The Gamdias Argus M1

The Gamdias Argus M1 is here to help express your RGB love – whether you want to show just a little color, or bring on the entire rainbow. Made from rolled steel, plastic, and tempered glass, this case keeps your build simple but stylish.

The Presentation of the Argus M1

Unboxing

The Argus M1 comes in a sturdy cardboard box. Taped very securely and around the corners, there were no signs of mishandling or damage to the box. The case comes packed face down and wrapped in a plastic bag, with styrofoam packaging on each side to keep the case snug and safe.

Gamdias Argus M1’s Design

Front and Sides

The Argus M1 is an overall black matte case that provides features commonly found on high-end cases: tempered glass, RGB lighting, fan mounting both for water or air-cooled methods. This case happens to come with two tempered glass sections – one on the side, and one on the front. However, the front tempered glass attaches to the plastic face and does not provide a view inside. Sorry, RGB fan geeks.

The front face worried me a bit while trying to remove it. I felt like I was going to rip off the faceplate and break it. After a few firm pulls from the bottom, I was able to remove it. What makes the front a bit concerning to me is that air ventilation only comes from slitted vents on each side and at the bottom of the front faceplate. This would create a vacuum; but it makes me wonder just how much air can be pulled. There are no options for an optical drive.

The side opposite of the tempered glass is just a matte black cover that provides access to cable management, PSU and hard drive installation. Nothing special.

Top and Back

The top of the case has a magnetic dust filter covering the entire fan area. The only things missing are the fans. There are none. Now, that could be good or bad depending on your approach. The plus side is that the case provides the option of mounting both 120mm (one in the rear, three in the front, and two on top) and 140mm fans (two on top or two in front). In radiator talk, that is up to 240mm.

The back of the case has seven PCI slots that do not have removable cover plates as a native feature. You will have to bend and break off the cover plate, but there are two removable replacement cover plates in the accessory bag. The PSU installs directly to the case, rather than like other cases that provide a mounting bracket which screws on to the PSU and then slides into place.

Bottom

The bottom of the case has feet; this comes in handy if you plan to place this on the floor. It gives about a half-inch of space. The power supply has its own dedicated venting slot with a dust filter, so it separates the PSU heat from the rest of the computer components. This is probably my most favorite feature of modern PC cases;

All The Lights

The front reveals two RGB lighting sections. One section follows a bezel in the front of the plastic panel. The button next to the power controls that light effect. The other surrounds the two USB2.0 ports, one USB3.0 port, and audio and mic jacks. The button to the right of the I/Os controls that.

Alternatively, your motherboard can also control the RGBs to synchronize with motherboard light settings. The supported motherboard brands are:

• ASUS
• Gigabyte
• MSI
• ASRock

SATA power cables power both RGB lights. If the RGB lights are not connected to the motherboard, you can turn them off by pressing each button for three seconds.

Inside in the Gamdias Argus M1

Looking inside the case, the Argus M1 has a very basic setup with no bells and whistles. This actually helps with arranging fans, coolers, radiators, and cables. While considered a mid-size case, it can hold various board sizes, including the E-ATX. Engraved in the metal is a list of compatible motherboard sizes, and a letter to show you where additional standoffs should be installed.

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The other side has just enough room for the power supply and a bay for two hard drives. The bay provides plastic mounts with SSD and HDD holes to secure your drives. Having a fully modular PSU will yield better cable management. I happened to have an older PSU without modular options, therefore, I had to cram my cables in whatever open area there was.

Installation

Power Supply

The power supply hovers slightly above the bottom of the case, so I had to elevate it in order to screw it into place. A bit tedious, but manageable. I did notice a bit of bend with the case when tightening screws. This also happened when I tightened my fans.

Motherboard

I needed to add three more standoffs, which required a socket wrench or pliers firmly install them. There was some resistance to screwing them into place. Once I got the standoffs set, I was able to install an ATX motherboard with little to no effort. I installed fans prior to installing the motherboard, making it hard to plug the CPU power cable into the motherboard. I would suggest connecting the motherboard prior to installing fans or radiators.

The cables were long enough to allow routing and prevent any mess. The back panel has slots that allow room to arrange the cables in any way you want.

Graphics Card

The Argus M1 has a PCI slot cover, but that confused me on what the best process is to install the graphics card – or any other PCI card, for that matter. The slot cover has holes for the screws, but do I need to lift the slot cover, install the card with screws, and then close the cover; or should I close the cover and then screw in the card? The slot cover screw also blocked me from screwing in the graphics card into the top PCI slot of my motherboard. I had to remove the cover screw entirely. Not a big problem, but noticeable.

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Gamdias Argus M1’s RGB Magic

Now for the moment we’ve all been waiting for: THE RGBs. I did not connect the RGBs to the motherboard because I wanted to see what default lighting was available. It surprised me how vivid and bright the lighting was when I powered the PC. Pressing the buttons changed the color and patterns, therefore you can go from rainbow colors to flashing rotating colors to solid colors. It provides enough RGB to add a subtle glow to your rig while stopping short of causing a seizure.

Final Thoughts

It’s simple, neat, and elbow rubs a bit with RGB. If you’re in the market for a subtle glow or want to light up a party, the Argus M1 can fit those needs. Priced at $70, it wouldn’t hurt to explore it as an affordable option.

For additional eye-candy, check out the video below for some lighting options the Gamdias Argus M1 case provides.