Silverstone Milo 12: “Console case” helps blow-through coolers

Silverstone revisits the concept of the in-house “console case” for the ITX form factor with the Milo 12. Changes are aimed at improving the cooling performance in order to be able to cope with more powerful graphics cards. The flexibility in selecting components is retained.

With Silverstone's compact layout, the graphics card is placed next to the mainboard via a PCIe 4.0 riser module, where a separate compartment for the graphics accelerator is created in this way. It can be three slots wide and a maximum of 160 mm high. The power supply is placed in front of the motherboard, and either a 160 millimeter long ATX model or an SFX-(-L) model can be selected.

The Milo 12 is also one of the rare ITX cases that allows the installation of a slim optical drive (9.5 millimeters high). Using such a drive means doing without an ATX power supply. Because the optical drive is placed under the power supply, which makes a flatter SFX model absolutely necessary.

Help for blow-through cooler

For cooling, the Milo 12 relies on large mesh panels on all sides. Unlike previous revisions of the layout, 120mm fans can no longer be mounted in front of the graphics card. However, due to ever-widening coolers, this option can hardly be used anyway.

Instead, a 140 mm fan can be attached to the other side of the graphics card compartment. There it can support graphics cards that let their outermost fan blow through the cooler and also suck off air. Such a design is used by Founders Editions of RTX graphics cards. In addition, a 15 millimeter flat 80 mm fan can be attached to the front, which gives the graphics card fresh air.

Drives moved to the edge

In the Milo 12, four 2.5&quot ; drives can be accommodated. Two sit in brackets above the graphics card, one each after removing the side panels under the mainboard and next to the power supply. This makes them easy to reach from outside.

It is currently unknown when and at what price the case will be available in stores. Silverstone's Milo series is kept simple in terms of design and choice of materials and is located in the more affordable range. The Milo 12 is therefore to be expected in the range of 90 euros, for which the predecessors were also sold.

Silverstone Milo 12 Mainboard format: Mini-ITX, Thin Mini-ITX Chassis (L × W × H): 378 × 105 × 393 mm (15.60 liters) Material: plastic, steel Net weight: 4.89 kg I/O ports/other: 1 × USB 3.1 (USB 3.2 Gen 2) Type C, 2 × USB 3.0 (USB 3.2 Gen 1), ?, HD audio slots: 4 × 2.5" (internal)
Optical slimline LW expansion slots: 3 fans: Front: 1 × 80 mm (optional)
Side panel right: 1 × 140 mm (optional) Dust filter: – Compatibility: CPU cooler: 77 mm
GPU: 345mm
PSU: 160mm Price: –