Today for review I’ve got the Diablotek Fly  Mid Tower case or chassis. This case is very lightweight made from aluminum and magnesium with space inside for even the largest of video cards and even a large CPU cooler or liquid cooling system. The case has subtle yet stylish looks, it would fit fine in an office as your work computer or in your home housing your gaming system.  So let’s just get right into it…

The Diablotek Fly comes packaged well with the case in  aplastic bag and styrofoam on the sides to prevent damage during shipping.

 

The color is supposedly black but it’s more of a gunmetal gray I think. The right and left sides are just plain side panels, nothing special here, no ventilation or windows. The case is very lightweight, it’s made of a combination of aluminum and magnesium. Despite being lightweight it does feel sturdy and well made overall. The look is rather plain, but flashy isn’t always what someone wants in a case. Sometimes subdued styling is better really.

 

When I first open up the box and unpacked the Fly, the front bezel design reminded me of my Lian Li PC-8FI case. The front of the case has four 5.25” bays and one 3.5” bay which is behind the Diablotek logo, below that is the power and reset buttons, two USB ports, connections for audio and LEDs for power and hard drive activity. At the bottom of the case front are ventilation slits with space behind for a single cooling fan.

 

On the bottom of the fly you’ll see four rubber feet and ventilation holes for the hard drives along with a large rectangular mesh area where the power supply would be located.

Moving around to the back you’ll see the common arrangement of ports and holes, along with a pre-installed fan and holes for liquid cooling as well. The Fly only comes with one fan installed, but you can install another in the front of the case for added airflow and cooling ability.

As with most cases these days, the PSU is mounted on the bottom. The PCI slots are vented and removable and replaceable . The side panels are held in place with thumbscrews for easy access.

  

Removing the right panel we can see the back of the motherboard tray which has holes for routing cables through and a larger cut out space for swapping out heatsinks without removing your motherboard. As you can see the case isn’t painted on the inside and it’s rather bright.

Here’s the view with the left side panel removed, there’s an accessory bag in there along with the standard cables for USB, audio and the motherboard connections.

 

Here’s the inside view of the rear of the case with a better view of the fan and PCI slots:

On the bottom of the case you’ll see raised rails for your power supply to allow airflow.

The hard drive cage can hold three hard drives, and the front fan will blow right across them. The drives are installed with rails which you’ll see a little bit later.

 

Above the HDD cage is where your 5.25” devices go, there’s room for four of them but only two use the tool-less clip system.

 

 

 

Specifications:

DIABLOTEK FLY ATX MID TOWER

MODEL CPA-A95BK

Features:

Aluminum Magnesium Material
The Diablotek CPA-A95BK is made out of highest-grade and lightest aluminum magnesium materials.

Best Airflow
The pre-installed rear 120mm fan offers great amount of airflow. No more worries for overheating.

Water Cooling Ready
The Diablotek CPA-A95B has the option of installing water cooling systems.

275MM Video Card
The Diablotek CPA-A95BK supports video card length up to 275mm.

ATX and Micro ATX compatible
Designed to be compatible with both ATX and Micro ATX motherboards.

Easy Assembly
The Diablotek CPA-A95BK’s tool-less design offers an easy assembly with minimal use of screws.

Optional Fan Expansions
With the optional 120mm front fan expansion, it allows the machine to cool faster and runs smoother.

5.25″ and 3.5″ Drive Bays
The Diablotek CPA-A95BK case provides four spaces for external 5.25” drive bays, three spaces for internal 3.5” drive bays, and one external 3.5” drive bay.

Bottom Mounted Power Supply
The server style bottom mounted power supply receives cool air and hardly heats up, which provides great ventilation. Having the power supply on the bottom, its weight

can also help keep the PC tower more stable.

Slot Expansions
The 7 possible expansion slots allow the machine to improve graphics performance, expand data storage space, and add features and ports.

Dust Filter
Prevents from dust build-ups.

1 Year Warranty
Diablotek provides all their power supply unit series with full 1 year warranty service.

Specifications:

Type: ATX Mid Tower
Model: CPA-A95BK
Color: Black
Dimension: 7.48″ X 18.5″ X 16.53″
Weight: 7.7lbs
Power Supply Mounted: Bottom
Motherboard Compatibility: Micro ATX, ATX
External 5.25″ Drive Bay: 4
External 3.5″ Drive Bay: 1
Internal 3.5″ Drive Bay: 3
Expansion Slot: 7

Front Panel Ports:
-2 X USB2.0 Ports
-AUDIO IN/OUT (HD AUDIO)

Pre-Installed 120MM Fan: 1 X Rear 120MM Fan
Optional Fan Expansion: 1 X Front 120MM Fan
Water Cooling Capable: Yes
Maximum Supported Video Card Length: 275MM
Cable Routing Holes: Yes

Price: $93.50 (from Amazon at time of review)

Included  with the case is a brief user manual and a bag of accessories that includes the drive rails, screws and a few zip ties for cable management along with a mini-speaker that can be hooked to the header of your motherboard.

 

I almost forgot about this, the front panel pops off relatively easy to reveal the drive bays and the space for the 120mm front fan. The bay covers are covered with a spongy mesh that acts like a dust filter as well.

I found the instructions quite lacking as they didn’t mention anything about the hard drive rails or what you’re supposed to do with the rubber dots that were in the bag. After playing around a bit I figured it out, they go on the rails and then the rails go onto the drives. The hard drives then just slide right into the cage in the case. They’re held very firmly in place.

Next I commenced installing a system in the case and I found there’s plenty or room for even large sized video cards. I did find that room near the top of the case is very tight, it was quite difficult getting the screws in at the top.

You can install the hard drives with the connections pointed towards the left or right of the case. I found installing them with the connections to the right works better for cable management. In the following picture I didn’t do much in the way of cable management, but you can get the idea I think.

Overall I found there’s plenty of room in the Fly case to work. While working though I did find a lot of sharps edges in the case, some of them are rolled over and smooth but a lot are rather sharp.

The single fan seems quiet, but personally I’ll be installing a fan in the front of the case for added cooling.

When the Fly case is powered on the two LEDs on the front will light up, one is blue for power and a the other is red for the hard drive activity.

 

 

 

   

Conclusion:
The Diablotek Fly is priced right under $100 which honestly I think might be a bit high as not much at all comes with it in terms of accessories and there’s only one fan installed. The build quality though could warrant the price point as it is nicely made and very lightweight. So it’s a toss up really, on one hand you don’t really need a bunch of extras, but some people like that. On the other hand a quality made case is always nice to have. So you’ll have to weigh one against the other to make a decision. Personally I like the Fly case, it’s simple yet well made. In the case you’ll find plenty of room for larger sized video card and more than enough room overall to get your system installed without any real issues.

The Fly does look good, I like the subtle style it has, I guess as I’ve gotten older I don’t really prefer flashy cases anymore and something like this works fine for me.

Pros:
+Lightweight and well made
+Looks good
+Lots of room inside for larger video cards

Cons:
-Some sharp edges in case
-Instruction manual is lacking
-Rather tight work area at top of case

Grades:
Overall
Design
Performance

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