Unboxing The Thermaltake Urban SD1 Micro Case

Official blurb

"The Thermaltake Urban SD1 Micro Case is designed for building compact high-performance systems with Micro ATX and Mini ITX motherboards. Like all Urban cases, Urban SD1 is ideal if space is limited, yet there is still plenty of room inside for great expansion and advanced cooling PC system."

Aesthetic Facade

Modular design

Removable Mobo Tray

Well Vented

Water Friendly With 140mm Rad Support

which is nifty considering the 90mm CPU cooler height limit

Packaging

Official Specs (click!)

As can be seen from above, this is a windowless AluSteel shoebox case. whose main features are...

• Full disassembly, right down to just side panels and bottom plate allowing unprecedented unobstructed access to the interior 
• Modular design for piece meal installation - main chassis, storage cages, PSU cage, front and back panels, removable mobo tray
• Space for monsta gaming video cards
• Varied storage options
• Varied cooling options

Unboxing

Styrofoam moulds and the usual large plastic bag

Exterior Views

Disassembly

Involves removing both thumbscrews as well as an assortment of other screws needing a Philips (+) screwdriver

Starting from the back with the thumbscrews off the top panel...

Following which, the PSU cage and the sliding mobo tray are unscrewed and removed...

The storage cage with its sliding mechanism is next...

Now the 3.5" storage cage is exposed and removed...

The front plate is now popped out to show the meshed front intake fan and voila, unobstructed access to the whole interior...

But do watch out for sharpies around the side panel holes...

Front Panel

This is a rather thick and heavy affair with a swing door and a magnetic clasp, opening it exposes the 3.5" and 2 x 5.25" drive bays

Modular Design Cages Galore

presented in the sequence as you would encounter them in disassembly

PSU Cage

2.5"/5.25" Storage Cage

3.5" Storage Cage

The Removable Mobo Tray

Mobo Placement

featuring the Asrock Z87M Extreme4 mATX model
... more on the Extreme4 mobo, click!

 3.5" cage re-introduced...

2.5"/5.25" cage re-introduced...

PSU cage re-introduced...

Bundled Goodies

The water cooling bracket is included as a stock component option

Early Impressions...

• interesting twist on the good ol' shoebox

• modular structure with unprecedented unobstructed access to the interior

• lots of ventilation holes in almost all panels

• water cooling support

• support long video cards up to 350mm

• very good and varied storage options for a shoebox case

• heavily built, sturdy

Can be improved

• rough edges with nick potential
• side meshes lack dust filters
• too many parts needing to be screwed down ie. non tool-free