreciate you vindicating how much props I give to my friends about how you guys stick to your guns, and have ethics and journalistic integrity in that whole Intel benchmark fiasco.
I have the same case with a two fan radiator on the top and a intake on the bottom currently running a - R9 290 - Ryzen 7 3700x - 2 16 gb rams surprisingly it runs fine on games such as apex and valorant although I highly don't recommend playing super super demanding games unless u want things to go south. The highest temp of the gpu that iv seen is 203 F but that could just be the old gpu itself and the highest cpu temp iv seen is 75 C. The downside to this case has to be the gpu cap like you wont be able to fit a bigger gpu you'll have to go do some research for a smaller one not to mention it is a heat box please set it in a cool place. Another downside to this case has to be its limit on storage youll have to go with a sata drive or m.2 unless ur trying to do a extension with a hard drive. Overall Id recommend this case to normal people who don't plan on playing high demanding triple A titles but if you are a hardcore gamer and a working proffessional please look else where this isnt the case for you.
I’ve been considering an ITX build. And the parts i would use suit this case perfectly (since I already have them, just need a motherboard). Especially when it comes to thermals. AM4 athlon x4 950 MSI aero rx560 And whatever mini Itx board that i can find on sale. Seems like this case supports regular sized power supplies?
I can't think of anyone that's going to put a high end processor in these cases. If ur spending that kind of money, you will likely buy a top end case. Mostly ur looking no more then an AMD 2600 class for this type of build from my experiences, and likely it'll have something like a Nvidia 1070 in it. Or so. Also, perhaps check out the Anidees A17. It's a sweet case. Great thermals once I pulled the stock fans and put in a big Thermaltake 200 mm blower in the front.
Costing twice as much doesn’t make it interesting, there 1 million reviews and videos on the Ghsot, it is the smallest best looking case in many opinions including mine, just the price is crazy... just shipping is 50 dollars within Europe itself...
hey steve, are you able to make a mini-itx case review playlist? just so theyre all in the same place (yeah i know theres a big list, but im interested in mitx only right now)
This case would be great for a media PC and since you used a 2400G with built in graphics, I wonder what the thermals would be if you just did stuff like play music and videos, surf the web, check email etc. with only the onboard graphics and removed the video card. Most reviewers never test temps on these small cases with more simple, real world actions. I'd like to know what the temps would be if the PC was used this way because I don't think it would throttle.
I personally would be putting like a 9600k/rx580 or some other mid range cpu that’s soldered like a 1700. With temps already a problem, I personally wouldn’t want to add to the problem with intels TIM choices
very nice and balanced build. The only negative for me is that case. Not that it is bad, I just don't find it attractive whatsoever. I built my itx system about 2 months ago in the Raijintek Metis Plus since I wanted to put an h80i to use. I was actually thinking about buying that exact gpu, but figured I might as well another year to see what amd puts out in that range.
@@carlos2004 yeah I'm not a fan of the case either, but it's actually for a friend and he picked it so I'll build it haha. Give the people what they want and all that.
ahh, in that case, to each his own. And good luck with the build, these mini cases are a pain in the ass to build in. In my metis, if want to add or change anything, it basically means taking it apart and putting it back together. At one point I had to reset my bios, and after 30 minutes, a pair of long nose pliers, and a flashlight held with my teeth, I figured it would just have been easier and faster to take the whole thing apart and reset it like that.
my mITX case is FD-MCA-NODE-202-AA-US, And what I have in it is a 4th gen i3 with a Noctua low profile cooler. Keeps cool under stress test but all I use it for is a VPN client to do nefarious things online.
RUclips broke the first upload and wouldn't let it go public. Thanks, RUclips. This one seems to be working.
Find the article over here: www.gamersnexus.net/hwreviews/3376-raijintek-ophion-mini-itx-case-review
Or our In Win A1 review over here: ruclips.net/video/yRiCON5PAY8/видео.html
i gues they did it again :D
Yeah, i have the same issue right now. The article will be my friend for now, i'll watch the video later :p
Curious what the actual performance with an AIO would be?
Lol I was going to ask why did it send a notification and it was private
I’d like to see a CPU+GPU loop with a 240mm rad on top, 120mm fan on bottom, and res somewhere or on bottom.
If their recommended configuration was one intake and two exhaust fans then I'm really disappointed that you didn't even test that configuration. I'm not saying they should get a free pass, as obviously adding 3 fans adds to the price of the case and it wasn't that cheap to start with. They certainly can be criticized based on price...but criticizing them based on thermal performance when you're ignoring their recommended configuration seems a bit weird to me.
Did anyone seriously think this thing would do OK without any fans? Obviously you're supposed to add fans.
Agreed. I found it strange that Steve was testing thermal performance without actually testing the optimal configuration for this case. If I were to buy this case, I would be using fans with it. Optimum Tech did a review with this case, so make sure to check out their review as well.
Their recommended configuration is no fans, as that's how they ship it. He tested that and it was a failure. A lot of case manufacturers show pictures on their website with more fans than it ships with and nobody complained before. No reason to complain now.
@@mjc0961 They ship it without a motherboard or power supply too. By your logic the recommended configuration must be to not build a PC in it.
