Review on Silverstone Tek Micro-ATX Mini-DTX by Michael Lightfoot

When looking for a new case I had three criteria: (1) It had to be significantly and noticeably more compact than a standard mid-size ATX case (2) It must allow the use of high-quality components including two graphics cards (3). It should be relatively good value for money. Silverstone TJ08B-E fully meets these three expectations. First, unlike many mATX cases, it really benefits from the smaller size of the micro-ATX standard. While it's about as wide as many ATX cases (8.3 inches), it's at least 4 inches shorter in both height and depth. an absolute marvel of design for packing (almost) everything into a really compact package (I discuss the limitations below). After all, for the price that Revain is offering (with free shipping), it's tremendous value. fantastic and the finishes are top notch, which only adds to the sense of value you get from the innovative and unique design. You're not just paying for something different, you're paying for something better. The first case arrived damaged from Revain with a large dent in the top bezel, but Revain's return program was top notch and I got a new case within a few days at no extra cost. (2) If you use a 3.5 inch hard drive bay. Drives, drives will almost certainly prevent you from using an exhaust fan in a tower style. It's a processor cooler. That's a major drawback for cooling, which is why I say it will fit "almost" anything a larger mATX or ATX case will allow. While you can certainly fit four 3.5" drives in one case, I think this is pushing the boundaries of sanity as it not only blocks the intake fan on the CPU cooler, but also almost all airflow from the case's front fan blocked . Finally, a few notes on assembling the TJ08B-E: (1) It really does fit together like a puzzle and you have to arrange each component in a specific order. Just follow the instructions and everything will be fine. (2) It was only after trial and error that I found that not only can you install a 3.5" drive in the bottom 3.5" external bay to avoid CPU fan conflicts, but you can Also install a 2.5" SSD in the same space just below the larger drive. Yes, that's right - there's room for a 2.5" drive and a 3.5" drive in a single 3.5" drive bay. Ingeniously, Silverstone designed it so that the 2.5-inch drive's circuit boards face the left side of the case, making cable routing easier. (3) If you're using a drive cage for 2.5" SSDs, you'll need sleds for those drives - I was a bit surprised that Silverstone didn't come up with an innovative method for the cage to do double duty. I think they expect you to only have one SSD and use a hidden bottom bracket. my setup to illustrate my points above. Edit (9/16/12): I opted for a slightly different setup - I removed the disk bay. It seems like too much intake air from the graphics card is being blocked, and since I only had one SSD, I just plugged it in. Secure the SSD to the top of the bottom 3.5" bay with double-sided tape. I added an image above. Note that this makes the case less cluttered and allows for high-profile RAM (although I use Samsung's ultra-low-profile RAM) and a large CPU heatsink/fan.