Review: Mesh Nightblade 3 HEX (MSI Nightblade)

Conclusion

There's no doubt that PC gaming is being downsized from giant towers to smaller, table-top solutions that are better-suited to a wider audience of gamers. Keeping enthusiasts in mind, MSI has made moves to ensure that this transition needn't mean a sacrifice in overall performance.

Building on the promise of the firm's mini-ITX Z97 board, the Nightblade barebone takes high-end hardware and packs it into a solidly-built and relatively-small frame that occupies little space, is easy to transport, and punches well above its weight.

Showing off the barebone's full potential, Mesh Computers' Nightblade 3 HEX throws everything but the kitchen sink at this mini-ITX machine and delivers a level of performance that belies the system's size. When you consider there's liquid-cooling, a full-size graphics card, a standard ATX power supply and an optical drive, you begin to realise how little the Nightblade has to compromise.

The speed of the machine and the intricacy of the build is an achievement in itself, yet concessions do have to be made. Nightblade represents a comparatively complex build process - the tight confines make installation and cable management particularly tricky - and, without some serious modification, it's likely to run loud when in use.

Bottom line: MSI's Nightblade showcases the performance potential of mini-ITX builds, but it also highlights the fact that there's still room for further refinement.

The Good

Quad-core Intel Core i7-4790K processor
Powerful GeForce GTX 780 Ti graphics
Dual high-speed SSDs in RAID 0
Primed for ultra-high-res gaming
Retains optical drive support
Runs cool under load

The Bad

Must be tricky to build into
Fan noise is considerable
Not the most attractive SFF case

HEXUS.awards

Mesh Nightblade 3 HEX
(MSI Nightblade)

HEXUS.where2buy

The fully-configured Mesh Nightblade 3 HEX gaming PC is available to purchase from Mesh Computers.
The MSI Z87 Nightblade gaming barebone is available to purchase from Scan Computers*.

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