[section_title title=Closer Look – Exterior]Closer Look – Exterior
Starting off with the front of the Core 1100 and it has a nice brushed aluminium look. There are 2x 5.25″ drive bays and the front IO is actually here on the front of the case, the front IO includes a power button, USB3.0 and USB2.0 ports and audio connectors.
The main side panel is almost completely flat except for an indented area that will act as a handle when removing and the vented area that will allow users to install a 120mm fan of their choice should they need to.
Around to the back and I have to say I was very disappointed by the fact that the PSU would have to be top mounted in the Core 1100, It’s 2014 this is just not acceptable to me for any reason. There is also room to mount a 92mm exhaust fan next to the motherboard cutout and 4 PCI expansion bays for those using Micro-ATX motherboards.
The rear side panel is a mirror image of the main, just without the vented area for a fan. While the rear side panel is removable, it is very unlikely that you will need to do so as there are absolutely no cable management options at all.
Removing the front panel users will gain access to the front mounted fan and can easily remove the blanking plates for the 5.25″ drive bays.
Please explain the problem with top-mounted PSUs in your review. And please mention some examples of the better cases for less money. Something similar in size would be the Aerocool QS-180 (or 182), but it doesn’t make a great impression and there are hardly any infos on it.
Top mounted PSUs are totally fine for most workloads. A disadvantage is that they are generally getting all the hot air from the case going through them, so if you have a high-power CPU / GPU etc pumping out a lot of heat, that’s going to get sucked through the PSU and prevent it cooling properly. But honestly the “problems” with top mounted PSUs are exaggerated and probably irrelevant for 95% of PC builds. I’ve run top mounted PSU for years on end with no issues.
Similar cases for similar money would include the Cooler Master n200, Cooler Master Silencio 352, Silverstone PS08/PS09, Corsair Carbide 88R and Nanoxia Deep Silence 4.
After considering all my options at this low budget I went for the Core 1100 as reviewed here. But given that this reviewer seems so prejudiced against top-mounted PSUs he would probably be happier with something like the n200.