Raijintek Nestor Review: A €50 Enthusiast Case
A Closer Look at the Raijintek Nestor Case
The Raijintek Nestor case measures 239 x 461 x 529mm and its design style is far from the minimalist approach that many manufacturers take in this price segment. It combines rounded edges with sharp polygonal shapes converging at the center line. The airflow is pocketed from the corners instead of right at the center where a heavily smoked polycarbonate window is instead.
The front IO is located at the top with the power button/LED located front and center. The audio and USB 3.0 headers are positioned on a bank to the right while the left side has the reset button and two unused (unpunched out) spots for a Firewire and a card reader, giving modders options should they want to add those. There is a single 5.25″ external drive bay covered with a magnetic-locking door.
The intake airflow is gathered entirely from two small meshed areas toward the bottom sides and there are no openings below the front bezel. The ventilation at the top is located along the sides and some towards the rear.
With the front and top covers removed, mounting supports for 2x 120mm fans are revealed. The front area already has a pair of 120mm fans installed and can also support a pair of 140mm fans. The top area is recessed to accommodate radiators.
Down below, the feet elevate the Raijintek Nestor 2.8mm off the ground. There are no rubberized grips here although the soles have an embossed grilled pattern for added stability on a surface. The power supply intake uses a film mesh dust filter insert towards the rear.
At the back there are seven expansion slots, one of which has a reusable cover. Rear ventilation has a diamond pattern and supports a 120mm fan with option to adjust the mounting height up or down for additional clearance if a radiator is installed at the top.
The side panels are held in place with thumbscrews with a convenient handle in the middle. They are similarly designed in terms of having complimentary shapes but the left side panel has a smoked polycarbonate window. The panels have an elevated area providing extra room for taller CPU coolers on the main chamber while on the right side panel, this extra area provides additional cable management room.
There is a lot of room inside the main chamber with the side panels removed. It helps that the top has extra space and that there are no extended 5.25″ or 3.5″ drive bays on the way. The stand-offs have already been pre-installed for an ATX motherboard setup so that saves users some time. Micro-ATX users would need to move a few of the bottom standoffs up though.
A large CPU backplate cutout is present and there are numerous cable management routing holes present including an 8-pin power connector cable routing above the backplate cutout. What is surprising is that these are grommeted, something that is not often found on cases priced this low. The cables are also very long so even if users try to route them around, it will have no problem with reaching the motherboard headers.
Another 120mm fan is pre-installed in the rear for exhaust, so that is three fans in total bundled. These fans use a 3-pin fan connector.
The 5.25″ drive bay has a half-length mount on the left side so that there is extra working room for the rest of the components. One thing I would have preferred however is for there to be a cable route cut-out similar to the 8-pin CPU area for the front panel cables. It would have been much cleaner rather than routing all the front IO cables down to one of the grommeted spots. Plus it cuts through the 5.25″ device area if you have a disc drive there.
There is also a metal PSU cover running along almost the entire length of the bottom area and stops short of full coverage to provide additional radiator clearance for the front. The 3.5″ drive cage is housed here which uses two drive caddies. This PSU cover also has convenient cable management routing holes long its length.
