W
e werequitefondofCooler
Master’spreviousmini-ITX
cases.TheElite 120 andElite
130 werecompact,low-riding,butstill
hadroomenoughforlongGPUsand
ATXPSUs.However,withtheElite210,
thingsgota littletrickier,witha smaller
chassiscuttingtheGPUlengthtoa paltry
210mm,althoughit didstillofferroom
foranAIOliquidcooler.TheMasterCase
H100is anotherverysmallmini-ITX
casefromCoolerMaster,whichis
differentagain.It’smoreofa small
towercomparedwithitspredecessors,
althoughit barelytops300mminany
dimension.However,theaddedheight
hasn’tbeenputtoparticularlygooduse.
Therearethreeorfourinchesabovethe
motherboardthatseemstobelargelywastedspace,
witha meshventintheroofaboveit. To
therearis a carryhandle,butthisis inset
intothecase.Thismeansthere’snothing
protruding,butit doesresultina case
that’sseveralinchestallerthanit needs
tobe.Hardwaresitsina similarposition
toa towercasetoo,withtheexception
ofthePSU,whichis mountedinour
leastfavouritepositionandoverhangs
themotherboard,sittingverticallyand
protrudingouttherearofthecase.This
meansthattogetatyourmotherboard,
you’llneedtoremovethePSU,which
canmakethingstrickyif youneedto
swapouthardwareoryouforgotto
connectsomething.It woulddefinitely
benefitfromusinganSFXPSU.
Whilethere’sroomforsizeableATX
PSUs– incrediblyour180mm-long
CorsairRM850ifittedfine– there’s
morewastedspacebetweenthe
frontfanandthemotherboard.
There’salreadyplentyofroomtomount a radiator here, so the evidence for the case using
itsspace rather ineffectively is easy to find. That’s not to
sayit’s not cute, though, as it feels a lot like a mini Cosmos
case.The trouble is, it feels like Cooler Master has simply
lopped off a third of Cosmos and moulded it into a mini-ITX
chassis, rather than building something from the ground
up,which is essential with a mini-ITX case. It’s what made
itspredecessors so popular.
The GPU length limit is also very restrictive at 210mm,
butthere’s plenty of short PCB graphics cards out there,
although the most powerful you’ll likely get to fit is a GeForce
RTX2060 Super. There’s not a great deal of clearance
beneath the graphics card either and weirdly, Cooler Master
hasn’t opted to put a vent here. Instead, the base of the
caseis home to one shared 2.5in/3.5in drive mount and
onededicated 2.5in mount. It would have been far better
tomount these in the roof. As it stands, the GPU lacks
ventilation and the hard disk restricts its airflow further.
Flipping the layout 180 degrees, so the GPU’s cooling fan
points at the roof, would have worked too. There’s a further
two2.5in mounts in a removeable tray that sits on the side
ofthe chassis, but again, better use of the space would likely
allowfor at least another 3.5in mount.REVIEWS / CASE
SPEC
Dimensions (mm)
216 x 312 x 301 (W x D x H)
Material
Steel, plastic
Available colours
Black, iron grey
Weight
3.3kg
Front panel
Power, reset 2 x USB 3.0, stereo, mic
Drive bays
1 x 2.5/3.5in, 3 x 2.5in
Form factor(s)
Mini-ITX
Cooling
1 x 120mm/140mm/200mm front
fan mounts (1 x 200mm fan included),
fan mount (140mm fan included)
CPU cooler clearance
83mm
Maximum graphics card length
210mmCOOLER MASTER
MASTERCASE H100/£
SUPPLIER ebuyer.comMINIITX CASE
e
td/£ 52 incVAT