Dan H.
Great mini PC case for the entertainment console
I was in search of a small PC case to build out a PC to keep in the family room entertainment center. I was drawn to the looks and the overall form factor. Everything went together extremely well. In fact, this is the first PC I built where I got everything right the first time by doing the research up-front, and taking my time during the build! Note that there are NO fans or fan mounts available, nor is there room for any. I've heard you can 3D print a bracket and mount a fan (not sure where), but I have not found it necessary. Yes, the CPU fan and GPU fans get a bit loud when gaming, but nothing the volume of the TV doesn't overcome. The only things I would change about this case are, put the "wood" strip towards the front, along with the power button / light, and USB-C port. You can't see it when it's facing upward in an entertainment center. Speaking of the USB port, for my motherboard, I needed a vertical USB 3.1 front panel socket key-A Type-E to 3.0 19/20 pin header adapter (3 bucks) to connect the front panel USB-C port to the USB-A header. Fits perfectly and works fine. This was a budget "Steam Machine" -style build. All in (with repurposed DDR4 RAM and SSD), the total was less than 600 bucks. AMD Ryzen 5 5500 ASRock B550M-ITX/AC motherboard w/ WIFI & BT (which I upgraded to Intel AX200) GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 5050 low-profile (I could have gone 5060 but didn't want the extra heat without a better cooling solution) Thermalright AXP90 X36 (36mm) CPU cooler Apevia ITX-PFC500W Mini ITX/Flex ATX 500W fully modular PSU 16GB DDR4 RAM (repurposed) 2TB NVMe 3.0 x4 SSD (repurposed) Compared to the Steam Machine, this has a slightly worse CPU but arguably better graphics capability. It's really well balanced. Though, if I had to purchase the RAM and SSD in this market, my price would have been very close to what a Steam Machine costs. Since I had those already available, I saved a large chuck of money.