SilverStone Milo ML02

Examination:

The SilverStone Milo ML01 was a great case but not nearly as elegant as its new sibling. The Milo ML02 offers a mirrored finish on the front of the chassis. With the SST-ML02B-MXR model, on the right hand side is the IR receiver as well as the iMON LCD display. On the left hand side is a flip-down door that conceals the optical drive bay as well as the card reader. The ML02 card reader supports 52 different card formats. Also concealed behind this door are two USB 2.0 ports, headphone and microphone audio ports, IEEE-1394 Firewire, and the reset switch. The power switch is located on the top right hand side of the case. With this SilverStone creation being only 82mm tall, there is no room for a traditional 5.25" drive bay but instead there is a slim drive bay that is used by notebook optical drives. On the front panel is acrylic while the frame is made of 4.0 mm aluminum and then body is made of 0.8mm SECC steel.

On the sides of the case are a series of holes as the SilverStone ML02 optionally supports two 50mm fans on each of the two sides. Aside from that, there really is not anything to point out on either of the sides. The case is elevated slightly with metal stands on the front and rear of the case, which helps with airflow around the chassis. Moving to the rear of the chassis there is the I/O panel, one 50mm exhaust fan, and the expansion slot. The location of the expansion slot is rather unique as due to the slim profile not even a mini PCI slot would fit vertically. However, a full-size expansion slot has been rotated 90 degrees and using the included expansion/riser cards you can install any single PCI or PCI Express card into that slot. Unfortunately, you are limited to only one slot.

Making the Milo ML02 even more unique is its power supply. An AC adapter resides outside of the ML02 and then inside the case is a DC board that contains the power connections for this case. The entire power supply solution is completely fanless and inside the case is only a small aluminum heatsink for heat dissipation.