Genesis Irid 353 ARGB Case review

I recently completed my first ever personal PC build. Which is something I’m very pleased about. But getting to the point where it’s complete, has been a journey. So many parts to consider, so many different potential issues with compatibility. But when it’s all said and done, one of the big dictators of the build, was a case.

It doesn’t seem important from the outside. But Genesis clearly understand that it is. With the Irid 353, my build was catered for in ways that I’d never anticipated at all. After all, what needs to be considered? Just the pretty lights, right? Thankfully, the Irid 353 ARGB case comes with lovely lights, but they shouldn’t every be a build priority.

Case priorities should be: Airflow, space for the parts and build, space to hide cabling, routes and holes to run cables tidily. Then of course, the aesthetic, too. Thankfully the Irid 353 gave me everything I needed and more!

What’s in the box?

Genesis know how to look after their customers, too. The Irid 353 came with pretty much everything you need to fit all of your parts inside the case. All the required screws and rummer feet to help lock your SSD in-place on the case (what happened to traditional disk mounts?). Screws for your motherboard, cable ties, pre-cabled and fitted fans and ARGB lights.

Honestly, my expectations have been set pretty low after working for years in IT and being short-changed on screws, bolts, clips etc. To have everything I needed, and half of the work done for me (the ARGB panel is mounted, too!) was a massive load off.

Then of course there’s the case itself, which was well protected with polystyrene and foam. Everything got to me in one piece, and the Irid 353 came with everything I needed.

Build quality and aesthetic

Have you ever seen a cheap case before? The “tempered glass” is some kind of cheap plastic. The metal bends and folds with ease, and whilst it looks decent from afar. They don’t hold up to any kind of use/build. The Irid 353 is the complete opposite of that. A lovely-looking, solidy-built piece of beauty.

A tempered glass front with space around the sides for airflow, the tempered glass side, so you can see everything inside. The chassis itself is rocksolid, built to last, and I can see myself using this time and time again as I upgrade the internals. All plastics are strong and nicely moulded, there aren’t any signs of the manufature process. Just clean, solid parts.

Genesis clearly care about quality and durability.

When all of the ARGB fans are lit-up, and you can see inside the case, it’s a thing of beauty. Beyond that, the front view, with two fans, in a dark room, is lovely. The Irid 353 is small in it’s form factor, but tight and sharp-looking.

When looking for flaws in the build quality, I’ve really struggled. There’s nothing here to be negative about at all.

Airflow

Spending money on parts to put inside a PC isn’t a cheap endeavour. So you want to keep them at optimal temperatures. This of course, means maintaining steady cool air flow within the case. Thankfully, the three pre-fitted fans are set to already pull air in through the front, and use the back fan as an exhaust fan. The Irid 353 is basically good to go from the start.

Add to that, the option and space to add further fans at the top of the case, you’re pretty much set to keep that airflow going for those long stints raiding or grinding out XP to get levelled-up. If needed, I can even fit a water-cooling system. There’s space and it’s designed with this in mind.

Because of the form factor, you can only fit a smaller mATX or ITX board, but that isn’t at detriment to anything. It means that the Irid 353 is built to facilitate a specific motherboard setup. And that’s exactly what it does.

If I wanted more fans, I could add them. If I wanted more space for cooling, I should have got a bigger case. The Irid 353 does what it sets out to do, and it does it well.

Build space and keeping things tidy

So yeah, we have airflow, and we have everything we need to mount the parts into the case. But does the Irid 353 provide enough space to work? I mean, it’s aiming for a micro board, so it’s got to be pretty tight, righ?

Not so much! The motherboard placement provided a lot of space to the side of it (towards the front). Along the edge of the board, and at the bottom of the case, there are holes with rubber flanges for pulling cables through to the relevant points of the board.

This is especially cool, bcause it means you’re hiding the bulk of the cable in the cavity space on the other side of the case. With everything lit-up and viewable through the glass, you want it as tidy as possible, right?

With a built-in niche at the bottom of the case to hide the power supply and my HDD, you’re fitting everything you need but hiding the mess. Sure, this is standard in a lot of cases now, but because of the build quality, you just feel that you’re getting a premium version. Nicely branded niche, hiding the PSU, HDD and cables. Good quality rubber flanges that don’t just fall out when pulling cables through.

The Irid 353 give you everything you need to keep that build clean, and keep thos cables tucked away. There’s no need to see a mass of cables coming from the power supply, and SATA cables can just be kept visible at the ends.

Granted, once I got the graphics card in, my room to manouvre arouond the board was limited, but that’s because it’s a small board and a big GPU. Just put it on last……simple!

Overall

What Genesis have done here is built a high-quality case, with a premium feel. But the Irid 353 is more than just a nice hunk of metal and glass. Engineered to ensure great airflow, solid mounting points, plenty of room to fit everything, and some clever ways of keeping everything hidden. This is a bloody good case.

Better still, the ARGB version comes with LED cooling fans which can be controlled directly from the case. So you can get a nice look in a dark room, to really light up your internals and show off your hard word. Removable, magnetic dust shields. Room for expansion of cooling and a lovely aesthetic, too.

The Genesis Irid 353 ARGB case is a great piece of kit, and I honestly expect to be using it for years to come.

This review was written by Ben from NinjaRefinery.com, Head to his site to check out some of his other work. Or check out more of our Hardware reviews by clicking HERE.