Maingear Vybe RGB Tempered Glass ATX Case Review: Affordable Excellence

A small box containing a variety of screws, zip ties, and a remote for the RGB lighting hub comes secured in one of the case's open 3.5-inch drive bays. There is also a large flat box emblazoned with the Maingear logo that contains stickers, a wristband, a coaster, pen, key chain and bag. The case manual comes wedged inside the PSU tunnel.

The Vybe comes in several color combinations. Our review sample is painted red inside and out, with black accents.

The interior is spacious and laid out well. There are three large cable passage holes, with rubber grommets in the motherboard tray and an additional three holes in the top of the PSU tunnel, with rolled metal edges.

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Along the top of the motherboard tray are another four cable pass-through holes, including one at the upper-left edge of the motherboard tray that is specifically designed for routing fan cables and the ATX12V/EPS12V power cable.

Getting into the internals of the Maingear Vybe, this chassis can be outfitted with coolers as tall as 200mm. Although multi-GPU setups aren't as prevalent as they used to be, those of you that do run more than one graphics card should be aware that this chassis' seven expansion slots can accommodate graphics cards up to 267mm (10.5 inches) in length. A large hole in the motherboard mounting plate facilitates heatsink changes without removing the motherboard.

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The area behind the motherboard tray features plenty of tie down points to aid in cable management. Also located behind the motherboard tray is an RGB / PWM fan controller that you can change with the included remote control.

Four 2.5-inch mounts are located behind the motherboard tray, though only two 2.5-inch caddies are included. The two 3.5-inch mounts located inside the PSU compartment do not feature drive caddies, and hard drives are held in place by screws. This means that swapping a 3.5-inch drive after your system is built requires removing the drive cage from the bottom panel.

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The Vybe case has seven 120mm fan mounts: three in the front, three in the top panel, and a single at the rear. Alternatively, the Vybe can be equipped with six 140mm fans--three in the front and three in the top, along with a single 120mm fan in the rear.

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The case ships by default with two 120mm intake spinners and a 120mm exhaust fan. The supplied fans aren't RGB, or LED-lit at all. Not everyone with find this an issue,  and some will see it as a feature. But the lack of built-in RGBs -- aside from the Maingear logo -- is the one area where the Vybe feels a bit lacking out of the box -- especially given that the case has an RGB controller built into it.

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Maingear lists support for radiators and all-in-one liquid coolers up to 240mm in the front and top of the main compartment of the chassis in a push-pull configuration, but we found it possible to install a 360mm radiator in the top mounting location as well. The exhaust fan mount can house 120mm coolers in single or sandwiched configurations.

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Maingear also sells its own Apex cooling solution for an additional $150 that consists of a clear water distribution plate with a built in pump.

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We tested power supplies up to 220mm in length without any issues or the need to move the hard drive racks.

Test Configuration

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