Conclusions

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Wrapping it all together the MSI Barricade is a solid mid tower offering. The style and coloring I certainly like more than the Ravager. The black mesh and blue LED lighting effects are a nice mix with the side window. There are a couple of points that I am not a fan of however. The USB3.0 pass-through is annoying. I am still not sure that instead of an internal header the used the pass-through. I would have expected to see this on a case a couple of years ago, but not one coming out in 2012. This means we have only one USB3.0 port on the front and the annoying cable looping out the back. Other than that, we have just a minor annoyance with the drive trays. The rubber plugs on the I/O ports I am neutral on. I see those eventually getting pulled off or lost, while keeping dust or gunk out of the ports really isn't needed. It does however give a finished feel to the case. I also like that the styling is a little more subtle that the previous MSI case we took a look at. We took a lot of heat for our previous recommendation, but when it comes down to it you have to remember who the case is targeted after. Their last case was a low priced cased focused on the younger market who would like its over the top styling. This time around the Barricade is a little more mature, but still in the lower end case market. The smoke side panel included here (although not what I prefer) goes along with this subtle look while still giving you a slight peak at the goods inside.

Even with those couple of things that bothered me about this case, overall I still like it. It is a decent offering at a reasonable price. At the time of writing it can be found for $80 on Amazon.

barricade-fv2recomended

Author Bio
Author: Jake Barnard

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garfi3ld's Avatar
garfi3ld replied the topic: #27096 13 Aug 2012 23:11
our look at one of MSI's latest cases
Arxon's Avatar
Arxon replied the topic: #27099 13 Aug 2012 23:47
Looks nice but I prefer red over blue.
Cyphis's Avatar
Cyphis replied the topic: #27110 14 Aug 2012 04:35
I like blue, but there is just something inherently wrong about putting a white cd reader on a black case. :ohmy:
Twodavez's Avatar
Twodavez replied the topic: #27112 14 Aug 2012 04:50

Cyphis wrote: I like blue, but there is just something inherently wrong about putting a white cd reader on a black case. :ohmy:


i'm slowly wondering why we even put CD Roms' on PC's anyway. JJ's got a USB one that he uses for his Mods to load Windows and Motherboard updates, but that's about all you need it for and i'm agreeing.

sorry to hijack the thread on a good review of a interesting looking case...
Deb0's Avatar
Deb0 replied the topic: #27114 14 Aug 2012 05:59
@twodavez Some of us still burn physical media as archaic as that sounds.

As far as the case goes, it looks like it is heading in a nice direction but just seems wholly unfinished in its execution. With the USB3 pass through and the lack of rubber grommets in the interior it just seems like a few little things could have made this a better offering. That price range is starting to get very crowed with quality cases these days.
garfi3ld's Avatar
garfi3ld replied the topic: #27119 14 Aug 2012 10:22

Cyphis wrote: I like blue, but there is just something inherently wrong about putting a white cd reader on a black case. :ohmy:


just to make sure noone will have issues fitting a drive if they need one.

I myself stopped installing drives in my own pc's years ago

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