MSI MAG VAMPIRIC 010 Case Review

MSI is back into the enclosure business with the MPG and MAG series gaming cases. What we have here is the VAMPIRIC 010 under the MAG line-up, featuring RGB lighting up front and a tempered glass side panel under a mid-tower stature.

The MSI MAG VAMPIRIC 010 has a lot going on for its mid-tower stature. There’s an RGB LED strip illuminating the front, a tempered glass side panel, a separate PSU chamber, a 120mm RGB fan and excellent cooling potential – by specifications alone. Is this the sub $100 USD RGB case you are looking for? Let us find out.

Technical Specifications

Packaging and Accessories

The MSI MAG VAMPIRIC 010 comes inside your typical chassis packaging. The product should come with the following items inside:

• User Manual
• 6x Cable Ties
• Stand Offs
• Expansion Slot Screws
• Storage Drive Screws
• Motherboard Screws
• Motherboard Stand-offs
• Extra Side-panel Thumb Screws

Design, Layout and Build Quality: External

The MSI MAG VAMPIRIC 010 is a combination of glass, steel and plastic. Of course, most of recent cases are made with those materials already but this one is quite tame compared to the majority. This one weighs in at around 7kg and like most tempered glass cases, it requires handling with care.

The MSI MAG VAMPIRIC doesn’t feature tempered glass panels on both sides compared to let’s say the OMEGA X6 Titan. Ventilation for the 360mm radiator capable front panel is double sided though so rest assured airflow shouldn’t be an issue.

The front panel options are limited to a single USB3.0, dual USB2.0 and the  usual audio ports. They are flushed and far from being an eye sore. We also have the RGB lighting toggle here and the magnetic dust cover. A shame that we don’t have enough USB3.0 ports though.

The bottom part of the case features a dust cover as well as the screws for the removable 3.5″ drive cages.

The back is rather simple. We have the adjustable 120mm fan or radiator mount here the PSU bay and the hinge-locked expansion slots. The slots are conveniently perforated but once you remove them, you have to make sure you’ve got a spare.

Design, Layout and Build Quality: Internal

The MSI MAG VAMPIRIC 010 supports ATX motherboards and below. Due to the exclusion of the front mounted bays, the motherboard tray area is roomy enough to accommodate even the longest graphics cards available. No grommets here, but we’ve got enough holes and a good design to keep things nice and stealthy.

The other side of the case sports the motherboard tray mountable 2.5″ drive bays. There’s also the removable 3.5″ drive bays at the bottom should you need the room for a longer PSU.

As for cooling, we have an addressable RGB fan with a dedicated RGB header that should work seamlessly with the MSI Mystic Light. The top area on the other hand supports up to 240mm radiators or dual 140mm fans. Clearance for CPU coolers is at around 167mm.

Since this case supports up to 360mm radiators, there has to be a cutout at the PSU shroud to accommodate such component. The option to remove the drive bay also helps plus there’s a mount for a reservoir.

Headers and or cables are the usual pairs but we have a guest here in the form of a SATA power connector used to power up the RGB strip.

Clearance and Installation

The MSI MAG VAMPIRIC 010 is an easy case to work with. It’s roomy, looks clean and has a good amount of clearance to boot.

While I didn’t take cable management seriously with this case, dear me is still impressed with the build’s outcome considering that I used a different PSU this time around. Just lazy things.

Test Setup and Methodology

Coolers are far from the hardest components to test, but it doesn’t mean they are easy enough to deal with since there are multiple factors to take into account while benchmarking. Factors includes the ambient noise, ambient temperature, the enclosure, and the test system’s overall configuration.

The AIDA64 Extreme Edition System Stability Test is used to stress our Intel Core i5 6600K. The CPU, FPU, Cache and Memory are selected at the options. AIDA64 has been chosen due to its inclusion of AVX, AVX2 and FMA – 3 important instructions that will help us push our CPU to its limits.

• Ambient Temperature – 27°C (±1°C)
• Ambient Sound Level – 34dBA (±1dBA)
• Stock Profile – 3.9GHz (1.088v)
• Overclocked Profile – 4.4GHz (1.248v)

Temperature

Temperatures are tested with attainable CPU clock speed configurations that should resemble common systems. To measure the cooler’s capabilities, the CPU temperature is logged with HWiNFO64 and is cross referenced with AIDA64.

The MSI MAG VAMPIRIC 010 showed us a good stock cooling performance. The same could be said with our CPU at 4.4GHz.

Noise Level

Noise levels are tested on a variety of fan duty cycle settings available thru our motherboard. To measure the levels, a sound level meter is secured on a tripod with a foot of distance away from the cooler.

Noise levels of the MSI MAG VAMPIRIC 010 is good if not great. Certainly way better than running your system on an open air case.

Software, Lighting and Special Features

Software is just basically for the MSI Mystic Light support. Lighting on the other hand is fantastic even without the fan lighting up. Apologies, but my motherboard doesn’t support any RGB headers.

Final Thoughts

The MSI MAG VAMPIRIC 010 is a well-rounded case for under $100 USD. The tempered glass panel, RGB lit facade and sectioned components area made the case a worthy addition through the vast selection of mid-tower cases.

Practicality and functionality wise, you are looking at a case that could house up to 360mm, 240mm and 120mm radiators all under an easy to manage and easy to clean platform. Panels are rather thin though and that’s something I would like MSI to consider with future releases.

The MSI MAG VAMPIRIC 010 is a case built to consider aesthetics and cooling performance in one user friendly solution. It’s not the best I tell you that, but it is far from the worst either. A respectable case nonetheless from MSI.