Interior and Build Notes
Before we look inside the case, let's talk about the side panel (one of my pet subjects). This one is of course tempered glass, and removal requires no tools or even thumbscrews. Instead, a latching mechanism holds the panel in place at the top, and once depressed the panel swings out and lifts off.
The one-handed operation of the side panel might sound like a little thing, but it unusual for a case at this price point and makes opening the case very convenient.
The side panel glass is fairly thick, and feels sturdy. Unexpected at this price, tempered glass adds a bit of weight to the case, but it always looks better than a plastic side panel window.
And now a look inside the main compartment:
A wide open layout, as so many cases without 5.25-inch bays tend to be these days.
In the front of the case there is a dual 120 mm fan mount, which will allow for the installation of intake fans (which would make use of that interesting vent in the rear side panel) or a radiator of up to 240 mm. The case floor can also hold a pair of 120 mm fans, but this would block the lower PCIe slot of a micro-ATX board (but would pose no issue with mini-ITX).
And now a look behind the motherboard tray at the rear of the enclosure:
There's plenty of room on the left side for cables, and the upper right section houses the power supply, hiding the resulting cable mess with a partition that includes a lower cutout for the PSU fan.
Installation Notes
The pre-installed motherboard standoffs are for mini-ITX – which I used – but additional standoffs are of course included for micro-ATX boards.
Graphics cards of up to 330 mm are supported, and there is nothing in the way of large cards in any direction – unless a front-mounted liquid cooler is installed (more on cooler installation shortly). I use a reference AMD Radeon design for these case reviews, which is a pretty average full-length GPU, and from the finished build photos you will see there’s a lot of extra space around it in the case with an air cooler (heatsinks up to 158 mm in height are supported).
With my mini-ITX board in place I began the process of installing the power supply and routing cables, and here the 301 provides a decent amount of room and a logical paths for getting cables from the PSU to the system components.
Since the case is small you probably won’t need any PSU extension cables to keep this a very clean-looking build, and I had no trouble keeping the extra cable under control behind the system, which made replacing the rear panel easy.
Storage is the one area of this enclosure that is limiting, due to the fact that it supports only a single 3.5-inch hard drive – though a total three 2.5-inch SSDs are supported via the 3.5/2.5-inch tray and a pair of dedicated SSD mounts.
That single 3.5-inch drive bay is fine for someone like me, as I prefer a setup with an SSD for the OS and a single large hard drive for storage.
Installing an SSD was easy with a pair of screws on the outside edge securing each drive (and metal pins in the bracket holding the back of the SSD in place). Attaching an SSD on the back side is simple as the process is repeated from the back side of the case.
The front fan mounts are somewhat unusual as they are part of a removable metal bracket, and while it was easy to remove and mount my 240 mm AIO cooler getting it back in with the cooler attached was a little tricky. I ended up pulling out the HDD/SSD bracket above this area during re-installation of the fan bracket/liquid cooler, which made the process easy.
As you can see, things get pretty tight with a 240 mm liquid cooler up front (this is a Corsair H100i GTX). I had to orient it so that the hoses were along the case floor due to clearance issues up top, and my GPU just fit in next to it, but nothing was touching and it wasn't difficult to get it all in place – though it's a slow process to remove and replace the fan and storage brackets.
Next we'll take a look at a completed build and then see how the 301 performed in the temperature and noise tests.
I got this case for my GF and
I got this case for my GF and this is the best cheap small case hands down.
I have been looking for a
I have been looking for a compact MATX case for a while, and since the Cerberus is unobtainium, I have been eyeing this case as a replacement for a Bitfenix Phenom M. But the size difference is minimal so hard to justify. Thanks for the review Sebastian 🙂
You’re welcome!
You're welcome!
Great review! really thank
Great review! really thank you, this is exactly what I was looking for.
This maybe a stupid question, but ..
Do you think I can fit 2x 120mm AIO coolers on the front of the case? one for CPU and the other for GPU … this is exactly what I got in my system atm.
