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Only the top panel is secured with the single rear screw (which should have been replaced by a thumbscrew in our opinion, though end-users can do that on their own); once the top is removed both side panels lift up and out.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Only the top panel is secured with the single rear screw (which should have been replaced by a thumbscrew in our opinion, though end-users can do that on their own); once the top is removed both side panels lift up and out.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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chucky2 - Tuesday, January 2, 2007 - link
:) Just asking...AlexWade - Tuesday, January 2, 2007 - link
Dear Anandtech staff:Please do more case reviews.
Signed,
Everyone
microAmp - Tuesday, January 2, 2007 - link
I'd like to see them do a review using video instead of text & pictures. I saw one other website do that and it's make a world of difference. Wish I could remember what site it was. :(JoshuaBuss - Tuesday, January 2, 2007 - link
Besides placing an excruciating load on the web servers, I think highly-detailed pictures are better than videos at least in terms of seeing exactly how things look. It's hard to get colors just right in videos, and resolution is normally low enough that some fine details are lost.. I can see where you're coming from though and we'll definitely consider it.. actually seeing things in motion can help get a better feel for some things.mino - Thursday, January 4, 2007 - link
Maybe host them on YouTube ? and consider them just a bonus to regular review...JoshuaBuss - Tuesday, January 2, 2007 - link
Copy that.. ;)In all seriousness, you can expect this section to get a lot hotter soon.. I just finished my last semester of coursework.. w00t.
SonixSquad - Wednesday, September 7, 2011 - link
Just wanted to post my experience having built my girlfriend a system about 5 years ago using the Antec Aria case.I remember it being a pain as it was so cramped and my first (and only) sff build but I got there and it was adequate. I managed to install the board without removing the PSU.
Once I started to monitor temps (was only using stock cpu cooler at the time) I realised it would need some sort of additional cooling intake and the supplied blower was a bit too loud for our liking.
Eventually I found the best air intake solution (without actually modding the case) was to just put a 120mm fan sitting next to the graphics card pulling air in from the rear.
Anyway, back to today 2011 and she still likes the case but the system needs an upgrade so I was looking at parts and having come across this article and seen the Zalman in there snugly fitting with a few mm clear of the PSU I decided to get the newer Zalman CNPS8000A which is low profile and supposedly quiet. I'll post back if it doesn't fit but I think I am going to have to remove the PSU this time around as this cooler needs to be fitted via backplate so it will have to go on before the board is in the case.
This time round she is getting an i3 2100 cpu which should run a lot cooler than the last AMD x2 one and so I'm hoping it will run a lot quieter aswell.
My criticisms about the case would be the same as noted by others. Very cramped and with a lack of decent routing the air circulation is bad. I would have appreciated some thought given to front air intake even if they didn't supply a fan but just somewhere to put one.
Also the PSU only comes with one SATA connector so I will have to get a molex to sata converter so I can power 2 sata devices.I also had some issues with the front audio inputs, at some point they stopped working properly and I still don't know why.