Another Micro Fly Review

[Steeeeve]

SFFTech released their Ultra Micro Fly review that can be found here

You can compare the review to the one SFFClub did here

While I love SFFTech.com, I do disagree with a lot of their review. For one, the panels are a little difficult to get on, but no harder than the one piece Qpack and I believe the 3 panels makes it easier once you have finished it all. Also, measuring sound level at 1in gives poor results. Fans are located in different places so if you do a 1in away sound check it all depends on the area of the instrument. The SG01 is louder than the Micro Fly in my opinion. Also, the case isn't made my Chenming according to Ultra....they tell me the design is just used by both companies.

EDIT: I also notice they didn't have the price. Grrrr, try asking. TD has it for 70 w/o PSU and 100 w/ PSU. The MSRP is even shown in my review.

Other than those few things it is a nice short little review.

 

[jonnyGURU]

LOL... It's a fair review. But you have to suspect "slant" when they state that....

"...we awarded the Aspire X-Qpack Editors Choice for its excellent thermal performance and value pricing"

and then go on to compare the MicroFly HEAD TO HEAD with the X-Qpack by saying....

"Paint quality is a drastic improvement over the Aspire X-Qpack,"

"The front bezel is held onto the chassis with four plastic clips and a couple of screws" (as opposed to just clips,)

"Overall chassis quality has been improved a bit over the X-Qpack. The aluminum is noticeably thicker, brushed, and looks similar to the Silverstone SG01"

"Performance of the MicroFly is excellent and much better than an NT06 equipped Silverstone SG01-E. Processor temperatures are a good 4 degrees Celsius lower with the MicroFly with a stock AMD cooler. Motherboard temperatures are around 3 degrees C lower under load while GPU and hard drive temperatures don’t show too much difference."

"Fans of the Aspire X-Qpack may find the Ultra MicroFly a better choice. With its good power supply and better build quality the Ultra MicroFly would be a good choice for a micro ATX system for users that require more space or want more flexibility than a Shuttle XPC offers."

Yet doesn't give the MicroFly an Editor's Choice award because it's still not as good as the Silverstone without taking into consideration that it's $60 cheaper. Hmm......

As for the side panels, going with three panels was a CHOICE. He makes it sound like it was done for no other reason other than to piss off the user. Ultra didn't have taking all three panels off in mind for everytime you need to get into the case. Really, they just wanted to be able to "pop the top" to get to power connector leads and the top-most 5.25" bay. Working on it through the top panel is like the difference between a tonsilectomy and a frontal labotomy. And if the panels didn't fit right, then the case might have gotten tweaked in shipping. I haven't run into the issue in the three I had built.

Overall, it's a good review. I think someone seriously looking at buying the product can be objective enough to take the good with the bad.

And yes.. I do like your review better.

 

[Steeeeve]

Well, I agree with the panel thing and I pointed out that it can be hard to get on sometimes...but really the one piece is just as hard if not more annoying. The sound thing and price thing bothered me the most since 1) I reviewed mine in a high tech lab at standard distance and 2) prices are not hard to find.

 

[jonnyGURU]

Yeah. I think pricing was actually out before the product.

Some people are just too shy to ask questions. Some of these guys that write reviews are the same kind of guys that refuse to shop at B&M's even if it saves them money.

 

[synaps3]

The funny thing is that the pricing is on Ultra's website, so they did not even have to ask anyone.

The decibel levels seem off. They clearly call it quiet and then talk about it making over 50db of noise... 50db is by no means quiet...

The whole review seems biased, like JonnyGURU said.

 

[Steeeeve]

The funny thing is that the pricing is on Ultra's website, so they did not even have to ask anyone.

The decibel levels seem off. They clearly call it quiet and then talk about it making over 50db of noise... 50db is by no means quiet...

The whole review seems biased, like JonnyGURU said.

50dB is not loud really but it is noticable and considered "loud" for a computer. However, you put a mic 1in from a fan and see what noise levels you get. The sound tests done at SFFClub, I feel, are much better.

 

[jonnyGURU]

Well, even when audio equipment is measured for sensitivity, isn't measured at 1db/W at ONE METER?!?!?

One INCH?!?!?

 

[Steeeeve]

Well, even when audio equipment is measured for sensitivity, isn't measured at 1db/W at ONE METER?!?!?

One INCH?!?!?

It is not measured at one meter? or is? Your post is rather confusing haha

 

[jonnyGURU]

Sorry. I believe it is one meter. I was trying to emphasize how big of a difference there is between one inch and one meter.

 

[Solar]

Noise levels
We placed our Radio Shack digital noise meter about an inch away from the respective areas and recorded the dBA noise levels. With the Ultra MicroFly you sacrifice noise levels for slightly better performance. While the NT06 equipped Silverstone NT06 produces less than 50 dBA of noise most of the time, the MicroFly hovers around 56 dBA. This level of noise is acceptable when the system is placed on the floor but may be noticeable when placed on top of a desk.

One inch seems a bit close to be making measurements from, but what do I know, I'm not the one with acces to a world class soundlab or a top shelf sff review website. So it has to be quieter than 56db further away.

 

[Steeeeve]

One inch seems a bit close to be making measurements from, but what do I know, I'm not the one with acces to a world class soundlab or a top shelf sff review website. So it has to be quieter than 56db further away.

Well, as Guru pointed out...the standard is 1 meter.

 

[GT2k]

Noise measurements were taken an inch away because any further the noise meter wouldn't pickup anything. As far as pricing goes I don't recall seeing an MSRP on Ultra's site at the time of writing, ended up scouring online stores to find pricing.

As far as Editors Choice, it didn't get one because it was a standalone review and there wasn't anything spectacular about it to warrant an Editors Choice.

The three panels are annoying, I mean seriously, whats the point of having three panels if you still have to take off the top panel to access the side ones, especially when the top panel is held in with one screw.

 

[jonnyGURU]

Noise measurements were taken an inch away because any further the noise meter wouldn't pickup anything. As far as pricing goes I don't recall seeing an MSRP on Ultra's site at the time of writing, ended up scouring online stores to find pricing.

I know what you mean. I have a similar noise meter. I thought it would be thre greatest thing since sliced bread, but the fact of the matter is you need to shell out the big bucks to get a useful sound meter. That's why, despite being in posession of said sound meter, I don't bother measuring sound levels when I review power supplies. If I can't do it right, I'm not going to bother.

As far as Editors Choice, it didn't get one because it was a standalone review and there wasn't anything spectacular about it to warrant an Editors Choice.

Understandable. It was just sort of odd to see the review start with comparison against the Aspire X-Qpack (a case in the same price point) and then end getting compared to the Silverstone.

The three panels are annoying, I mean seriously, whats the point of having three panels if you still have to take off the top panel to access the side ones, especially when the top panel is held in with one screw.

Like I said, once it's together, you can get to the top by just removing the top panel. Enlight cases are that way for the same reason. But I guess it's a preference thing. Yes, when you need to get to the sides, you still have to take the top off. I sort of like having three flat panels to set aside when I'm working inside the machine, instead of a big arch that my 3 year old can sit on.