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Monarch Hornet SFF barebone

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Brian Kristensen
Kurtis
Monarch
Sep. 16, 2003

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The left side of the case features an optional side window which is constructed very well compared to windows on most other cases. A 60mm exhaust fan is mounted on the right side panel, as you can tell from the vent on the outside of the case. The left and ride side panels are held in place via thumbscrews.

Take a peek at the rear of the case and you will notice a very sought after feature; a slide out motherboard tray! The tray is held in place by, you guessed it, thumbscrews (four to be exact). The tray is a great idea, and it works well, but it doesn't slide in and out as well as I might have hoped. Sometimes you need to push the tray to the side to remove it. Also located on the back of the case are three vents for extra fans. There is room for an 80mm fan and two 40mm fans.

Working within any small case can be a hassle, and Monarch has taken note of this. The slide out motherboard tray and the removable left and right side panels make working within the case much easier, but there are still a few problems to work out. For one, the top of the case is not removable, and restricts access a bit. Secondly, the removable motherboard tray backing is too short. When installing larger heatinks on your processor, you may run into troubles pushing the tray back into the case, as the heatsink will likely hit the back of the case. The power supply may also interfere with the installation of larger heatsinks. Thankfully all the AGP and PCI cards we tried had plenty of clearence when pushing the tray back into the case.

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Page 4 of 6

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Page 1: Introduction
Page 2: Overview
Page 3: The Hornet Part I
Page 4: The Hornet Part II
Page 5: Performance
Page 6: Conclusion

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13 User Comments

1 - Posted by web56n on September 17, 2003 - 12:37 am

what was the price of the one tested?

2 - Posted by ELiTE KiLLaH on September 17, 2003 - 12:42 am

"The airflow throughout the case is definitely lacking, and I would like to see another intake fan to increase the internal temperatures."

increase sposed to be decrease??

3 - Posted by Brian on September 17, 2003 - 1:09 am

Lol, how did that slip by us? :-P

Kurtis read it over, he checked it, blame him!!!

*points to kurtis*

HIIIMMMMMMM!!!!!

4 - Posted by Kurtis on September 17, 2003 - 1:11 am

lololol

:oops:

5 - Posted by MaNiAk21 on September 17, 2003 - 2:19 pm

Hehe, awww... I missed it, damn school. :P Nice review though. :)

6 - Posted by JokesterX on September 17, 2003 - 3:49 pm

You can have my soul, it's not like I use it for anything. Actually with a little more air running into that case, seems like an ideal piece for a media server..... Imagine if you would, it fits in your stereo rack, have mp3's, jpg's, avi's, output to your main tv. Maybe a little IR remote setup? All that and a bag of chips. :twisted: Sounds like a plan to me. Oh yeah you can still have my soul, but I want something for it.....

7 - Posted by Brian on September 17, 2003 - 4:19 pm

I'll give ya Kurtis' soul. It's not much, but it should treat you well. I just got bored with it, but your soul is new and fresh, ready for the torment of a thousand deaths!

*evil cackle*

8 - Posted by DnD on September 17, 2003 - 5:52 pm

so ummm how much does it cost?

9 - Posted by Kurtis on September 17, 2003 - 7:23 pm

http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merchant2/merchant....

depends what u want in it...

10 - Posted by Brian on September 17, 2003 - 11:35 pm

If you look at the very top of our reviews, we put the general price of the item. We have been doing this for a few weeks now.

11 - Posted by ELiTE KiLLaH on September 18, 2003 - 8:07 pm

i see you finally listened to me :P

12 - Posted by Brian on September 18, 2003 - 10:00 pm

Hmm, you suggested that? *removing prices from reviews*

:-D

j/k :-P

13 - Posted by ELiTE KiLLaH on September 20, 2003 - 9:55 pm

lol
:P
i think i said that a while back...in the usb drive review maybe...

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