Cracking the case
Thumbscrews also secure the mPC's outer skin, which is easily removed to reveal what look like relatively standard internals.
But wait, that one piece almost looks like a handle....
Oh my.
With the flick of a handle, the mPC's jaw unhinges to provide easier access to the system's internals. We're not done yet, though. Flipping a couple of plastic tabs lets us disassemble the mPC even further, removing the drive bay module completely.
That module can then be split into two individual drive trays, all without so much as a screwdriver. Screws aren't even necessary to install drives in the 5.25" and 3.5" trays—a set of hooks on each side of the drive snaps into place to hold it secure.
With the drive trays removed, there's plenty of room to work inside the mPC, giving users easy access to the cube's expansion slots. MSI does a nice job of keeping the PCI Express x16 slot far enough away from the edge of the board to allow users to install double-wide graphics cards, although doing so will obstruct the system's lone PCI slot. Fortunately, there's a Mini PCI slot that sits flush with the board where it won't interfere with longer or double-wide graphics cards.
MSI offers the mPC 51PV with an optional Wi-Fi adapter that plugs into the system's Mini PCI slot. That adapter is powered by a Ralink RT2561T 802.11b/g Wi-Fi chip whose antenna is piped to the back of the chassis.
From this angle, we also get a good view of the mPC's passive chipset coolers. The taller cooler over on the left sits atop the GeForce 6150 and manages to get by without a dedicated chipset fan. Of course, the heatsink is only a few inches from the system's 80mm exhaust fan, so it isn't exactly hurting for airflow.
Around the right-hand side of the system, we can see the mPC's solitary Serial ATA port and dual DIMM slots. Clearance is tight between the DIMM slots and the power supply that sits just above them, but we were still able to squeeze a pair of Corsair's taller XMS PRO modules into the cube.
Speaking of the power supply, MSI equips the mPC with a 260W unit capable of providing up to 18A on the 12V rail. The PSU lacks a six-pin PCIe graphics card connector, but that oversight can be addressed via a Molex adapter. We had no problems running the system with a GeForce 7900 GTX graphics card, 2GB of memory, and an Athlon 64 X2 5000+ processor. That's probably pushing the power supply's limits, though. Ideally, we'd prefer to have a little more headroom on the PSU front.
