ColorCase Yuri/Venus ATX Mid Tower

Expansion

A total of 7 drive bays, stacked on top of each other, are available for expansion inside the Yuri - about average for a case this size and more than sufficient for most users. Three are external 5.25", two external 3.5" and two internal 3.5" bays.

The two internal 3.5" bays are contained on a single removable cage, which is secured by two screws and allows for easy installation outside the case. The remaining drive bays are all permanently attached to the case. Metal guides in these bays allow drives to slide into place from the front of the case. Raised pieces of metal (see pictures below) on the right side of each bay apply pressure and push the drives towards the left side. Thus, all screws are installed from the left side of the case, which helps to reduce construction time. Unfortunately, since each drive is only attached by screws on one side, the Yuri is inherently more prone to rattles than some other cases, especially with high speed CD-ROM's. Nevertheless, we did not notice any such issues in our testing, but it is an issue that could come up after prolonged use.

Click to enlarge

Click to enlarge

While the aluminum construction itself helps keep weight down, its strength also allows the sheet metal to be quite thin, which further lowers the weight. The case is fairly strong, certainly stronger than any other case with sheet metal this thin, but the Yuri could stand to use sheet metal this is a bit thicker to increase its rigidity.

Fortunately, great care was taken in this cases construction as sharp edges are virtually nonexistent. We did notice a few around the expansions slots, but just about every other edge was carefully rounded, even in the drive bays - a common culprit in many cases.

Motherboard Installation

Even with the permanently affixed drive bays, there's quite a bit of room to work inside the Yuri. This of course makes motherboard installation quite a bit easier. The 6 mounting holes required by the ATX 2.01 specification on every ATX motherboard line up with the 6 permanently mounted standoffs in the case. Simply screw the motherboard down to these standoffs to complete the installation. If necessary, additional standoffs are included and can be used in any of the optional mounting locations afforded by the ATX specification.

Click to enlarge

Click to enlarge

Our test bed ABIT BX6 Revision 2.0 fit without any issues and just about any single processor board should fit fine. Most smaller dual processor boards should fit fine as well, but it will be a tight squeeze. The layout of the case gives plenty of room to access all components of the motherboard.