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Fractal Design Meshify Mini C
Understated, high airflow, compact.. and some tempered glass.
Not long after the 2016 release of their immensely popular Define C case, Fractal Design revealed both MicroATX and tempered glass versions of that chassis. If you wish, you can look over Guru3D's review of the original Define C here. We liked the chassis, for sure, and I'll admit I have a major soft spot for Fractal Design's entire visual aesthetic. The ATX mid-tower Meshify C, however, was the first in a line of cases marked as a return to 'airflow' orientated designs, sporting a very funky tessellated mesh front panel. This natural continuation, the MicroATX version of the original case, continues the traditions of it's bigger brother and... cousins? Tempered glass, high airflow, compact design, and full sized ATX PSU support, what's not to like?
Like the full-sized Meshify C, the micro version comes with two pre-installed 120mm fans. There are further options to mount another 120mm fan here, or 2x 140mm units. The top allows 2x 120mm fans (or a 240mm radiator), and the rear slot - as seems to be traditional in all but the largest cases - allows for a single 120mm radiator, although this is where the second pre-installed fan sits. Although this is a Fractal case, the presence of their top mounted ModuVent cover is absent. The Meshify cases are built for airflow, and where there was a solid (yet removable) cover, there is now - instead - only a magnetic dust filter.
The case also comes with Fractal Designs usual goodies. A full sized PSU shroud, excellent (claimed) cable management options, and solid build quality. Air coolers are limited to 172mm in height, though this realistically should allow all but the tallest units out there. Each panel that isn't glass features sound dampening foam that is pleasingly thick, as well. For those silence types out there (I am one), this is a welcome addition in a case that has never once screamed (ironically) 'built for quiet.'
Graphics cards of up to 315mm are able to be installed, which - again - means that unless you have a particularly large GPU, you'll be fine. I would take this moment to say that - having built in the original Define C before - you may well face 'a tight fit' if you begin to add front-mounted radiators to the case. I was able to just fit a Corsair H100i V2 and EVGA GTX 1080 FTW2 into the case, but with around 2cm to spare. Something to bear in mind. Finally, storage options are either 5x 2.5'' SSDs, or 3x 2.5'' SSDs and 2x 3.5'' HDDs. The HDD tray is, as is fairly common, behind the motherboard tray toward the front of the case, with two trays each housing sound dampening rubber grommets. All drive cages that can support 3.5'' drives can take the latest 6TB+ drives following enterprise mounting standards.
Take a look at the case below (in all it's micro glory), and we shall move on.
