CyberPowerPC Zeus Mini System Review

Most MiniITX cases follow a traditional stacked configuration where the PSU is positioned at the top of the case and sits directly over the CPU.  This configuration is not only extremely wide but limits your cooling options.

The Zeus Mini takes that design idea and flattens everything to give the chassis a thin profile at the expense of making the entire case a little taller, or wider depending on how you look at things.  At the front of the case directly below the DVD drive you will find a standard sized PSU.

The area under the slim DVD drive holds our SSD and rotational drive.  It may be hard to imagine but this case supports two 3.5” HDDs which leaves some extra airspace if you elect to run an SSD.

To give the Zeus Mini its profile you have to change where you place the video card.  This is done with a PCI Express flexible riser card that will place the video card parallel to the motherboard. 

In terms of build configuration this system is not easily upgraded.  All of the system components are installed from one side of the case and assembled in layers.  Motherboard and video card rest at the bottom while cooling accessories sit on top.

Cable and hose routing is extremely good with virtually no clutter in the visible sections of the chassis. 

Cooling can be described as a stacked ventilator.  Cool air is drawn in from the bottom and allowed to escape thru the mesh at the top.  A single 120mm cooling fan helps to assist cooling the motherboard components and our graphics card naturally exhausts out the back.  Our review system comes equipped with a Cooler Master Seidon AIO cooler which not only improves CPU performance and also aids system cooling by moving CPU heat away from the motherboard.