Shop around these days, and you’ll see that MicroATX motherboards deliver the best mix of price and functionality for most desktop builders. But when it comes to PC cases, the MicroATX form factor tends to get sidelined in favor of bigger or smaller boxes. And that’s a shame, because MicroATX is all about balance. Cases built around this standard can hold significantly more hardware than Mini-ITX chassis, while staying lighter and easier to lug around than almost any full-tower ATX alternative. When done right, a MicroATX case can be a delight to work with. Our new Exhibit A is SilverStone’s Fara V1M Pro, which delivers a surprisingly premium design for a list price of $89.99 (though you’ll likely pay more for it; see the details at the end of this review).
Design: Only a Bit of Fara Fanfare
SilverStone built the Fara V1M Pro with a distinct front panel divided into four sections. The top and two sides all rise up and meet at a point just below the middle. At the very bottom of the case is a notch cut into the front panel, revealing an addressable RGB (aRGB) fan that sits behind a dust filter. The pre-installed fan is a 120mm model, but the case can hold up to two 140mm fans or up to a 280mm radiator in this location instead.
SilverStone also pre-installed aRGB light strips around the center panel, and these lights join the LEDs on the fan to give the case an alive, attractive appearance. The chassis doesn’t come off as particularly vibrant when illuminated, due to the dark material of the front panel, but it lights up enough to draw eyes to it and make the case look interesting.
The left panel of the Fara V1M Pro is made of tempered glass to let any lights on your hardware shine out and offer a view of your graphics card and cooling gear. The right side panel is simpler, made entirely of sheet steel. As for the top of the case, SilverStone opted to perforate almost the entire top panel, since you can install up to a 280mm radiator in this location. A dust filter covers the gap here to help keep dirt and debris out.
Front I/O and Lighting Controls
SilverStone put what’s usually called the “front” I/O panel at the leading edge of the top of the case, and it’s one of the better I/O panels that I’ve seen in a low-cost case.
The strip of ports and buttons includes four USB ports that are divided evenly between USB 3.0 and USB 2.0. (They’ll be fed by the USB 3.0 and 2.0 headers on your motherboard.) You won’t find an up-to-date USB Type-C port, but this doesn’t feel quite yet like a must-have for a budget chassis, as USB-A-to-C adapters are quite common and ship with many Type-C devices. Plus, if you’re using a older motherboard, it may not have the requisite USB Type-C header.
Alongside the USB ports are two 3.5mm audio jacks for a headset and microphone. (It’s nice that SilverStone provides separate ports for these, given the laptop trend toward just a single headset jack, which might not work well with gaming headsets designed with dual jacks.) There’s also the usual power button, a reset button, and a manual LED control button that can be used to cycle through different aRGB lighting patterns.
The Build Experience: MicroATX Size, Full ATX Ethos
Though it can’t hold motherboards larger than MicroATX, the Fara V1M Pro was built with an interior layout that resembles that of many full-ATX cases we’ve reviewed. This typical ATX design, close to a cliche at this point, features a large main compartment for the motherboard and a smaller secondary compartment, beneath a long shroud at the chassis’ bottom, for the power supply unit (PSU) and 3.5-inch hard drives.
That’s exactly how the Fara V1M Pro is laid out, too. As it’s only a MicroATX case, you don’t get quite as much wiggle room to fit in the motherboard, but nothing gets in the way of installing the motherboard, either, which makes that first step in the install process an easy job.
Getting the board screwed in and the cables connected goes about as smoothly as you could expect, but installing a liquid cooler and its radiator is slightly more difficult than it is with most ATX cases. As you’d expect from a MicroATX case, the Fara V1M Pro doesn’t leave much space between the upper edge of the motherboard and the top of the case. Any radiator mounted inside the top of the chassis will obstruct access to connectors along the upper edge of the motherboard, which could make plugging in the radiator fans, water pump, and CPU power connectors a bit tricky.
You’ll want to adhere to a smart order of component operations to keep from having to uninstall parts and backtrack later. I’d recommend trying to plug in any fans, along with the CPU power connector, before mounting a radiator up top, to make this task less difficult.
Storage support tops out at two 3.5-inch hard drives and two 2.5-inch hard drives or SATA solid-state drives. The two 2.5-inch drives can be mounted to the right of the motherboard, while any 3.5-inch drives must be mounted on a bracket that rests in the PSU compartment. One of the 3.5-inch drive mounts can alternately hold a 2.5-inch drive, but without some kind of third-party adapter the maximum number of drives supported is four.
You install the power supply by sliding it into the case through the right side, then bolting it in as usual from the rear. Cutouts set atop the PSU compartment and around the motherboard let you pass power, chassis, and SATA cables through from one side to the other for easy cable routing. These holes through the motherboard plate lack covers or rubber bumpers around them to help hide wires from view, however, leaving a somewhat less polished finished product.
The Verdict: Fara ‘Nuff
Overall, SilverStone’s Fara V1M Pro is a well-made case that left us with very little to complain about. In part, this is because its design is about as safe and standardized as it gets. Though the sculpted front panel is unique and the front I/O panel’s port mix is a bit more generous than average, the overall design is the closest thing to a modern MicroATX standard-bearer as any case we’ve seen. That’s not a bad thing, even if the chassis feels like more of a solid than a spectacular effort.
Our one major quibble: The Fara could use some more refinement in areas like the cable pass-through openings. It’s not lacking in any key area, but it won’t bowl you over with surprise features atypical of a modern compact chassis. You don’t get premium extras such as a front-mounted USB-C port or the ability to mount your GPU vertically.
If you’re building around a MicroATX motherboard, we can heartily recommend the Fara V1M Pro—if you can get it for the right price, that is. At launch, SilverStone planned to sell the chassis for the abovementioned MSRP of $89.99, which feels perfectly reasonable. Due to market conditions here in late 2021, however, a company representative told us that due to tariffs and shipping issues, U.S. street prices would likely be higher, and at this writing the chassis was selling on Amazon for $115.30. A price a bit over $100 isn’t a deal-breaker, but it’s certainly less attractive for the Fara’s feature set.
Given that market factors related to shipping backups and tariffs are causing shortages and price hikes for all kinds of PC hardware these days, it’s only fair to note that prices are in flux for lots of PC cases these days, not just this one. Even at the higher price, however, the V1M Pro is attractive enough that we’d consider it for a future MicroATX build.