Thanks – and no, that
Thanks – and no, that wouldn't work. There wouldn't be enough room between the two since those rads extend beyond the size of the fan itself.
I can understand the PC
I can understand the PC Perspective Editors Choice award from an aesthetics perspective, but from an engineering and function perspective, it’s a fail.
“In the front of the case there is a dual 120 mm fan mount, which will allow for the installation of intake fans…”
Fans it will mount, except there’s no mention of the lack of clearance between the front fans and solid sheet of material that’s the front panel. Those fans have no way of drawing the air required.
Not to mention the starved for air fans are then asked to push air across a rad. That hot air is then pushed across the components inside.
This review has left me scratching my head. Expected better journalism out of PCPer.
Hmm from the photos there
Hmm from the photos there looks to be a gap big enough to pull air frim that side honeycomb when the case is closed up. not ideal though sure.
“Fans it will mount, except
"Fans it will mount, except there's no mention of the lack of clearance between the front fans and solid sheet of material that's the front panel. Those fans have no way of drawing the air required."
I did not mention a lack of clearance because the fans do have clearance. They are not directly against the front panel, and there is an adequate air gap. The fans can draw from the slots directly adjacent via the honeycomb pattern intake on the side panel, as mentioned in the review (not to mention indirectly via the bottom of the case – which is completely vented, including the area below the front fans).
"Not to mention the starved for air fans are then asked to push air across a rad. That hot air is then pushed across the components inside."
You are describing the issue all cases have when you choose to front-mount a rad, and then blow the air accross components. Unless you set up with a reverse airflow, front-mounting always creates the potential for warmer air inside the case, which makes proper exhaust all the more important. Once again, not a problem exclusive to any one case, and therefore not worth detracting from any one case.
Bit late for this case
Bit late for this case review, as the RGB version of this case, the 301c, is already available (limited quantities for now). I’m after the 301c in White.
Regarding the air intake:
As clearly stated on Inwin’s website, the main air intake comes from the bottom, hence the room for two 120mm fans.
Same goes for the bigger ones: the 303 /303c, 101 / 101c
What’s the point of using a
What’s the point of using a mITX board in a mATX case if you can’t show clearences for ports?
I did it because I have an
I did it because I have an ATX test platform for most cases, and a mini-ITX platform for smaller cases. So few of the cases I get in for review are micro-ATX that I didn't invest in a micro-ATX platform, as mini-ITX can occupy all smaller case designs. If more micro-ATX designs start coming in for review, I'll have to re-evalute that position.
I am asking because i came
I am asking because i came across a case that was advertised as supporting a full width atx case and two optical drives, but surprise, surprise, it could not do both evend if it was advertised as it had support. Also a lot of cheap cases, may seem to have access holes for cable management, but some do not fit the cable plugs if the sata ports are parallel to the motherboard…
weird double-post…
weird double-post…
Yea the lack of front air
Yea the lack of front air movement would make this a no go for me. Yea it has those tiny vents but you lose about 30% air volume for every 90 degree turn you force sir to do. Just go over to GN and see what these new cases are all about and how they turn your PC into a hot box (sweat Box).
Case makers need to realize most of us that want cases do actually want it to not only look good but to function good as well. With the lack of thinking going into most of the new cases now days I hope that more people like me just say enough is enough and stop buying into all of this and force the case makers to rethink their designs.
I just wanted to add that yes
I just wanted to add that yes the case does look very nice and thank you for the review of it. I also know a case like this or most of the other new designs they put out now days that my PC would die in about a week since it has pretty much everything overclocked and it depends on high air movement to keep itself running nice and cool.
do you think there is room
do you think there is room above the hard drive enclosure for a second 3.5″ drive if some modding was done. it seems like there is some wasted space up there and i have 2 drives that i would like to use if possible. if you think there are any other potential spots which could be adapted to fit one as well let me know. thanks for the info.