Raijintek Metis Mini-ITX Aluminum Chassis Review

Introduction Raijintek are one of the hottest components brands right now, they've only been on the market a couple of years and they've already proven time and time again that they can do great things. Of all the CPU coolers and chassis products I've tested from the Raijintek range, every single one of them has been an award winner. They've shown that they can make exceptionally well-designed products, with great build quality, premium quality features and still maintain a budget friendly price tag; which obviously makes them very appealing to consumers. The chassis I'm reviewing today is the Metis, a mini-ITX cube style chassis with aluminium construction. There's a lot of mini-ITX chassis hitting the market over the last couple of years and their demand is still growing thanks to the booming LAN gaming market, as well as the need for sleek HTPC style systems and Steambox style system. The Metis comes in a wide range of colours, giving it a lot of appeal as it's easy to find one that best suits your taste and to colour match to the rest of your setup, with the added bonus of a luxurious brushed aluminium finish that should look great in any setting. http://youtu.be/l3gmm6rjVKA This chassis may be small, but as you can see from the specifications below, it's rather well equipped. dEspite its tiny size, it'll still handle a 170mm graphics card, an ATX power supply, a pair of 2.5" hard drives or a single 3.5" hard drive and a 120mm cooling fan. The brushed aluminium finish looks great from any angle and Raijintek has done a great job on the colour, the red really pops out and this is certainly a chassis you will want up on top of your desk where it can be seen. The left side panel is held in place by four small screws and there's a little extra ventilation to help improve airflow within the chassis. Many of us love to show off our build, so you'll be happy to know that you can get a Metis with a side panel window. If you don't want the window, you can get the Metis with another ventilated side panel; just like the one on the left side of the chassis. A nice clean look on the front of the chassis, with just a small Raijintek logo at the front and the nicely designed power button at the top. The curvy edges of the chassis look great, but I especially like the angled and polished edge of the front panel. On the top of the chassis you'll find a pair of USB 3.0 and HD audio ports, more than enough for a chassis of this size. Around the back you'll notice that the motherboard is mounted inverted, with the expansion slots at the top of the chassis. There's a PSU pass through cable at the back, since the PSU is mounted toward the front of the chassis. There's a range of rubber washers and keyhole cut-outs on the base of the chassis, this makes it nice and each to directly mount your hard drives to the base of the interior of the chassis. The PSU mounts vertically at the front of the chassis, as you can see from the huge cut-out there. There's also four thick rubber feet that will help reduce and vibrations from the chassis, whilst also stopping it from sliding around your desktop. Interior The interior of the chassis has a powder black finish that contrasts nicely with the colourful aluminium. The motherboard stand-offs are pre-installed and there's a good size CPU cooler mounting cut-out, so installation should be a quick and easy process. There's plenty of room in the bottom of the chassis for a few excess cables, as well as a couple of hard drives. There's no ventilation in the front of the chassis, so your PSU should be mounted with the fan facing towards the rear of the chassis. In the back of the Metis is a good quality 120mm fan that acts are an exhaust fan. There is a tiny bit of room behind the motherboard that could be used for cable routing, but perhaps only for flat cables or SATA cables. Complete System The Metis isn't the easiest chassis to work with, as it's very compact on the interior and cable routing space is limited. Despite its compact form factor, I was able to install our test components in about 20 minutes, with the only exception being that I've not used our test graphics card, the Sapphire R9 270X, as it's much longer than this chassis. I've used our low profile Cooler Master cooler, but you could easily install something bigger, perhaps even a 120mm AIO water cooler if you're feeling adventurous. The Seasonic power supply I used it quite big, so installing the cables was a little tricky, but there's a little room above the PSU for excess cables, even more so as I didn't install a graphics card. Airflow in the chassis is a little limited, with most of the airflow coming from the left side panel, but since this chassis isn't designed for ultra high-end components, that shouldn't really be a problem. With all panels back in place, we can see that the Metis is one great looking product. The components fit in easy enough and there's plenty of room on the interior for a compact gaming build. If I were to build my own rig in here, I'd certainly be looking at a compact GPU, as this would make a great LAN gaming battle box or HTPC style gaming system. Final Thoughts Price The Raijintek Metis mini-ITX chassis is available from Overclockers.co.uk for just £35.99 for the non-window model and just £39.99 for the windowed model which I reviewed today. The added bonus is that it's available in a wide range of colours, so you should have no problems finding one that best suits your needs. Overview Raijintek have done it again, they've created a stunning product that really stands out from the crowd, with a price tag that won't leave your wallet running for cover. I'm actually baffled how Raijintek manage to turn a profit given their highly competitive price tags. The Metis isn't an innovative product, mini-ITX cube style chassis are all over the place right now. However, it really does look stunning and in terms of design, there's nothing like it. Brushed aluminium is a great looking build material, as it gives a superb premium look and feel to a chassis, it's also strong and very lightweight, making it a perfect choice for a small chassis like this. The choice of colours is great and it's rare that we see so much choice from a new chassis product at launch. Typically I wouldn't have considered buying a red aluminium chassis, but after working with the Metis, I'm rethinking my stance on the matter. Build quality is exceptional, although I wouldn't have expected anything less from Raijintek. The side panel window is a great touch and while it does offer a nice view of the interior of the chassis, there's certainly a benefit to the standard panel, as it gives you a little extra ventilation for air flow. With support for an ATX power supply, a few hard drives, a compact graphics card and a good size CPU cooler, the Metis is a perfect choice for a compact gaming rig, HTPC or LAN rig; It's going to look great on your desk, next to your TV or where ever you need it. Perhaps Raijintek can release a future model with a small carry handle on the top and make the Metis even more portable than it already is. Pros Lightweight design Durable build quality Premium look and feel Great range of colors to choose from Easy to work with Competitive price Cons None Neutral GPU space is limited, but that's obviously something you can take into consideration when picking your components "The Raijintek Metis is sleek, stylish and affordable. If you need a compact chassis that's light enough to pick up and take with you, but big enough to house a decent gaming rig, the Metis is perfect for the job" Thank you Overclockers for providing us with this sample.