ASRock M8 Mini-ITX Gaming PC
Flipping the case around from our cover photo, we see that ASRock's M8 is actually an upside-down tower. The benefit of this design is that most of its cables will be closer to the desk. You didn’t plan on putting this on the floor, did you?
A pop-down panel up front fills the space between the main chassis and one of its handles, exposing a USB 2.0-based flash media interface, along with microphone and headphone jacks. Four USB 3.0 ports above it are always exposed and improperly color-coded to visually blend in.
The M8 top panel features two 70 mm fans behind a fractal-pattern grill. A lock towards the rear secures magnetically-attached side panels.
The M8’s base repeats the pattern on top, holding two more 70 mm fans.
Though it has two slots, the M8’s rear panel can hold a single card up to 1.7” thick with all bays filled. We found an additional ¾” of GPU cooling space available without drives in its two closest drive bays, though a mounting bracket protrudes 3/16" inward from the slot brackets. Drive thickness and GPU cooler design dictate how far we can overstuff this area of the case.
ASRock similarly quotes an 11.4” card length limit, although we measure 12.5”.