Who needs a full tower case? Leo Waldock has
five small cases on test that prove that small can indeed be beautiful.
Akasa Crypto Vesa
The significant part of the Akasa Crypto
Vesa model name is the word 'Vesa', because it distinguishes this case from a
regular Akasa Crypto. The ethos behind this mini-ITX case is that it can be
mounted behind your display, or possibly your TV, using the four Vesa mounts.
You attach the supplied screws to the Vesa mounts, then slide the Akasa chassis
onto the screws and lock the whole thing in place with a bracket.
Akasa
Crypto Vesa
Alternatively, you can use the Akasa as a
tiny desktop PC or stand it upright on a supplied plastic foot and voila you
have the world's smallest PC tower.
No matter which option you choose, you'll
need a power supply, which is significant because the Crypto Vesa is supplied
with a DC-DC board, but you also require an external 12V adapter that looks
like a laptop power brick.
There is a single 50mm cooling fan in the
rear of the chassis that is carefully located to draw cooling air across the
DC-DC power board. As it happens, the power board is limited in its scope and
only has connectors for the motherboard, along with one SATA connector and one
four-pin Molex connector. You'll need to use the supplied optical drive adapter
if you're installing an optical drive, but we doubt you would want to do that
if you were installing the chassis behind your display.
Akasa offers an 80W power supply for
$106.25 or a 60W unit for $91.07, so you're talking about considerable expense.
The bare chassis costs $109.03 from Scan or $129 from Yoyotech, so you need to
budget about $212.5 for the bare hardware.
Akasa
offers an 80W power supply for $106.25 or a 60W unit for $91.07, so you're
talking about considerable expense.
This mini-ITX design cannot accommodate a
graphics card (not that you have the power budget), so you need to think in
terms of an Intel Sandy Bridge/Ivy Bridge or AMD Llano set-up with decent
integrated graphics, and ideally you would select a CPU with a TDP below 65W,
although a low-power 45W or 35W model might be a smarter move.
Once you've decided whether or not you wish
to install a slimline optical drive the only other decision is what sort of
drive you want to use in the 2.5" drive bay. We heartily recommend an SSD,
but you might feel a laptop hard drive offers better value for money.
Interestingly enough, Akasa included a
handful of its Proslim SATA cables in our delivery that cost about $4.5 each.
These cables are either 15cm or 30cm in length and they're incredibly thin and
easy to route inside the chassis. Add $9 to your budget and consider it money
well spent.
Installing your motherboard in the Akasa
will be the usual mini- ITX fiddle and will be made easier by a small or
passive CPU cooler. It really helps if you can ditch the optical drive mount,
as that frees up some precious space.
This is a neat way to install your PC
behind your screen but blimey, you do pay a high price for the privilege.
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Details
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Price
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$110
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Manufacturer
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Akasa
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Website
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www.akasa.co.uk
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Required spec
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External 12V power adapter such as Akasa
80W at $105, mini-ITX motherboard
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Verdict
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Quality
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7/10
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Value
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6/10
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Overall
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7/10
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Cooler Master Elite 120
It's difficult to give a first impression
of the Cooler Master Elite 120, as it's rather understated. It's the colour
that causes the confusion, because the square front of the Shuttle-esque
(That's Shuttle, the barebones manufacturer, not Shuttle, the Nasa spacecraft)
is two-tone grey and the case almost slips into the shadows as it sits on the
test bench.
The front panel has a dark- grey border
with a lighter- grey panel in the centre that is made from the type of
composite material we've seen on previous models of Cooler Master chassis. This
probably sounds foolish, but it took a couple of glances to spot the single USB
3.0 port and two USB 2.0 ports in the dark grey surface, another glance to see
the headset jacks and a really good long stare to find the power and reset
buttons.
Cooler
Master Elite 120
Getting inside is easy, because the steel
top cover is held in place with three thumbscrews and the front panel pulls
loose so you can strip the chassis bare in a matter of moments.
The construction has clearly been designed
to be both cheap and simple, with a steel frame that supports the top cover and
front and rear panels. This makes the assembly of the PC slightly awkward,
since the motherboard is pretty much surrounded by hardware, including the 80mm
fan that stands at one side of the chassis, but the job isn't especially
difficult.
The main 120mm fan sits at the front of the
chassis and keeps the drive bay cool, but if you pack the bay with three
3.5" hard dives with a 5.25" optical drive sat over the top, you'll
find there isn't much airflow reaching the rear of the chassis where the
motherboard lives. No doubt that's why Cooler Master decided to add that 80mm
fan at the side.
In the package you will find two drive bay
adapters that allow you to mount 2.5" units in place of full-sized
3.5" drives.
It’s possible that you will require more
cooling, in which case there's a housing waiting for a 120mm fan on the back of
the drive cage, directly next to the motherboard. Frankly we doubt it will be
necessary unless you're building a high-end gaming rig with a toasty CPU.
This
Cooler Master chassis has a double expansion slot and enough space to
accommodate a 13" graphics card.
What's that? How can a small-form-factor PC
qualify as a high-end gaming rig? Well, this Cooler Master chassis has a double
expansion slot and enough space to accommodate a 13" graphics card.
Provided you install a decent power supply, you can plug in a powerful CPU, a
gaming graphics card, loads of storage, an SSD boot drive and a decent amount
of cooling.
In fact, the only absolute limitation is
that you're restricted to using a mini-ITX motherboard. Fleck, you even get a
USB 3.0 port on the front panel.
That's an impressive list of features but,
on the other hand, we have styling that is little more than neat and tidy and
build quality that feels a bit basic.
Amazingly enough, this new Cooler Master
chassis launched this week with an SRP of $60, which means that we can expect
to find it on sale for $55 by the time this issue of Micro Mart goes on sale.
We double-checked the price with Cooler
Master and once it confirmed, we knew we had a winner in this group.
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Details
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Price
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$60
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Manufacturer
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Cooler Master
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Website
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www. coolermaster.co.uk
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Required spec
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Internal ATX PSU, mini-ITX motherboard
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Verdict
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Quality
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8/10
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Value
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9/10
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Overall
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9/10
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