The Basics (continued):
The frame for the duct is steel, but the duct and catches are blue plastic. The funnel shaped duct is somewhat adjustable and can be repositioned to try to accommodate your cooler. What I suspected as soon as I saw the duct is that it will not be compatible with any of the larger heatpipe coolers on the market today. The case is not particularly deep, and the duct extends well into the case, no matter how it is adjusted. Initial impressions are that you'll need something like a stock cooler, or some other low profile device in order to make the duct usable.
 
Another feature of the duct assembly is a single expansion card holder, which could be used to brace something like a PCI Express video card. This is a good idea, but another initial impression is that it might not reach down far enough to secure most cards. And, how about including two of these things for SLI / Crossfire users? I am not convinced that I will be able to use either feature of this little device, but we'll wait and see what happens during installation.
The images below show the six exposed 5.25" bays. Each includes a tool-less latching mechanism, and one of the six features an adaptor that will allow you to use a 3.5" drive, such as a floppy.
 
To use the tool-less mechanism you only need to secure the latch on the open side of the case, which is good since the panel on the opposite side is held in place by four rivets. I prefer to have access to both sides of a case, but if things are designed properly it really isn't necessary. The below right image shows the power supply area, where you can see a single thumbscrew holds a "back stop" of sorts, which can be adjust to control the depth to which your PSU mounts. This will come in handy when you are trying to attach the PSU to the rear plate, since the solid side wall of the PSU area makes it difficult to use your hand to hold it.
 
The below left image shows off the inside rear of the case where you see a 120mm exhuast fan, tool-less expansion card holders (more details later), and a chassis intrusion detector. The below right image shows a close up of the front panel connections, which are all well labeled and long enough to reach anywhere on an installed motherboard.
 
|
|
