Cooler Master Elite 120 MiniITX case

huguberhart

Weaksauce
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Jun 23, 2008
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A HTPC case with dual slot expansion for ITX or DTX motherboard. One 120 mm at the front. One 5,25 bay, four 3,5 HDDs and two 2,5. Dimmensions are 240 mm W, 205.6 mm H, 382.5 mm D. Standard ATX PSU.

It has been shown at CES 2012, but it is scheduled to release in Q3. There are no pictures of the inside of the case. With that height and PSU over MOBO it would give up to 80 - 90 mm of CPU heatsink? Probably if to mount the closed water system, the drive bay would have to be removed (if it is possible at all).

The video of the case

Some more information about the case
 
whots the point for a steel case use aluminum front bezel?!

I'm more favor an aluminum case with steel front bezel :p
 
Steel case = cheaper to make.

Aluminum bezel = looks better, plus for smaller volumes such as a mini ITX case can cost less than plastic due to plastic molds being very expensive (can be tens of thousands $$$).
 
Ah but will it be a true Coolermaster case - i.e cut your hands to absolute ribbons when you try to build in it? :p
 
ph2_px400.jpg


http://www.hwbox.gr/news-cases/17049-hwbox-computex-2012-cooler-master-elite-120-a.html
 
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This seems as a good option, better than sg07/08 no problem with gtx 690 og hd7990

they say release would be in Q3 :D
 
Slightly longer than the SG07/08 so long GPUs shouldn't be an issue. I like the looks of it.
 
Only issue I see is how cramped it is and the seemingly lack of space for a nice CPU cooler...I mean, at least with my SG08 I can install a H70 water cooling system and get the cable management down perfectly.
 
Call me crazy... I don't see any fans on this thing aside from the one at the back of the PSU, airflow looks terrible. ATX PSU is unnecessary in an ITX case IMO. I like the look of it but I'm not sure if it really "adds" anything to it's class, and it looks like it'll cook the CPU.
 
There is a 120mm fan mounted on the backside of the hard drive cage drawing air through the vents in the front panel, there is also an 80mm fan mounted on the right side panel above the CPU socket.
 
Looks like an Apex MI-008 and a SG06 had a love child, lol!

Call me crazy... I don't see any fans on this thing aside from the one at the back of the PSU, airflow looks terrible. ATX PSU is unnecessary in an ITX case IMO. I like the look of it but I'm not sure if it really "adds" anything to it's class, and it looks like it'll cook the CPU.

Find me a SFX PSU that will run a GTX690 or 6990 ;) Some people like insane cards in insanely small cases, why not make one case that can fit both? (that being said, ATX PSUs fit just fine into the SG05/SG06)

The front could definitely be opened up a bit better for airflow.
 
Looks like an Apex MI-008 and a SG06 had a love child, lol!



Find me a SFX PSU that will run a GTX690 or 6990 ;) Some people like insane cards in insanely small cases, why not make one case that can fit both? (that being said, ATX PSUs fit just fine into the SG05/SG06)

The front could definitely be opened up a bit better for airflow.

Man those are dual-gpu cards lol, you're a madman. :D

Edit:// Contributin' Tom's puts the "normal" last-gen cards people would want in an SFF case under the 450 SFX line. This gen's cards sip power comparatively speaking.
 
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Bummer , I just ordered SG08, this one could fit both of my 3.5" hdds and I could also use my current PSU and save 150€...

Have to think about canceling order..
 
It looks to me that if you don't mount any hard drive you can perfectly fit a push/pull H80 on its side in the drive cage.

Link to pic
 
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It looks to me that if you don't mount any hard drive you can perfectly fit a push/pull H80 on its side in the drive cage.

Link to pic

You can get rid of the cage, just you have to drill the rivets. (hopefully the front fan is on the front panel, not on the cage.)
My plan is to buy a bay converter for an HDD and put an SSD on the side (or there is enough room in the converter as well).
And put an H60/80 on the front fan (replace it with AC fans)

There is not too much room for getting air from outside, so the best for H60/80 is to fit it on the front fan, not on the cage (imho).

By the way someone moderator please merge the CM Elite 120 topics.
 
UPS just dropped off a box :)

Box.jpg


Looks great! Feels solid too.
Elite.jpg


Size comparison: Elite vs LanBox Lite
Compare.jpg


Gonna build it tonight
 
One thing I do not like about this case - and a lot of smaller cases suffer from this - the excessive draft angle on the front panel. Seems like a minor thing but damn does it ever make it look cheap.
 
I didn't realize that Newegg had such limited stock & no one else is selling it right now. I wonder how long I'll have to wait to see it back in stock or if I'll have to go with another case like the BitFenix Prodigy. :(
 
I think this case is pretty good for the price. In the UK it's under £40 (~$60). There aren't any ITX cases that can fit as much hardware as this for that price. Personally I don't have any need of a 19L case though.
 
If you remove the HDD cage and 5.25" ODD case can you fit a 180mm or 200mm fan in the front??
 
If you remove the HDD cage and 5.25" ODD case can you fit a 180mm or 200mm fan in the front??
You need to drill to remove the HDD cage I think so. (owner will tell, I'm courius about that too)
My plan would be a Corsair H60 or H80 watercooling on the front fan.
 
Yeah you have to drill in order to remove the HDD cage. Looks like an H60 or H80 would be possible if you remove the cage.

Front
Front.jpg
 
the spacing from the floor of the case to the bottom of the optical is not enough for the thermaltake AIO w/c kit dont know about the other kits. it was short about less than 3/4 of an inch.
 
back in stock at newegg. just ordered mine. this case is brilliant I think.

-smallest possible case that fits the widest amount of hardware. I can't wait to see them go, but ATX psu's, 3.5" HD and 5.25" ODD and accessories are still around. this case fits them all. only thing you can't do is a tall cpu cooler.

-cheap. lian li is nice but 100$+ for a case, no thanks. sure silverstone comes with a PSU for that much money but I'd rather pick my own or use an old one.

I will still keep my SG05 rig but I think the greater flexibility is going to make this my main workhorse machine.
 
I didn't realize that Newegg had such limited stock & no one else is selling it right now.

Sometimes vendors will ship a batch by air just to get things selling, while the bulk of the products go by container ship (two weeks?).
 
Back in stock at newegg!

*edit* and it's gone, thankfully I got mine in.
 
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waiting for the SS SFX psu to finalize my build but here's a couple first thoughts:

-quite a bit longer than an SG05, but not too bad as a tradeoff for the 3 HDD's
-samuel 17 with full-thickness 120mm fan just touches bottom of ATX PSU. So, slim fan or flip PSU.(or SFX psu like me)
-5.25" bay -might- interfere with a long -and- tall graphics card. I have a passive Gigabyte Silent Cell 5770 which has a tall heatsink at the back that touches but this shouldn't be an issue for most cards.
-nice that all the interior and even hardware is black.
-nice to work with so far, haven't completed the build but there's plenty of tie-down areas for cable management and everything seems like it has some thought put to into it.
 
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