Cooler Master Sneaker X case now on sale for under $1,000 — cheap compared to the $6,999 pre-built PC launch price

Cooler Master Sneaker X Gaming PC
(Image credit: Amazon - Cooler Master)

Last year, we covered Cooler Master's unconventional, sneaker-shaped series of Mini ITX form factor specialty PCs, the uber-expensive Cooler Master Sneaker X. Now listings for the Cooler Master Sneaker X with just the case, cooling, and PSU are starting to pop up online, ranging from roughly $985 USD (at Skycomp Technology, an Australian retailer) to $1,028 USD (at PC 21, a French retailer) depending on the store.

Cooler Master Sneaker X - YouTube Cooler Master Sneaker X - YouTube
Watch On

The Cooler Master Sneaker X makes for a bold choice in PC cases, to say the least, even when you're buying just the case for about a grand and not one of the prebuilt full PCs which started at $6,999 on release. Its giant sneaker-shaped design features a Mini ITX motherboard and pre-installed fans including a 360mm AIO liquid cooler to facilitate decent performance in a factor not otherwise particularly conducive to good airflow. Fortunately, Cooler Master's established pedigree in cases, fans, and power supplies make the Sneaker X PC case purchase (which includes fans, AIO, and 850W Gold PSU all supplied by Cooler Master) a generally reliable purchase, if perhaps difficult to justify at the price point for all but the most enthusiastic sneakerheads.

At a footprint of 5.6 x 12.0 x 25.6 inches (650 x 306 x 651 mm), this is far from the smallest and most compact Mini ITX PC case you could get your hands on. It's hardly a practical pick for any of our more generalized "Best Cases" lists, but it's not really targeted at mainstream customers, either. However, if we must include a practical critique of such a customized PC case at such a high price point, we can't help but highlight the fact it only has a single 2.5-inch drive bay — surely more could have been possible within such hefty dimensions, right?

Fortunately, the pre-installed 360mm AIO and clearance for triple-slot GPUs up to 304mm in length should still allow for some high-performance PC builds in this chassis, so long as the limitations of the 850W SFX PSU are respected (or replaced, if you so choose). There are definitely more price-practical ways to achieve such desired performance, though.

TOPICS
Christopher Harper
Contributing Writer

Christopher Harper has been a successful freelance tech writer specializing in PC hardware and gaming since 2015, and ghostwrote for various B2B clients in High School before that. Outside of work, Christopher is best known to friends and rivals as an active competitive player in various eSports (particularly fighting games and arena shooters) and a purveyor of music ranging from Jimi Hendrix to Killer Mike to the Sonic Adventure 2 soundtrack.

  • Notton
    I own this case. Some pointers
    Replace the 850W SFX PSU with something else. It gets loud under load and has buggy firmware that doesn't allow the fan to ramp down when unloaded.
    Lift the bottom of the case by 1 to 2cm. The radiator has some breathing room, but it works better and quieter when given more ground clearance. You can place it on a grate/mesh, 4 hockey pucks, etc., it's up to your creativity.
    If your mobo has wifi, and you want to use it, get an antenna that's on a lead. There's no room for screw on antennas with the ankle guard panel on.
    On that note, the rear I/O ports closer to the PCIe slot may need a 90d angle adapter to use.
    It's heavy. The best place to lift it out of the box is from the top horizontal bars adjacent to the mobo and GPU.
    Keep an air duster and soft brush around. The paintjob on plastic is fantastic, and you don't want to scratch that with careless use of a hard brush or microfiber towel.
    Reply
  • evdjj3j
    Notton said:
    I own this case. Some pointers
    Replace the 850W SFX PSU with something else. It gets loud under load and has buggy firmware that doesn't allow the fan to ramp down when unloaded.
    Lift the bottom of the case by 1 to 2cm. The radiator has some breathing room, but it works better and quieter when given more ground clearance. You can place it on a grate/mesh, 4 hockey pucks, etc., it's up to your creativity.
    If your mobo has wifi, and you want to use it, get an antenna that's on a lead. There's no room for screw on antennas with the ankle guard panel on.
    On that note, the rear I/O ports closer to the PCIe slot may need a 90d angle adapter to use.
    It's heavy. The best place to lift it out of the box is from the top horizontal bars adjacent to the mobo and GPU.
    Keep an air duster and soft brush around. The paintjob on plastic is fantastic, and you don't want to scratch that with careless use of a hard brush or microfiber towel.
    So what youre saying is dont waste money buying this case.
    Reply
  • Notton
    evdjj3j said:
    So what youre saying is dont waste money buying this case.
    It's a limited edition novelty interior deco/art piece that doubles as a case. It's not for everyone.

    Like, I can find a ton of generic shoe box cases that perform well, but this one is red, white, and black and has amazing details that those generic shoeboxes will never have, even if you give it a custom paint job or wrap.
    Reply
  • bit_user
    Notton said:
    It's a limited edition novelty interior deco/art piece that doubles as a case. It's not for everyone.

    Like, I can find a ton of generic shoe box cases that perform well, but this one is red, white, and black and has amazing details that those generic shoeboxes will never have, even if you give it a custom paint job or wrap.
    Thanks for sharing!

    It's not my cup of tea, but I do wish the article had a few more stills. Maybe I all watch the video or hunt down some more pics, as I'm at least intrigued enough to be curious.


    P.S. even though I'm more of a "form follows function" type, I do have a slightly irrational preference for certain things. For instance, I always wanted to build a machine using the Silverstone PT13, which is a tiny 1.3L case that's basically as small as you can realistically make a Thin mini-ITX case.
    https://www.silverstonetek.com/en/product/info/computer-chassis/PT13/
    It's far from a perfect case, requiring me to do several mods to make it work. All told, I've invested quite a bit more in this case than probably every other build I've done to date. Part of that wasn't really the fault of the case, but actually the motherboard I used and its poor thermal solution, which prompted me to rig a backside cooling solution, swap out the heatsink, and rig a fan in the case (which wasn't designed for one and doesn't really have room for it), all while trying to keep it as quiet as possible and avoid ever thermally throttling.

    All of that is just to say that I do "get" the passion some people have for cases, as well as the time & trouble to make it "just so"!
    Reply
  • raminpro
    Sell this without cpu,motherboard is impossible

    coolermaster must add AMD 7800X 3D and 9950x to it (with asus strix and gskill ram then sell it to 3000$ (use intel cpu is mistake all are very hot , after 3month use give bluescreen in games even in 30watt labtops)

    then many gamers ,producers buy it when is full pc
    Reply