Verdict and Conclusion
This is a pretty cool case. Overall I like it.
It is very compact and looks quite good. I enjoy the view through the mesh top into the hardware bits, especially because Zotac likes to put bright green and red LEDs on their boards.
Fitting half of a power supply along with room for two 2.5″ disks and a motherboard into this much space is impressive, I like that too.
The power supply isn’t rated at anything close to what Antec implies it is. To be fair to them they only mention the power brick, so what they say is technically true. The brick is rated at 90w. They completely fail to mention that the actual power supply inside the case is only rated for 60w of 12v and 80w total! This will cost them some points, not just because of bad marketing practices but also because this is an oversight that could cause hardware death issues.
The cable setup for the power supply is quite creative, I found it to require a fair bit of careful planning in running the cables but the end result was very good. I’m not sure what you would use a Molex plug for in this small of a case, but it’s nice to see one anyway.
Including a VESA mount for hanging the case off a monitor as well as a stand for it to sit vertically is a nice touch. You can also let it sit horizontally of course.
The case is priced at $67-$85 depending on where you shop. Fairly expensive for such a small piece, but it is brand new and does come with a PSU built in. I’ll call it a decent price.
All told there are pros:
- Tiny size.
- Case itself is completely silent.
- Four USB ports, a PSU and two HDD slots is a lot for such a small package.
- Well laid out for airflow passively or with a CPU fan.
- Looks great.
There are cons, too:
- PSU not rated nearly as high as implied.
- Hardware installation process tricky due to small size. (No shock there)
If the PSU was actually rated at the implied 90w this case would be a slam dunk, as it is I still give it a solid 8.3/10. If you’re planning on using a different power setup or have a board/chip that doesn’t need more than 60w this is an excellent case and very worthy of consideration, the Recommended badge reflects this. If however you don’t have a PicoPSU type power supply and want to put a desktop quad core in a tiny ITX case, you will be disappointed!
SCORE
8.3/10
