The Kolink Inspire K11 is a modern mid-tower PC case, and I must say I am rather surprised at the general level of manufacturing quality of this case. It is very well put together, and while there are still some signs that its roots are cheap, this case mitigates them well with some smart decisions.

For one, it actually has reusable PCIe slots. This is a nice change if you have to pry pieces of metal out of a cheap case all day and then throw them away. Also, if you move the GPU down a slot or two, you won't have a gap above the GPU. However, only the top three PCIe slots can be screwed in the Inspire K11.

This is the only inexpensive case I tested that has a PWM fan that connects directly to the motherboard and can change speed. The included Umbra aRGB 120mm fan is mounted at the rear of the case and glows in a rainbow of colors, although there is no front intake fan for optimal airflow. However, it does glow in a rainbow of colors.

If you want it, you're looking at the right case; the K11 also has an RGB strip on the left side of the front panel that can be controlled along with an RGB-enabled fan via a 3-pin 5V RGB header on the motherboard.

A key element of an impressive PC case is airflow, but you would be surprised how many case designs do not get this quite right. Ideally, a handful of high-flow intake fans at the front of the case would draw in cool air, place it over the PC's components, and exhaust it. However, inexpensive cases do not always come with the ideal number of fans for this optimal setup, so it is especially important to find one that is smartly designed to work with limited cooling capacity.

To test the thermal characteristics of these six inexpensive cases, we built a PC into each case. We then ran several benchmarks to put routine stress on the CPU and GPU, and the average results are summarized in this graph.

The K11 has a number of mounting options, including a large vent at the top of the case, covered by a semi-size dust filter. This leaves room for a 240mm radiator, which, when combined with the space for a 360mm radiator on the front, provides plenty of room. There are also two 120mm fan mounts on the PSU shroud if needed.

Out of the box, however, a single fan does not provide particularly impressive thermal performance, so you will probably need to purchase additional cooling to keep the PC running at optimal temperatures.

It should be noted that the Inspire 11 has two USB 2.0 ports on the front panel and only one USB 3.0 port.

Kolink is best viewed as an inexpensive case that creates an unshakable baseline for further improvements. You can build a functional PC with this inexpensive case and even incorporate a good cooling solution. If not for the fact that it is fairly flexible and other inexpensive cases do a bit more out of the box, this would be one of the best. Worth checking out at least.

Our group test: cheap PC cases are a great way to cut costs on your next PC build, but many of the brands we're used to seeing in the Top Case Roundup aren't cheap enough for what we're looking for. So we asked our friends at Overclockers UK (opens in new tab) if they could loan us their cheapest cases.