Conclusions
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.