MSI Barricade

It's sadly true that with many computer components, you get what you pay for. With PC cases, spending more money will usually get you more features, if ones that you'll probably be able to live without. A fine example of this is MSI's new $79.99 (list) case, the Barricade. It may be modest of styling, but it delivers the goods in all the build-centric ways you'd expect?and in a few you wouldn't. You can find more elegant and innovative cases in this same price range, but as far as basic functionality, the Barricade won't stand in your way.

The Barricade is, for all intents and purposes, a fairly standard mid-tower, measuring about 16.2 by 7.3 by 17.7 inches (HWD). With the exception of the windowed side panel and a silvery MSI logo on the front, the exterior is entirely black, in terms of both the steel of its skeleton, the flared plastic front and top panels, and the mesh that ornaments both. Its design is a bit on the Spartan side, but in any event you're getting more than the solid planes of metal that usually distinguish budget cases.

Open the side panel, however, and you'll be struck by a tidal wave of color. In a departure that's as drastic as it is rare, the motherboard tray isn't black?it's blue. And not a dark, subdued shade, either, but the color of the sky on a scorching summer day. The same hue is also used as an accent throughout the interior on the rear 120mm exhaust fan, the four 3.5-inch hard drive bay trays, and the tool-free retention mechanisms on the three 5.25-inch bays, but the blast of blue from the motherboard tray is shocking at first. Not that you'll notice much of it once you've installed your components, of course.

To help with that, you'll find cut into the tray a large hole for aiding in setting up an aftermarket CPU cooler, as well as a few additional holes for routing cables and wires into a channel beneath the tray. For the most part, these are on the narrow side, and two are blocked if you are using a full-size ATX motherboard, so you'll want to plan your cabling carefully. Also of note is that on the other side there is almost no extra space outside that channel to hold the cables, so you might not be able to shunt everything down there. You should also be prepared for a slightly tight squeeze between the bottom of an ATX motherboard and the power supply you hook up in the bottom-mounted bay. (For what it's worth, the tray is identical to that used in the Diablotek Abyss.)

Luckily, the Barricade's other elements are generally well laid out and implemented. The retention mechanism on the 5.25-inch bays is a clever one using springy screws that reduce the frustration and guesswork of installing optical drives or other devices. The seven expansion slots are of the traditional, simple, and effective one-screw-per-spacer style (not like the zany method used on MSI's previous inexpensive case, the Raptor). Rather than oriented front to back, the 3.5-inch drives insert side to side, which frees up some extra space around the motherboard and drive well area and keeps them out of the way of the two front 120mm intake fans. This? creates something of a traffic jam when connecting the SATA cables?there's so little room, you have to organize them carefully?but it's an acceptable way to go.

More surprising still on the Barricade are the two three-speed fan controllers that are found on the front of the top panel. These can be uncommon on even more expensive cases, too say nothing of models this affordable, so those who care about balancing their computer's cooling and noise are in for a treat. Other front-panel ports located nearby include the obligatory headphone and microphone, two USB 2.0, one USB 3.0, and an SD card reader. There's also a ridged depression in the top panel to support your electronic devices when they're connected to the computer; it's embossed with the words "Digital Cradle" in case there was any question.

Despite giving you decent value for your dollar, the Barricade is not perfect. In addition to the aforementioned quibbles, the mesh top panel, which doubles as a shield for two extra 120mm exhaust fans (which are not included), is mildly tricky to remove, and came off accidentally multiple times during our testing. And to take advantage of the USB 3.0 front-panel port, you need to run a cable through your computer, out the back, and then into a free port on your motherboard. This was a serviceable method in the days before the USB 3.0 header was standardized, but there's no satisfying excuse for it now. To make matters worse, the cable's passing through one of the two grommeted holes intended for routing liquid cooling piping out of the case makes it a solution that even robs you of a potentially useful feature.

You can't have it all with any sub-$100 case, naturally, but the MSI Barricade acquits itself admirably working within the necessary constraints. Models like the Thermaltake Dokker and the NZXT H2 are marginally more elegant in design and capabilities. But this case has everything it needs along with quite a few extras, and if you want your case to make a statement, the Barricade's bountiful blue will do it like practically nothing else could.

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