Fans are not part of a case. They are a separate component that are often bundled with cases but they certainly don't have to be. Plenty of people replace the bundled fans anyway, whether for better thermals, noise, or just for RGB nonsense.
If a case manufacturer decides to save you some money by not including fans that you're just going to replace anyway (I mean hypothetically...this particular case is not a good example because it's expensive even without fans) then under this testing methodology they would be severely criticized for it even if it was a fantastic case with good airflow design. And that's what I have a problem with.
MJC, are you seriously that stupid in RL or only in the internet? You can debate if it is good or bad that they ship it without a fan. I replace always the fans and have more trash, because normally the included fans are shit. So for me it is better when they ship it without fans. But when they dont ship it with fans means not this is their recommendation.
I dont think he even tests any case as it shoud.Its obvious that when you build a pc you will by fans..Also i bet he has tons of fans there so its just lazy review.Same hapened with his nzxt s340 elite review.It was stupid.
OHHH, mini itx, YAY! I have the raijintek metis plus and it's really nice. Love these reviews.
EDIT: after watching the video, I have to say I was disappointed with the review.
I understand the tests are meant to be standardized in order to have all the cases on a level playing field. However, instead of spending the time on explaining over and over again how it does not ship with a fan, it could have instead have been used to show results fitted with a 240mm rad on the cpu. This reason, I believe, is the the true reason why it doesn't ship with a fan, this case is meant for watercooling which come with their own fans. Not all of ITX cases support even 120mm rads, yet this case can fit the 240mm and it wasn't even mentioned.
To give an analogy from cpu testing, it would be as if the K models were not overclocked for any benchmark since nonK models are not able to be overclocked and to keep the test equal, overclocking was not tested nor even mentioned. This would completely miss the point of showcasing the true performance capable with the K models and also the reason why people even buy them in the first place. This case is one out of only two or three cases in this form factor that can support a 240mm rad and yet it was never even mentioned.
The review is pretty unrealistic but this model doesn't actually support watercooling, that's the larger ophion evo
I'm more interested in what this case's potential is. I wish more cases didn't include fans instead of trying to read my mind. If it is clear it wasn't designed to be operated without fans, what is the purpose of running tests without them? Chassis manufacturer's lesson: if you ship without fans, someone will judge it as fanless. This channel has some brilliant people, I don't understand why the potential value of shipping without fans is lost here.
Because he has to be a dick. Period. Only someone being a dick would run a test on a system without a fan. I agree. Smart people here, but they harp on some of the dumbest shit sometimes.
I think some of that Principled Technologies testing methodology has infected Gamers Nexus. Testing this case with NO FANS, seriously?? What PC builder in their right mind would ever do that? That's almost as bad as not using a cooler on a CPU that doesn't come with one! What a waste of your time, especially in lieu of testing x2 fans which pretty much anyone interested in ITX builds is going to want to know the results of. You've completely failed to cater to the audience for this case unfortunately. I am much disappoint. :(
@Hose2wAcKiEr no hes right , he should be doing as is and an ideal scenario for cases . otherwise its just flawed data.
I don't think you should be bashing this case for high temps without fans. There is clearly space for additional fans, and people building mITX generally know what they are doing and what to expect. You could buy two decent second-hand 120mm fans for $10-12 (total) and be happy. While already paying a premium for the mITX motherboard and possibly an SFX PSU, the extra 10 bucks are insignificant. Thermals with two exhaust fans on the top, please?
yeah would like to see a test with the 3 fans they list on the webpage, noone sane would run any case without fans because "they were not included" uhm motherboard wasn't included either, lets see how well it runs without... oooh it is very cool indeed!
@@LiLBitsDK the concept is to keep constants and variables very rigid. The variables are the things that come out of the boxes, while the constants are the parts in the build. Adding or changing fans changes the tests from 1:1 comparison within the compile tests, not every m-itx case can use three fans of varying sizes, some may only fit one 120 and one 80 thus putting three 120s in this case completely negates it's comparison to other mitx cases.
Testing the shipped configuration means the product is tested, not how does the product perform when we alter the configuration in X or Y way. For 125 dollars the thing could very easily ship with some cheaply sourced fans. They are already cutting costs with the shoddy but adequate riser but the savings are not passed to the customer.
In short; The GN team wants to eliminate as many of their input variables as possible, that's the purpose of not normalizing fans as fans cannot be normalized without having to redo testing every time the configuration changes.
Elite 130. 40 bucks, a single 120 intake and single 80 side exhaust, x370gtn was like 80 bucks. The 130 has the option of sfx psu or atx. Allowed for a nearly 13 inch r9 Fury but is short enough to fit in a bookshelf and still has 3.5 and 5.25 support.
@@keithberwanger6595 I know how "comparative testing" works, I wanted to see HOW it performed with the full set
Gamers nexus is very stupid on this review, the dude is like an atx boomer. So ignorant and stupid wtf.
Honestly cases like this show the problem with "as is" benchmarking. Stock results are nice because they are easy to test but what many people want to know is the characteristics of a case with fans as well and there is no place to get this information without just buying it. This is especially true when most fans lower end cases come with are of very bad quality and would be replaced anyway.
I can see the dilema but I disagree with era fan testing. This is not a relevant scenario. Imo nobody would be using this without additional fans installed so the results generated from testing are largely practically useless and d think you should find a solution that wastes less of your time benching useless configurations out less of our time watching.
