A Closer Look - Outside

Out of the box, the MS-Y1000 makes a really good first impression. There are not a lot of well-designed M-ATX enclosures out there, but the MS-Y1000 seems to have gotten just as much love and resources for design as other hero products out there. It feels extremely solid, and the engineering, while not extravagant, feels purposeful and cohesive.


Looking at the front, the MS-Y1000 sports a unique vent pattern that is rather restrictive for airflow. The whole front is made out of steel and has a plastic backing, so it does feel very solid. In the rear, the general layout is upright, but the PSU bay has been relocated to the interior of the chassis, with just the plug in the top-left corner of the enclosure.


The main side of the MS-Y1000 is part glass and part vented side panel. The glass portion is framed nicely in white and lacks any tinting, so you will be able to see the components within clearly. Sharkoon also designed the panel so that it may be flipped over to hide the top portion of your build and show off your GPU instead. The only downside is that the vented portion doesn't have a dust filter to keep grime out. The opposite side is all steel, but also features the same vented element even though there is nothing that needs or can take advantage of it.


You may pull off the front panel with a firm tug. The backside comes with a fine mesh dust filter. Behind the already restrictive cover is another restrictive metal layer. The upside of this is that you may install a water pump instead of a 120 mm intake fan here.


The rear of the MS-Y1000 has five expansion slots. This area has no dividers, and Sharkoon offers a vertical GPU mounting kit to take advantage of it. Also, that extra slot translates into a bit of extra space, so fully utilizing the floor of the chassis for cooling or storage without blocking vital parts of the motherboard is doable. Above that is another somewhat restricted air vent through which the 80 mm PWM fan is set to push air out the back. It has been a while since we have seen such a small fan pre-installed in a case, let alone as PWM. Above it are holes for a 2.5" drive.


In the top, the same venting design can be found as everywhere else. A single screw holds the metal cover in place, underneath which is a magnetic metal mesh filter. It covers two pre-installed 120 mm PWM fans set to push air out the top. These are of the slim variety, and while perfectly functional, do feel a little bit fragile.


Sharkoon provides the expected I/O for a chassis of this price segment: two USB 3.0 ports, audio connectors, and power and reset buttons.


On the underside of the Sharkoon MS-Y1000 is another magnetic dust filter cut to fit the space perfectly, as well as the same vent design for either two 120 mm fans on the floor of the chassis or a single HDD in the front half. Sharkoon also placed another 120 mm PWM fan on the floor of the case, which brings the total pre-installed fan count to a very respectable four.