Micro-ATX Cases - Shoebox Showdown
by Joshua Buss on January 2, 2007 12:40 PM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Ultra MicroFly - Interior
The biggest difference between the MicroFly and the X-QPack is that the three side panels are separate rather than one large piece. This makes opening up the MicroFly a little easier, but makes the end result feel just a tad less sturdy. Additionally, the case is about an inch deeper than the X-QPack and the original Chenming, making the overall working conditions inside more spacious.
The same horizontal cylindrical brace holds the front strongly to the back of the MicroFly's left side, and the case suffers from the same slightly unsupported PSU mount. Notice that it does contain an extra 80mm fan for intake in the front.
Only the top panel is secured with the single rear screw (which should have been replaced by a thumbscrew in our opinion, though end-users can do that on their own); once the top is removed both side panels lift up and out. When totally opened up, it's easy to see the removable motherboard tray.
The dedicated hard drive cage holds two drives, but a third and even fourth could be put in the external bays if desired. The hard drive cage can be totally taken out too, just like the motherboard tray. We did have a little difficulty with the mobo tray's sliding - it was kind of stiff and the easily bent thin aluminum tracks didn't help, but it worked well enough.
The biggest difference between the MicroFly and the X-QPack is that the three side panels are separate rather than one large piece. This makes opening up the MicroFly a little easier, but makes the end result feel just a tad less sturdy. Additionally, the case is about an inch deeper than the X-QPack and the original Chenming, making the overall working conditions inside more spacious.
 |
| Click to enlarge |
The same horizontal cylindrical brace holds the front strongly to the back of the MicroFly's left side, and the case suffers from the same slightly unsupported PSU mount. Notice that it does contain an extra 80mm fan for intake in the front.
 |
| Click to enlarge |
Only the top panel is secured with the single rear screw (which should have been replaced by a thumbscrew in our opinion, though end-users can do that on their own); once the top is removed both side panels lift up and out. When totally opened up, it's easy to see the removable motherboard tray.
 |
| Click to enlarge |
The dedicated hard drive cage holds two drives, but a third and even fourth could be put in the external bays if desired. The hard drive cage can be totally taken out too, just like the motherboard tray. We did have a little difficulty with the mobo tray's sliding - it was kind of stiff and the easily bent thin aluminum tracks didn't help, but it worked well enough.
 |
| Click to enlarge |
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jmke - Wednesday, January 3, 2007 - link
Do you have a picture of your test room? 15dB (I guess A weighed) seems awfully low :)JoshuaBuss - Wednesday, January 3, 2007 - link
It is very low.. in our old location we couldn't get any lower than 23 dB and now we're further away from the highway. All I know is that's what my new meter says if everything is silent and the dogs next door aren't barking.JoshuaBuss - Wednesday, January 3, 2007 - link
Whoa, I'm sorry.. it was supposed to be 18 dB. Updated.KayKay - Tuesday, January 2, 2007 - link
I built a machine for my brother using the Ultra microfly and it is a great case. The deciding factors for this was the ability to accept a Full-Size Power supply and the removable motherboard tray. They make this in several colours, as well as clear-sided versions. A small box with the ability to put some powerful components in it! 3800x2 with a 7600GT, this thing runs super quietCuriousMike - Tuesday, January 2, 2007 - link
I *just* built a machine three days ago using the Aria (NSK1300) as the basis; I just wanted something smaller than a tower case. I didn't see the review mention the case as being the NSK1300--- the Aria (IIRC) was all black. The case you reviewed is identical to the NSK1300.My build included a Frys X2 4200 "EE" combo deal with ECS C51GM motherboard.
The retail box AMD fan must have been running full tilt all the time (3000rpm sound right?)... it was the noisiest in the case. The CPU would reach 70' under Prime95 load within about 20 minutes, idleing at around 50'.
I replaced the stock HSF with a Zalman CNPS8000, which was reviewed poorer than the 7000 used in this review. The 8000, at anything other than it's lowest fan setting, is as loud as the AMD retail unit; at it's lowest fan setting, it *just* beats the cooling capacity of the stock HSF; running around 50' idle, and 69' with Prime load.
With the 8000 at full RPM, it only knocks a few degrees... 67'. The machine runs hot.
I used a evga 7600GTS and put a zalman 7000 GPU cooler on it (using the slowest fan setting); that made it go from idleing around 54' to 48', and running ATITool for 15 minutes, stock fan was 71', zalman brought it down to 65'.
With the current fan setup, the machine is tolerable noise wise. It's nowhere near silent.
The NSK1300 is cramped... almost impossible to route cables neatly.
It's pretty slick removing all the panels and the drive cage.
Myrandex - Tuesday, January 2, 2007 - link
I have the Lian Li PC-V300 and given its popularity with this crowd, I would have loved to see it included in there. I look forward to finishing the article as it is great so far.JoshuaBuss - Tuesday, January 2, 2007 - link
There are still a few more mATX cases on deck to be looked at soon.. hopefully the V300 will be one of them too.tayhimself - Tuesday, January 2, 2007 - link
I can't for the life of me find a good uATX motherboard with decent overclocking features for a core2 chip. I would like to build a uATX system but I havent gone with one because of the motherboards.Staples - Tuesday, January 2, 2007 - link
Unfortunately, good motherboards are not made in this size or even micro ATX for that matter. There are some decent P965 boards made in micro ATX sizes but the best ones are all in full sized ATX.JarredWalton - Tuesday, January 2, 2007 - link
µATX, uATX, mATX, and micro ATX are all the same thing. (u is the abbreviation used for mu a lot of the time - m already being taken by "milli" and most people not want to bother with the special symbol µ.)