Installation:

A system with the following components was installed into the Ultra Products m998 Mid-Tower ATX Case for this review:

» Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 Dual Core processor
» OCZ Technology Vendetta CPU cooler
» ASUS P5KC P35 ATX motherboard
» Crucial Ballistix 2GB PC3-12800 DDR3 dual channel memory
» Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD7500AAKS 750GB hard drive
» Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 750GB hard drive
» PC Power and Cooling 750 Quad power supply
» 256 MB HIS IceQ X1300XT Turbo PCIe graphics
» D-Link 108Mbps PCI wireless adaptor
» Lite-On IDE DVDRW

The bulk of the installation is just as it would be on any case, so we'll cover the interesting portions only. The first four images in this section show the removable motherboard tray being populated. The images below show the board, processor, CPU cooler, and memory installed. Everything fit perfectly, and it can be seen that there is room above and around the heatpipe CPU cooler to allow the tray to be slid in or out without interference. While there is plenty of head room left, it should be noted that much wider coolers might hang over the edge and require that the tray be inserted into the case prior to installing the cooler.


The next two images show a PCIe graphics card and WiFi adaptor installed. As mentioned previously, the expansion slots do offer thumbscrews for a tool-less installation, but there are better designs for an even more convenient setup.


The below left image shows the hard drive cage removed, and two drives installed. Overall, this is one of the least impressive portions of the case. Not only do you need to take the front of the case off, remove four thumbscrews, and pop a pin to get the cage out, you also have to use standard screws to mount each drive. I just used two standard sized SATA drives, and immediately discovered a problem. The cage was just slightly too narrow, so now it was bulged in the middle as the two drives stretched it out. Not a big deal, until you try to put the cage back into the case! The distorted cage's holes no longer lined up with the holes on the case for the thumbscrews to go back in easily. I could get three on OK, but the last one required some pushing and prying to get it lined up. As I mentioned before, the Aluminum is rather thin, and doesn't leave much meat for threading screws, and this one hole is all but stripped after this mess.


The above right image shows off one of the casters installed using a total of four screws. There are also rubber feet on the bottom of the case, but being able to roll the case makes things so much easier.