The 3 Amigos – NUC, LIAN LI, and Cooler Master
Today I wanted to look at the Cooler Master Elite 110 and compare it a bit to some other cases.
Let’s see how its foot print measures up to some familiar cases. I stacked it up to the Intel NUC5i7RYH and my Lian Li PC-Q25 and surprisingly the Elite 110 is like a big cube that is reminiscent of older Shuttle cases. The size is nice for a small foot print PC but depending on your use it may be too bulky for appliance based work. One thing I did note the manufacture states the case is 20.8 mm but my measurements are coming out close to 21.2 mm
Note: I used my Lian Li case for my FreeNAS build, it’s a great case for those wanting to build a NAS (Click here for more PICS)
Inside the Elite 110, there are your standard edge cables (USB, Audio, Switches, and lights). The Power button is located in front bottom center and is the Cool Master logo. On the right hand side are all your typical USB 3.0, Audio, Reset and HDD LED.
The case allows for a maximum of 3 x 3.5″ or 4 x 2.5″ disk drives. You can also work this into different combinations. For example – 3 x 3.5″ HDD and 1 x 2.5″ SDD, could make a VSAN Hybrid combination or 3 x 2.5″ SDD for VSAN All Flash and 1 x 3.5″ for the boot disk.
The mount point for these disk drives can be mount to the lefthand side and top. When mounting the disks I found it better to mount the SATA and power connectors to the rear.
Top Mount – Allows for 2 x 3.5″ or 2 x 2.5″. In the photo below I’m using 1 x 3.5″ and 1 x 2.5″
Left Side Mount – Only allows for 1 x 3.5″ or 2 x 2.5″ disk drives. In this photo I’m showing the 3.5″ disk mounted in its only position and the 2.5″ disk is unmounted to show some of the mount points.
The Rear of the case will allow for a standard ATX power supply, which sticks out about an inch. The case also supports two PCI Slots which should be enough for most ITX motherboards with one or two PCI Slots.
Inside we find only 4 Motherboard pre-threaded mount points and a 120 mm fan. The fans power cable can connect to the power supply or to your motherboard.
Quick Summary – The Elite 110 is a nice budget case. Depending on your use case it could make a nice case for your home lab, NAS server or even a VSAN box. Its footprint is a bit too big for those appliance-based needs and the case metal is thin. I don’t like the fact there are only 4 mount points for your motherboard, this is great for an ITX Single PCI Slot but not so good for Dual. This is not a fault of the Elite 110 but more of an ATX/mATX/ITX standards problem. With no mount points for the second PCI slot it puts a lot of pressure on your motherboard during insertion. This could lead to cards being miss-inserted.
Overall for the $35 I spent on this case it’s a pretty good value. Further photos can be found here on NewEgg and if you hurry the case is $28 with a rebate.
Manufacture Links:
- Cooler Mater – http://www.coolermaster.com/case/mini-itx-elite-series/elite110/
- Lian Li – http://www.lian-li.com/pc-q25/
- Intel NUC – https://ark.intel.com/products/87570/Intel-NUC-Kit-NUC5i7RYH
If you like my ‘no-nonsense’ blog articles that get straight to the point… then post a comment or let me know… Else, I’ll start writing boring blog content.
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