See principle technologies: the people going with 2700x+64G RAM probably also try to stick it inside this without case fans (despite the lack of DIMM Slot 3 &4
Yh, & ontop of that, NOBODY (Or atleast nobody with sense) would be using this case & NOT be using a AIO Liquid Cooler or even a custom loop. PLUS, GamersNexus is also using an ATX PSU, when anyone getting this case should be using a gold rated SFX PSU, for more head or breathing room.
I have this case with a GIGABYTE RTX 2080Ti, a 3900x AMD CPU with Grizzly Kryonaut Paste on a Gigabyte Aorus X570i mobo, WITH a PCIE Gen4 2tb M.2 Nvme SSD on the front of the mobo, a bottom rgb intake fan pushing upwards to the 240mm CoolerMaster AIO Liquid Cooler pushing heat out the top, & guess what? ?...... Temps are stable & amazing.
So yh, I agree. This test is very unrealistic Lol
@@NiteSek4804 they used a SFX power supply...not ATX. Furthermore the "normal" ophion doesn't support radiators. That's only possible in the EVO
@@KompletterGeist Ok yh, I see they did use the sfx psu, but that doesn't matter. Everything else I said still stands, & speaking of which,....... you are sooooooooooooo full of shit lol... Yes you CAAAN put a 240mm rad aio within the top of the Ophion. That is the BIGGEST lie within this post. Stop it. Your embarrassing yourself lol
One, I just built it with a 240mm aio from Coolermaster, ontop of the 12 core 3900x CPU, duel 32gb 3600mhz Trident Z Neo’s, 600ｗ gold rated sfx psu, Gigabyte Aorus X570i Mobo, 2tb Pcie Gen4 Inland M.2 nvme ssd, 2tb Samsung Evo M.2 Nvme SSD, 2tb Samsung Evo (Standard) SSD, Gigabyte 11gb RTX 2080Ti, Grizzly Kryonaut paste on cpu & in gpu, with allll the rgb goodness allllll inside of the Raijintek Ophion (Non-Evo Version) case. WHAT?!
Plus, there are videos here on youtube putting an aio in it, aaaaaand every REEEEEAL PC nerd knows that itx builds DEMAND watercooling for the best performance & thermals, because air is NOT going to cut it, unless you people are just out here making weak ass builds, & if that’s the case, why even buy a mini itx case with ya’lls broke asses in the first place, because mini’s are on the more pricy side.
So, your WRONNNG....... Yh, an ophion can fit a 240mm rad in it. As a matter of fact, there is a guy who fit a 280mm rad in the top, but he had to drills some extra holes to make the screws line up. Stop being absurd dude. No where on planet fucking earth does anything say an aio can not go into the case. That's horse shit lol... You can't lie to me my man. I’m no bitch ass newb, & plus I OWN the god damn thing. Go spread those lies to an inexperienced moron, because i’m not the one lol
@@NiteSek4804 didn't read the rest of your first comment. only the first paragraph, my bad.
pretty cool to hear that you can fit a radiator. I guess the point is that it is not marketed as supporting radiators and one "should" get the evo for that. I mean (almost) anything can fit into any case with a bit of effort. but yea i actually disagree with nexus gamings review as well (see my other comment).
I think testing this without fans and then complaining is like testing an i7 with boxed cooler and then saying "oh intel's cpus have thermal problems" lol...quite ridiculous really
I disagree however that aircooling wont cut it. For people that live in a small college dorm and just play esports titles, an i5 with 1060ti is plenty powerful and can be aircooled no problem.
And on a sidenode....you need to calm down. I'm not spreading any lies. the normal ophion is marketed as aircooling only so that's where that comes from..
I think ITX cases should also be tested at "full potential" aka buy and fill in all the fan slots or even AIO's. It's not fair to test a big case with the same fans as a small case, beccause the small case can't get better while the big case can.
I'd love to see performance numbers with dual 140's in the top.
Same here, really disappointed that this wasn't explored in the review.
Agreed.. who buys a case with even 1 fan and doesn't fill the extra slots? Poor review in my opinion, its like he does not care or like the case, so he just winged it.... Didn't even tidy up the cables.....
Absolutely. I wish they would have don't testing with more fan configs instead of testing with no fans.
Most of all the cases they review is done stock, the point is to review the case with the same hardware in its class. if they added two fans or more then they have to do that with every case from now on and invalidates previous case test also. The cables don't matter since their reviews thermals, not looks.
Maverick M Then they could standardize a “right way” to build in that case. Not half ass it then say oh this sucks. I’d rather not pay for a cheap included fan I wont use anyways.
You pointed out about 15 times that the case actually performs decent with at least 1 top fan, while pointing out about 20 times that it's useless without a top fan. I get it, if you use the case as-is the thermals suck. But Raijintek recommends the case be used with 2 top exhaust fans. I'm assuming they didn't include them to cut costs, and because enthusiasts tend to use their own fans anyway.
You didn't test the case in the recommended configuration, and rushed through all other pertinent info so you could spent 90% of your "review" pointing out that the case doesn't have good thermal properties if you use it wrong. Thanks??
