I’ll admit, I used to be one among the first to snort at the $869 Mac Pro wheels, however I’m not laughing anymore.
After jerry-rigging some previous casters to my PC tower, I see the enchantment, however past that, having the skill to customise my PC has been one among my favorite elements about proudly owning it. So, I feel it’s time to point out some appreciation to the Cooler Master Q300L.
A case with many types
My first PC construct began in the shell of my Grandma’s previous PC. She had graduated from taking part in Solitaire on PC to iPad and by no means appeared again. Not that it issues a lot, however after sinking numerous hours into Reader Rabbit, Roller Coaster Tycoon and Stronghold Crusader, that pc felt like a enjoyable place to begin in my trendy PC journey.
I used that case for a number of years, however in the finish, its cooling capability wasn’t nice and having the aspect panel propped open all the time to fight this wasn’t the most aesthetically pleasing.
So, throughout the 2020 COVID work-from-home growth, I lastly upgraded most of my pc and constructed it in the Q300L. It was an excellent worth of round $50 once I purchased it and was smaller than numerous different circumstances that included assist for full-sized parts. It got here with magnetic mud filters, however finally, I used to be drawn to the case with out them because it supplied some industrial aptitude.
The plastic aspect panel was additionally up my alley because it meant I didn’t want to fret about it shattering when transferring the pc. The materials is flimsy and scratches simply, however I’ll take that over glass once I can. Plus, I typically take into consideration drilling a small grid of holes into the plastic and portray it silver to match the remainder of the PC since I don’t actually like wanting inside and would slightly have uniformity.
Then, in 2022, my girlfriend Alex constructed the Teenage Engineering Computer-1. This spurred me into customization mode, and I made a decision to color my pc a salmon/orange color. At the time, it was enjoyable, nevertheless it by no means turned out like I wished. This can be once I eliminated the black plastic bumpers from the corners of the PC, which helped with the industrial look.
To emulate Alex’s PC on a bigger scale, I additionally bolted some drawer handles to the high. This time, I forgot so as to add them till I had already rebuilt the inside, so that they sat offset for fairly some time. During this reno, I additionally added some greenback retailer LED strips inside the case. These look cool in photographs, however they’re actually convoluted to regulate since it’s essential to use an included distant. Plus, at any time when I unplug my PC and plug it again in, the lights flash pink, inexperienced, blue till I reset them with the controller.
The ultimate addition was a ball-head from an previous tripod so I might mount a digicam to the pc for vlogging. This was a cool thought, however solely labored with the PC in a single spot subsequent to my desk.
I didn’t keep a fan of the orange for lengthy, and in December of 2022, I made a decision to sand it off and let the uncooked metallic actually intensify the industrial feeling that initially drew me to the case. This is my favorite look to date and helped give the PC some sci-fi aptitude alongside the industrial nature. I did have to do some touch-ups with silver spray paint, however total, I’m very pleased with it.
All that was lacking have been the wheels.
The journey with the wheels began once I put casters on my TV stand a number of years in the past. This made it simpler to maneuver the TV in the direction of the sofa for gaming or round the home for taking tv photos for MobileSyrup. Overall, it’s a pleasant little bit of comfort, however the authentic wheels I purchased have been a contact too small, so that they’ve been sitting quietly in my basement ready for this second.
Due to the nature of my case being lined in holes, I might bolt the wheels to my PC, however that requires a fan and my energy provide to come back out, and I wasn’t feeling up that. Therefore, I simply caught them on with some double-sided Gorilla tape as a beta take a look at. It labored properly sufficient, and with the ability to transfer my PC simply from my workplace to the front room has made me use my modded Optiplex quite a bit much less.
There’s not a lot else to say about this aside from it additionally provides me a number of further inches of clearance on the backside of the case to usher in cool air — oh, and naturally, it seems to be cool. It does make the case taller, nevertheless it’s solely about as huge as a regular case now because it began out barely smaller.
This case deserves extra love
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Beyond that, it is a good time to speak about how a lot I’ve liked the Cooler Master Q300L case over the previous few years. While the perforated panels herald much less exterior air than you’d count on, the case continues to be a really strong contender for its low worth of round $75. Plus, as I’ve discovered over the previous couple of years, it’s perfect for customizing.
I’m very excited to see if Cooler Master meaningfully improves upon it with the new Q300L V2 that’s set to hit retailer cabinets later this yr. That mentioned, the authentic model continues to be on sale and must be sufficient for anybody trying to construct a smaller-than-average gaming pc with out it wanting an excessive amount of like a typical gaming PC.
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…. to be continued
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