MSI MPG GUNGNIR 300R PC Case Review

Up Close with the MSI Gungnir 300R + 300P differences

Looking closer at the 300R

MSI’s GUNGNIR 300R is a large tower case that supports motherboards that are up to EATX (up to 305 x 280mm) in size. The case features four RGB illuminated 120mm fans out of the box, and can support up to two 360mm liquid cooling radiators.

The front I/O of the 300R includes two USB 3.0 Type-A ports, a single USB 3.1 Type-C port, and an LED control button. Standard audio input and output connectors are also available as well as standard power and reset switches.

MSI’s 300R supports either two 140mm fans or three 120mm fans at the top of the case. There is also adequate space for either a 280mm or 360mm liquid cooling radiator. This radiator mount can be covered using a magnetic dust filter.

The front plate of the MSI GUNGNIR 300R is easily removed to access the fans behind it.

Removable Radiator/Fan mounting plates

The front fan/radiator mount of MSI’s 300R chassis is removable. If you remove the thumb screws shown below, you an remove MSI’s mounting plate with ease, making it easy to mount new fans or a liquid cooling radiator. Strangely, MSI chose to make this mount removable and not this case’s top radiator mount, which is where most users will choose to mount their radiators.

At the top of the 300R is enough space to mount a large liquid cooling solution. MSI says that up to 80mm of clearance is available for radiators and fans, which means that a 50mm thick radiator with standard 25mm thick fans would fit inside this case with plenty of clearance.

No Space for thick radiators at the front? think again

While MSI claims that their 300R case has up to 80mm of radiator/fan clearance at the front of the case. The image below suggests otherwise. Based on the image below, it looks like we can only fit a 30mm thick radiator and a 25mm thick fan. That’s 55mm of clearance, not 80mm. Thankfully, GUNGNIR 300R users can choose to mount their fans at the other side of this case’s radiator mount, adding extra space for thicker liquid cooling radiators.

GUNGNIR 300R users can choose to use a 30mm thick radiator with push/pull fans in this configuration, or use fans on the outer side of this case with a radiator that is up to 55mm thick. It is a shame that Cooler Master did not make their cutput 5mm longer to account to 60mm thick radiators…

Movable GPU support bracket

MSI’s GUNGNIR 300 series comes with an included GPU support bracket. This bracket can be moved around the case to give your graphics card support where it’s needed. Below you can see two screws which can be used to re-orient the support, the bottom of which can be covered with an included plate. This cover is shown in the image above.

MSI’s included GPU support bracket includes two support segments, which can be used to support both the top and bottom of a graphics card. If placed correctly, this support bracket can also be used to help hide your GPU’s power cables.

 Removable PCIe slot covers

Below you can see the rear PCIe slots of MSI’s 300R chassis. These PCIe slots are removable using the two thumb screws shown below.

Vertical GPU mount

If you remove this case’s standard PCIe slots, users can install MSI’s included vertical GPU mount. MSI’s 300P case ships with two 60mm fans installed on this mount. The GUNGNIR 300R doesn’t include these fans.

MSI’s 300R includes 28mm of space for cable routing. Cable management within this case is a breeze. There is plenty of space for cable routing, and lot of velcro ties to hold your cables in place.

ARGB/Fan controller

At the top of the 300R is an included ARGB/fan controller for the enclosure. Note that the cables of MSI’s fans include an ARGB daisy-chain connector. This makes it easy to connect more RGB components to this case’s controller.

MSI 300P Case Differences

As mentioned before, MSI’s GUNGNIR 300P ships with non-RGB fans and no RGB/fan controller. To balance this out, MSI includes a GPU riser cable. On top of that, MSI has added three fans to improve the cooling of PCs with vertically mounted GPUs.

Users of MSI’s 300P chassis can use the case’s three extra fans to create an airflow channel behind a vertically mounted graphics card. This adds additional cooling potential to the backplates of graphics cards, and helps to cool the M.2 SSD slots on motherboards. With these fans, users of vertically mounted GPUs can expect to have a cooler running GPU and cooler running M.2 SSDs.