So happy that you guys are back to mini itx reviews. I'm a itx user as I don't have much space for a big desktop. Currently using the phanteks evolve shift X.
I used an I7-7700k @4.8ghz with a 240mm AIO. Also had an Asus Dual GTX 1070 in white. I had the white case. With a bottom fan intake and the rad at the top as an exhaust I had no issues with temps but definitely had to cable manage better than I ever had to before!
Video is loading fine for me. Thanks for figuring the issue out so quickly @GamersNexus!
I have this case with the meta perforated side pannels. Did two 120mm intake on top and one 140mm on the bottom for exhaust. Works good, 3800x good temps and 5700xt doesn't go past 85c. The 140mm fan fits perfect on the bottom, had to drill two holes, all good. Case sits on the floor so exhausted out the bottom is way better for debris and cat hair.
Don’t you think if the company recommends you add a particular fan configuration. It doesn’t come with other components like a gpu or cpu. They acknowledge the cooling is insufficient but perhaps you have left over fans and then it would be a less than hundred dollars investment. Anyways, I would have been curious if you follow factory recommendations what the performance would have been and where that would put it price wise with other cases. You can definitely look at it as a case that gives you options instead of forcing particular fans on you.
I’ve been working with this case for some time now and I figured out how to use it to its fullest potential
No two fan testing? I understand your time is limited, but even just a combined CPU+GPU load result would be nice. I think it would be a fair comparison, seeing how many cases come with 2 or even 3 fans now. Also, while not significant there are good fans slightly cheaper. CF-V12HB for $12 from Cougar for example, although it lacks PWM control.
Alex Zuchotzki tests like this really annoy me since it's obvious the case is meant to be built with your own selection of fans. If you want to include that in the total price fine, but handicapping the case just because "we test it as is" goes against the spirit of fair testing. My inwin 301 doesn't come with fans either, but it's an incredible case that i would hate to see test poorly because it's totally fine as a 2-5 fan case.
Depends on who's side you are "fair" to I suppose. GN test all their cases as-you-get-them, whether they're ITX or not, wouldn't it be fair to do the same here? On the otherhand, to be fair to Raijintek, they intended you to use your own fans and not run without any. At least they _did_ test with an extra fan (even if it wasn't the recommended setup, which would have been even better), and didn't just leave it as an unfavorable review without one and calling it straight up bad.
I usually stick mid-range CPUs in these mini-itx cases. So, for example, I have a ton of Haswell 4130 based test boxes in these sorts of cases. I have two SG05BB's with Ryzen 2400G's in them, a ton of cases with those Intel fanless 'D' chips (that was a mistake that I won't make again), and so forth. The cases generally have just one cpu fan and one full-sized front intake fan. Always air-cooled because I need to rip the cases apart all the time for testing different mobos and CPUs and such. In terms of GPUs, usually just the built-in iGPU or APU, or something like a 1030. There are tons of decent shorty GPU cards that one can stuff.
I primarily use the cases for test boxes... I need small cases so they don't fill up the room. Also, the smaller cases are a whole lot easier to rip up and reuse than the larger cases. Since I don't water cool, and one or two little 2.5" SSDs pack a lot of storage these days, having all that room inside a larger case is worthless to me. However, I also use a SG05BB for my black-sheep-of-the-family windows workstation for occasional game playing. Usually with a mid-range intel and GTX1030, or (at the moment) a 2400G with its APU. I use the slightly larger mini-itx cases like the Coolermaster Elite series when I need a front-facing 2.5" hot-swap bay. The duals and quads work great, though if using a quad 2.5" hotswap in the bay with hard drives, you absolutely have to have a fan pulling air through it to prevent the hard drives from overheating. Think about it, though.... 4 x 4TB 2.5" HDDs in a quad hot swap bay that takes up only one 5.25" external slot. 12TB of storage with RAID turned on in a tiny case.
I rip these cases apart so often I actually got modular PSUs for them :-). They are so much nicer to work with when one stuffs a modular PSU, and Silverstone actually makes a nice little SFX modular PSU that works well in the cases. I think the larger Coolermaster Elite series cases can take a full ATX PSU, but the smaller Silverstone cases need SFX PSUs. I usually rip out all the internal mounts (if there are any). The combination of modular cabling and no internal mounts give decent airflow. Storage is either a NVMe SSD, a 2.5" SSD with a hot-swap taking up the second PCI case position in the back, a front-facing hot-swap bay if a 5.25" external bay is available, or a SSD screwed into the inside wall of the case, depending on what I need.
One can stuff just about any CPU in these small cases if all you intend to do is air-cool. I've had Ryzen 2600's and 2700's in these cases too. Gotta be careful about headroom for the CPU fan, though. They make for excellent workstations and these little cases just disappear behind the monitor(s).
-Matt
Should still be OK with 2x exhaust fans on top and foam strips top & ends on both sides.
Pretty neat little case.
In response to your comment/question I am the kind of person that enjoys smaller ITX builds.
I use mine primarily for Gaming.
Currently running an nCase M1 which I believe is a little smaller than this case.
Hardware wise it is running an 8700k @ 5.0ghz and 1080ti @ 2012mhz boost clock. It is currently fairly quiet at the cost of a little higher temps, but nothing too scary.
So, I've been using this case for half a year now for HTPC role.
