Installation and Operation (continued):
The first of two main issues so far is that with more than three hard drives (I am using five), you have to resort to buying a rack like the one pictured. A case this large should accomodate more than three hard drives! The second issue is that wire management is a bit difficult. I like things to be nice and neat, but hiding power wires in a case with no back and a top that opens was tricky. Wires tucked in next to the PSU would just fall out the back or into the motherboard area, and with 120mm fans on a top moved by hydraulic cylinders, there are some unique dynamic features to be aware of. A modular power supply would be highly recommended in a case like this!
While there may be a shortage of accomodations for 3.5 inch devices, there is plenty of room for the 5.25 inch variety. The image below shows that even with an optical drive and three bays taken up with four hard drives, I have two 5.25 inch bays remaining. If it was really necessary, you could remove the storage tray at the very bottom and gain one more bay, too.
Taking a look at the back of the case with components installed reveals the bulk of my problems with the installation. The first was that the power supply is mounted to a bracket that has it sticking out a few inches beyond where it normally sits. In order to allow the rear door to close, Thermaltake provides the right angle power adaptor shown so that the cable stays close to your system. Great idea, but this cable was not compatible with the Cooler Master power supply I planned to move into the SwordM. My other option was to use an older Ultra Products brand unit, which lacked some of the connectors required to power the system that was to be used in the review. I therefore downgraded to the mATX system shown on the previous page.
Taking a look a bit lower on the back of the system reveals a few other ways in which this door might interfere with an installation. The video card has dual DVI connections, but if your monitor has a 15-pin VGA cable, the adaptor might create a stack up that just won't fit. I chose the smallest of the adaptors I had on hand, and it still prevented me from closing the door.
You may also notice from the image above that I am using a KVM cable to connect my monitor, keyboard, mouse, and 2-channel audio. As I feared, I did not have enough slack to run my normal cables from my desktop to the back of the case if they had to be routed to the floor first. This meant ditching surround sound and using other input devices in order to be compatible.
I did route my typical bundle of cables through the openings just to see how tight it got, and while it did work, there wasn't much room left over. I had the power cable, two monitor cables, three USB cables, a Firewire cable, and four audio cables. Those with more components, or really thick cords, might find themselves needing both hands to stuff things in as they try to get the door closed.
I mentioned that there was also a PCI wireless card installed. With the door opened the signal strength was over 90%, but with the door closed the best I saw was about 60%.
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