Palo Alto Products PA-600 ATX Mid-Tower

Installing a motherboard in the PA-600 is a breeze, and is made possible through the use of a single screw, and a patented mounting system.  The case comes with a handful of "clip-in" (screw-less) metal standoffs, most of which come preinstalled (you'll want to make sure that all standoffs match up with the screw holes on your motherboard before installing your board since most of them are preinstalled).  The metal standoffs aren't too difficult to remove, just be sure to have a pair of pliers handy.

The one screw motherboard mounting system (below), as it is called, is a feature unique to Palo Alto cases and is also present in the ATCX.  A metal clip attaches to the back of the motherboard without any screws, and then after you've set the board on the tray in the case, a captive screw (it stays attached to the case even when it isn't screwed in) from the rear is tightened and the motherboard is secure using a single screw.  This cuts down the motherboard installation time incredibly and also decreases the chance that you will accidentally short out your motherboard as a result of improper installation. 

The PA-600 housed our test bed ABIT BX6 Revision 2.0 motherboard with a healthy amount of breathing room.  If you don't make use of the second internal drive bay, you could theoretically install a larger extended ATX motherboard in the case, however the positioning of the drive cage could interfere with the installation of memory modules depending on the particular motherboard.  If you are considering an extended ATX motherboard, you'll probably want to explore a larger case as the PA-600 wasn't really intended for use with anything larger than a BX6 Revision 2.0 which is already one of the largest uniprocessor BX boards on the market. 

While we praised the ATCX for Palo Alto's attention to smoothing sharp metal edges inside of the case, the PA-600 left an annoyingly large amount of edges very sharp and very dangerous.  It is extremely obvious that Palo Alto did not put the same amount of effort into the production of the PA-600 that they did with the ATCX.  Although the PA-600 isn't nearly as sharp on the inside as most generic cases, we have come to expect more from the company that makes cases for some of the largest computer manufacturers in the world. 

There are some smooth edges on the inside of the case, however after installing the BX6R2 we were left with a number of cuts caused primarily by the protruding 3.5" bay as well as the edges of the chassis itself.  It seems like the streamlined plastic exterior is very deceptive of the sharp interior that is just waiting on the inside.   In the end, like most of the other cases we've reviewed thus far, the PA-600 is still safer than most generic cases that we often expose ourselves to.