CiT Neptune (Blue)

[Barwiggle]

CiT are a rather small computer company, but what they make can be great. For example, the CiT Neptune.This budget mid tower case from anything lower than £25 has a miriad of space for storage, cable management and expansion in the future.

 

First off, the exterior. It looks quite striking, with some distinct angles at the front.  The case body only comes in black, but can come in blue, green and red colouring for the power LED and fan.

 

On one side panel is a large plastic window with many holes. This improves airflow to the CPU fan, but also means you can mount two 120mm fans to the window. However, this can obstruct your view of the amazingness you may have inside.

 

On the other side panel, there is nothing, apart from a rather conspicuous bulge. This is for cable management, and blends in quite well with the case being very streamlined.

 

At the back, we have room for another 120mm fan, space for your motherboard's I/O, a space for the rear of your PSU, and 8 PCI slots for graphics and interface cards.

 

It has a distinctive 'Neptune' badge on the front, in the form of a trident on a shield. Below is the vent for the LED fan that comes with the case. Above the badge are the 5.25" bays, and there are three of them. 

 

On the top, however, things get boring. There is no room for fans (unless you DIY) There is a power button, reset switch, two USB 2.0 ports and audio jacks. Sadly, no USB 3.0.

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Inside, the first thing you see are the drive holders,as they are bright blue.  There are four 3.25" bays for HDDs, and also three 2.25" bays for SSDs. Next to these is also a slot for another 120mm fan inside the front cover, but as there is no vent here, I see this to be pointless.

 

On the base, there are four holes for an SSD mounting bracket (giving you a total of four SSDs).

 

On the motherboard tray, there are nine standoffs pre-installed, as this case supports micro-ATX and ATX factor motherboards, so no extra standoffs need be installed. There is also a cutout in the motherboard tray, so aftermarket coolers can be used. However, dual 120mm radiators can't be mounted in this case, so water cooling is restricted.

 

Throughout the case, there are many cutouts leading to the protruding side panel. This means you can snugly hide your cables away in this extra space with no compromises. Unfortunately, after a recent MOBO upgrade, I found that the cutouts at the bottom of the motherboard tray are blocked completely by the MOBO if it is ATX. This means cables may need to be routed over the PSU. In total, there are five cutouts; two at the bottom, and three at the side (for SATA, 24-pin connector, etc.).

 

In conclusion, this case is great value for money, with very few flaws. I wish CiT would come up with more cases, as this and the Vantage seem to be their only popular cases.

 

Fin.

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