Cougar recently launched the QBX mini ITX case. The small form factor chassis is aimed squarely at gamers and enthusiasts looking for a high performance PC in a tiny box.
The QBX is a completely black angular case measuring 7” x 10.2” x 14.5” packed with filtered vents. Front I/O is fairly standard including two USB 3.0 and two audio jacks. The case supports both air and water cooling while holding a ton of hardware. Specifically, the QBX is built to host Mini ITX motherboards, standard size (140mm) ATX power supplies, dedicated graphics cards (350mm), and CPU coolers up to 105mm tall. As far as storage, the QBX can hold a single 3.5” hard drive and four 2.5” solid state drives as well as a single vertically mounted slim optical drive.
The case comes pre-installed with a single 90mm rear fan, and users can install up to six additional fans on the front, top, and side panels. The front and bottom vents have removable dust filters. A 120mm or 240mm radiator can be installed on the left side panel, but at most you can install one 120mm fan to cool the radiator.
Cougar has engineered the case such that the power supply draws in cool air from the right side panel and exhausts it out of the top of the case to prevent adding extra heat to the system (it will be difficult enough to cool high end components in such a small case). Further, removing the left side panel reveals a hinged bracket that holds a fan (or the water cooling radiator) as well as the 3.5” drive bay and two 2.5” bays. Note that with a 240mm radiator installed, you will only be able to access a single 2.5” bay. This is a neat design but installing the CPU block of a closed loop water cooler is going to be a challenge depending on the length of the tubing.
There is some space behind the motherboard try to hide cables but you will likely need to do some custom cabling to not have it ultimately look like a rats nest considering how small this case is and how little area you have to work with, especially if you do end up installing all seven fans and five disk drives!
The Cougar QBX has an MSRP of $60 and will be available soon. More information can be found on this product page. Hopefully we can get one in for review to see how it stacks up to the Ncase M1 and Lian Li PC-Q33 Mini ITX cases.
Look at that – a large NCASE
Look at that – a large NCASE M1! (Essentially)
Yeah, a little bit larger,
Yeah, a little bit larger, but I still feel the ncase is better ( at least I can install 240mm radiator with two fans, not only one like this )
But I liked the idea of standard 140mm ATX PSU and more 2.5″ hdd’s
What do you need a 240mm rad
What do you need a 240mm rad for? your CPU? I have a mini ITX case and the most crucial thing is keeping the GPU cool. CPU does fine with a 120mm.
“What do you need a 240mm rad
“What do you need a 240mm rad for? your CPU?”
Combined loop for CPU and GPU. 240mm is more than enough for any single CPU and GPU, even with overclocking.
I like this layout… I look
I like this layout… I look forward to seeing someone review these.
who would want to use a
who would want to use a spinning 2.5 those don’t have desktop drive lifespans
I do. For space (against
I do. For space (against 3.5″) and capacity (against SSD). Great for small cases and small form factor PCs they are. But of course, the capacity reasoning will eventually be countered by lower SSD’s cost per GB. When it does no more mechanical, yay.
Look at the image if the PSU
Look at the image if the PSU is mounted with exhaust on top, that would least with setup in the 2nd picture make not able to fit that gpu cause the power cables outta the psu would obstruct it. Would need a small video card or psu. I am on fence of having to build a machine dedicated for a certain work load, this at 60$ would be great buy to build a small machine that doesn’t needed dedicated video card.
Yeah or maybe you could do
Yeah or maybe you could do custom cables that come out at right angles, or do you think the plugs/connectors would nto be able to be made small/short enough? In any case, yes it is definitely going to be tight! I guess you could void the warranty and mod the PSU to send the cable bundle out of the side :P.
Other than the hideous cougar
Other than the hideous cougar badge that should be v.simple to get rid of, its a very nice looking case. Def in contention for my itx build that I’m currently eyeing the phanteks evolve itx. Review please!
still too big – I had a
still too big – I had a choice of CM elite 110 or Sugo SG13
I went with adapted sg13 500w SFXL (with adapter) I7 & evga SC gtx980 watercooled alphacool UT60 140mm+FF5 Vardar
I wish I had the space to go for a longer case but simply couldn’t
It looks like a lovely case and if you have the flexibility on depth then are some great ITX cases around that length
Hows about an mATX version using a 600w SFX PSU if my read of the space that in the chassis is correct that should be possible.
Finally a cheaper version of
Finally a cheaper version of the ncase m1! This looks great if it has decent build quality and availability.