Page 3 - Physical Look - Inside
Opening up the SilverStone Milo ML09 involves taking out a screwdriver and removing the silver screws at the back. The top panel will slide completely off to reveal the bottom. This is the only part of the exterior that is removable with screws, though with some force, you can probably take off all the panels, haha. Anyway, once you remove the top panel, you can see there are a few interesting things at the top. First is the black bar spanning in the middle. This bar is mounted on the front and back of the case, and is used to provide some rigidity to the Milo ML09. Next to this metal bar is a larger metal plate. With holes in the top and all over this piece, this multipurpose bracket indeed has several purposes. First of all, a slim 120mm fan is mounted here to provide some airflow in this case. However, users could also mount a 3.5" drive, two 2.5" drives, or a slim optical drive there. Due to the placement, this will affect the height of your CPU cooler, so do keep in mind what you want to install here.
Removing the bracket reveals the mounting area for the motherboard in the SilverStone Milo ML09 in addition to all the cables. As this board is intended for mini ITX motherboards, the risers are already pre-installed to the case. There is no hole behind the motherboard, so any cooler requiring a backplate will need to be installed before the motherboard is mounted here. The cables you see here are for all the front and side input and output, including the switches, LEDs, USB 3.0 ports, and audio jacks. All of them are colored on the positive wire, where applicable, to easily identify how to orient plugging into the motherboard. While most other case manufacturer's opt for a full black finish on these cables, I much prefer this finish, as it makes building easier. Of course, there are no window panels to worry about here, so I doubt aesthetics are a big issue here. Otherwise, you can see the two shorter expansion brackets near the bottom of the photo in addition to the horizontal regular-sized bracket. Interestingly enough, the two short covers I received had quite a bit of rust damage on here, which was disappointing, though it is probably a one-off issue.
On the other side, there is space for two important things. One is the 2.5" drive caddy, which can hold up to four drives. Storage options here are mounted with four screws; two on each side. However, this caddy can also be removed if you do not need to mount this much storage in this area. It is quite helpful, as right below this area is the SFX power supply area. Raised up by two rubber feet, the power supply sits here with adequate vibration dampening from the feet. It would have been nice to see a bit of foam on the outline of the frame too, but it is not a big deal. With the spacing you see here, you can understand why SFX-L power supplies are practically out of the question, even if you remove the drive bay. Otherwise, there is not a whole lot else to look at, as the SilverStone Milo ML09 is pretty petite in nature. Our next stop is the installation, so let us go!
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Outside
3. Physical Look - Inside
4. Installation and Conclusion
