ARK IPC-1.5U1525 Black 1.2mm SGCC 1U Rackmount Server Case

Pros: fits all mini-itx motherboards perfectly. fits SFX power supplies (Athena makes a good one that worked perfectly for this case) the LED is very bright but that's good for a rack mount server if you want to make sure its on. came with fans and they work great in the front really brings a lot of air in and pushes it out the back/side vents. fits 2.5" hard drives perfectly, and fits a lot of them.

Cons: none

Other Thoughts: 1.3U which is a little wacky but it works fine. 2 of them take up 3U's of slots with a tiny gap in between the two with actually works for ventilation.

Pros: Black
Simple Design
Short
Lots of room inside
No need for hard drive brackets
Easy assemble

Cons: Good luck finding a power supply that fits!
It's 1.5U not a 1U (but not a big deal for me)

Other Thoughts: I would have given it 5 eggs if there was anywhere on this planet to buy a power supply that fits this case.

Pros: We ordered two of these over the course of 8 months. I was impressed by the riggidity and solid build quality of the unit. Ample space for hard drives made this a great option for a dedicated firewall running pfSense.

Cons: Our first unit used an integrated video solution on an SK1200 Intel Server Board, with just the stock cooling options, it was adequate, but not optimal. So I had to manually install a secondary exhaust fan on the side port. Further More, the Powersupply is a SFX, but the only available ones on Newegg at the time are the 9PA2003401. Which are intended for P4 motherboards (missing SATA and 4pin ATX extension). The 1.3U Chassis is flawed in that the vent holes are directly over the PSU, but the PSU does not have top mounted vents, only front and rear, making the vents useless. A search for a "proper" powersupply provided fruitless as well.

Other Thoughts: The Second Chassis proved more frustrating. The rear PCI expansion slots require a left mounted riser card, which block the side venting of the case if installed. If a low power video car is used, regardless of wattage, the temperature spikes dramatically. Our only solution was to buy a secondary PCI Slot Exhaust Fan, as well as drill a 2.5" Hole above the CPU. We also removed the outer case of the PSU to make use of the vents (DANGEROUS!)

Over all, a decent chassis, but be prepared to provide your own fans.

Not a bad solution if you have an extremely low wattage/low power ITX motherboard.

Horrible if you hope to cram even an Intel Xeon E3-1220 w/ Nvidia 8400GS.

ALSO, and this is more a negative on the motherboard, but the ram slots block all the fresh air coming in from the front fans, and the USB header cables are too short.

Pros: Good sturdy build, moderately spacious, good ventilation

Cons: No screws to come with it? Had to run around to find screws.

Other Thoughts: Impressed overall. Almost gave the case 5 eggs..

Pros: Recently we purchased rack mount cases for evaluation to add to our product line. The ARK IPC 1.5 will definitely be one of them. At first, I was skeptic in making the purchase in thinking it would be cheaply made because of the price. I am glad that I was wrong. It’s a very nice case with no sharp edges. To boot, it has 2 DB9 slots on the rear; a big plus for our company because of our clientele that serves the Radio Broadcast Industry. Serial communication is alive and well in the field of Broadcasting. Thanks ARK for the fine product and price

Cons: None

Pros: Small. No rails needed. Has two spaces in the back for DB9 connectors (been a while since I've seen that!). Very sturdy feeling.

Cons: Power LED is blinding =).

Other Thoughts: This is actually 1.3U, not 1U. Not really that big of an issue in my setup, but it might be for others. As well, even though this is for mini-itx mobos, it uses an SFX power supply. Really nice chassis for a router, and the DB9 slots (coupled with a mobo with a few serial headers) make it easy to use it as a poor-man's cyclade for OoB management of other networking gear in the rack.