I'm using h100i for exhaust, cooling a stock clock 8600k.
For graphics I used my old gigabyte 980ti which is a very warm card under load.
Thermals are quite good to be honest. CPU never goes higer than 60 degrees and the GPU stays around 80 degrees under load.
Never experienced thermal throttling even when I push the graphics card at it's limit.
Is that the ophion or evo you have? I have the non-evo and I'm wondering if I can squeeze an aio in
@@bashthefash420 I don't think non evo version is high enough for an AIO. Even in evo version you'll need to squeeze the radiator and fans in and if your AIO has long pipes, It would be impossible to fit it in.
If you seal the sides with foam, then put two fans on top, it would probably evacuate heat really well. Or somehow put one high speed fan on bottom and low on top with again the foam strips, you would have some positive pressure. Those foam things give it a directed air flow and reduce noise i am betting.
Because you asked; I just did an ITX build in a Cooler Master Q300L. Ryzen 5 - 2600X, Asus B450i, GTX 1050ti reference (going to upgrade). I stuffed it full of fans, so now it's too loud, but everything stays nice and cool. I was also looking at Corsair Air 240, Phanteks Shift X, and the Silverstone Raven cases, all of which are nicer and higher quality, but this one won me over with cheapness. I may still change my mind. Finding decent "desktop" format cases is hard.
I settled on this case for a team red build with Sapphire Nitro Vega 64 (Huge Card). That card wouldn't fit in a lot of "SFF" cases such as my M1 and Node202/304 due to the HEIGHT of the card being a beastly 2.5+ slots. Similar to the case you recommended as an alternative here, SG13, the height is an issue and form what I read would bulge out the sides. I got 3 corsair fans to go in the case and will see how the one on the bottom handles/fits.
Update in case anyone is considering this case w/ the Sapphire Vega Nitro 64 card--it doesn't quite fit. A quick trim of both the frame and side panel (non glass portion) got it to fit, on the height level. It's long enough to fit on it's own, height was the issue.
Been watching your videos for the past couple of months now I am going to build my first PC. Wish me luck! 😬
Can't find it on your channel, but the website got me here. Now it isn't loading, but thanks for all the great case reviews anyway! I'll just read the article for now
RUclips is bugged today.
Yay! You survived the youtube hurdles :D
I know this is a year old now but i am just seeing it. Recently picked up a 2080 Super that is a crazy 328mm long and i have been wanting to do a SFF build with it for LAN parties and VR Gaming nights. Love my current Caselabs Mercury S5 but i want something smaller so i have been checking out cases and this one came up in my search
I'm just glad you guys used a livestrong bracelet for that anti static protection....
Currently using a beautiful custom liquid cooled enthoo evolv atx build that looks nice... but I'm only using a single graphics card and have no other addon cards (though maybe in the future when I upgrade my vr set up to wireless?).
I just dont need a full atx mobo/case worth of expansion slots, its wasted space and weight. So it would be great to build a smaller pc... but I also love the look of vertical gpu mounting and unfortunately not many cases - especially the small ones - go that route (without also laying the mobo flat, which isnt a problem but does make the case chonkier).
So, aesthetically the Ophion is what I'm looking for. The sg13 is a bit larger and would normally be acceptable... but it wouldnt show off a custom liquid cooled loop as cleanly as the Ophion.
Which is why I wish more companies were exploring this type of design. With better cooling mounting (and maybe a smidge wider to fit low profile addon cards on the mobo side for potential wireless vr card), this would be the perfect case for me.
Really would like to see the temps with the 1 intake and 2 exhaust fans they suggest. I look at cases with no fans as priced $45 under their actual cost (even mid tower atx cases with 1 exaust need 2 intakes and 1 additional top exaust normally)
I'd like to see a couple passive cooler reviews, get a grasp on that market and see if they are of good value
Id love to see more tower cases on the market. Imagine something like the Sliverstone FT03 but with up to 360mm rad support on the left and right side panels, a 200mm fan intake on the bottom, with the motherboard located at the top the case, rotated 90' with the I/O accessible at the top and a 140mm exhaust fan would be perfect and totally achievable. Not to mention compact watercooled builds just lool awesome.
Thanks for the review, some good info but disappointed with the testing methodology - I don't know anyone who is a PC enthusiast who doesn't have a fan or two laying around or was unable to pull one from their old case.
I am looking to do a high end gaming build in a mini-itx case. Would like to see how the DAN and Loque Ghost S1 fare with something like a RTX 2080, AMD 2700X/Intel 9900K, 32 GB of RAM, and NVMe drives.
I run mine with a custom water loop for cpu and gpu with radiator fans set as intake at the top and the single bottom fan as exhaust and it performs amazingly considering the weak eisbaert lt block/pump combo.
Its basicly a little bigger Dan case, which I have, and I use the open holed side pannels, instead of the plex glass, stay cool on air, 1700x and ref &/or aib 780ti. Using the Nactua NH-L9a. no case fans at all!
I ordered this and a phantek shift. I really like the looks of these style cases but I'm not a fan of the thermal temps. I'm going to replace the tempered glass with plexiglass so I can drill some ventilation in the sides. Also will put risers on the plexiglass for the phantek case just to be extra.
