Wednesday, February 19th 2020
ASUS Rolls Out TUF Gaming GT301 Case
ASUS today rolled out the TUF Gaming GT301 case for gaming PC builds meant for the road (i.e. BYO LANs). It's design is characterized by a mostly ABS front panel that has a honeycomb outer grille with a metal inner mesh, and inserts through which a nylon strap zig-zags through. The top panel features another mesh surface, while the left side panel is tempered glass. The rest of the case, including its inner chassis and right side panel, are made of SECC steel. Adding to the aesthetic are three included ARGB fans along the front intake. A fourth dark 120 mm fan vents exhaust. Two additional 120 mm spinners can be mounted along the top exhaust. A headphones hanger can be mounted on either side of the case.
Inside, the ASUS TUF Gaming GT301 features a conventional horizontally-partitioned layout, with the top compartment serving up room for graphics cards up to 32 cm in length, and CPU coolers up to 16 cm in height. Storage options include four 2.5-inch drive mounts along the motherboard tray, and two 3.5-inch drive bays in the bottom compartment. Front panel connectivity includes two USB 3.2 type-A ports, and HDA audio jacks. Measuring 426 mm x 214 mm x 482 mm (LxWxH), the case weighs around 7.2 kg. The company didn't reveal pricing.
Inside, the ASUS TUF Gaming GT301 features a conventional horizontally-partitioned layout, with the top compartment serving up room for graphics cards up to 32 cm in length, and CPU coolers up to 16 cm in height. Storage options include four 2.5-inch drive mounts along the motherboard tray, and two 3.5-inch drive bays in the bottom compartment. Front panel connectivity includes two USB 3.2 type-A ports, and HDA audio jacks. Measuring 426 mm x 214 mm x 482 mm (LxWxH), the case weighs around 7.2 kg. The company didn't reveal pricing.
22 Comments on ASUS Rolls Out TUF Gaming GT301 Case
Even IF I were to go to a LP, I sure as hell would not wanna be totin this P.O.S. case with me, one because of the size & weight, the other for the utter embarassment of luggin such a fuuuugly-assed rig around.....
1 - Most people don't need 140mm intakes anyway, they're simply not running hardware hot enough to benefit from the extra airflow.
2 - Reuse of old chassis tooling to get better return on investment in that tooling
3 - lack of 280 or 420mm radiator options, both in custom watercooling and AIO coolers means that 140mm fan mounts can make 240 or 360mm rads look like they don't belong in a case. Manufacturers want their stuff to look good with what consumers are actually buying.
4 - 120mm fans tend to have lower static pressure, so if a manufacturer is using a semi-restrictive intake, 120mm fans will overcome that more effectively.
5 - Far more available 120mm fan options, many of which users will carry over from older builds rather than buying all new 140mm fans for a new system.
All of this means cases will lag behind for a decent while after 140mm fans seem like the new big whoop. I personally think that the biggest problem is that 280/420mm AIOs won't exist until the cases exist to support them, whereas the case manufacturers are waiting for the AIOs to exist before they build larger, taller, wider chassis to accomodate them.
SCAN PC here in the UK lists 42 different 240mm AIOs on their site. They list only 16 280mm AIOs.
Additionally, two of the 240mm AIOs they offer, are marked "hot seller", whereas none of the 280mm models are, so despite competing against more than twice as many products, there are at least two 240mm AIOs that are outselling the most popular 280mm AIO SCAN has.
If we extrapolate from this, we can pretty easily conclude that 280mm AIO sales must be significantly less than half that of 240mm coolers (Since we know that the top selling 280 doesn't shift as many units as either one of the two top selling 240s).
That's if it's not a quarter, given that 42 240mm coolers will cannibalise each other's sales much more than 16 280mm coolers will cannibalise each other's.They do, but again, the same applies. Look at how many products there actually are out there for each. EKWB makes 18 different 120mm radiators. That's a single, dual, triple and quad fan model for each of 3 thicknesses, plus some "Classic" series radiators that take us from 12 models to 18.
On the other hand, they only make 8 models of 140mm radiator, and only in two thicknesses, with no "Classic" options available at all.
The market is not there, for EKWB to be able to produce as wide a range of 140mm products as they produce 120mm products. You can look at the available selection on any retailer or manufacturer's website to confirm this.A 140mm running at the same RPM as a 120 will also have less static pressure and perform worse as a radiator fan or on a restrictive intake, meaning it will need to spin faster to give equivalent pressure, meaning it isn't as efficient as you're trying to make out.
Also, what "makes sense to you" and what you do "for you", and what *you* own is irrelevant. Your purchases alone do not keep companies in business. The purchases of MANY consumers, most of whom are not you and don't buy what you buy, are what keeps companies in business.
Companies will produce what there is market demand for. IE, they'll make what they can sell. They can't sell as much 140mm stuff as they can 120mm stuff because the ecosystem doesn't exist to support that, and there are some drawbacks to going for 140mm fans that start to matter quite a lot once you're dealing with radiators. Particularly if you want to get better performance than a 360, which a 280mm AIO just can't manage, forcing you to 420mm, which only fits in comparitively huge cases that people don't want to have dominating their room.
That's the bottom line and there's no point bitching about that. 140mm fans aren't a magic bullet with no drawbacks. They're a thing for which there is a valid consumer audience, but that audience is enthusiasts, not "The majority of consumers".
give asus a cheap walmart gaming case and an old backpack and watch them go.
It's the ultimate in Tacti-cool now...
:laugh:
Glad I'm not most people.