Review : Mountain Mods, UFO : Powder Black Options

[Father-Time]

Ok, my first review, lets see what happens.

Packaging.

Considering it came from the US i was surprised at how little there was, a cardboard box about 15mm bigger than the case itself, 4 polystirene corner blocks at the bottom and a sheet of bubblewrap (Double) over the top, box taped down. [edit: Just been informed by the supplier (Supplier to me that is ) that all cases come from Mountainmods.com shrinkwrapped, bagged, with 8x corner blocks... however, as it's all shrunk/vacsealed, once it's opened for a customer to "look at" (I hate browsers), there's no way to rebag it in the original packaging - Suffice to say the packaging that MM use WORKS]

Its worth noting the case arrived without a mark on it, all the way from US, that is pretty impressive!

Unboxed.

Material Aluminum 5052
Thickness 1.65mm (panel/flange material) -3.25mm (supporting strut material)
Dimensions 18x18x18 inches
Finish Powder Coat
HD Bay Removable
Hard Drives Holds 9
5.25 Bay Removable
5.25 Devices Holds 5
MB Tray Removable
Form Factors mATX/ATX/EATX
Fan Mounts 5-120mm,4-80mm
Empty Weight 15 lbs.

These are the specs offered by the manufacturer,



All the above specs are accurate. (UNCUT - ie: SolidTop) version comes with 5 * 120mm and 4 * 80mm cutouts. The material thickness really gives you trust in the overall strength and quality of the case. It is in NO way "Flimsy" like some other Aluminium cases.

When you get the case out you immediately notice how heavy it should be and how light it actually is, comes as quite a shock too. The powder coated paint is very shiney in a deep colour kind of way, it does not look "Thin"! All the screws that are externally located are thumb screws and are black.
[On a side note depending on the "theme" of the case i may well change these to chrome]
Located inside the case are 4 castors, 9 chrome screws and 9 hexagonal motherboard studs, (although newer motherboards come with 10 holes). The castors are not fitted, and the nuts and bolts provided only just give you enough thread to fasten tight, on a few i ended up overturning them, but they are still extremely well fastened and it was only 2 screws. Another 5mm on the screws would be perfect, maybe they measured before powdercoating which appears to be about 0.5mm thich on either side of the case.

Stripped.

The case comes fully assembled (Apart from castors), and consists of 5 connected pieces. They are :

• Case Base
  
• The castors
  
• Mobo Holder
  
• HD Holder
  
• CD-Rom Bracket
  
• The offending wires
  
• The assorted bits.
  

They are all individually powder coated. They all fit very tight without requiring pushing and shoving to get back into place. I was somewhat suprised to learn that it is fairly basic inside, by that i mean you dont get any of the chieftec, antec or thermaltake tricks like individual fan holders, individual hd holder...blah, blah, blah.... This is a good thing for a modder or overclocker. There is a huge amount of space in this case, it just oozes ideas! All the predrilled holes line up perfectly, however if you are planning to fit a 120.3 in the front you need to be aware that the shrouds you use do not touch! There is a gap of about 2mm inbetween each shroud, cant imagine this being a problem though, i just readjusted the shrouds and it fitted perfectly.
[Note: There's a 120.3 specific MountainMods case now available... should be in stock soon from Over-clock.com]
It is real nice to come across a case where all the drilled holes line up with the hardware you are going to fit! The one thing that wound me up is this case is clearly directed towrds the modding/overclocking community and yet the vandal switches and LED's (Front Mounted) are not braided or sheathed, they are just the bare wires. I know this is very harsh but hey this case costs £215!

Things i didnt like.

• The lack of spares screws and mobo holders.
• The lack of braiding on the wires.
• The lack of extra thumbscrews for the PSU.
• The lack of CD-rom face plates.

There are too many precut 120mm/80mm holes realistically if you are water cooling, however add rhoebus and you can turn the fans off. 8 Fans in total seems a litle overkill to me when watercooling, although it must be said i am a MODDER and do not know the exact requirements of the overclocker.

Things i did like.

• The case design - lots of room for ideas, simple but effective.
• The individual powder coating. The effect of the powder coating really is awesome!
• The thought put into the overall design of what is needed in a modder/overclockers case.
• You can set up input/output airflow very easily on the fans, the design encourages this.
• The accurate location of screw holes.
• The overall appearance - it looks FANTASTIC, it really does.
• Lightweight, easy to move around to LAN's and such.
• The size, it seems the perfect size without being too large.

Conclusion.

If you are serious about what you put your hardware into then this is perfect! The design and construction enable you to concentrate on the internals without a great deal of consideration for the aesthetic's, however should you wish to change the look of this case there are plenty of clear areas that can really stretch your imagination.

Overall this is a great case for the modder and overclocker!

