MSI's $699.99 MEG Maestro 900R is a heavyweight full-tower case that earns a 9/10 for its three-sided glass and detachable test-bench tray, though its price and 72-pound build make it a splurge. be quiet!'s $79 Dark Perk mouse scored an 8.6/10 for its silent clicks, 55-gram weight, and 32,000 DPI sensor, with one reviewer finding no real faults. Logitech's G502 X Lightspeed offers a solid Hero 44K sensor upgrade but stays overpriced at MSRP, earning best-value only when it drops below the Plus's price. Finally, the $334.99 TeamGroup GA Pro 2TB SSD misses the mark as a hot, inefficient PCIe 5.0 drive best avoided unless it lands on a deep discount.
This week in hardware reviews: a $700 case, a silent mouse, and an SSD that mostly misses
This week's reviews run the full arc from "splurge-worthy flex" to "steep discount or skip it." Up top sits an aluminum full-tower that costs about as much as a decent laptop and weighs more than a small adult. Down low, Tom's Hardware has a PCIe 5.0 SSD that "mostly misses." Sandwiched in between you get a genuinely pleasant quiet mouse and a gaming mouse with a nice sensor bump but a stubborn price tag.
The MSI MEG Maestro 900R is what happens when a maker decides a single panoramic window just isn't enough. Rather than spotlight one side, it centers the motherboard and GPU and wraps them in three tempered-glass panels. An aluminum shell and a floating base give it that architectural look that makes people actually say "wow" at build shows.
ThinkComputers.org: MSI MEG Maestro 900R PC Case Review
We have seen plenty of panoramic PC cases over the past few years, but MSI’s MEG MAESTRO 900R takes a noticeably different approach to showing off your hardware. This flagship full-tower PC case places the motherboard and graphics card at the center of the chassis, surrounding them with three tempered-glass panels for a view from multiple angles.
ThinkComputers' Bob Buskirk scored it 9 out of 10. The real showoff move is a removable motherboard tray that mounts in four orientations and fully detaches to become a standalone test bench, complete with included feet and a separate power-and-reset button set. It also ships with a vertical GPU mount, a PCIe 5.0 x16 riser cable, and room for up to nine 2.5-inch drives or five 3.5-inch disks.
Not cheap. The 900R rings in at $699.99, and MSI separately lists an oversized shipping fee. That's before you factor in the weight: 72 pounds before you install a single component.
Buskirk's test rig ran an AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D with an RTX 5070 Ti pushed up through the glass. Cooling is flexible to a fault, with dual 420mm radiators fitting and brackets you can mount flat or tilted. But he warns the many configurations force you to plan around radiator thickness, GPU clearance, and AIO tube reach. It's a big enclosure, sure. Not every combo will just drop in.
"For the right builder… MSI's flagship case deserves a place on your shortlist." Keep in mind that's a conditional sentence. If you value a display build over simplicity, this is a strong pick. Otherwise you're paying a lot to move something heavy.
A mouse that keeps its voice down
be quiet!'s entire brand rests on quiet things, so a silent-clicking gaming mouse is right on message. The Dark Perk Symmetrical model weighs 55 grams and packs a PixArt PAW3950 sensor rated to 32,000 DPI with a polling rate up to 8,000 Hz. It runs on a Nordic nRF54H20 MCU, which Funky Kit's Eddie Chim credits for roughly 110 hours of battery life.
Scoring it 8.6 out of 10 and stamping it Recommended, Chim landed on a balanced, comfortable mouse with responsive but quiet optical switches. The symmetrical shape suits most grip styles, and five buttons are reprogrammable with profiles stored onboard. There's even a browser version of the IO Center software so you never have to install a thing.
Funky Kit: be quiet! Dark Perk Symmetrical Silent Mouse Review
Today, we’ll be taking a look at the be quiet! Dark Perk Symmetrical Silent Mouse. be quiet! has built a strong reputation for producing high-quality PC hardware and peripherals, with a particular focus on combining performance with quiet operation.
be quiet! Dark Perk Symmetrical Silent Mouse Review - Funky Kit
The bads list is almost as striking as the goods. When asked what he'd trim, Chim wrote, "None I can think of." For $79 (CA $114, UK £64), it's a real option if you'd rather not sound like you're typing during a ranked match.
The G502 X goes wireless, same price
The Logitech G502 X Lightspeed is the wireless version of a line that's been running since 2022. Tom's Hardware's Sarah Jacobsson Purewal came back to it after a firmware update bumped the Hero 25K sensor up to Hero 44K, which is a worthwhile upgrade for real-world tracking.
Performance-wise it's a hit. Great battery life, well-placed buttons, smooth sensor. Then comes the awkward part: it's priced identically to the fancier G502 X Plus. MSRP sits at $159.99, and Purewal notes it remains "currently the same price as the prettier G502 X Plus."
Tom's Hardware: Logitech G502 X Lightspeed Review: No lights, same price
The G502 X Lightspeed is the budget version of the G502 X Plus, but it costs the same.
The bright side is you rarely pay that number. Newegg has it near $80.59, Walmart around $106.99, Best Buy closer to $154. She recommends buying it only once it dips below the Plus's price. Otherwise you're paying top dollar for the same guts with a cable attached.
An SSD that mostly misses
The week goes cold on storage. The TeamGroup GA Pro 2TB is a PCIe 5.0 drive with DRAM that should hand any PCIe 4.0 SSD its lunch on paper. In practice it underwhelms.
Tom's Hardware's Shane Downing calls it "a surprise, and an unwelcome one." Before publishing, the team rechecks the numbers, reruns tests, and reaches out to TeamGroup directly. It's not the worst thing to hit the market, but Downing frames it as an "inefficient, hot-running drive" with a controller old enough that firmware may not fully smooth out the rough edges.
Tom's Hardware: TeamGroup GA Pro 2TB SSD Review: A faltering attempt at a mid-range PCIe 5.0 SSD
A surprise, and an unwelcome one.
TeamGroup GA Pro 2TB SSD Review: A faltering attempt at a mid-range PCIe 5.0 SSD
It earns points at QD8 and holds up on steady-state writes, then trips up on poor low-queue-depth reads, poor efficiency, and heat. Against peers like the Crucial T700, the Corsair MP700, and the GA Pro's own sibling the GE Pro, it just doesn't stand out.
At $334.99 on Amazon, Tom's Hardware says skip it unless it goes on a steep sale. Fair call, given a segment already packed with cheaper DRAM-less drives that perform about the same.
