A Closer Look
The Meshroom-S has a similar size as most of the recently released gaming ITX SFF cases. The main difference is that inside, SSUPD managed to fit mATX or ATX size motherboard instead of only ITX. It makes it a very unique product, as I don’t think anyone else offers a similar case. It’s an advantage but is also related to many possible issues, which I will tell you in a while. Right now, let’s take a look at the exterior of the case.
The Meshroom-S is made mainly of steel. The side, top and front panels have a mesh finish. If we wish, then we can replace the side panels with tempered glass, but it will affect the temperature inside. This option is available in the SSUPD store.
The paint job seems pretty good. There are no scratches or bumps. However, it may scratch easily in places where we mount anything with screws, like a radiator in our build, so if we wish it to look perfect, then we have to plan everything so we won’t have to correct it.
The case comes without additional fans, so we have to buy them separately. However, if we decide on a custom water cooling option, then we probably won’t have space for any additional fans, or we will be limited to a 120mm slim fan on the top and 60mm fans on the back/side of the case.
Even though mesh panels help with cooling, then not every setup can have good airflow. If we want to use a high-wattage graphics card, then I recommend staying with the AIO CPU cooler and ITX motherboard, as the radiator next to the hot graphics card is so tightly installed that we can’t count on a cool or quiet PC.
Sadly, I can’t say that everything is perfect. The case has one obvious design flaw, which is too tight motherboard mount. As long as we won’t have a problem with ITX motherboards, then ATX or mATX requires one of the USB ports to be removed, or we have to put significant pressure during installation. SSUPD is aware of that, as it’s mentioned in the manual. I won’t hide that I can’t understand it as the product is designed for enthusiasts, and it’s the second revision, so it should have been corrected a long time ago. A very simple solution would be to make the case 2mm taller.
Exactly the same issue can be with some motherboards which are not in the perfect ATX or mATX size. Our motherboard touches the front panel, but if it was 1mm wider, then we couldn’t close the case.
One more issue which I noticed is too long screws on the back of the case and also near the PCIe riser mounting spots. It made it impossible to install the radiator without scratching it, and also I had to cover the screw on the back of the motherboard with a small pad, so it won’t scratch the graphics card during installation.
As long as the idea of installing an ATX or mATX motherboard in such a small chassis is interesting, then it’s hard to recommend it to anyone, as the PSU and PCIe riser are blocking most slots and sockets. 90° SATA ports are also all blocked. If we already have an ATX or mATX motherboard and we are searching for a small case for it, then the Meshroom-S is still an acceptable idea. However, if we are buying all components, then I highly recommend the ITX motherboard, which will be much easier for the installation, and we avoid some possible issues.
