Microcool Banchetto 101 Review
Category : Cases
Published by Hiwa Pouri on 01.04.14
Microcool is an Italian company which make bench tables and the Banchetto 101 is one of the best bench tables out there for hardware testing labs as well as extreme overclockers. It features all the possibilites for testing and benching hardware and an ability to mount hardware components directly out of the box is one of the main bench table features.
Today we will take a look at latest bench
table from Microcool, the Microcool Banchetto 101, and try to show if this one
really has what it takes to be the overclockers choice.
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Preview
Specifications
| Model |
Banchetto 101 |
| Case Type |
Benchtest |
| Dimensions |
445 x 347 x 230 mm |
| Material |
methacrylate shelves (8 mm) - Steel cradles (0.8 mm) |
| Color |
Black |
| 5.25'' drive
bay |
3 |
| 3.5'' drive bay |
8 |
| Expansion
slots |
9 |
| Form factors |
ATX, E-ATX, XL-ATX, micro-ATX |
| Radiator
housting |
120 mm or 140 mm radiator with up 3 fans |
| Cooling |
6x 120mm |
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Bundle
Overview |
|
| |
| The package contains all the parts required for the installation of components on
the Banchetto 101. The accessories are well separated and placed in a handy plastic bag.
The bundle includes instructions, PCI-E brackets,
six 120mm fans supports, power and reset buttons with cables and all the screws.
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[pagebreak]
Product descriptions
Overview |
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| |
|
The Banchetto
101 from Microcool uses a rather very special design which required special attention during the installation of the components.
The Banchetto 101 features three different levels, top one, where we mount
motherboard and four 120 mm fan supports, which are positioned exactly where overclocker or tester needed them.
The fan supports are located near the CPU VRM area, near memory slots as
well as in other parts
of the motherboard which allow users to push more air to graphics cards and the
PCH. The aforementioned levels
are made of methacrylate shelves, and all other components are
made from steel cradles. The Benchetto 101 looks solid and sturdy, at
least before mounting four
graphics cards. With four heavy graphics cards it is not as stable
as it looks to be. Despite the rather generous size, the Banchetto 101 is
too light to be a three level benchtable. It weighs just 5.5 kg and
surfaces are well made. The Banchetto 101 has a single drive bay which
can house three 5.25-inch drives and also features two cradles for up to eight 3.5-inch
HDDs. There is also a nice place for an ATX power supply. We tried with largest PSU we
currently have in lab and it fits perfectly. The Banchetto 101 gives you the
possiblity to mount two 120 mm or 140 mm radiators.
Microcool made three incisions to allow better management of SATA cables,
24-pin power supply cables and 8-pin CPU power, as well as two small holes
to allow Power and Reset cables to be connected to the motherboard. The top level
also has room to mount the supplied Power and Reset buttons, just below
the product name. |
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[pagebreak]
Installation
Overview |
|
| |
|
The
included instructions are not very clear when it comes to installation of the components
and since we had an early revision of this bench table, we had a pretty
good idea what to do and how to mount levels and components. The process
is not very complicated so it should be very
easy to mount. As we said before, the top level is for mounting motherboard, so
in order to install the motherboard you need to place the standoffs and tighten the thumbscrews, nothing could be simpler. The same method is used for the chrome bars and the fan supports,
since all are tools free. The next is the second level where you need to install the stirrups,
which are used to keep the bench table stable. The last step is to fix them with the
last level and this is the only point that we do not like, as it would
be much better to use four angled holders which would allow the
benchtable to be a lot more stable.
The last level holds the HDDs and the power supply, and features removable cradles to install
up to eight HDDs and three 5.25-inch
devices. The power supply has a place in back part of the level and can be mounted easily with just
two screws.
For our test we used two platforms, EVGA with ATX and E-ATX form factor. In both cases, we did not
see any incompatibility problems
and the installation was simple as we expected. Also, the supports for the expansion cards fit perfectly into the holes of the graphics card
so it does not need any pressure on the brackets or other components. Regarding the fans, we like the design adopted by Microcool, however,
it is only compabitile with 25mm thick fans, therefore it is not possible to use fans thicker. |
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[pagebreak]
Conclusion
| General |
|
+ |
- |
| We were pleasantly surprised by the
quality of the materials used of the product. Despite the size and the
stability,
the Banchetto 101 looks quite nice. The Poly (Mathacrylate sheets) provides a pleasant feel to the touch. The layout is well thought out and implemented, however, we would
have loved see much more stability, especially since most overclockers
will use it with heavy LN2 pots. |
|
- Design
- ATX and E-ATX
compatibility |
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|
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| Manufacturing quality / Ergonomics |
|
+ |
- |
The build quality is on a good level. Overall, the materials used are well made,
espeacialy the screws. The installation process is quick and intuitive,
requires a bit more time due to the size of the bench tablet, but also
does not need a screwdrivers, since everything is tools free.
Cable managment is quite good and three incisions for SATA cables, the 24-pin and 8-pin
PSU cables, as well as two small holes for reset and power button cables, provide much better and cleaner setup.
|
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- Build
quality
- Cable management on
the back of the motherboard tray |
-
Stability
|
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|
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| Design |
|
+ |
- |
| Banchetto
101 uses a very special design compared to all other bench tables. Despite the lightness,
the matte black color combined with the chrome finish gives
it an aggressive look. |
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- Design
- Color
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| Recommendation |
|
+ |
- |
| The Banchetto
101 from Microcool is listed on Geizhals.eu
for around €249 excluding shipping costs. The price is slightly higher
than what we would like but it is still in line with other similar products. Microcool's
Banchetto 101 is a nice designed and very functional bench table. |
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- Price |
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| Rating |
|
The Microcool
Banchetto 101 gets good
4.5 out of 5 stars. |
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