m-ITX Cases: SEED MA-280B and Cooler Master Elite 100

From an acoustic/thermal standpoint, these slim cases are really only suitable for integrated Atom and ION-powered systems, rather than those with "proper" desktop processors. The limited height makes the use of conventional quiet CPU coolers
impossible. Some cases in this class also have rather small power supplies — an AMD X2 or Intel Core 2 system’s energy requirements may come close to or exceed what is available. As such, our test board will be the Zotac IONITX-A. The two cases examined in this review differ somewhat in approach and size. The Cooler Master Elite 100 is designed to accommodate both mini-ITX and micro-ATX motherboards, and thus has a much larger footprint than the SEED MA-280, which is only for a low power mini-ITX board. A quick comparison of the relative size of cases and systems we’ve reviewed is worthwhile.