[REVIEW] Realan E-H60 mITX Case

Mr.Dingle · September 3, 2018

Hello there LTT , i bring you another humble review , of another mITX enclosure , and this time , it really is mini.

This case is manufactured by Realan , and comes with a pricetag of 32 USD ( courtesy of Alliexpress ) and to with shipping to Croatia , it came in at 50USD . Its made out of 3.5mm thick aluminium , and it consists of only 4 parts ! The bottom panel , the "middle" section , HDD/SSD mounting bracket , and top panel . So , can this little case justify the 32 USD pricetag ? Lets find out .

Exterior :

As previously mentioned , the case is made out of 3.5mm aluminium , and has a nice , in this case , black anodized finish . It is however , not of best quality and easily scratches , so handle with caution .

The case measures 200Wx200Dx60H(mm). ( H60 meaning it is 60mm ~ 6cm tall )

On the front you find a single power button , illuminated with a blue LED . On the right hand side , you find a single USB 2.0 interface , which is held in by two screws , and is nicely recessed so its out of view . The interface and cable come with the case , and you have the option of either installing it , or just leaving the spot empty . OR , if you have a newer motherboard , you can fit a single USB3.0 interface aswell . ( not that id reccomend since the case is already crowded with cables)

Also on the right hand side ( and left ) you find a set of holes , which can be used for external WI-FI antennas , or DC jacks to power the components inside .

On the back there is a motherboard I/O cutout .

On the bottom of the case you will find ventilation cutouts , and VESA compatible mounting holes , which enables this small case to be mounted on the back of your monitor !

Mr.Dingle · September 3, 2018

Interior :

The cases interior is mostly taken up by the motherboard once installed , but on the right hand side you get two mounting holes and the option to mount a fan bracket which holds 2x 5010 fans for helping the airflow ( especially if you have passive CPU cooling ) .

You will find 4 preinstalled motherboard standoffs , the front power button cables and the USB interface cable .

That would really be it for a case as small as this , but as you can see from the pictures its relatively tidy , considering it has 2 drives in it , and a full size DDR3 stick , along with a hefty passive heatsink , and it all closes up and fits nicely . You can also see the 2x 5010 fans i added .

Mr.Dingle · September 3, 2018

Final thoughts :

For a case this small , it was a breeze to install my mITX ASRock motherboard , wire up the PicoPSU unit , and get the drives in .

It can work passively cooled , but i prefer my hardware cool , so i added the two 5010 fans to aid . The unit is dead silent 95% of the time , the only noise that can be heard is the HDD because the bracket doesnt come with rubber inserts to help with the vibrations .

For clearances it goes as following :

Max. CPU cooler height if a 3.5" drive is installed is 18mm .

Max. CPU cooler height if a 2.5" drive is installed is 34mm .

Drive options : 1x 3.5" or 2x 2.5".

PSU options : PicoPSU or integrated motherboard solution .

Fan options : 2x 5010 Fans

PCI-E slots : N/A

RAM Compatibility : as pictured is a standard DDR3 stick , fits just fine , but higher profile kits ( fancy cooling fins and that ) will interfere with the top cover .

Onto the conclusion...

Pros :

- extremely small

- lightweight

- decent airflow for size

- minimalistic design which should fit anywhere

- rubberized case feet to minimize vibrations

- fits any mITX motherboard

- fits a PicoPSU unit internally

- can fit a 3.5" or 2 2.5" drives

- can accomodate passive heatsinks , or if 2.5" drives used , an active SFF one

Cons :

- anodizing finish is not of good quality

- RAM compatibility

- no HDD vibration isolation

- no PCI-E expansion capability

- Price ???

To elaborate on price ... this is a niche product , and as such the price is "justified" . But , when you take into account that for the price of 50USD shipped one can aquire a full size tower , and not be restricted by the form factor ... ehh .

To be clear , my opinion is that the case is worth the 50USD tag , but as a niche product . In my use case as a small FreeNAS box , its perfectly adequate and i could even use the smaller sibling of this case ( E-N44 ) , or if one wants an APU build that can accomodate a proper cooler than the E-N80 could be of use .

Eitherway , im happy with the case as is , i would reccomend it to anyone doing an SFF build like this .

EDIT : I just now noticed the shoddy picture quality , my excuses , the phone is perfectly capable of snapping very high quality pictures , but my shaky hands are not .

Some pictures for size comparison ... case vs apple , 5.25" bay water reservoir , and the case on top of my Core500 build.