Cooler Master Elite 130 Mini-ITX Chassis Review

Complete System

The total build took me 25 minutes to complete, working inside this case can be somewhat tricky though and I wouldn’t be surprised if it took most people much longer to get everything installed. The end result still looks great though, not that cable routing and internal design is too important, given that the chassis has no windows, all that really matters is its function and airflow.

Having the PSU above the motherboard does limit the maximum height of the CPU cooler, so it will be essential to invest in a reliable low profile cooler for the build, although with a little care you could even install a 120mm AIO water cooler on the front fan mount.

The rubber washers that were included screw onto the bottom of your drives and this allows you to mount them in the keyhole cutouts, the rubber washers are also great at reducing vibration on mechanical drives, but of course that won’t make a difference for SSD’s.

It took a little work to get cables routed around the case to keep airflow clear, but there are plenty of cable tie loops throughout the case to help you tie things down. Things may get a little chaotic with more storage installed, but there will still be plenty of clearance from the front and side fans to keep your components cooled.

The PSU and the GPU layout works really well, and their orientation means that the GPU takes airflow from the left side panel, while the PSU take its airflow from the top panel, independent of the airflow from the front and side fans which will only be needed to cool storage and motherboard components.

With everything back in place the chassis looks nice and clean, and you can just about see the GPU through the side panel. Of course once you slot this chassis into your TV stand as a HTPC or SteamBox style build, you’ll only see that very presentable front panel. Overall a very nice looking case with some great capabilities.