Question : Is it worth the money.
Answer : Yes! Without doubt!

Disclaimer : This review is the sole opinion of Father-Time, no one else!

Hope you enjoyed this review and found it informative.

FT

This post has been edited by Father-Time: Aug 27 2004, 11:13 AM

[Rockin]

Love the case FT and the review. Top job

[Benjie]

must....put....down.....credit....card

[Colonel-1990]

Waw, what a review!!, i think you defiantly covered everything . If anyone is wanting to buy one of these cases and wanted a review of it, i would certainly recommend yours because of the detail you have put in, which is quite rare . I also like the case FT lol.

Sw2k4.

This post has been edited by sw2k3: Aug 25 2004, 02:19 AM

[FooSchnickens]

We know how to package stuff.

Good review, might have to see how much they run for around here.

[P-Dub]

They are a very pimped case, i do agree with that.... only thing i dont agree with is the lightweight part... wait til u got a waterkit in it, the fact that yer loop can be much bigger means it ultimatley weighs more....

They are an uber pimp case though... i know i had one too lol

Dubz

[Father-Time]

**EDITED** To include pics

[dazboot]

**EDITED** To include pics

[snapback]53052[/snapback]

just ordered mine from the usa.
putting my mach 2 GT and watercooling in there.
will keep u all posted.........
extremeprometeia phill is giving me a helping hand....

[Trunkey]

Dazboot how are planning on placing the prommi in it? I had wondered about this and sideways across the front is the only way I can see it will work. That means cutting it, not keen on spending £250+ and attacking with hole saw!!!
Any chance of some pic's when you have done it?

[VeeHexx]

thats my view on the MM case. spend £250 and i`d either want the work pre-done, or already exsistant in the 1st place.
i`d want it bang on how i wanted/need it.

[Firelord]

Agreed with both FT and P-Dub, they are fantastic and are very nice but once the water loop is in with a 120.2 its a heavy SoB!

If you moved the PSU to perhaps the HDD bay (scarfice a couple of HDDs) and mount the prommi/Vapo going front to back (where the fron 120mm fan hole is) and switch the mobo tray so its sitting the other way up....

[calibra]

great review there dude this is my first post on here found it looking for reviews and this case there a few things i'd like to know about it before i make my order i have 8hdds i see the case can take 9hdds so that should be fine but i also have 2 psu's would they fix and could i still get water cooling in there. any info would be great or any thoughts on getting its big brother case

thanks all

[Harry]

dood your better off starting your own thread in other\general hardware wi question than resurecting a seriously old topic

This post has been edited by Harry: Feb 14 2005, 11:31 PM

[Marci]

Not sure what you mean by "it's big brother case".... that case is the biggest MountainMods do.... there's a smaller one called the Twice7, but none bigger that I know of at the moment.

Anyways, all current MountainMods cases have mounts for 2x PSUs. One in the current position, and one above the mobo tray. Still plenty of room left for watercooling.

[dmaidmen]

I'm running 2 PSU's in my MM case. I have 4 hard disks in at the moment and there is a PSU bay right below the HDD rack. I have an older PSU in there driving the HDD's.

My main PSU is in the top slot above the motherboard, this is driving the Mobo, GFX card etc. As marci said theres plenty of room left, its an enormous but very light case

[calibra]

thx for the replys dudes dmaidmen you say you have your psu above the mobo did you have to cut the holes out your self i cant find any pics with a mount point for a second psu i can see there is room for one above the mobo but dont really like the idea of cutting the case to do it

[Marci]

All current MountainMods cases come with 2x PSU mounts... one at the bottom rear right hand side, one at the top rear lefthandside above the mobo. These are factory cut holes there as stock.

[Father-Time]

Calibra's confusion may well come from me, i told him he would have to cut the case, as i had to cut mine

My bad - so sorry

[calibra]

have just made an order for 1 U2-UFO plus some other bits thanks to father time for his help and to the over-clock team who are very helpful on the phone
the case has just had an update in the last month or so i think what has been done is the 80mm fan hole above the mobo have now been made into a second psu slot this and a small mod to the first psu slot (if i remember right) so people with more than just a switch at the back of there psu can fit the psu with out having to cut any of the case i have a pic of the new back of the case if it would help?

[Guest_dubdvd_*]

hi there
new here i just ordered my case today aswell but they"over-clock" say that the one im afer isnt going to be in for about 10 days or so which is a bummer ...but i think the girl on the phone has got it wrong ..as some of the cases have in stock above and out of stock below???...the one im after is the the black powercoat u2-ufo with the 3 x120mm fans at the front left and the cd-drive bays at the front right ...with the top with the 2x120mm fans holes at the back top and the window at the front top ...do you think i would be quicker ordering in from MM themselfs ?????
any help here would be great ..thanks lads ...great forum btw