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The internals of the MegaPC are accessed by removing the top cover. This comes off as a single unit encompassing both sides and the top. This provides a very good working environment for setting up the internal components.
In common with every SFF we have reviewed, space inside is at a premium. MSI have worked very hard on the internal design and we were very impressed.
The 200W power supply is mounted at the back of the case and takes up most of the case width. The rear 80mm fan draws hot air from the PSU only and should therefore ensure very good reliability.
The motherboard fills the base of the case with the PSU, CPU and peripherals mounted above. This does make getting to fan headers rather awkward, but should not cause too many problems.
The PCI and AGP slots are very easy to get to. There are two RAM slots on the far side of the motherboard, again these are very easy to access and there seems to be plenty of space to ensure the modules remain cool. The cover also has drilled holes in the vicinity of the RAM slots which will aid cooling further.
The CPU socket is a standard Socket 478 configuration although the heatsink fixings are unique, meaning that only the supplied heatsink can be used. MSI have created an impressive solution for CPU cooling. The supplied heatsink is constructed of very high quality Aluminium with a good quantity of fins. The heatsink comes enclosed in a blue plastic surround, which acts as a tunnel to ensure good airflow. The MSI branded fan slots into one end of the tunnel and forces air from inside the PC, over the heatsink and out of the case side via drilled holes.
The instructions printed on top of the tunnel were very clear and we found the solution very easy to fit.
It is necessary to fit the CPU assembly before embarking on fitting any hard drives or CD drives to the system as space in this area is very tight.
The MegaPC can accommodate a surprising quantity of peripherals. It is perfectly possible to install a pair of hard drives, a floppy drive or the supplied Memory Card Reader and a CD/DVD drive. Installation basically involves building from the bottom up, so you do need to plan carefully. There are a series of layers to the assembly which are separated by Aluminium plates. We were able to remove one plate by undoing two screws and install our single hard drive and CD Rom in a matter of minutes. In our opinion MSI have produced a solution that is even simpler than that used on the Shuttle. Plugging the IDE and power cables is still fiddly due to the lack of space.
It took no more than 10 minutes to get our processor, hard drive, CD-ROM and memory installed and ready to run. We take our hats off to MSI for their design.
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