A nice LAN party case for a basic gaming system

Author's Rating:

Pros: Small, handle, transparent side and top panels, standard power supply

Cons: No power supply, handle doesn't feel very robust, short sound connector cable

The Bottom Line: 
Small portable case, lightweight construction, great for LAN parties

Author's Review
This case attracted me because I wanted a small system with a handle for LAN parties or to take with me when working on other machines for downloads and virus cleans etc.

The price for this case is fairly high considering it only has two external five and a quarter inch bays, one external 3 and a half inch bays plus two internal 3 and a half inch bays. While this unit has front USB ports and headphone and microphone jacks the connector cable provided with the case is too short to reach the connections at the back of the motherboard and so that function isn't usable at least with the biostar TForce 6100-939, I haven't tried writing to ULTRA to see if a longer cable might be available yet, that's on my to do list.

Note: this is a Mini ATX case, Mini ITX is something different so don't make the mistake of thinking they are the same thing, the layout is different. Mini ITX tends to be a special layout and you usually can't buy motherboards or cases separately, it's sold as a unit with case and motherboard and power supply then you add your own hard drive processor and other stuff.

Great features:
Sliding motherboard tray
Front USB ports (two)
Front Firewire ports (one)
Front Headphone and microphone jacks (short cable unless the connectors are at the front of the motherboard it won't reach)
Accepts full sized ATX 2.1 power supply (no hard to find wierd sized power supplies that usually cost more too)
Handle
Light weight
Screwless design outside (but not inside)
Large system fan on back of case
Temperature panel readout on front of case

Lacking:
Because of the size of this guy you pretty much have to put in all the components and the power supply in last. Due to the dimensions inside, external devices must be connected before they're slid into the bays since there's really no way to get your fingers in there once the devices are in the bays and the power supply is installed.
No room for removable drive bay in 5 and a quarter inch bay--unless it's no longer than a standard 5 and a quarter inch device and most removable bays are several inches longer so they don't fit.
Handle feels plastic--For something holding several hundred dollars worth of computer parts I'd have preferred a more robust feeling handle made of metal.
Check clearance on cpu fan if you're not using the stock fan that comes with your AMD 939 (no room for very tall cpu fans).
Cable too short to connect front sound plugs if the motherboard has the connectors at the back of the board
You'd better have small hands to work inside this case with everything assembled.
Switch connections are not broken by a connector in the center as some cases do (i.e you connect everything and there's a big connector that lets you quick disconnect without messing with all those tiny pins again if you pull the board out the back of the case), if you ask me this is a big lack because you pretty much have to disconnect all your case controls every time you need to pull the motherboard out the back.
Fourty dollar price tag doesn't include a power supply

Assembly:
The front and side panels are held on with one thumbscrew. Unscrew the single screw at the top back and slide the top panel forward and then pull the side panels up and off.
Unscrew the four thumbscrews holding the motherboard tray in the case and pull it out.
Remove the internal 3.5 inch bay (holds two drives) by removing two screws. (Note: because these bays hold hard drives vertically instead of horizontally you should format your hard drive after installation, sometimes gravity can have a small effect on head positioning and if you format the drive horizontally and then put it into use vertically you may end up with errors just because of a tiny difference in head positioning caused by gravity. New drives may be less susceptible to this than older tech but I believe it's still commonly recommended to format the drive in the same orientation that it will be used in.) Install your hard drive (s) into the internal bay and put at least two screws in there to hold the drive in the bay. Note: the 3.5 inch bay blocks the left screw holes for the 5 and a quarter inch bays so if you're planning to install a DVD writer or similar device now is the time to do that so you can put screws in the left side. Plug in the data cables for your devices to the back of the devices.

Motherboard:
In the box with your motherboard there should be a rear faceplate that matches the plugs on the back of your motherboard, if the one in the Ultra case doesn't match your board, pop the old one out and install the one that came in the box with your mini ATX motherboard (they just pop in and out).
Apparently mini ATX uses only one screw layout (yippee someone got smart there) so the screw standoffs in the motherboard tray should already be correct, just lay the board down, line up the back connectors and screw it down. NOTE: The motherboard comes with a stock cpu fan base so if you are using other than the stock fan that came with your cpu, check to be sure the base is the same as what's on the board before you screw it down.
The Ultra case hardware provides washers for the screws, there is argument whether these are necessary or not but I always use them if they're provided.
Install memory, cpu, cpu fan, and any cards.
Connect SATA and IDE(PATA) and floppy cables as necessary being sure to pay attention to how the tray slides in the case so you don't cause a jam.
Slide the motherboard tray about half way in and then connect the case connectors for power switch reset switch etc. This case doesn't have a speaker on it so they give you a tiny piezo speaker with a standard speaker connector on it and you just plug that onto the motherboard connector.
Lay the power supply in a position so you can snake the cables in and plug them in. The only one that was really a pain to connect was the device in the 3.5" external bay, I put a floppy in there so I had to slide it back out the front and connect the power and then slide it back in, there was just no way to get the power connector in right without doing that. After all power cables are connected and extras are tied out of the way, screw the power supply into the case. Three large screws hold the power supply in place and one screw hole is also the thumbscrew hole for the top of the case so look at the top of the case before installing all the power supply screws.

Reassemble the case:
The sides just slide on, only the top of the case has a screw. Slide on the sides, slide on the top, install the single thumbscrew at the top back of the case to hold the sides and top onto the case.

What I think of this case:
I think it delivers what it promises. I find the construction a bit light weight but it's probably adequate and they were trying to keep the weight down obviously. This case is really too small to work inside when everything is installed and connected. They don't advertise in the documentation that the motherboard tray slides out, it almost has to, I don't see how you could get it all assembled if it didn't. Time will tell whether the construction will handle the stress of being picked up by the handle and carried a lot. The handle feels really plastic, I'm not sure it is plastic but it kinda worries me a bit to trust about three hundred dollars in computer parts to a hunk of plastic handle. I'll probably end up making or buying a case for it for better protection and a shoulder strap.

When I was shopping for a new LAN case it came down to this case and the Apevia Aspire that is about the same size but runs in the eighty dollar range with power supply. I chose this over the Aspire because of the statement that a standard ATX supply will fit in it, I'm NOT sure that the Aspire can make the same claim and with rebates on the power supply I was able to bring it in under 80 dollars for this case and a 400W dual rail ultra power supply.

update: Had this for a couple of months, recently had to go inside to install a video card (not happy with onboard). Be very careful, yes this is a lightweight case, but it is lightweight at the expense of sturdiness-- especially on the motherboard tray. The tray didn't want to slide out smoothly, I had to take the sides off and push the tray from the front to avoid bending the rear panel (it may be sturdier with cards installed but I didn't have any installed till now). Then after I slid it out to install the video card, it was a fight to slide the tray back in (kept wanting to jump out of the track grooves in the bottom of the case). Other than this, I like the case, still think the handle may be of questionable strength but no problems so far with the hinges etc. Just be really careful when you take this guy apart to work on it and you'll have no problems, still not any products like it out that I've seen other than the Apevia Aspire, I apparently got a good price on this as they're now only a few bucks less than the aspire that has a power supply with it (but may not take a standard atx supply).