Internal Inspection (continued):
The expansion slot covers are held in with typical screws, another area where a tool-less design would be prefered. The two 80mm exhaust fans are wired with both 3-pin and 4-pin power connectors. I would prefer adapters to take them from 3-pin to 4-pin, because as they are now, using the 3-pin connectors with headers on a motherboard leaves the 4-pin connectors dangling nearby and cluttering up the installation.
The back corner of the case shown below should be well ventilated, as in addition to the two 80mm exhaust fans you have the 140mm fan from the power supply nearby, too. The below right image shows the data label on the power supply, which reconfirms some of the information we saw near the beginning of the review. In addition, the unit is stamped as being "Ultra Silent", which I hope is true! The PSU specifications aren't going to let you run a high end gaming rig in this case, but there are plenty of connections for drives, as well as two 6-pin PCI Express power connections (which happen to be daisy chained off the same lead).
In the images below we see the optical drive tray placed above a spot for one 3.5" hard drive, both of which are above the boards required for the card reader and front panel connections. The optical drive and hard drives all mount with a unique tool-less design that we will look at more closely later.
The hard drive cage is shown in the next set of images. The cage can be removed, but it doesn't need to be. The top cover hinges open and three drives can be installed rather quickly thanks to the tool-less mechanism implemented. Foam padding lines the bottom of the cage to help absorb vibrations.
The internal layout of the case is relatively spacious and well thought out. Wire management should be rather easy, and installing all of the necessary components doesn't look like it should pose any issues what-so-ever. So far the inside and the outside earn high marks from me, but now let's see how the installation goes.
