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Building a mATX System... Feels WRONG!

2018-04-14
hello the people so this is my new micro TX motherboard why don't micro ATX cases and systems get much love well that changes today I'm coming for you my friends 1 & 2 get back in there you sneaky little rubber piece trying to escape the dust filter once this this fell out you know I really don't want to peel this right now because it is all acrylic on the exterior so it'll just be covered in smudges and finger marks in the end but of course I got a deliverer the peel a satisfying peel but I am sorry if you're not into that wow so this is a little detail but I appreciated the plastic film on the side panel is in three sections so you remove them from the place where you can access the thumb screws but then the actual main portion that's the film here so you can remove it after reinstalling the side panel so that the entire thing is not covered with finger marks only these sections where you're actually going to be handling the side panel well done so these cases are very much budget oriented which is why I have this super basic z3 70 motherboard from gigabyte I think this one sells for $100 and normally micro ATX hardware is a lot more expensive so I'm finally excited to see what type of budget oriented micro tax systems we can acquire moving forward so the Q 300 L sells for $40 it's nice and affordable while the Q 300 P is the slightly more fancy one because of those rubber handles on the four corners and the blackout exterior acrylic paneling and so if you are in the budget and potentially have some size constraints within your space is it actually worth it considering this whole micro jigs direction let's discuss right after this damnit laundry machine it's always a pleasure upgrading or adding new hardware to your system especially when it comes to storage like this new OC ZTR 200 drive from Toshiba it's a great value SSD offers a nice boost in performance for boot times file transfers and just general system and work operation with cutting-edge 3d flash memory and ultra reliable controller with built-in power management consider the upgrade today with TR 200 it's available in different capacities check it out below all right so these master box cases have an identical core frame and they look different because the Q 300 L is the bare-bones version with no paneling on the exterior while the Q 300 P has the super good-looking character with handles and this fake TG impersonation the build quality on both is actually pretty good and the only way to tell it's a cheap frame is by looking at the non-reusable PCI slots I mean come on Coolermaster what is this now it is really interesting to see how this dust filter design on the q 300 L really elevates the chassis from this plain boring frame into something that actually looks good it's cheap it's functional as both the front and top are covered with this dust filter which reveals the perforation that in many ways is an exciting development for case customization because precisely because of it we have this entirely different version of the case with the acrylic paneling instead so this perforation spends all three sides which are equal so exterior visual options in theory should be plenty this also complements fan mounting with dual 120mm fans that can be installed along anywhere as the perforation is spaced out accordingly while the 140 more fans mount have only the one set of holes that are marked for visual aid now the two disadvantages of this design is the see-through nature of the perforation when the interior is illuminated completely hiding the pattern on a dust filter and secondly it is of course an airflow barrier the handles on the fancy model are rubberized and feel great both to the touch and supporting the weight of the frame during transport they are removable and each corner can have this mind of its own for future accessories with this mounting method is just a matter of Coolermaster actually releasing something cool to complement this module in nature for example the only flexible element is the i/o panel that lets you mount it on any of the three sides because the frame is square and so is the side panel and you can even mount the i/o behind the motherboard tray if reason you'd want the acrylic panel there it's a really cool starting point on how cases can be innovative because let's face it it's a really stagnant market right now we just need to see a lot more flexibility when it comes to the frame itself so this flexible eye you're mounting is pretty cool but you have to keep in mind the cables they exist straight from the center right there so for example in its default orientation you cannot mount radiator at the front because the cables will interfere so you got a maneuver that IO somewhere else if you want to occupy one of the walls for a reader also while the bottom of your mouth is possible I had issues getting it installed because the cable exit is kind of a mess and needs to be low-profile and it interferes with my power supply the rear fan mount is on small rails for a little height adjustment if needed the thumb screws on the metal side panel for some reason are covered in this thick rubber which can actually be used as case feet so if you want to lay the case flat and I'm sure you've already been thinking it the acrylic panel is an absolute nightmare if you hate particles me and the styrofoam piece have a good time so if you can force yourself to admire the case from a distance you'll need to accept the static nature of the exterior the interior is superb lento literally nothing on here but a few cutouts for cables we have a three and a half inch drive caddy behind the motherboard tray plus two mounting locations for SSDs so this $40 price point is justifiable plus there is an exhaust vent at the back wait a second if this case comes with two additional front fans aside from the rear one like on the cheaper version how does the front get any air I can see the fans and they're basically just flush against this panel there's nothing here the only open the only opening is at the bottom