TL;DR: A good sized, stylish case with decent airflow and cooling options that had one weird design issue.
So I needed a mid tower that could hold a longer graphics card, stay cool, and I wanted something besides the typical black box. I did some research and came across the 230t. Seemed to have everything I needed. The smaller form factor but still all the space I needed to get everything in. I recently built a system in it so I figured I would tell people how it was to build a system with this case.
So standoffs were pre-installed for ATX motherboards so that is a huge plus for me. I am an outside builder so I had it all running and just dropped it in with no problem.
Next I seated the power supply. Had a bit of an issue there but the space for it is just very snug so I actually appreciate that. Lots of holes through to the back of the case for cable management with sensable tie down points for your zip ties or whatever you want to use. The only thing I need is for the holes to have some sort of grommet around them. They did roll the edges so they aren't sharp but it does make it look better with the grommets than an empty hole. I should mention a huge plus for this case is that all of the edges are rolled steel so no cuts on this case.
Next I installed my drives. 2 2TB mechanical drives and 1 256gb ssd. I love tool less drive bays but I did have an issue here. So the 3.5in drives slide in with their power and data ports towards the opposite side panel so it is easy to access them. The ssds pop into a slot on top of the drive cage that points their ports towards the back of the case making it extremely difficult to connect SATA power and data when you've got a longer graphics card like I've got. I ended up putting my SSD on a sled and using one of the 3.5in bays for convenience. Just seemed like an odd chioice
The included case fans are decent and quiet enough. I included 2 more. One on the CPU cooler, a Hyper 212 Evo, and one on the top. So I've got a pretty good airflow and I ran HeavyLoad for an hour and never got over 100F for my whole build. So it cools pretty well if you set your flow up right.
All in all a really good case. I don't feel like talking a star off for the SSD options but if I could give half stars this would be a 4.5
I bought this case used from an Amazon Warehouse deal so it was obviously a return. It was marked as having damage on the rear panel and damage to the original box. I was a bit wary but had good success from these deals in the past and was very pleased with the condition of the product. The box did have damage but it was just cardboard so I was gonna throw it away anyway. The case its self was immaculate not a single blemish I could see.
| Number of USB 3.0 Ports | 2 |
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