Last year, we covered Cooler Master's unconventional, sneaker-shaped series of Mini ITX form factor specialty PCs, the uber-expensive Cooler Master Sneaker X. Now listings for the Cooler Master Sneaker X with just the case, cooling, and PSU are starting to pop up online, ranging from roughly $985 USD (at Skycomp Technology, an Australian retailer) to $1,028 USD (at PC 21, a French retailer) depending on the store.
The Cooler Master Sneaker X makes for a bold choice in PC cases, to say the least, even when you're buying just the case for about a grand and not one of the prebuilt full PCs which started at $6,999 on release. Its giant sneaker-shaped design features a Mini ITX motherboard and pre-installed fans including a 360mm AIO liquid cooler to facilitate decent performance in a factor not otherwise particularly conducive to good airflow. Fortunately, Cooler Master's established pedigree in cases, fans, and power supplies make the Sneaker X PC case purchase (which includes fans, AIO, and 850W Gold PSU all supplied by Cooler Master) a generally reliable purchase, if perhaps difficult to justify at the price point for all but the most enthusiastic sneakerheads.
At a footprint of 5.6 x 12.0 x 25.6 inches (650 x 306 x 651 mm), this is far from the smallest and most compact Mini ITX PC case you could get your hands on. It's hardly a practical pick for any of our more generalized "Best Cases" lists, but it's not really targeted at mainstream customers, either. However, if we must include a practical critique of such a customized PC case at such a high price point, we can't help but highlight the fact it only has a single 2.5-inch drive bay — surely more could have been possible within such hefty dimensions, right?
Fortunately, the pre-installed 360mm AIO and clearance for triple-slot GPUs up to 304mm in length should still allow for some high-performance PC builds in this chassis, so long as the limitations of the 850W SFX PSU are respected (or replaced, if you so choose). There are definitely more price-practical ways to achieve such desired performance, though.
