iStarUSA D-213-MATX Black Metal/ Aluminum 2U Rackmount microATX Server Chassis 1 External 5.25" Drive Bays - OEM

Pros: Small, affordable, 2RU case was perfect for my needs. It is simple to work with and offers somewhat flexible drive mounting options compared to other similar size cases.

Cons: see other thoughts

Other Thoughts: Some complain of the loud front case fans. Mine did not ship with any which is fine since I planned to replace them anyway. A pair of Thermaltake ISGC Fan 8 AF0043 80mm worked out perfectly. There is very little room left with a Micro ATX board and depending on exactly where the connectors are you may have a difficult time with clearance when using a 3.5 inch hard drive. A right-angle SATA connector on at least one end might be required. I was forced to change the position of my drives from my desired because of this. I wanted them in a particular position for more clearance between the drives and the CPU cooler and for better placement behind the case fans. I have two 3.5 inch drives and one 2.5 inch SSD in a 3.5 adapter in this case.

Pros: Case spans a subspace in R^3

Cons: hard drive addition/removal somewhat painful. Its a tight fit to work with

Pros: This case is absolutely beautiful. Fits microATX just perfectly with plenty of room for an ATX power supply. EASY assembly. The size of this thing is incredible. If you have a rack that does not have that much depth THIS is what you need to get.

Cons: This is not really a con since the case is only 2u but I wish it took more than just low profile add on cards. Also make sure if you get this case buy your fans separately because this case does not come with fans.

Other Thoughts: I love the fact that they have a bible verse on it. Not too many companies are brave enough to do it. I am using the case for a VMware ESXi build and I am loving every minute of this case.

Pros: Looks great in a rack,
Has decent air flow,
Great price,
Short length fits well in smaller racks

Cons: HDD brackets can only hold 1 3.5" drive each (unless you use a mini-ITX motherboard).

Pwr LED WAY too bright

Other Thoughts: Most of the screws that hold the drive brackets in place had come loose in shipping and one of the brackets was completely free to bounce around. Not a big problem, but I did have to hunt around for all the screws.

If you use a Micro-ATX board, try to find RAM with heat-sinks that aren't too tall, or your hard drive in the outer rack will hit it.

If you use a mini-ITX board you can install 4 HDDs but that will block most of the air from the fans (fans are not included and are needed) because the drives sit right up against the fans (less than 1/8" away).

There is some room, below the optical drive bay, for cable excess, but I definitely recommend a MODULAR PSU for this case.

As somebody else mentioned, you will need a magnetic tip screwdriver for assembly.

What I put in mine:
ASRock H77M LGA micro-ATX motherboard
Core i5-3570K CPU
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3 1600 RAM
SAMSUNG 830 Series 128GB SSD for OS & Apps.
Seagate Barracuda ST2000DM001 2TB 7200rpm HDD for storage.
LG Black Blu-ray Combo Drive Model UH12NS29
SeaSonic X750 Gold 750W (fan on top to meet vents in top cover)
HT | OMEGA eClaro 7.1 Channels PCI Express x1 Sound Card
Noctua NF-R8-1800 80mm Case cooler <Quantity of 2

I put this in a small mixer/combo rack (Odyssey PRO103) for my mann-cave PA system, fits great. I needed a short PC case for this.

With the 2 Noctua fans running at 50% (set by BIOS not the resister adapters included with the fans) I can run RealTemp sensor tests (with Prime95) and stay more than 20 degrees C below thermal max, with all 4 cores at 100% and max turbo-boost.
Just playing a Blu-Ray or some Flac music files, CPU runs around 32 degrees C forever.
So the case seems to have decent airflow.

Pros: Works great for MicroATX boards and form factor made for a perfect build for my Vyatta edge router. My current setup:

-ASUS P8Z77-M LGA 1155 Intel Z77
-Core i5 3330-Ivy Bridge
-16GB DDR3 1600
-Kingston 120GB SSD w/ 3.5" adapter plate
-Two Intel 1GB NICs + Additional onboard Realtek
-585W PSU

...Just to give you an idea of what you can fit into it.

Cons: -Mobo placement makes for real PSU cable stretch
-HDD/SSD mounting brackets obstructs some SATA ports
-Low ventilation (not too many air passages on the chassis)

I can't argue too much because it was a great price.

Pros: Slick looking case and compact at 2U. Full size HDD/Power LEDs easily seen at a distance. Well built all steel construction. Has venting for dual fan power supplies. Will accept any standard power supply. 2 front USB connectors, a single 5.25 bay for DVD drive.

Cons: Mine did not come with any case fans, and you most likely need at least one because the case is well sealed. Has mounting holes for 2 80mm fans behind front plate.

The way the power supply mounts places the cable bundle at the far right edge of the case, and it may be a challenge to make all the power cables reach, depending upon your mobo and length of power cables on your P.S. I had to use an ATX12V extension cable, and the 24P connector just barely reached.

Other Thoughts: There are two 3.5 drive cages that are drilled to accept 2 hard drives each. Don't think that's possible because of close proximity to mobo, so one drive mounted in the upper part of each cage is probably the max. Also, its a tight case, but the solution is to remove the drive cages, install everything, then remount one or both cages as the last step.

Pros: Cheap
Strong Material
Does its job
Allows you to remove bays all-together for more room.

Cons: - Hard Drive bays
This has to be the worst design of the case overall.
The hard drive bays literally give you no room at all.
If you're like me and use big raptor drives you will
have a extremely close fit and be forced to use a small
cpu heatsink.

- PSU on wrong side
The PSU is mounted on the wrong side, so the main
power cords will have above your motherboard
and in some cases your power cord might not even
reach the 24pin motherboard power.

There also isnt much room, I ended up tucking my PSU cords under the dvd drive bay

Other Thoughts: Most edges are smoothed but be a bit careful as inside the case there are some sharp edges you can easily cut yourself if you are not weery of them.

Overall this case isn't bad, it might have some issues but for the price it did its job. You get what you pay for, and this case doesn't give you any less or any more.

Pros: This is probably the best Micro ATX 2U case there is out there. Luckily mine came with top ventilation for the PSU so you can use either fan type for the PSU now.

Everything ATX is a very nice fit in this case. Very easy to work with and plenty of space for a simple server.

Also, on mine I just received it appears the bible verse previously mentioned has been removed.

Cons: Loud fans (I replaced with more a quieter model as previously mentioned, super easy in this case).

Other Thoughts: I think this is the best 2U ATX case out there.

Pros: Not so much a review, but warning on the current combo with the Coolmax PSU (N82E16817159022), so you can learn from my experience. This bundled PSU uses a top mounted fan for ventilation, which will be blocked by the top of this 2U case. I used the Antec EarthWats EA-430D with flow through ventilation (rear mounted fan) (N82E16817371034) to keep from blocking air flow. I chose the Antec for reliability and reputation, and tucked the extra cables in the lower 5.25" drive bay. Still looking for a standard size modular PSU with front>rear ventilation, which would be ideal. **Remember the inside height of a 2U case is 3.4".

Cons: N/A

Other Thoughts: Newegg, when are we going to be able to trust that your combos are actually workable combos?

Pros: Cheap and fits a full size PSU.

Cons: Hard drives are cramped if you place more then 2 total drives into the case (one in each bay). There is no place to run extra PSU wiring so make sure you get a modular PSU.
The screws and metal are cheap. I got this case with the atom combo deal so it works well for a file server.
The fans are a bit loud, i ended up changing them out for better quality fans.

Other Thoughts: Great for a single drive with cool running components.
Send the extra and get a 4u if you plan on running raid or something that takes more hard drives.