Hi all, sharing a recent build I did in a Zalman Cubix. I was looking to downsize my existing, relatively low-power setup from an Asus AP201 (33L, see last photo for side by side) and this seemed like good option on a budget.

It's a typical reference layout with the PSU on the top. I measured the case at 293mm long (+14mm or so for the bracket holder protruding from the back), 352mm tall, and 160mm long, for a volume of 16.5L. It supports ITX/mATX motherboards, ATX PSUs, up to 137mm CPU coolers, and 4 full-height expansion slots up to 260mm long. I guess the maximum GPU height is also around 137mm, including power cables.

The case is made of stamped and folded steel. The left panel is held in by thumbscrews, and the outer front mesh panel by phillips head screws. All other sides are permanently riveted or folded together. Chassis thickness seems adequate and the paint seems decent. Case feet are only \~3mm tall and have soft foam pads on them. Enough to keep the metal parts from scraping and sliding on your desk, but not very grippy. All motherboard standoffs are present and welded to the right panel. Panel alignment is good enough and I didn't find any sharp edges.

It comes with an 80x25mm, Zalman-branded FDB fan for the rear panel. The case officially only supports this one fan position, but more can be added unofficially.

The expansion slots need to be punched out before cards can be installed, which is awkward but not a big deal. One reusable slot cover is included. I guess it was cheaper than providing 4 slot covers?

For cable management, the case has 2 captive velcro straps forward of the PSU and motherboard. The accessories bag also includes 5 small cable ties and 2 adhesive cable straps. I didn't use the extras since I was satisfied with the velcro. The accessories bag contains a bunch of extra screws for drives and PCIe brackets. And 2x 5mm standoffs for no apparent reason.

Moving to the front, the front I/O board contains a power button, LEDs for power and HDD activity (lol), a 3.5mm HD audio jack, one USB-A 3.0 port, and one USB-A 2.0 port. The power LED is blue and pretty bright. You can just tape over the LEDs to dim them. The front panel fits over this board, hiding your tape job.

Towards the bottom of the front there's an optional 2.5/3.5" disk tray that also has mounting holes for a 120mm fan (which I did). Just note that the tray and whatever you attach to it will cut into the available length for your PCIe cards (not sure by how much, didn't measure). There aren't any other built-in mounting points for fans. But you can attach a 120mm fan directly to the inner front panel with zipties/magnets to save space versus using the tray. Above that you could do the same with a 92mm or smaller fan. The upper part of the inner front panel has minor protrusions for screw holes and what looks like an alternate place for the front I/O (but it'd be blocked by the front mesh panel), that would probably require a second 120mm fan to be on standoffs of some sort.

Along the bottom panel of the case there's holes to mount another 2.5/3.5" drive. The vent holes here seem to line up nicely for 1-2x 80mm fans in lieu of a drive. But putting anything down here might obstruct the 4th PCIe slot. Also remember that the case feet provide only \~3mm of clearance from whatever the case is sitting on, so installing a bottom fan might not do much anyway.

Building in the case is pretty simple, albeit cramped with a full sized mATX board (244 x 244mm). The bottom of the board almost reaches the bottom panel, so plugging in headers down there can be tricky. The right side of the board is roughly 3cm from the inner front panel. If you use the HDD tray to mount a 25mm thick fan or 3.5" drive, it'll be more or less at the right edge of the board. Make sure you have room to plug in headers around that area (e.g. right angle SATA connectors).

Above the motherboard, the rear panel contains the standard 4 mounting holes for an ATX PSU, fan facing down and exhausting out the back. I have an SFX PSU, so I needed the adapter bracket that came with the PSU. There's plenty of room for longer ATX PSUs, not that you'll need one. Otherwise the area in front of the PSU is free space for extra cables or whatever else you might want.

There's some extremely similar cases sold under various names, probably variations of the same base design. I decided against them mostly because I wanted to reuse the 120mm fans I already have. [This](https://www.reddit.com/r/sffpc/comments/1ji8wpf/mars_mccore_146l_budget_buildcase_review/) one is listed at only 265mm long, but some reviews say that slim fans are needed to not block motherboard connectors, and I didn't like the front panel appearance. [This](https://www.reddit.com/r/sffpc/comments/1mmxer1/unnamed_sff_case_build/) one is officially 290mm long and supports 3x 80mm fans in front. 

It's available through Newegg and Amazon, comes in black or white, and currently only $40 USD. Which I think makes it great for budget lower power builds, where you don't need space for a long GPU, lots of fans, or water cooling. There are of course smaller cases for smaller parts. But if you're on a tight budget, compatibility with ATX PSUs and mATX boards can help save money. Or maybe you just want to transplant your existing build into a SFF case like me.

  
Parts List:

|CPU|Ryzen 5 5600x|
|:-|:-|
|Cooler|Wraith Stealth|
|Motherboard|Asrock B550M PG Riptide|
|PSU|Corsair SF850 ATX3.1|
|GPU|Sapphire Pulse RX 6600|
|Storage|Kingston KC3000 1TB|
|Rear Fan|Zalman ZJ8025ASM (80x25), included w./ case|
|Front Fan|Arctic P12 PWM PST (120x25)|



Build Log and Review of Zalman Cubix