Reviews - Mesh Nightblade 3 HEX (MSI Nightblade)

[HEXUS]

Is MSI's mini-ITX platform the ultimate choice for a compact gaming machine?

Read more.

[Jonj1611]

Thats an amazing array of connectors on the back of that thing.

[cptwhite_uk]

Beast LAN rig, I quite like the chassis design to be honest, can that front leg be used as a carry handle?

[CK_1985]

Given that it's only drawing 320W, could they not have used an SFX PSU? Would have saved some space, left more room for cable tidying, airflow etc... Might have been able to reduce the default fan speed too (and hence noise).

Nice piece of engineering though, even if the looks aren't quite my taste.

[MrRockliffe]

I don't understand why the Scan 780Ti didn't perform anywhere near as well (so to speak) as the MSI 780 Ti in the Grid 2 benchmarks?

Was there a bottleneck of some sort?

I did a bit of more in depth looking and it appears as though when you tested the Scan system you've used 4x MSAA but when testing the MSI Nightblade you haven't (or at least you've not stated it).

[Parm]

Beast LAN rig, I quite like the chassis design to be honest, can that front leg be used as a carry handle?

It can indeed.

I don't understand why the Scan 780Ti didn't perform anywhere near as well (so to speak) as the MSI 780 Ti in the Grid 2 benchmarks?

Both machines were tested with 4xMSAA and the same quality settings, but we couldn't quite figure out why the Hadron Hydro scored below expectations in that title. The systems are tested at different times, so it may just have been a driver / game update that caused the issue. We didn't see such variance in other titles.

[ALIAKSANDR]

interesting computer, I would have added 240 fan ( Thermaltake 23cm Blue LED Silent Fan (AF0047)) on the face.

[AlexKitch]

I quite like its appearance, actually. It's not "trying too hard", like some chassis are.

[Myss_tree]

Nicely engineered.
Though the front is not aesthetically pleasing it has power on/usb/dvd on the front.
The noise level though is the killer for me, thats just to loud.
The MSI motherboard looks good though i would prefer an extra 2 internal sata ports than the 2 external esata.
Does anyone use external esata ports?

[DemonHighwayman]

I'm not sure having the GPU fans at the bottom of the case is a good idea even with a dust filter. It works for PSU's because there is a lot of empty space in a PSU, a GPU is far more tightly packed. Impressive though squeezing all that in !

[jackjack]

I like this case besides great heavily loaded specification inside, it's just need a little mod with clear side panel and a bit here and there with led's would be great!
Excellent review. Thanks.

[Aftershock]

I like the case but its expensive for what you get. You can get a Coolermaster Elite 130 with a 550 Watt modular power supply for about £65 if you fancy building your own rig.