Unboxing
Deepcool packages its unique-looking Steam Castle in foam. You can easily grab both pieces and dump them into the recycling bin.
All necessary accessories are enclosed. There is an instruction booklet, screws, a tiny wrench for the motherboard stand-offs, lots of cable ties, and even a piezo speaker. The bundle covers the bases; nothing is missing.
Technical Specifications
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| Pricing |
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| Enclosure Type | Cube / Mini Tower |
| Dimensions (H x W x D) | 16" x 10.9" x 16.5" |
| Weight | 15 pounds (net) |
| Material | Plastic, Rubber-coated Steel frame SGCC 7 / 5 mm |
| Color | Black / Metallic Gray (also available in White, Red or Yellow) |
| 5.25-inch Bays | 1x external |
| 3.5-inch Bays | 2x internal (tool-less), 1x internal |
| 2.5-inch Bays | 2x internal (tool-less) |
| Expansion Slots | 4 |
| Form Factors | microATX, mini-ITX |
| Front Fans | 1x 20 cm (pre-installed) |
| Top Fans | 2x 12 cm (optional) |
| Back Fans | 1x 12 cm (pre-installed) |
Exterior: Look And Feel
This Deepcool case is attracting case modders who associate its shape with steampunk and fancy jukebox designs. But even if you don’t alter the enclosure, it's unique enough to stand out from the crowd and draw attention.
Yes, we understand that its looks are polarizing. While the German online retailer Caseking deemed the case unsellable and refused to stock it, apparent successes in other countries suggest that there's at least a market for the Steam Castle.
Let’s take a look at the exterior of the case:
The dull rubber-coated surface is homogenous and easy to work with; you can remove stains and fingerprints with a soft cloth. It looks much better than brushed or dull plastic. We suggest going with the black model. More brightly-colored alternatives may lack the dark finish's higher-end appeal.
Interior and Construction
The interior warrants a closer look as well. Deepcool went for a feature-rich cross between mid-tower and cube, and appears to have achieved its goal.
Frankly, we view the 3.5” drive bay not as a feature, but a nuisance. Most problematic is when it interferes with long, thick graphics cards, though some folks will understandably want a single high-capacity storage drive in a machine like this one.
The back plate for the motherboard seems perfect, and the PSU mounting bay is at the bottom of the case, allowing your power supply to draw intake air through openings down there. A filter keeps the dust out.
Since this is a particularly wide case, a cage for two SSDs sits behind the PSU. Solid-state drives can be mounted without tools, which is something we really appreciate.
The front bezel and lid are easily removed. You need to do the former when you want to install an optical drive, though removing the lid is only necessary if you want to install two additional fans or a radiator.
For what it's worth, what appear to be four small wind turbines up top, well, aren’t.
Instead of four fans, those domes house multi-color LEDs. They're purely for show. Several different light effects can be selected. There really are slots in the top though, which may help with ventilation.
Fans, Fan Control, and the Front Panel
Speaking of air, two fans comes installed in the case, and their speeds can be electronically controlled. While the rear fan is all but inaudible, the front fan is, paradoxically, quite noisy at low RPM settings and nearly quiet at full throttle.
The front panel is really a side panel, which sits at the right side of the case and sports two USB 2.0 and two USB 3.0 ports, HD Audio jacks, the on/off button, a reset button, and a knob for controlling fan speed. That knob doubles as a push-button for selecting different LED effects.
The rear side of the panel is nicely laid-out. If necessary, all cables can be unplugged.
Whether or not you like the Steam Castle's looks is a matter of personal preference. But Deepcool does manage to show us something new in a well-made product.
- Building a Budget Intel-Based MicroATX Gaming Cube
- Deepcool Steam Castle
- MSI H97M-G43 and Intel Pentium G3258
- Deepcool Maelstrom 120: Closed-Loop Liquid Cooling
- Storage Installation
- PSU Installation and Cabling
- Installing the Graphics Card and Finishing Touches
- Overclocking Temperature and Sound
- Picking Parts For Your Own Build













I would get a X4 760K with a better GPU instead of a G3258 with a more expensive motherboard...
Yeah a I5 would totally be better, but as for gaming, it would not push a 750 TI much more than a G3258 would. But you are right to think that a water cooling is not a good idea budget-wise
AIO $ 80, ODD $16 , RAM 8GB (2x4GB) $73
Most of these budget build makes no sense when there is no strict budget cap. Next time when there is another budget build and there is something that just got to have it, but cost like $100 more, let's up the price cap and still call it a budget build!
exactly my first thoughts. I'd go with a Fractal Design Core 1000, an EKL Alpenfohn Sella, and just get a MX100 256GB instead of the HDD. If you really need more space, you can always get a big HDD later, or just buy an external USB 3.0 one, or use an NAS or cloud. Also a good 300W PSU should be more than enough for this system, even if you overclock to 4.5 GHz.
exactly my first thoughts. I'd go with a Fractal Design Core 1000, an EKL Alpenfohn Sella, and just get a MX100 256GB instead of the HDD. If you really need more space, you can always get a big HDD later, or just buy an external USB 3.0 one, or use an NAS or cloud. Also a good 300W PSU should be more than enough for this system, even if you overclock to 4.5 GHz.
Yeah, but in a budget build I would use a HDD only. Games these days are about 20-40gigs. That's a lot. SSD's will only increase the loading times, nothing else, no graphical improvements. I would just go with a WB black and spend the saved money on a better CPU/GPU.
And a 400-500W PSU would be the better way, since good 300W PSU's are hard to find everywhere. Plus if the graphics card gets pumped up, the power will too. The Seasonic S520II is the best budget PSU right now.
G3258 $79
MSI Z87M GAMING motherboard $179
Kingston hyper x fury black $99
western digital caviar blue $69
2nd hand 500W psu $15
2nd hand GTX 660 $140
3 coolermaster sickleflow x green fans x3 $12 ($36)
1 bitfenix spectre pro 200mm green $27
gigabyte k7 force keyboard $59
razer naga hex green $79
and a generic cd rom $19
this is a nice looking budget build and performs really well
and if you where to buy a new GTX 660 it would be $199
and a new 500 w psu it would be $49 so it would be $895
and the G3250 can be overclocked to 4.5 on the stock cooler for me.
I play watchdogs a lot high textures and ultra graphics setting and I get between 25-50 fps average is around 40fps
this is a high performance budget build and stays really cool