1 00:00:07,359 --> 00:00:15,920 Welcome to my unboxing and first look at the Cooler Master Elite 120 Advanced. 2 00:00:12,960 --> 00:00:21,119 This is an ITX case that exists within a very small form 3 00:00:18,279 --> 00:00:26,320 factor compared to some of its competition which is ITX but actually 4 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:28,560 has a much sort of bigger form factor. I think hopefully we know. Okay, you know 5 00:00:27,760 --> 00:00:34,719 what? I'm just going to say it. So, the Bit Fenix Prodigy is sort of that hot ITX case that lots of people are talking 6 00:00:32,480 --> 00:00:37,760 about, but my observation about the Bit Phoenix Prodigy is that it's really cool 7 00:00:36,239 --> 00:00:41,600 and everything, but it's actually not that small. I mean, you could you could 8 00:00:40,160 --> 00:00:46,800 easily, if you look at the internal layout of the Prodigy, you could actually fit an MATX board in there 9 00:00:45,280 --> 00:00:53,280 without making the case really any bigger. So, what if you wanted a truly 10 00:00:50,399 --> 00:00:58,480 small ITX system that can still accept a fair amount of hardware, has great 11 00:00:55,199 --> 00:01:00,480 cooling, and is very inexpensive? So, 12 00:00:58,480 --> 00:01:03,440 the Elite 12 might be the case for you. Let's take a quick look at what Cooler 13 00:01:01,840 --> 00:01:08,960 Master has to say for themselves. So, we're not going to worry too much about this. We'll get to that later. And 14 00:01:06,479 --> 00:01:13,520 nothing. And aha, supports up to three fans for 15 00:01:10,760 --> 00:01:19,040 extreme cooling. If I have a pen in my pocket, I'm going to circle that because 16 00:01:15,280 --> 00:01:20,880 that's obviously extreme. Okay. MiniITX 17 00:01:19,040 --> 00:01:24,080 with ATX power supply support for easy upgrades. This is really important. 18 00:01:22,560 --> 00:01:28,400 Aluminum finish on the front panel. Okay, cool. So, let's uh get this going 19 00:01:27,200 --> 00:01:34,520 here. I'm going to put that pen away because nothing else could be extreme 20 00:01:30,960 --> 00:01:36,960 enough to justify that pen ever 21 00:01:34,520 --> 00:01:39,960 again. I'm not teasing anybody here. I just really did think it was that 22 00:01:38,159 --> 00:01:46,640 extreme. Um, okay. I I didn't I was 23 00:01:43,159 --> 00:01:48,640 teasing. So guys, to be clear, there's 24 00:01:46,640 --> 00:01:53,040 nothing extreme cooling about an ITX enclosure. If you can get things running 25 00:01:50,720 --> 00:01:57,520 cool enough to, you know, overclock a little bit, then like that's fantastic. 26 00:01:55,280 --> 00:02:00,240 But don't uh don't be too don't be too worried if you don't get like the 27 00:01:58,799 --> 00:02:04,000 maximum overclock that you would have seen on a regular ATX or larger 28 00:02:02,000 --> 00:02:08,239 enclosure. Um, you know, there's awesome cases from the likes of Cooler Master 29 00:02:06,719 --> 00:02:11,680 that will be more appropriate for extreme cooling like the half XM. All 30 00:02:10,399 --> 00:02:17,040 right, so the front of the case, this is quite nice, actually. So, they've got an aluminum finish here. Two USB 2.0 ports, 31 00:02:15,520 --> 00:02:22,400 as well as a microphone and headphone jack, one USB 3 port, reset switch, and 32 00:02:20,800 --> 00:02:26,080 power switch. And then you've got one 5 and 1/4 in bay, which will look quite 33 00:02:24,480 --> 00:02:30,000 nice with kind of a black frame around it once you put a black uh optical drive 34 00:02:28,160 --> 00:02:35,200 in there. On the bottom of the case, you find some 35 00:02:32,040 --> 00:02:37,200 feet and some black paint. Okay. On the 36 00:02:35,200 --> 00:02:41,360 other side of the case, you find some air ventilation. So, that is kind of 37 00:02:38,879 --> 00:02:46,400 extreme. Okay. So, you've got vents that run all across both sides and the top of 38 00:02:44,879 --> 00:02:49,840 the case. And this one looks kind of cool cuz it seems to have a bit of a 39 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:53,680 filter thing going on. Now, this is how they achieved the full ATX power supply 40 00:02:52,000 --> 00:03:01,120 compatibility. Now, I actually don't mind this. I built myself um a miniIT or 41 00:02:57,120 --> 00:03:03,680 rather microATX system and a