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Hardware Installation & Test Configuration
The Metis Plus comes with the standard bag of screws along with an extra four drive screws and rubber vibration dampers for the motherboard tray mount, a small speaker, and a couple of cable ties.
The cable selection includes the standard front power and LED cables, as well as an HD Audio cable, and a USB 3.0 cable that also supports USB 2.0.
The Metis Plus puts almost every cubic inch of internal space to use, leaving little room for things like oversized components or cable management. Also worth mentioning is that while the vent on the top of the case is technically also a 120mm fan mount, its proximity to the expansion slots means that users have to choose between mounting a fan there or installing a graphics card into the expansion slots. But it’s still a convenient source of cool air for the graphics card and should improve the case’s performance in our benchmarks.
The small window on the Metis Plus provides just enough of a view to appreciate the good-looking parts of your build while keeping the power supply and excess cables just out of view. The LED fan at the rear of the case, while not overly bright, does give the case a nice glow in a dark or dimly lit room.
Today’s review uses the same Mini-ITX reference platform as past reviews, with no changes to the standard hardware.
Noise is measured .5m from the case's front corner, on the side that opens. The numbers are corrected to the 1m industry standard—used by many loudspeaker and fan manufacturers—by subtracting six decibels.
Additionally, the test duration for today’s review was four hours at full load, and the ambient air temperature for the test was maintained at approximately 26°C (78.8°F).
Comparison Products
Test Configuration
Drivers and Settings
| Test System Configuration | |
|---|---|
| Sound | Integrated HD Audio |
| Network | Integrated Gigabit Networking |
| Software | |
| Graphics | Nvidia GeForce 353.30 |
| Chipset | Intel INF 10.0.27 |
| Benchmark Configuration | |
|---|---|
| Prime95 v27.9 | 64-bit executable, Small FFTs, 4 threads |
| 3DMark 11 | Version: 1.0.3.0, Extreme Preset: Graphics Test 1, Looped |
| Real Temp 3.40 | Average of maximum core readings at full CPU load |
| Galaxy CM-140 SPL Meter | Tested at 1/2 m, corrected to 1 m (-6 dB), dBA weighting |
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