YOYOTech launches retro chic 901 chassis in the UK

Unusual one this. You'd normally expect a manufacturer to announce the availability of a chassis, but with the InWin designed 901 it looks like system builder YOYOTech has a bit of a deal to control the supply. KitGuru checks to see how customs will be checking the border.

While mining created a massive surge in demand for high end power supplies around the end of last year, the market overall has been looking at smaller, cooler, less energy-hungry designs in recent times.

Both Intel and AMD have interesting options in the Mini-ITX area, with products like the Gigabyte Sniper G1 A88X and ‘Gene' options from Asus giving builders more flexibility than ever before.

YOYOTech's deal to land the UK supply of the 901 chassis is the latest move in this trend.

Originally shown off by InWin at CES, it quickly picked up a ‘Best of Show' award as well as a coveted ‘Red Dot Design Award'.

At £149, this chassis isn't cheap, but it is pretty/fancy with its smoked glass side panels and unusual cut-away at the bottom of the front panel – where you can secret an optical drive away.

According to YOYOTech, this case is manufactured from a single strip of 4mm thick aluminium with tinted, tempered side panels.

They also provided this list of key spec points:-

• Support for graphics cards up to 300mm
• CPU cut out for easy installation
• Hidden optical disk drive bay
• Support for external liquid cooling systems, removable hard drive brackets
• Super-efficient airflow design
• USB 3.0 ports
• Magnetic aluminium fan filter and hidden vents

There are 2 bays for SSD (2.5″) and a pair of drives that can be used for SSD or traditional drives (3.5″) – the i/o is taken care of by a pair of USB 3 ports and a 3.5mm audio jack.
YOYOTech claims that airflow is smooth with a whisper quiet 90mm rear fan, 120mm fan at the bottom of the chassis and a 120mm liquid cooling radiator.

The overall dimensions are 350mm x 173mm x 400mm and the 901 can support a CPU heatsink that’s up to 130mm.

Here's a promo shot. You can get more info here.

KitGuru says: Anyone who remembers the golden days of media centres will be familiar with brands like Aiwa. Do you love that memory enough to be drawn to the brushed metal and smoked glass again?  Do you crave a Life on Mars?

Let us know what you think about this chassis over on Facebook. Does ‘Retro Chic' work for you?

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