Silverstone 42 00:03:01,120 --> 00:03:09,040 S01. And in order to get a triple rad going in that system, I had to put both 43 00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:11,200 the radiator and the fans and as kind of 44 00:03:09,040 --> 00:03:14,480 like an external sort of protrusion out of the case, I had cut open the top of 45 00:03:12,800 --> 00:03:20,400 the case and then I put that there and I ran the tubes down the back and then into the case. And I don't mind that 46 00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:24,800 sort of a little bit of bulge thing in order to achieve an overall cleaner, 47 00:03:22,480 --> 00:03:29,360 tighter, tighter form factor. So, some people might not like it. I'm I'm a fan. 48 00:03:27,519 --> 00:03:35,360 Um, okay. Got some more ventilation holes. got your two two expansion slots. 49 00:03:32,480 --> 00:03:38,799 However, this ITX will only have one actual expansion card you can fit. 50 00:03:37,040 --> 00:03:42,400 Cooler Master seems to be assuming that you're going to be using that slot for a 51 00:03:41,040 --> 00:03:47,440 graphics card. So, these are really tight. I'm going to need to grab my screwdriver. And we're back. And while I 52 00:03:45,920 --> 00:03:52,120 was removing the screws, I noticed that the case has water cooling holes, or 53 00:03:50,239 --> 00:03:55,840 more specifically, it has one, which means that if you actually 54 00:03:54,319 --> 00:04:00,319 did have an external water cooling setup, you would be able to get the tube 55 00:03:57,360 --> 00:04:04,879 there, but not back. or back but not there. So, that's a very strange strange 56 00:04:03,360 --> 00:04:08,799 thing to do, but uh you know, hey, Cooler Master works in mysterious ways. 57 00:04:07,200 --> 00:04:13,040 Um and realistically, you don't really need water cooling for your ITX system 58 00:04:11,040 --> 00:04:18,239 anyway. Most ITX boards with the exception of ASUS's Z77 board with like 59 00:04:15,840 --> 00:04:21,519 the beefy huge PWM on it aren't really capable of extreme overclocks anyway. 60 00:04:20,160 --> 00:04:27,680 So, there we go. We can have a closer look at all the ventilation that's going 61 00:04:23,199 --> 00:04:29,759 on in the uh in the enclosure here. And 62 00:04:27,680 --> 00:04:34,880 let's get the case open. So, what do we have in terms of 63 00:04:31,960 --> 00:04:38,040 expandability? So, we've got three 3 and 1/2 in drive bays, which we will have to 64 00:04:36,880 --> 00:04:44,560 try to find. Uh, there we are. And are we 65 00:04:41,919 --> 00:04:49,919 missing a sled? Hold on. I'll be back. Yeah, I derped. So, um, these are 2 and 66 00:04:47,360 --> 00:04:55,040 1/2 in adapters for the 3 and 1/2 in drive sleds that are attached to them. 67 00:04:52,560 --> 00:04:58,720 So, you can natively mount. Here we go. So, let's show you guys how quick it is 68 00:04:56,960 --> 00:05:02,960 to mount a hard drive in here. Although, I actually don't know which way they go. 69 00:05:00,880 --> 00:05:07,040 So, we're just going to guess. And we're going to guess that the uh connectors go 70 00:05:04,720 --> 00:05:07,040 at the 71 00:05:11,639 --> 00:05:17,160 back. There it is. So, this will go back 72 00:05:15,280 --> 00:05:22,960 in there because that's where it belongs. Go back. It's like that happy 73 00:05:19,759 --> 00:05:25,120 Gilmore scene. It's your home. Too good 74 00:05:22,960 --> 00:05:29,199 for your home. has to go in the hole like the ball. Okay. Anyway, um so we'll 75 00:05:27,520 --> 00:05:33,919 put that in there. And that is how you mount hard drives in the Elite 120 76 00:05:31,680 --> 00:05:38,000 Advanced. Um alternately, you can use these adapters then to mount 2 and 1/2 77 00:05:35,680 --> 00:05:42,880 in drives. So it natively supports three 3 and 1/2 in or up to four 2 and 1/2 in 78 00:05:41,280 --> 00:05:47,919 drives. So two of those drives are with these adapters here and two of them are 79 00:05:45,440 --> 00:05:53,759 somewhere else. And we are going to go on a voyage of discovery to find out 80 00:05:51,039 --> 00:05:58,560 where those other 2 and 1/2 in hard drives go. And we're going to do that 81 00:05:56,639 --> 00:06:02,880 voyage of discovery off camera because I really can't tell. And it was actually 82 00:06:01,039 --> 00:06:07,759 Slick who figured this out, which