right here what have they not learned from the H 500 P I mean great they're RGB fans for I there's no previewing this but come on this needs to be a mesh so I've removed the panel and you guys can see that's the fan and that is the front panel so there's literally maybe I don't know five millimeters of clearance between the panel and the fan gonna get so much airflow with this one they have learned with the addition of cases so I'm guessing maybe that's in the pipeline but still quite disappointing oh and we even have a dust filter for the bottom but it keeps flying out I'm not sure how this sits there and so I decided to build inside the 300 P because it looks better and comes with an RGB controller something you need to light those fans as my motherboard does not have an RGB header so you can reroute the recent IO cable into the controller to cycle between the colors although strangely none of this is listed in the instructions manual I am very sorry about my lack of cable management job but there are some key what I pointed here and quite a lot of space quite deep space here to talk all new cables and the side panel closes just fine without me doing anything with this cable mess boom alright so the system is built and my experience was ok you know the frame is fine for kale management you know I would appreciate like maybe a power supply shard over here just to cover up this area you know for $70 for the more expensive enclosure rubber grommets would have been appreciate it but they're not present here but really my main sort of sour point would be the micro ATX motherboard and our choice of it so this one's kind of terrible because it's not full size micro ATX it's kind of in-between ITX and standard micro ATX so the incompatibility with the rear fan and the cooler is kind of an issue oh crap the fan it interferes with a damn cooler plus the motherboard is shorter so the cables have to travel longer distance from the cable cutouts but overall I mean this is OK but I was expecting a little bit more for $70 so for the cheaper frame the $40 Q 300 L which actually has air flow because of dust filters the frame is identical so there is no difference in terms of your building assembly the only difference would be the aesthetics so here you know this is completely blocked I mean it looks beautiful it looks like glass but of course it's acrylic and lots of issues come with that the handles are cool so you can potentially orientate the case the way you want whereas with this you can't really and while I appreciate Co master strive to do some risky and innovative like this because you know we haven't really seen accessorizing the exterior of a case on this level before right now this is only the thing that exists we don't have any more accessories for exterior paneling you know there is no mesh version for the Q 300 P right now so there is absolutely no airflow coming in here which I find ridiculous so why would you want to spend $70 or something that has no cooling potential you know you might as well just go for the $40 version that has proper air flow but of course it doesn't look as fancy or glamorous as this guy and aside from this hilarious front panel that is here for visuals only it literally has no air flow I cannot feel anything coming from the back I was going to commend Coolermaster for including different fans on their cases then I thought hey this is great but these fans they're terrible absolutely terrible loud first of all it doesn't matter how much air they push though because there's nothing coming in here anyway now I do want to bring out the size argument for micro ITX systems smaller motherboard smaller cases altogether generally but not in this case for the Q 300 L maybe but not from the Q 300 P it's about the same height as this 275 our mid tower from Corsair that can fit an ATX motherboard a 360 cooler so I'm not sure if ku master is doing this right in terms of bulking up the exterior to be almost as big as some other mid towers that are very common in this form factor I really do love their sort of that bare bones basic approach with the Q 300 L dust filters everywhere proper airflow and it's only $40 so for budget build in which a micro ATX system makes sense the Q 300 L makes sense also and so my worry here is not Coolermaster avoiding risk because they've clearly shown that they're not afraid to do something different but it schoolmasters you know persistence and making sure that there are plenty of accessories that are actually also affordable because you're not gonna buy a $40.00 case to only spend forty sixty two more dollars on paneling and accessories for it because that doesn't really make sense and I feel like more people are asking for this whole micro ATX bubble to expand and this is clearly happy right now but maybe there should be focused on compact cases which makes sense for micro ITX motherboard and not something that already almost approaches the size of a standard mid Tower join the wireless club with Corsairs new dark core Mouse play the way you want with nine programmable buttons aligned in the comfortable shape and fantastic sensor you can trust and crazy-good wireless performance plus qi wireless charging built-in focus on the game the dark core will do the rest I feel like cooler masters really just poked a little tiny hole in the entire potential of this direction you know customizing the exterior panels because of this sort of perforation that allows other things to be mounted anywhere on the chassis which is super cool as a concept but its implementation currently is very much in the infancy stages and so I'll be avoiding my critiques for now it's just not for me it seems but I do appreciate their courage to move in with something like this and I'm interested to hear what you guys think about micro tech systems and hardware and cases in general so let me know in the comments below how about we treat thanks much for watching we'll see you in the next video on cool master may be a mesh version would be nice and maybe some better fans too on the power supply shroud
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