Looks nice to me. I have a Prodigy M with full custom loop in at the mo(that includes RAM, VRM's, GPU(Galaxy GTX 760) and CPU+ an 80mm, 120 and 240 rad), so it looks like a fun challenge.
Ghost S1 would be the most interesting of the sffpc bunch to take a look at imo with its rails and tophats. Hope GN can get their hands on one to test out!
With the Athlon 200GEs release I've been thinking of doing a silent ITX build, no fans, no disk drives, and hopefully a nice looking case with a enough airflow to work.
Is the 200ge low enuf tho .. go for a 10-15w CPU for that fanless thing ..
Hope you review the Raijintek COEUS, in stock but also with added top fans (in exhaust and intake config). 3 front and 2 top fans is often excessive, but it might be interesting to see if that's also true for a semi-open ATX case with gaps everywhere.
Would love to see a review of the DS380, especially with a number of drives loaded in a NAS configuration. Thanks for all the work!
I've got a server running in a fractal core 500. 6600k. 16 GB RAM. Z170 rog itx board. GPU varies (sometimes rx580, or GTX 1060, possibly a 1080ti soon). One ssd and HDD, both 2.5".
Cooling: 240 rad in the top, 120mm fan in the back. Custom loop, mostly AliExpress parts. GPU was a blower 1060, open 580, and watecooled (same loop) 1080ti
Highly recommended
I got the QBX Kaze, similar size different layout, works fine with enough fans on low
Good to see that Steve really cares about his employees safety and makes them wear Livestrong bracelets to protect them from shocks.
I would say that you should test it with all of the fan sockets filled. Especially since they recommend it. As someone who likes ITX builds, I know that I have to occasionally build in particular ways, sometimes costing a bit more for economy of space. As an ITX user, I would build the computer with at least both top fan slots filled, depending on space, possibly relying on passive intake.
On another note, unless I could fit Something on the bottom as intake, I may be reluctant to buy this case in the first place.
First video upload was teaser/trailer of next Gamers Nexus movie.
Complete waste of my time when not including tests with the recommended 3 fans.. seriously dissapointed! :( You should care more about the final relevance and usability of the test than for standardizing a methodology for its own sake.. (Thank you for a good channel otherwise)
For boxes this size HTPC's come to mind with APU's and the like. However, This case is NOT like those that you shove in the cabinet. This is something I would only ever put a custom loop in. ITX mobo, High end gpu, Strong cpu, m.2 storage. 240mm (if a 280 fits that would be more preferred) rad on top, then decide if it needs a 120 rad or if i can get away with a 120mm fan. I would prefer 240mm rad + 120mm fan.
Are you guys considering doing a piece about the Dan Case cases or are they too small of a production for you guys? I'd love to see reviews of the other SFF cases like the Louqe Ghost S1 or the Cerberus by Chimera.
i think the only build i would put in a case like this is a low-powered HTPC build with focus on aesthetics like RGB and such.
MSI z270 carbon pro motherboard
Intel i7-7700 3.6 quad core
G.Skill 16 gig of 3200 mhz ram (XMP Enabled)
Corsair H55 water cooler (Modded the central tray for clearance, did not use the EVO case)
Evga 650 GM sfx power supply
2 - Noctua NF-F12 iPPC 2000 PWM (Upper Fans)
1 - Noctua NF-A12x15 PWM (Lower Fan, Painted Black)
Samsung Pro 960 m.2 drive 512 gig (Eventually will be the 970 pro 1tb)
Samsung Pro 850 SSD 512 gig
Waiting for the GTX 1160 or the RTX 2060 graphic cards.
Will add an RGB light strip to each side eventually.
Currently running the side glass panels with no air gaps.
My only "Con" is the bright white led power button for use in bedrooms. (I left mine unplugged)
Great review. This is the type of case I’m looking for. SFF Ryzen mid range build with Gtx1060 to replace laptop/console. Loaded with fan it has to be quieter then my laptops fans screaming at 5000+ rpm like a mini jet about to take off.
Yah, the SG13 is very good, except for the really bad choice of putting the system power button at the top. I actually prefer something more akin to the SG05BB, with all the buttons on the front (including a nice reset button which for some reason numerous cases have begun to omit). For a slightly larger but still-small mini-itx case, go with the CoolerMaster Elite series, like the Elite 120. That gives you a 5.25 external slot that you can plug a dual or quad 2.5" hot swap bay into.
(when looking for small mini-itx cases. I don't see much point buying a large mini-itx case, because at that point I might as well be buying a case that can accomodate a micro-atx mobo).
-Matt
My ITX case is a modded original NES. No ITX case on the market fits on the shelf the NES is on. AMD APU works fine for 1080p streaming which is what I use it for, so it works for me.
So I may have missed it, but what is best case scenario benchmarkes for air cooling only?
Or did you guys only test single fan configs?
I don't know of this company, but in regards to not having fans, I am all for it. I don't like removing fans and having them lay around. Instead I would rather have a lower cost case without crap fans than one that has fans at a higher price. Question would be top down high flow fans? I would be interested to see how thermals look with that configuration. In essence the glass would be the exhaust ports and top would be the intake. I have never tried it, just curious. Great job in what you do btw!
