Internal Inspection (continued):
One feature that is not immediately noticed is a removable motherboard tray. Many enthusiasts love this option, which I would agree is a great feature to have in mid-tower cases. However in a full tower case such as this one, it may be overkill, as there is plenty of space to work on the inside of the case.
The above left picture shows the back of the removable motherboard tray. There is a heavy duty handle, which was strong enough to support my motherboard, CPU cooler, and expansion cards. The other side of the motherboard tray presented two features which were not immediately noticed when this was installed in the case. There are two black rails along the edge of the tray which are similar to the rails on the front 3.5" hard drive cage. Next I noticed there are two support brackets from the base of the motherboard tray to the rear panel. If this was not removable, these supports would not be necessary, however here they are a welcome addition to provide additional strength to the removable tray.
The rails along the edge of the motherboard tray have a matching black rail along the bottom of the case to guide the motherboard tray into place. Along the top edge there is a rail which is integrated into the power supply support rails (not pictured).
There is no locking mechanism on the side panels. The mechanism to hold the panel onto the case is built into the rear support rails. There are little thumbscrews which act as the release switch to move two little locking pieces out of the way to allow the side panels to come off. On one side of the case you press down on the thumbscrew to release the panel, while on the other side you pull up on the thumbscrew.
The front panel has many connections, and you need to have a cable for each of them. Starting on the left we have the audio cable, which has connections for AC'97 and HD audio. To the right there are two USB 2.0 cables and a Firewire cable. The Firewire cable is capable of two different installation methods. There is a single all-in one connector, and then an option for all the connections to be made individually. In the middle is a power cable for LEDs on the front. Two SATA cables are provided for the front e-SATA ports. Finally there are three connections to be made to the motherboard for the power switch, reset switch, and HD activity LED.
