NZXT Manta Mini ITX Mini-Tower Case Review

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The NZXT Manta combines curved steel, extensive water cooling support and smart fan control to create a cool and quiet MiniITX case. But with a $140 price tag weighing it down, can it still come out on top?

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Test Results And Conclusion

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22 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Daniel_225
    "Extensive Water Cooling Support" would have been nicely highlighted by building out your test system with...
    Reply
  • logainofhades
    Call me old school, but I still prefer to have a case with an actual external bay for optical drive. I don't like external drives, because it is just one more thing to clutter up my desk with.
    Reply
  • grimfox
    For a case like this It would have been great to include at least a slim drive capability. I'd really like to see these cases with "extensive water cooling support" at least get an AIO cooler installed even if only a 120mm rad to potentially show the benefits or ease of use of such and installation. I think that would change the metrics pretty substantially for noise and cooling making the value charts more competitive. I don't really think anyone is cross shopping a $140 case made for LC with a $70 case with an emphasis on air cooling.
    Reply
  • slashdot
    There are mATX case that is smaller than this oversized ITX case
    Reply
  • James Mason
    Call me old school, but I still prefer to have a case with an actual external bay for optical drive. I don't like external drives, because it is just one more thing to clutter up my desk with.
    Meh It depends entirely how much often you actually need an optical drive. I only use mine maybe once or twice a year, so the external USB DVDRW I got works great.
    Reply
  • logainofhades
    Which is why I would rather have an internal one, that is out of my way. External would be in the way, or I would put it somewhere, and forget where. :lol:
    Reply
  • James Mason
    17944920 said:
    Which is why I would rather have an internal one, that is out of my way. External would be in the way, or I would put it somewhere, and forget where. :lol:

    That's sounds like an organization issue :p

    I have multiple computers, they don't all need internal optical drives, if one needs access to a CD/DVD, I can use the external, but again, I really do only need it maybe once or twice a year.
    Reply
  • AlistairAB
    Marry the PC-Q10 with a Corsair SFX PSU and you couldn't be happier! I finally found a case that fits my components and doesn't take more space than my mATX case. Also looks really cool!
    Reply
  • AlistairAB
    The biggest problem with the Lian Li PC-Q10 are the drive mounts. I couldn't use the bottom ones with a large video card installed.

    But that turned out to be it's strength. Without any hard drives installed in the bottom, the GPU can draw air directly from outside, maybe this is why I achieve much better cooling results than in this article. 980ti and a single 120mm fan in the back, and it never gets too hot.
    Reply
  • arossetti
    I'm all about small and love mITX but that's a big case. Seriously what are you trying to cool in the mITX form factor that you need 2 x 280mm radiators?

    I'm using an NCase M1 - which is a pain to work in - but the smallest mITX case you can find. Watercooling a 4790k OC'd and GTX 980ti OC'd with a custom water loop and 1 x 240mm radiator without issue. And it's quiet. But I guess it's all about what you consider acceptable temps.

    I bet they could trim the size of that case down if it wasn't rounded.
    Reply