Ive been building PC's since 1996, who doesnt put AT LEAST 2 fans in a case... even just for business / non performance use? I might grab this to build a 2nd HTPC/ gaming case because it will fit inside a BESTA tv stand shelf area and Im in love with tempered glass after building an NZXT case
Good to see more ITX cases. It is going to take a monster of an ITX to make me consider something that isn't the C4 SFX Dan case (whenever that one is released).
its actually a dtx case, itx case is very misleading
I love my A4-SFX. Ill never go back to anything bigger.
I initially tried to build a gaming pc in a SFF case (Thermaltake Core V1,) but was unable to fit an Asus ROG Strix 1080 ti in there. I cut the top front support where I maybe should have cut the front left support instead. A SFF gaming rig is always on my mind. I ended up using a Fractal Meshify C which I do like, but smaller is always on my mind. It would be nice if a case manufacturer designed a case around the best of everything available off the shelf (excluding custom water cooling) that would fit in a SFF with good cooling. I'm surprised no reviewer (to my knowledge) has teamed up with a mfr. to design a case to end all cases. (We all know this is a blanket statement due to differing tastes.)
There is plenty of SFF cases that would take a full GPU such as the mini-ITX Silverstone ones. Was a pretty big thing on youtube a few years ago. Those cases would just take up the space of a PS4 if I remember right.
I think that looks amazing. Would be great for a 1080p gaming rig with a ryzen cpu and a single fan 1070.
I still haven't found a decent alternative for my Fractal Design Node 304. It's a big longer that the SG13 but has 3 included fans for even better cooling and is close to perfect for my HTPC setup. I tried the RVZ02 for a while but that was just terrible for thermals.
3:23 Very good, he's using the Anti-Static Bracelet!
5:43 I think they tested it without any components in it, for the best Airflow!
I hope the next case review will be the Silent Base 601. i would like to hear your thoughts about it.
I'm waiting for the review of evolv X to decide whether to buy it. When? Thanks!
Do a second round of tests pimping out your ITX cases! That way, we can compare stock vs. the maximum potential of the case, if the budget allows.
Silverstone's SG13 looks good, and especially volume-wise (that's result of it being more cube-like), but it's not really portable (excl. moving it from one room to the next) with it's smallest dimension of 18cm () and almost 2.5kg :/
And if a case isn't portable then big part of the motivation to go for m-itx is lost.
Still makes very decent htpc
You guys should review the raijintek Thetis, full atx board compatibility but very small
I can see this hot-box case being useful for similar to the old AM1 platforms AMD Athlon 5350 and that's about it. I used the 5350 for HTPC when 1080p x264 was relevant (before 4k), it's a 25W TDP APU so there's not too much heat and the build doesn't need a dedicated GPU. So something similar modern would work in this one though the case itself is more expensive than motherboard+CPU. Raijintek includes a PCIE riser cable indicating it's meant for dGPU not APU so who they are targeting is a good question. As for a modern APU similar to the 5350, not sure what modern 25W part you could use, do they make any? They should because 25W is just low enough to use a passive heatsink and that's nice.
The video is working now.
Gamers Nexus will you design and manufacture a mini-itx case for sale ?
I am still using the Metis! Loving this one too!
Happy you at least gave the DAN case a mention, considering this thing is a pretty brazen (and poor) attempt at copying it.
Good review as usual! Just one thing though, I understand doing a baseline using the case how it was shipped (or adding just one fan in this case) but why not do a optimal setup comparison too? If I am interested in buying a case I'd like to know how it would perform if I extract the most of it. After all, it is likely that gamers will add a little bit of money to optimize airflow and cooling. When you test a GPU you give results for stock speeds and then max overclock, it seems appropriate to do the same here.
Extremely horrible review. Of course it's going to cook without fans. Complaining and benchmarking it without any fans is just a waste of your and our time as well as only putting in a single fan which is not what anybody would do when they get this case. Why even complain about the foam inserts? Just don't use them. Why complain and then CONSISTENTLY complain that there aren't fans? Doesn't even review the main selling point of the case which is how it looks. Just horrible review all around which makes me second guess following up on Gamers Nexus's future videos.
Though I agree that I would add fans to this or any build that has space for them, I also understand that this is how they review all cases.They review them as they come.
There are those out there that try to spend as little as possible and do not buy extra case fans. Silly, I know, but they exist.
GN tends to be critical in their reviews pointing out the flaws as they see them, unlike other outlets that tend to gloss ever or skip them entirely and "everything is great". It important to kow your reviewer/channel and take what they say and make you own conclusion for yourself.
Here GN gives us the worse case scenario as the case comes stock. So everyone know that they should budget for additional fans if building in this case. I'm still interested in building in the EVO version of this case.
I think GN does a great job and is one of the top tech (PC) outlets around.
I already have a mini-ITX hotbox tho. My InWin 901 is perfect in that regard
The interior is nearly the same as in the DAN A4-SFX case. I think, Dan invented as one of the first this layout with MB and GPU sandwiched together this way and using a riser cable.
I've seen this Ophion case on gamescom and it looks pretty great. Only the big button on the front is cruel...
