the modularity element for a PC enclosure has really evolved over time
you've seen you know hard drive cages that can be relocated elsewhere to allow
for extra clearance better air flow etc motherboard trays are now becoming
modular so you can invert the system but what happens when you move that whole
modularity element from the interior to the frame level
so behind me are all the parts for a Riotoro new enclosure the Morpheus a
fantastic play on words and the model name for an enclosure that can morph
into two form factors so well done there it comes disassembled which I'm assuming
is because you can decide whether or not you can go for the small form factor the
slightly bigger one depending on your hardware comes with a mouse mat I
haven't found the instructions yet but I'm hoping this could be it
oh mistake now I'm actually really excited about this whole dual form
factor approach and you know let's say being able to collapse the frame if you
don't need that there's no height or extended if you need that there's no
clearance for thicker radiators for example and I'm hoping Riotoro have done
their homework to make sure that this whole convertible approach is actually
functional and known just a marketing gimmick Riotoro's case history has not
been exactly positive in my eyes but I'm hoping the Morpheus bumps them back into
this competitive sphere because the convertible market for the frame itself
is definitely rising and I'm thinking people are expecting some sort of
modularity that is beyond motherboard trays and hard drive caddies and stuff
and I think this is the future way to go all right let's check it out after this
what would you like so I'm looking for a gaming headset with
a bit of everything but not overkill something that folds on your neck sure
how about the light frame without excessive clamping force yes yes you
have table air cushions with proper internal padding excellent I will take
the cable and the microphone are removable
fine fine this is the one multi-platform compatibility with virtual surround
sound dongle avail can I just take one and the sound quality you'll be
satisfied with so the new Coolermaster MH 751 and 75 to are here to make your
gaming experience so this my friends is the real tour Morpheus a patent-pending
convertible PC case with a brave price of $189 I appreciate what they're trying
to do and this will definitely entice other case brands to pursue a similar you
know nature in terms of making something modular on the frame level and not on
the interior but this price premium you know is solely based on that convertible
factor because the build quality and the overall user experience you know it
feels a little bit less for exam the build quality of the defined s2
which is $149 is far superior and also that whole refinement on the user
experience just feels better however Morpheus comes disassembled
which opens up opportunities for modding and those wanting to get that full PC
building experience so it is made entirely of Steel with some plastic
front and rear pieces and I actually love the fully perforated design with
all sides fully covered in dust filters and it's kind of refreshing not to see a
tempered glass panel and the side panels are made of three pieces since you can
extend the outer sections so it is a heavy panel but not reinforced and
therefore a bit flexible but I appreciate the magnetic dust filters
that also cover the expansion areas if you decide to go the second form factor
out the red anodized thumb screws for the side panels are a pretty nice accent
to this all black frame with black thumb screws also available plus the
illuminate front the logo is red it's tasteful but I prefer it disabled now I
appreciate Riotoro's unique take on a user's manual this being the actual
mouse mat but having only four paragraphs of descriptive text for the
assembly process without any visual aid is just unnecessary it's more of a
hassle than anything also what is this piece alright so we're on the website
right now maybe they'll have something here so I can see the Morpheus case and
look oh yes spec sheet excellent oh wait it's just the sales kit so I did get the
user manual from Riotoro but even without the visual step-by-step
guidelines you know the whole assembly was pretty straightforward all the
pieces just basically kind of a line and you screw them in place and this is
where you need to decide how many PCI slots you need since that determines the
form factor by default the bracket with five is installed but it can be swapped
out for this one with eight slots and what we're left with is a spacious
interior for a micro ATX ITX or a full-size ATX eATX motherboards with
bottom two PCI slots covered by the frame in the smaller configuration it
still leaves enough clearance for cable management with ATX motherboards but
notice this is an inverted layout meaning the GPU will be up top and it
will have been so awesome to have the option to rotate the motherboard tray as
well because of this whole modular frame but it's not it's inverted layout and
it's locked that way now the one surprising thing about the Morpheus
is the IO and how it's kind of like two steps forward and one step back so the
step back part is all the sliding control for the optional RGB hub that is
not included so you need to get that separately and use this connector
otherwise it's pretty useless and on the other side the step forward are two USB
3 ports and for the first time I'm seeing this two type C Gen 2 ports which
is awesome but most motherboards only have a single front io type C gen 2
connection and this that has two cables so you need to find either PCI Adhan
card with the Gen 2 speeds for the front io connection or or find a motherboard
that has two of those which is quite difficult and most of the motherboards I
have right now only support a single type C for the front io and so that
renders the second type C port on the top i/o useless now the cooling options
for the Morpheus are a bit disappointing for the price point I was expecting more
so you can do a 240 or a 280 right up top but also keep in mind the GPU is in
this area as well the bottom has fan holes for 120 and 140 mm fans but for
some reason the spacing is non-standard maybe because of those individual dust
filters but you cannot mount a 240 right here only 120 or 140 singles and because
of this dual chamber design the main section is thinner than usual so we only
get an 80 memory fan mount for the rear which by the way is included and finally
for the front they are mounting holes for 200 member fan and this removable
bracket for dual 120 s and we're 40 ml fans that installs behind this large
plastic housing for this led logo you also cannot easily remove the front dust
filter and because of the perforated design any illuminated fans will shine
right through and by the way there are two standard red LED fans included but
