m-itx – SFF.Network

Guest Review: Mini-Box’s M350

This guest review was provided by forum member Windfall, with editing performed by John Morrison. Want to contribute a review or editorial? Private message John (confusis) on the forum! Go back. Way back. Okay, maybe not very far back: 1996, when Mini-Box was founded. “Inspired by the unprecedented success of small form factor mainboards,” they have since “since directed [their] focus on designing and developing smaller, more compact PC peripherals.” I don’t know if that’s true or not, as I got it from their about page. I can tell you though, that from their product portfolio, it certainly appears …

News

Raijintek Launches the Metis Evo

Raijintek, famous for their Metis SFF case, has created a new generation of this SFF stalwart – the Metis Evo.. From Raijintek; “Design Art in its best by RAIJINTEK – New series of SFF chassis. The METIS EVO case is designed to fulfill a smallest case built with Ultra high air flow to solve all thermal issue of SFF chassis nowadays, can even install 200mm fan at front & 120mm/140mm/200mm AIO and DIY water-cooling. METIS EVO case supports up to Mini-ITX motherboard, able to install an ultra-high air flow 200mm at front (option), also can install 120/140/200mm radiator at front …

Feature

Forum Feature: SENTRY 2.0

In a semi-regular series, we will have a short look at various projects and one-off builds in the forum. This is not a paid promotion in any way, just a selection of cool stuff we like! Hot on the heels of the first generation Sentry, the Dr Zaber team has taken it upon themselves to update the concept. Taking feedback into account from the first production run, as well as crowdsourcing more, the team has stepped it up a notch (or three) in design and execution. For most in the SFF community, the Sentry needs no introduction. However, for …

Motherboards Reviews

ASRock’s Z390 Phantom Gaming-ITX/ac – A New Direction

For some time, ASRock has been using the Fatal1ty branding on their high end products – a tie back to the days of old, where Quake was king, and bright, flashy branding was cool. However, Fatal1ty has given way to ASRock’s “Phantom Gaming” brand, with a much more subtle aesthetic. All black? Yes please! Beefy heatsinks? Yessir! First sighted on ASRock’s limited availability (unfortunately) GPU line, the Phantom Gaming brand has come to motherboards – slowly taking over the performance space within ASRock’s lineup. This particular model uses the Intel Z390 chipset – what Z370 should have been, but I digress. …

Cases Reviews

Streacom’s DA2 – Versatility

It’s no secret that the majority of go-to cases found within our community are from the Indie scene, designed by fans and enthusiasts. Whilst Streacom may not be officially part of this Indie grouping, they are indeed a small bunch of enthusiasts determined to do something different in amongst the mainstream “SFF” offerings. Mentioning SFF by name in their mission statement, it seems the company has their eyes in the right place. With this, the team at Streacom decided to create something to compete with the SFF stalwarts, with design decisions focused on space efficiency. We had our first eyes …

Cases Reviews

Salvo Studios S401 – Indie Firepower

Discussion is over here in our forum!

Cases Reviews

Lazer3D’s HT5 – HTPC with Lasers.. Sorta

Indie cases, the major driver of our community forum and niche, come in many shapes and sizes (preferably small). Lazer3D recently approached me to try a couple of their products that are in final development – the HT5 and the CG7. Whilst the CG7 is due to launch in November, the HT5 has a September launch. Guess which one we’ll look at first? Aiming squarely at the premium HTPC market, the HT5 offers a customisable chassis with various material finishes. Wood finishes? Yes please! Let’s have a look at how far the acrylic case market has come in the past …

News

ASRock Phantom Gaming Z390 Boards on the Horizon

Browsing the usual sources across the web, I came across a snippet from VideoCardz.com noting the emergence of ASRock’s new sub branding – “Phantom Gaming”. Whilst we have no confirmation that this brand will replace the Fatal1ty branding that currently adorns products, the article does give us one more bit of info that is worth looking in to – a motherboard list. I quote: Z390 Phantom Gaming 9 Z390 Phantom Gaming SLI/ac Z390 Phantom Gaming-ITX/ac Z390 Gaming K6 Z390 Gaming-ITXac Z390 Master SLI/ac Z390 Pro4 Z390 Taichi Ultimate Z390 Taichi Z390M Pro4 Z390M-ITXac Z390M-STX MXM Whilst a few of these …

Cases Reviews

Raijintek’s Ophion Evo – Tempered Glass, RGB, but SFF!

At 20 litres, the Raijintek Ophion Evo just hits the limit of SFF volume, but it offers a lot to entice Large Form Factor (LFF) fans to the right side of PC building – our SFF world. From satisfying the current trend of RGB and tempered glass, to the ability to mount fairly high end hardware, the chassis is a taste of SFF for the masses. We had a quick look at the Ophion and Ophion Evo at Computex 2018, now it’s time to look deeper at the Ophion Evo. Ophion was an elder Titan god in Greek mythology, ruling …

Motherboards Reviews

ASRock’s H370M-ITX/ac – Workstation Wonder

ASRock’s H370M-ITX/ac is a highly specced, mid-range board based on Intel’s H370 chipset. Offering near Z370 specs at a slight bump over the price of a B360 board, this new motherboard offers an interesting value proposition. Offering a strong complement of IO, as well as numerous display options from your Intel Coffee Lake integrated graphics, there are many use cases for such a product. This particular ASRock motherboard offers a great feature set for the dollar, but what makes this motherboard worth your consideration? Let’s find out. Z vs H vs B vs Q – Intel’s Chipset Confusion Selling for …

Motherboards Reviews

ASRock’s Fatal1ty X470-ITX/ac – Back to the Future

With the second generation of Ryzen processors on the market, it’s only fitting than a new, upgraded, chipset family is available. With this in mind, today we are looking at ASRock’s first AMD 400 series M-ITX board, the X470 Gaming-ITX/ac. This board is a younger brother to the previously reviewed X370 Gaming-ITX/ac, with a few changes to the layout, as well as the aesthetic. ASRock’s partnership with the Fatal1ty brand goes back some time, and has always been associated with bright, Gam3r-esque branding and design. Not any more it seems, with this new generation of motherboards taking on a much …

News

Spotted: Z-CASES at Computex 2018

Just a quick post – we spotted, with the help of Z-CASES’ own Kevin, a pre-production version of the Z-CASE P50 – as seen here in the forum. I’m still recovering from my flight home (and returning to my day job today), so here’s a quick overview. See you in the forum!