Question for you guys, those PSU's from NZXT that you advertise, do you guys know who the original manufacturer is? I suppose I could just ask NZXT, but, I figure you'd have the hookups, or someone in the know might chime in. I know EVGA's are made by Superflower, and a lot of Corsair's are made by Seasonic (though correct me if i'm wrong, please), but I'm just curious! Also, appreciate you vindicating how much props I give to my friends about how you guys stick to your guns, and have ethics and journalistic integrity in that whole Intel benchmark fiasco.
From this article, it looks like its from Seasonic www.anandtech.com/show/13089/nzxt-enters-psu-market-with-eseries-atx-psu
Fyi the dancase a4 has its pcie raiser in the same position, but has extra length to make up for all the turns it makes.
I can't wait for your Evolv X review!
I have the same case with a two fan radiator on the top and a intake on the bottom currently running a
- R9 290
- Ryzen 7 3700x
- 2 16 gb rams
surprisingly it runs fine on games such as apex and valorant although I highly don't recommend playing super super demanding games unless u want things to go south. The highest temp of the gpu that iv seen is 203 F but that could just be the old gpu itself and the highest cpu temp iv seen is 75 C. The downside to this case has to be the gpu cap like you wont be able to fit a bigger gpu you'll have to go do some research for a smaller one not to mention it is a heat box please set it in a cool place. Another downside to this case has to be its limit on storage youll have to go with a sata drive or m.2 unless ur trying to do a extension with a hard drive. Overall Id recommend this case to normal people who don't plan on playing high demanding triple A titles but if you are a hardcore gamer and a working proffessional please look else where this isnt the case for you.
I love small cases! I wish that motherboard manufacturers made better boards for them though.. Great video!
A shame you didn't mention the Evo version of this case. It has room for a 240mm rad and can fit a *full* 120mm (25mm thick) fan at the bottom.
I’ve been considering an ITX build. And the parts i would use suit this case perfectly (since I already have them, just need a motherboard). Especially when it comes to thermals.
AM4 athlon x4 950
MSI aero rx560
And whatever mini Itx board that i can find on sale.
Seems like this case supports regular sized power supplies?
I can't think of anyone that's going to put a high end processor in these cases. If ur spending that kind of money, you will likely buy a top end case. Mostly ur looking no more then an AMD 2600 class for this type of build from my experiences, and likely it'll have something like a Nvidia 1070 in it. Or so. Also, perhaps check out the Anidees A17. It's a sweet case. Great thermals once I pulled the stock fans and put in a big Thermaltake 200 mm blower in the front.
Do the Ghost S1!!!!!!!!
If they can get one. Loque is behind on shipments, and has been for a while.
First shipments have left the factory are in transit :D
Costing twice as much doesn’t make it interesting, there 1 million reviews and videos on the Ghsot, it is the smallest best looking case in many opinions including mine, just the price is crazy... just shipping is 50 dollars within Europe itself...
Sorry if this seems picky, but wouldnt keeping the same noctua you put into the SG13 have been better?
I been waiting for this cases to come state side
This is the first hermetically sealed mini ITX case I've seen.
hey steve, are you able to make a mini-itx case review playlist? just so theyre all in the same place
(yeah i know theres a big list, but im interested in mitx only right now)
Hi, hope you are doing well, what is the best mini-ITX case that can handle i7 9900k and gtx 2080ti? please advise
This case would be great for a media PC and since you used a 2400G with built in graphics, I wonder what the thermals would be if you just did stuff like play music and videos, surf the web, check email etc. with only the onboard graphics and removed the video card. Most reviewers never test temps on these small cases with more simple, real world actions. I'd like to know what the temps would be if the PC was used this way because I don't think it would throttle.
I personally would be putting like a 9600k/rx580 or some other mid range cpu that’s soldered like a 1700. With temps already a problem, I personally wouldn’t want to add to the problem with intels TIM choices
Building a itx gaming system this weekend.
MSI B450i
Ryzen 5 2600X
16gb corsair LPX
Zotac 1070ti mini
Corsair H55 120 AIO
Silverstone SG13B
very nice and balanced build. The only negative for me is that case. Not that it is bad, I just don't find it attractive whatsoever. I built my itx system about 2 months ago in the Raijintek Metis Plus since I wanted to put an h80i to use. I was actually thinking about buying that exact gpu, but figured I might as well another year to see what amd puts out in that range.
@@carlos2004 yeah I'm not a fan of the case either, but it's actually for a friend and he picked it so I'll build it haha. Give the people what they want and all that.
ahh, in that case, to each his own. And good luck with the build, these mini cases are a pain in the ass to build in. In my metis, if want to add or change anything, it basically means taking it apart and putting it back together. At one point I had to reset my bios, and after 30 minutes, a pair of long nose pliers, and a flashlight held with my teeth, I figured it would just have been easier and faster to take the whole thing apart and reset it like that.
More SFF cases please. They are so interesting to see
Ill stick with my Raijentek Metis cuz it can take a Cryorig H7. The Ophion is just about the same size anyway. Wish the Metis had glass panels though.
I think they should make another one with black metal side panel with some ventilation holes...
The RVZ03 still seems to be the best slim ITX option out there... they tried, though.
my mITX case is FD-MCA-NODE-202-AA-US, And what I have in it is a 4th gen i3 with a Noctua low profile cooler. Keeps cool under stress test but all I use it for is a VPN client to do nefarious things online.