they're nothing special for the price point the rear section holds your power
supply their cable management velcro strap hoops and to drive cages one for
hard drives and one for SSDs and if you end up extending the frame you can fit a
second SSD cage on top of the first one there is a lot of wasted space here
though just because the frame is so long and what will have been really good to
see is an indented but abort rate to increase
CPU tower height clearance because it is very short in the main chamber so you
can see my 145 motor tower extends beyond the frame however because
of the flexible side panels I was actually able to force mounted the
official spec claims 122 millimeters of high clearance for the CPU tower which
is not a lot so you might as well go for you know water cooling but you can only
do one of the front and maybe the top given the GPU clearance and all that so
cooling in this case you know it could have been better cooling options that is
because the temperatures and this whole perforated design are actually pretty
decent so with the side panel removed I was running three degrees cooler on
the CPU and four degrees cooler on the GPU so pretty decent there is some
restriction going on with the front panel because there's the metal frame
the dust filter and more plastic pieces on the exterior but the good thing is
the bracket for the front fans is slightly spaced out so they're not
necessarily too much against all that restrictive stuff and also keep in mind
the frame is basically open so any noise from your system will be audible because
it doesn't necessarily condense it all inside the case now to extend the frame
and turn it into a slightly larger enclosure you don't necessarily need to
even disassemble the entire Hardware you can do it even with everything installed
some things might get loose a little bit here and there like the GPU has to be
removed so you can substitute back that eight PCI slots instead of the five here
and the motherboard tray because it's attached to the top and you have to
install the additional expansion bracket it's possible you don't necessarily need
to remove everything which is nice and so with the expansion in place I'm
having a hard time on why you'd want this the obvious benefit here is the
additional clearance above the GPU so if you're installing like a slightly
thicker radiator or dual graphics cards with some fans for exhaust or intake
that is a possibility but expanding this top section does not grant you any
additional airflow options so you still only have a 240 or 280 mount for the
front nothing for the bottom either and so it's basically just exactly the same
frame width that is slightly taller and you know gives you access to eight PCI
slots once that expansion is installed instead of five and you also get
additional SSD cage for two more SSDs and so that I guess is fine but look at
all this space they could definitely figure it out to place let's see
standard SSD caddies or something in the space so that you don't necessarily need
to expand the height to get that additional storage capacity and so the
two form factors side by side the difference in height is only six
centimeters so it's not a lot but it would grant you additional clearance for
the top if you're doing radiators there and want a little more spacing from your
motherboard area or from the GPU so if you're doing multi-gpu setups so that's
the only reason why I can think why that would be beneficial but it is kind of
disappointing not to see this taking a step forward you know because this whole
expansion thing in height is very surface level now as for the system
itself inside the Morpheus I like it no issues here plenty of space at the
bottom so you can route those eight pin cables and anything underneath for the
power supply all the rubber grommets are in like good locations and so I decided
to pursue this whole red illumination route because of the front logo
unfortunately it is not RGB but I have the TB RGB Animax fans in the front and
the top absolutely love how they look and also you know because the perforated
design they peak through which is awesome I have the Lian Li 24 pin RGB
connector that I set to red to match all my other illumination and also kind of
peeks through the interior and spills quite nice light between the hardware
and for the thermal tape power supply that also has our tribulation on the
interior so I set that to red so it can shine a little bit of that ring nation
from the fan on to the exterior because of that perforation and you can check
out all those RGB goodies in the description below Wow
could this be the one this actually is the land cool one the case with a
fantastic front panel design with a brushed aluminum plate complimenting
airflow and the gorgeous RGB illumination through the central cavity
we've got a type C port at the front a capable interior for water cooling an
airflow and a totally flush glass panel on the side and to spice things up the Lian Li
streamer cables give off unique RGB illuminations for twenty four
and eight band cables controlled via the case lighting or through its own
controller hub for this interesting color spill on the interior and you can
check them out in the description below and so the Morpheus to me is such a good
idea but I think the convertible factor has to be taken step forward because
imagine that this was like an ITX form factor that could extend to eight
that would have been slightly better not just vertical expansion but also
horizontal and the sole perforation Multi paneling layout allows for that to
happen and Riotoro first step is exactly that
it's pushing the boundaries on what we think would be the next step in
modularity for PC cases and I really admire them for doing something like
that and being brave because you know there are a lot of compromises here but
I'm hoping this whole concept will you know push many other brands to go a
similar route I'm still confused about the dual type-c for the front
connections because not many motherboards have the dual type-c for
the front IO and also you know for $189 you're definitely paying the premium for
the convertible factor which is nice but then it's kind of it's very surface long
for example having that additional height would have been the perfect
opportunity to mount a 360 rather the front you know maybe with a little
attachment for the main 240 bracket but that is not possible and I would love to
hear what do you think about this whole dual form-factor convertible PC frame
let me know if this is something that's interesting you and let's say if it was
refined and you were able to extend the front section or collapse it even but
more do you think that is something that more people would be interested in
versus just having this six centimeter height difference let me know in the
comments below I'm Dimitri thanks so much for watching and we'll see you next
day