Gadgetory

this video is brought to you by NCI XCOM great technology selection and service hello everyone I'm V tree with Hard Rock Canucks and the market for budget cases hasn't really seen an introduction of that one killer case in quite some time the NZXT s340 at $69 was an awesome direction but it still wasn't hitting that right budget spot and so today we're going to put the $49 case to the test the PS 11 from silverstone available in silent and air flow optimized versions it is an ATX case but a fairly compact one and there are not many fancy features integrated here to keep the cost down but one thing they made sure is to keep the build quality as high as possible and a deep side panel stamping on each side allows exactly that extra room for all the cables on the right side and a giant window on the left with the same deep stamp now naturally I do my nails swipe tests and well no good news here the panel scratched easily so be cautious when working with a side panel to avoid getting any nasty marks but on a more positive note coming back to the deep stamp there's absolutely zero flex in the panel giving the frame is sturdy feel and even on the window panel the same story continues plus the thumb screws on each panel stay on the panel a feature that I would love to become the standard so you don't displace them the plastic front panel spices things up a bit with the brush the grain auto color variation between the steel and the plastic is clearly visible the front IO includes dual USB three on your jacks a really difficult to press power button and almost unreachable reset button along with the hard drive activity LED I am happy to report the front of the frame pops open with a built in mesh to prevent them from the dust coming in behind which we find a 120mm blue LED fan that has nothing restricting the airflow and I find this a major positive and additional fan mounting holes can support dual 120 or 140 member fans at the front and you can even move the 120mm fan slightly higher up with these holes here the PS 11 is elevated with high case feed that are unfortunately not rubberized and that's with all these small details when the price comes back to mind plus you guys know how much I dislike these type of dust filters at the bottom here but spanning both the power supply and the optional middle of fan slot so at least that's included but I wish these were exterminated and replaced with something that you can easily take out and clean at the back we have 7 PCI slots 2 water cooling holes 120 and 80 member fan holes and you can see just how little height there is left based on the motherboard IO and coming to the top we have dual 120mm fan holes only and I want to say right off the bat that the PS 11 is not designed to properly accommodate for all-in-one coolers in this space the case comes with an internal dust filter which is great but it is attached with these pegs that interfere with any fan that you want to mount in a top slot and turns out they're also extremely difficult to remove now you may be wondering why I have a 240 millimeter radiator installed here and well it doesn't natively support it because there isn't enough height clearance and the motherboard is pretty high up there almost touches the top panel but you will still be able to fit a set of fans in there no problem and CPU heat sinks in height of 161 millimeters are compatible but I wanted to water cool so I could only align the front portion of the radiator with the venting holes but the rear screws do not align and plus I was lucky to have the radiator the same width as the 120mm fans so my RAM modules do not interfere and before the assembly I had to pre route my 8 pin CPU cable as otherwise it would not have fit through the cutout because the motherboard would cover it and here is the finished system it is unfortunate that the radiator isn't natively supported as silverstone could just add appropriate holes for mounting but in that case you're most likely lose out on the rear exhaust fan and also if you are to mount a 120 ml of radiator at the back it will have to be the same width as the fan because everything is just super tight the drive cage is standalone it can house three units and notice there are no drive caddies instead you just slide the mechanical drive in there and use these tools clips to in place and if shipping the system drives can be secured into position and if any of the slots are not occupied you can use that space to tuck away your cables and with a panel close that they won't be visible anyway and it looks like Silverstone has done their best to keep the cage frame open and you can also remove the cage entirely to allow a radiator to be installed at the front but in this scenario you kind of lose out on all the storage options and I wouldn't consider that a viable option we have two SSD brackets secure it with thumb screws for easy removal that you cannot reposition anywhere else on the case as for cabling both the SSD and the mechanical drive below are on the same level and complement the wiring that leads me into cable management and it's a very good thing that all of the cables on our power supply are flat because clearance is limited extremely limited with only a few cable tie hoops and you need to concentrate the majority of your cables right behind or around the drive cage it is a very good thing that the side panel has that deep stamp in case you cables aren't completely flushed to the case and as for interior wiring the motherboard is pretty much surrounded with cable cutouts I had zero issues with finding an appropriate routing spot now do I wish i we had rubber grommets yes absolutely at least to cover the power supply cutouts because they're the biggest ones lastly after the assembly we have to find a spot for the silverstone adhesive logo to be attached to a place are we a choice and I'm pretty happy with how this build turned out costing just at 50 bucks for the chassis you are getting an attractive package with the basics covered although the PS 11 would be such a killer case if only we have native radiator support up top because the workaround we did here with this build is not an answer to today's rising appearance of all-in-one coolers and despite the value focus I am disappointed Silverstone did not take this into account however we cannot deny the many positives of this forty nine dollar budget case and I am willing to deal with the compromises because if that's all your budget can allow then perhaps the constraints of the case will act as maybe guidelines for your build and the hardware that you choose to put in it and so that concludes this review for those on a tight budget let us know if this is an appealing option at 49 bucks with the comments below as always don't forget to subscribe for more similar content give us a like if you found this review helpful and we'll see you in the next one