[section_title title=Installation]Installation
Installing my test system inside the Core 1100 was ridiculously easy due to the fact there are absolutely no cable management options so you just throw everything in there and push the cables off to one side once done. No need to worry about which way to route them and if like myself, you have no plans on using the 5.25” bays they do make a great place to hide all the cables and even the SSD I had installed in the system as well.
The only thing that came up and was easily recognized was the fact I had to install the power cables into my graphics cards before slotting it into the motherboard. This was due to the fact I did not remove the HDD/SSD mounting bracket and as said was not a problem at all, just something to make note of should you find yourself in the same situation. Aside from that all the other cables were easily plugged in and pushed to the side as mentioned.
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.