Clearance inside a chassis is essential to enthusiasts, in this section we will be looking at all areas to reveal just how flexible 300R really is.

First off – the CPU cooler. Here 300R can accommodate the Noctua NH-U12P pictured. This CPU cooler is 158mm in height and there isn’t a great deal of remaining clearance so the bigger flagships like Noctua NH-D14 and Thermalright Silver Arrow which are 160mm in height could well struggle to fit.



I installed the graphics card in a lower PCI-E slot so that I could demonstrate the clearance between the end of the card and the HDD cage. The 300R will accommodate graphics cards in the lower region (parallel to HDD cage) up to 11.5” in length. Above this, any sized graphics card can fit. Pictured is the NVIDIA GTX480 which is 11” in length.



300R is a small mid-tower case and there is fairly limited clearance for water-cooling. Those who are seeking to water-cool a system would generally go with a bigger chassis and something with a side window anyway. The distance from the top of the motherboard and the top of the case is 3cm.



Behind the motherboard tray there is a generous amount of clearance – up to 2cm. This fares well when trying to organise cables behind the motherboard tray.



In the next section we will consider the thermal performance within 300R.