Pros
– Fully featured water cooling case for mITX builds
– Supports a huge variety of radiator (and other) setups
– 3 slot GPU support
– Built like a tank, but yet light weight thanks to the use of aluminum
– Customizable options to configure the case exactly as you want, and you only pay for what you want
– Large enough to work on easily, but not wasteful of space
Cons
– Processing times to fulfil orders is now quite high
– Shipping from California to outside the US can be expensive and resellers don’t carry all the options
– Still surprisingly large for a mITX case
– 3 slot gpu support also make this wider than it needs to be
How would we configure the S3?
If you don’t need to use the flexbays for more than a fan controller we would recommend the setup we have shown with two thin 240 radiators with only one bank of fans. This should be enough to cool most mITX setups even with a powerful beast of a GPU like a R9-295×2. However if you need the flexbays for HDDs or optical drives we would suggest using a single thicker 280 radiator only and possibly getting the extended top in order to run push/pull with such a radiator. The thicker radiator and additional fans will help keep coolant temperatures low when only running one radiator.
Summary – Gold Award
The S3 is simply put the best and most fully featured and customizable case for a high end mITX build. There is nothing that comes close to it. While larger and more expensive than the competition it’s not unjustifiably so for either. Indeed the size is almost perfect – not too big to make it hard to work with nor too small to compromise on features. Our only niggle is that we would favor losing the 3rd pcie slot but that is all we can fault. The only real complaints we can make is that the processing times have been growing over time and that although the reseller network is growing, it can still be hard (or costly therefore) to buy the case in some international markets. The aesthetics of course are a matter for an individual but we appreciate the minimalist look. We do think the shape could have been less boxy but the proportions and layout are spot on. If you are looking for an mITX case you will not be disappointed in the S3.
Where to buy: $180+ CaseLabs or if you’re in a hurry and don’t want to customize – PPCS
