Dropping the side panel shows a pretty average interior. Since the inside is meant for business and not looks, this isn’t necessarily a bad concept. The case is made of a .8mm steel material so isn’t as sturdy as some using the thicker 1mm enclosures out there. Even so, I had no problems with the stability or strength of the case. The thinner metal will serve two purposes; first it will make the enclosure lighter and secondly it will help keep costs down.
As mentioned earlier, the F430 includes four optical drive bays. Installation is straightforward with no surprises. Having four bays gives you a lot of flexibility, especially if you happen to be using a water cooling solution that requires this space for an internal reservoir.
Sliding down just a bit in the drive tower shows mounting brackets in place for two externally accessible 3.5” devices. Of course if you don’t happen to need this flexibility, you can always mount a couple of extra hard drives in here.
At the very bottom of the drive tower is space for three hard drives. Two drives fit in the open air cradle and a third will slide into the bottom of the tower. Those with a quick eye will also note the plastic brace above the hard drive cradle designed to work as a stabilizer for those extra long video boards. The hook on the inside is used as a cable management tool to help keep those pesky wires under firm control.
Finishing up our look of the F430 is the rear fan. This is the only included fan that comes as standard equipment for this enclosure. It is a nice 120mm model that uses ceramic bearings for quiet and long lived operation. You can also see from this angle that the PCI slots are standard types and will require some screws to secure your peripherals in place.
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