Micro-ATX Cases - Shoebox Showdown
by Joshua Buss on January 2, 2007 12:40 PM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
PC Design Lab Qmicra - Interior
To get inside the Qmicra, the four rubber and steel feet are unscrewed and the four thumbscrews removed from the lengthwise rods. This leaves the plastic guard on the front, but two more thumbscrews can be undone to remove the plastic.
After taking off all the fasteners, the case's one-piece cover is spread apart on the bottom side until the whole piece can be slid up and around the edges. This leaves the inside of the case incredibly exposed, and reveals how all the strength of the unit comes from the shell, not any sort of internal framework.
The internal layout of the Qmicra is simple, effective, and smart. The main removable piece holds the power supply, any external drives, and internal drives via an included mounting bracket which allows for a total of four hard drives in addition to all three external drive bays.
Underneath the front bays are the two 80mm intake fan mounting points, and each comes with a removable filter and screws with grommets designed to hold fans and absorb some of their vibrations. The case doesn't have a standard sized PC speaker, just leads for hard disk activity, power, and power and reset switches.
On the back plate, the standard cut-outs are all present, along with more fan mounting points. These screws actually thread into the plastic of a fan, as opposed to the ones in front which are designed to fit through the holes then fasten into the case.
As expected, the entire middle section is easily removed once the bars are no longer pulling the two sides together. This totally opens up the ability to work on the motherboard area, which only includes the standard mATX mount points and doesn't even give the option for removing stand-offs.
To get inside the Qmicra, the four rubber and steel feet are unscrewed and the four thumbscrews removed from the lengthwise rods. This leaves the plastic guard on the front, but two more thumbscrews can be undone to remove the plastic.
 |
| Click to enlarge |
After taking off all the fasteners, the case's one-piece cover is spread apart on the bottom side until the whole piece can be slid up and around the edges. This leaves the inside of the case incredibly exposed, and reveals how all the strength of the unit comes from the shell, not any sort of internal framework.
 |
| Click to enlarge |
The internal layout of the Qmicra is simple, effective, and smart. The main removable piece holds the power supply, any external drives, and internal drives via an included mounting bracket which allows for a total of four hard drives in addition to all three external drive bays.
 |
| Click to enlarge |
Underneath the front bays are the two 80mm intake fan mounting points, and each comes with a removable filter and screws with grommets designed to hold fans and absorb some of their vibrations. The case doesn't have a standard sized PC speaker, just leads for hard disk activity, power, and power and reset switches.
 |
| Click to enlarge |
On the back plate, the standard cut-outs are all present, along with more fan mounting points. These screws actually thread into the plastic of a fan, as opposed to the ones in front which are designed to fit through the holes then fasten into the case.
 |
| Click to enlarge |
As expected, the entire middle section is easily removed once the bars are no longer pulling the two sides together. This totally opens up the ability to work on the motherboard area, which only includes the standard mATX mount points and doesn't even give the option for removing stand-offs.
 |
| Click to enlarge |
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shenoyh - Tuesday, January 2, 2007 - link
Just curious..there seems to be enough space and screw-holes for a regular ATX motherboard ...though it would be a tight fit.JarredWalton - Tuesday, January 2, 2007 - link
If it can fit a regular ATX board, it would no longer be a micro-ATX case - at least, that's how I see it.OrSin - Tuesday, January 2, 2007 - link
How can you do a M-ATX review and not have the Sugo in it. Its price is nice and workmanship on par with the Qmicra. With the huge difference in pricing I would think even full systems can be reveiwed.JarredWalton - Tuesday, January 2, 2007 - link
Generally, we review what we get. If Sugo wants to send Josh a case for review, I'm sure he would be happy to include it. Obviously, a look at three cases is not going to be a comprehensive roundup, but it's virtually impossible to include every potential candidate in an article.KingDaPuma - Tuesday, January 2, 2007 - link
Great review. Thanks. I note that the cases were tested with the GeForce 6600GT. Will any of the new DX10 cards (GeForce 8800, ATI R600, etc.) fit within any of these SFF cases?blinkin2000 - Wednesday, January 3, 2007 - link
The 8800GTX Fits but you must cut a hole for power connectors and you loose the lower 5.25" bay, but it fits.blinkin2000 - Wednesday, January 3, 2007 - link
in the microflywilburpan - Tuesday, January 2, 2007 - link
If I read your review correctly, it looks like the main source of noise was from the power supply fan. Would it be possible to replace the fan to try to cut down on the noise? Failing that, are these power supplies proprietary enough so that they can't be swapped out?mpc7488 - Tuesday, January 2, 2007 - link
From the Microfly Final Words: "If you want to use a different full-size ATX PSU, you can get the case only for as little as $50."IMO, accepting a full-size ATX replacement is a huge plus for this case. Everyone I know with a Shuttle cube has had a power supply fail in 1-2 years, they're not that cheap to replace, and output capacities are very limited.
Schmide - Friday, January 5, 2007 - link
Agreed, However I got this case and the funny thing is the X-connect doesn't fit in this case. Aren't these the same brand. Lollerskates...