Review System

Assembly

Installing the motherboard is simply done by screwing it into place. The PCIe 4.0 ribbon cable connects to the board nicely and the updated red cap on the end feels sturdier that the original's, black 2-piece variant.


Adding an SSD to the floor of the case is easily done, but you just want to make sure you pre-wire the drive when using an ATX PSU, as you will have a hard time reaching it once the power supply is in place.


You may easily go for a compact ATX PSU here, with ssupd suggesting up to 140 mm with liquid cooling tubing set to be on the bottom or 160 mm if the tubing is in the top of the chassis. We did use such a PSU sucessfully in our Meshlicious build, so for the Meshroom S, it will be a just as capable SFX-L, considering that these form factors have come a long way in recent times.


Speaking of AIOs, the Meshlicious was easily able to handle a 280 mm variant in the front of the chassis. The only tight fit was the inline pump of the Pure Base 2 FX, but with a bit of tough love that was no issue either. In the end, things will be really tight within the case, but that is pretty much a given for most SFF cases and the Meshroom S manages to edge out most of the competition which stop short at 240 mm compatibility.


Lastly, adding a GPU to the case was a breeze as that area serves no other purpose in this build setup. Lots of zip ties ensure that the cabling doesn't interfere with the fans in the front, but if you plan things out, you will be able to better route cables, for example underneath the motherboard or to the right of the GPU.


The jam-packed Asus Z690 ITX board made routing the tubing of the AIO a little more difficult, but nothing a few zip ties could not solve, the fans remained unobstructed in the final build. Our build may not be as clean as humanly possible, but ssupd does provide additional standoffs to create a larger gap between GPU and motherboard tray, you may route cables in that space as well.