Xigmatek Eris EN6305 Black Steel/ABS Mini-ITX Mini Tower Computer Case EN6305

Built a new machine to use in my lab where bench space is tight. This case has the perfect combination of features in a package that takes up the least shelf space, yet is easy to work on and plenty of internal space for expansion. The power supply sits in the bottom front with the switch hiding behind the plastic fascia. Can't get at the switch, but who needs the rocker switch on the power supply anymore? Space above motherboard is completely open with lots of ventilation. Bracket above motherboard can mount additional hard drives, but the primary hard drive mounts under the DVD and above the power supply. This sounds tight, but it was really easy to get at everything. Top, bottom and both sides come off with just two thumb screws each. Front panel USB 3.0 ports terminate in a single 20-pin plug. My motherboard has 4 USB 2.0 headers that do not mate with the 20-pin plug. Just ordered a PCIe 7 port USB 3.0 expansion card with 5 ports on the back and a header for the 20-pin for the two front USB 3.0 ports. Perfect for a lab computer with USB oscilloscopes, logic analyzers and debug adapters hanging off it. Fans are really quiet. Speaking of quiet, the new Silverstone mini-ATX power supply I used for this build gives me really clean oscilloscope traces, which was the reason for ditching the old case and power supply. The ad hints at brushed aluminum for the front panel. It is ABS as the title says, but it looks like a big block of machined and brush finished aluminum. I wish I needed another computer so I could buy another one of these!

Pros:Spacious interior, plenty of fan mounting options, decent metalwork and surface finish.Cons: The positioning of the power supply is awkward. There is much dead / unusable volume, so this case could be organized better.And here the reason why I give this bottom rating:All front-panel cables are too short! While I only could get the audio header just to fit nicely, the LED and Switch headers barely fit pulling them diagonally through the case, it looks ugly, and they are tense. And last: The 20pin USB3.0 header doesn't make it. If they had given it just 10cm more, it would work. So this case is a no-go for a standard MSI A88XI AC V2 MoBo.You should expect otherwise from a $65 case. It is extremely frustrating to start mounting the interior and then discover that you have to go out and find an USB3.0 extension header - at a price of at least $10 - just to mitigate the careless design of this case.

The form factor is pretty nice and compact. Being able to remove all sides was a plus as well. However, the cables leading from the power button\led\reset and USB 3 ports on the front panel were woefully short. While the description stated that it would support a water cooler, realistically, there isn't enough room without some dangerous cable cramming.

First I would like to point out that many reviews mention the short front i/o plugs in the case and while they are short the case I received came with extension cables for that problem.Pros:+ Supports the longest of modern graphics cards on the market+ Comes with a pre-installed ATX to SFX power supply adapter+ 5.25" drive bay for optical drive of hardware monitor (uncommon with ITX cases)Cons- limited drive options (3.5" drive/120mm fan bracket could have fit 2 2.5" drives without need of adapters). You cannot do a top fan, a 3.5" drive and an optical drive at the same time.- installed front i/o cables are short (though it did come with extensions)- installed 80mm fan is not PWM. It is loud, remove immediately.General thoughts:There are some things that could have made this case better. I think a 120mm fan could have fit on the back of the case but they decided to go with an 80mm fan instead. probably a structural thing but a 120mm fan could have fit. The front i/o cables do make installing a long graphics card more work than it needed to be but that is my fault for using a long graphics card. Only the top and bottom vents are filtered. I would have preferred to use negative air pressure to pull the air away from the graphics card. Filtering the side vents rather than just the top would have been nice. I'm gonna hve to fix that. The top and bottom panels are able to be swapped and that is not a good thing. I made that mistake and it is my mistake, but it is one that could have been prevented on the manufacturing side by changing the points for the holes for the screws.If you know what you are getting into then this case can work great. Many of the negatives I saw did not apply to the build I wanted to do, but they were things I saw where the case could have been made better. Not real dealbreakers though.My build:Gigabyte H81N ITX motherboardIntel i5-4690kGigabyte Windforce Nvidia GTX 980 tiCorsair 600W 80+Gold modular SFX power supply.Sandisk 480GB SSDKingston 60GB mSATA SSDLG DVD R+/- optical drive

Sexy little case. A bit tight around the back of the PSU, I would have hated the build if I had not had a modular PSU.

Pros: Beautiful box. Aesthetic. Plenty of space inside to work with.Cons:Front Panel cables too short. USB 3.0 needs an extension header.This is a beautiful box that you can wear on your desk, yet has a big problem. The cables that connect the front panel USB 3.0 ports on the motherboard are too short and do not reach Gigabyte motherboard header. You will need to spend another $?? to get an extension header. (I bought SIENOC). The power switch, the power LED and reset must pass almost above the range processor diagonally. If you don't gently pull the cables you could even bend the pin header.

Love this case, very compact, excellent cooling performance.

great case work well for a HTPC i got 3 to setup with 2 ceton tuners for live tv