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After seeing customer reviews at Amazon and a web review at OCIA, I'm about to order two of these - one for my full atx and one for my matx mobos.

Anyone here have any experience or seen these before:
http://www.ocia.net/reviews/cmelite360/page4.shtml
http://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master-Eli ... 75&sr=8-23

I own the case and use it for my HTPC. It is a pretty nice case. It is very small and fits a full ATX board in it. A few things of note though.

1) It says it fits an ATX board but it is a very very tight fit.
2) If you are planning on using anything but a stock heatsink or flat RAM modules you might as well forget about it.
3) If you are planning on switching components a lot don't get this case. It is fairly hard to get to the hard drives or do many other modifications without starting from scratch.
4) Do not use an extended power supply or one with a lot of cables. There is no where to put the extra cables. I learned this the hard way.

Realistically though I do enjoy the case. It is cheap and fairly well built. There are just some size constraints that you need to be aware of.

For the mATX board it'll be great. For the normal ATX board, depending on the dimensions, I would be very skeptical. I had this case and used it for three other builds. Its a nice case, but if you're using two optical drives, the power connection may be a huge issue. SATA cables all the way as IDE WILL restrict airflow in this case. there's space for two hard drives, but the heat they produce is something serious (I honestly think they were only thinking of HTPC usgae with 5400 RPM drives when they made this case)

Good info, thanks! The only thing I am worried about is the Cooler Master Hyper TX3 92mm tower heatsink I have. I need a case that will fit that.

I know the Cooler Master Centurion 541 will fit it for sure, so I have no problem buying that case, but the smaller the case the better...
CM 541 link http://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master-Cen ... 75&sr=8-19

I am absolutely open to suggestions - I'll consider spending as much as $100 if it is worth it.

You know, I haven't had serious heat issues with this case with any of the builds I've put together using it. I've been VERY happy with it, and I actually use it for my HTPC as well.

As for alternative cases, well, no one ever got fired for buying Antec. On non-budget custom builds I often opt to go for one of the Sonata series.

flip-mode wrote:

Good info, thanks! The only thing I am worried about is the Cooler Master Hyper TX3 92mm tower heatsink I have. I need a case that will fit that.

Usually for HTPC builds you need low profile HSF's, like the one that Scythe makes or something. The TX3 is going to be risky in the 360, seeing it is listed at 147mm wide and the HSF is measured at 135.93mm. Good chance you may not be able to close the side panel.

Luckily, I found a spare heatsink that will definitely fit. I am very tempted to order the case just to see if the TX3 will fit. If it doesn't, I still end up with a decent case and just use the other heatsink.

I am kinda interested in this case for the fact that it can lay flat...

Since I have that alternate heatsink, I ordered the case. If the Hyper TX3 fits, I will be pleased. I'll be sure to share the results.