just boggled my mind. Um, so you actually 83 00:06:05,520 --> 00:06:11,120 mount one 2 and 1/2 in drive up here. Then you flip it over and you screw in 84 00:06:09,600 --> 00:06:16,080 another 2 and 1/2 in drive from the bottom. So, using these two adapters, 85 00:06:13,680 --> 00:06:19,680 you can screw four 2 and 1/2 in drives into here. And then, I guess potentially 86 00:06:18,080 --> 00:06:24,639 you could do another uh you could do another three and a half inch. That's cool. That's that's actually 87 00:06:22,720 --> 00:06:28,560 outstanding. And then the 5 and 1/4 in drive is pretty self-explanatory. So, 88 00:06:26,479 --> 00:06:32,000 there's just a bay here and then you screw it in from either side. None of 89 00:06:30,080 --> 00:06:35,520 that fancy toolless stuff. I mean, this is a fairly inexpensive case considering 90 00:06:34,080 --> 00:06:41,039 all the cooling that you got going on here and all the features it has included. So, uh, let's have a look at 91 00:06:39,600 --> 00:06:46,639 cooling since they talk so much about the extreme cooling. So, there's one 120 92 00:06:43,919 --> 00:06:50,400 mm fan at the front and this gets air from, uh, who only knows where? Oh, 93 00:06:48,720 --> 00:06:57,120 yeah, there we go. Gets air from these vents here, here, and here. Okay. Blows 94 00:06:55,039 --> 00:07:02,319 air through the drive cages. Then you can mount an additional 120 mm fan here 95 00:07:00,400 --> 00:07:05,039 on the other side of this. Uh, assuming you don't have any components on your 96 00:07:03,599 --> 00:07:09,759 motherboard that are going to that are going to interfere with that in any way. 97 00:07:06,800 --> 00:07:14,960 Then you can have an additional 80 mm fan right here blowing right across the 98 00:07:11,840 --> 00:07:16,639 PWM on your motherboard as well as the 99 00:07:14,960 --> 00:07:20,400 CPU socket area. So that is an incredibly smart placement for that. And 100 00:07:18,800 --> 00:07:24,880 finally, you'll have your power supply fan built in. So you'll have up to four 101 00:07:22,800 --> 00:07:30,479 fans in the system that are actually actively working on exhaust and and 102 00:07:27,880 --> 00:07:35,039 intake. All your cables inside are black. Love to see this. They've also 103 00:07:32,560 --> 00:07:39,039 got all the power plugs are black right up to the connectors. So, it looks 104 00:07:37,440 --> 00:07:42,960 really, really, really sharp. You've got adapters for these fans as well. So, you 105 00:07:40,800 --> 00:07:46,960 can plug them into three pin connectors. There you go. There's adapter. Or you 106 00:07:44,720 --> 00:07:51,120 can use the Molex pass through internal USB 3, which is good to see again, 107 00:07:49,280 --> 00:07:56,560 especially on a more budgetoriented case. Uh HD audio USB 2. And I think 108 00:07:54,240 --> 00:08:02,000 that pretty much covers it. So, this I know guys, I've been promising my builds 109 00:07:58,960 --> 00:08:03,919 in the Prodigy and the FTO3 Mini for a 110 00:08:02,000 --> 00:08:08,000 while, but this is going to be part of our roundup because the FTO3 is our 111 00:08:06,240 --> 00:08:12,319 super small one, and I'd love to see how that one does in terms of cooling and 112 00:08:09,680 --> 00:08:16,720 performance. The Bitfenix Prodigy is sort of like a big miniITX case, so the 113 00:08:14,800 --> 00:08:21,039 cooling should be great, but it's kind of big. You know, it's not that like 114 00:08:18,720 --> 00:08:24,960 ITX, it's not that small. And then this is going to be like our more traditional 115 00:08:22,639 --> 00:08:28,000 ITX case, like our compromised one. and it's looking like it's going to be 116 00:08:26,319 --> 00:08:31,919 really really strong contender just based on the cooling options that it 117 00:08:30,000 --> 00:08:34,800 has. In terms of included accessories, you got some zip ties, you got some 118 00:08:33,360 --> 00:08:40,080 screws, and you got one more set of those drive rails. So, you'll have enough uh because two of them came 119 00:08:38,080 --> 00:08:43,919 pre-mounted on these adapters. Thank you for checking out my unboxing and first 120 00:08:41,760 --> 00:08:46,560 look at the Elite 120 Advanced. Don't forget to subscribe to Linus Tech Tips 121 00:08:45,279 --> 00:08:49,600 for more unboxings, reviews, and other computer videos.