Element Gaming Hyperion Micro-ATX Chassis Review

Introduction

Atomic Gaming is a very new player on the component market, offering a range of peripherals and most importantly, today at least, a range of chassis targeted at the gaming market. Their latest model is the Hyperian Micro-ATX and it comes in that increasingly popular cube-style form factor that acts as a nice step up from the mini-ITX craze that hit the market a couple of years ago. We recently reviewed one of the Element Gaming chassis range a few weeks ago, the Atomic ITX and it was a fantastic little product, so I’m hoping this new product will at least live up to that standard; you can check out the full review of the Atomic ITX here.

“The Hyperion is designed specifically for gamers and multimedia enthusiasts who want to build a high-specification computer in a small form factor case. The Hyperion chassis can house either a micro ATX or mini ITX motherboard and the roomy interior offers plenty of space for the PC builder.”

As you can see, the Hyperion has modest but capable specifications, with room for (up to) Micro-ATX motherboards, long graphics cards and plenty of storage, so let’s jump in and take a much closer look at what else this chassis has to offer.

Technical Spec

• Materials – Steel / Plastic
• Colours – Black / Blue
• Dimensions (WxHxD) – 330 x 275 x 330mm
• Motherboard sizes – Micro ATX, Mini ITX
• Clear side panel
• USB 3.0 x 2, USB 2.0 x 1, Audio input x 2
• External bays 5.25″ – 1 (removable)
• Internal bays 3.5″ – 5 (2+3)
• Internal bays 2.5″ – 7 (2 + 5)
• PCI slots – 5

The first thing you’ll notice is that the Hyperion is quite square, this is due to its dual compartment design, on the left you’ll have your main hardware and the right side your PSU and storage. The left side panel has a pair of thumb screws holding it in place and a nice and clear side panel window to show off your system build.

The front panel is nicely finished, with rounded edges on the sides, a 5.25″ drive bay cover near the top and to give it a little flair there’s a little bit of blue trip on the seam between the top panel and the rest of the chassis.

the right side panel is a rather functional design, offering extra ventilation to the internal hardware. Most importantly will be the vent at the bottom, as this will feed air to the PSU which mounts there. Both of the vents have clip-in mesh dust filters on the interior; not the best kind of filter, but it’ll get the job done.

Around the back, you’ll find a small handle area that allows you to pull the top panel off, two rubber grommets, a 120mm fan mount with optional 92/80mm mounts and five expansion slots. As I said before, you’ll be mounting your PSU behind the motherboard area and it will need to be mounted on its side to accommodate it, but any ATX PSU should fit with ease.

The top panel is a little love hate, I love it, it looks cool… but I suspect it looks a little like an air conditioner; oh well, those holes are for cooling I guess!

The main I/O is nicely designed with the power and USB 2.0 port on the first block, USB 3.0 and an audio jack on each of the next two, then the large power button. A nice little touch is that the power button is trimmed with the same blue as the underside of the top panel.

The base of the chassis has four feet with rubber grips, handy for those who don’t want it sliding around their desktop! There’s also two separate dust filters, perfect for any base mounted cooling and they should be easy to maintain.