Microcool Banchetto 103 Review
Category : Cases
Published by Hiwa Pouri on 01.05.14
Microcool is an Italian company which make bench tables and the Banchetto 103 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 yet another bench
table from Microcool, the Microcool Banchetto 103, and try to show if this one
really has what it takes to be the overclockers choice.
[pagebreak]
Preview
Specifications
| Model |
Banchetto 103 |
| Case Type |
Benchtest |
| Dimensions |
344 x 322 x 195 mm |
| Material |
methacrylate shelves (8 mm) - Steel cradles (0.8 mm) |
| Color |
Black |
| 5.25'' drive
bay |
2 |
| 3.5'' drive bay |
2 |
| Expansion
slots |
4 |
| Form factors |
micro-ATX |
| Cooling |
4x 120mm |
[pagebreak]
Bundle
Overview |
|
| |
| Microcool Banchetto 103 comes with two boxes
which contain all the
required hardware for the installation of the Banchetto 103. The accessories are well separated and placed in a handy plastic bag.
The bundle includes instructions, 4x PCI-E brackets, two 120mm fan supports, power and reset buttons with cables and all the
needed screws.
|
[pagebreak]
Product descriptions
Overview |
|
| |
|
The Banchetto
103 from Microcool uses a rather very special design which requires special attention during the installation of the components.
The Banchetto 103 features two different levels, top one, where we mount
motherboard and two 120 mm fan supports, which are positioned exactly where overclocker or tester needed them.
Unfortuantely, it comes only with two fan supports included while the
earlier reviewed Banchetto 101 comes with four fan supports. The fan supports
on the Banchetto 103 can be mounted near the CPU VRM area, near the memory slots as
well as any other part 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 103 looks solid and sturdy and it
is more
stable than the Banchetto 101, simply because
this one is made for micro-ATX motherboards and the Banchetto 101 had
three levels. The dimensions of the Banchetto 103 are much smaller than the
Banchetto 101. We
tried to install CPU and memory POTs for small xtrerme overclocking
session with LN2 and it was quite good and its stable, although it
is still too light for our taste with 5.5kg weight, the Banchetto 103
surfaces are well made and it is stable enough. The Banchetto 103 has a single drive bay which
can house two 5.25-inch drives and also features two cradles which support up to
two 3.5-inch
HDDs or 2.5-inch SSDs . There is also a nice place for an ATX power supply. We tried
the largest PSU we
currently have in lab and it fits perfectly. Unfortunalety the Banchetto 103
does not give you the
possiblity to mount any radiators due to its small dimensions.
Microcool made two incisions to allow better management of SATA cables,
24-pin power supply cables and 8-pin CPU power. We would like to see
holes to allow Power and Reset cables to be routed like we had on the Banchetto 101. 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 complicated so it should be very
easy to mount. As we said before, the top level is for the motherboard, so
in order to install the motherboard you need to place the standoffs and tighten the thumbscrews, nothing
complicated. The same method is used for the chrome bars and the fan supports,
since all are tools free. Then you have to mount the stirrups and fix it together
to the first level which is used to keep the bench table stable. The last level holds the HDDs and the power supply and features removable cradles to install
up to four HDDs or SSDs in vertical position so two 2.5-inch or 3.5-inch device can be mounted on each
cradle and there are two 5.25-inch bay for fan controller or any other 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 ASUS micro-ATX form factor. We did not
see any incompatibility problems
with memories or cpu cooler, 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.
When it comes to fans, we definitelly like the design adopted by Microcool, however,
it is only compabitile with 25mm thick fans, therefore it is not possible to use thicker
fans. |
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[pagebreak]
Conclusion
| General |
|
+ |
- |
| We were pleasantly surprised by the
quality of the materials used for this product. Despite the compatibility
with only micro-ATX,
the Banchetto 103 looks quite nice. The Poly (Mathacrylate) sheets provides a pleasant feel to the touch. The layout is well thought out and implemented,
however, testers and overclckers prefer a benchtable with all factor
supports and not only micro-ATX. |
|
- Design
|
|
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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,
especialy the screws. The installation process is quick and intuitive, but also
does not need a screwdriver, since everything is toolfree.
Cable managment is quite good with two incisions for SATA cables, the 24-pin and 8-pin
PSU cables, but we would like to see two small holes for reset and power button cables
like we had on the Banchetto 101.
There was no reason to remove them as there is
still enough space on the top level of the table for such small
holes and it would provide much better and cleaner setup. |
|
- Build
quality
- Cable management on
the back of the motherboard tray |
- Power and Reset buttons hole |
| |
|
|
|
| Design |
|
+ |
- |
| Banchetto
103 uses a very special design compared to all other bench tables and with
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 103 from Microcool is listed on
Geizhals.eu for around 149 Euros excluding shipping costs. The price is slightly higher
than what we would like it to be but it is still in line with other similar products. Microcool's
Banchetto 103 is a nice designed and very functional bench table. |
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|
- Price |
| |
| Rating |
|
The Microcool
Banchetto 103 gets good
4 out of 5 stars. |
| |
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