SUMMARY: In the not too distant past, the thought of getting an aluminum case meant pouring out a huge chunk of change. While there are some high-dollar aluminum cases out there, it is getting easier to find them in a more reasonable price range lately. Come join us as we take a look at a low cost aluminum case with some very high end features and see for yourself if it is worth the meager entry fee!
Once the left side panel is removed, we can begin our inspection of the internals of this enclosure. If you’ll remember back to the introduction of this piece, I mentioned this company added several features to their design. It is now time to see what these features are and see if they will actually be useful in a realistic scenario.
One of the first things I’ll point out are the illustrated instructions that are all over the interior. While this is pure speculation, I think this was created for men. After all, how many times do you just toss that instruction booklet to the side and say, “Who needs a manual”? I don’t know if it is a macho thing or what, but I can say that I have found even myself being guilty of this on occasion. But with the illustrations plastered to the sidewalls of the case, maybe, just maybe, we men will actually make use of them.
Now that I’ve probably managed to offend most of the guys out there, lets continue on and begin with the upper deck optical drive bay. It really is a pretty standard layout as it reflects the three available slots that are normally found on a mid-tower enclosure. If you require more than just the single drive bay that comes open from the factory, just remove another metal plate and the plastic covering and you’re set.
Moving downward within the front tower assembly we see space for a total of four 3.5” drives. While two of them are designed for externally accessible peripherals, all of them may be accessed from the outside. Confusing? Let me show you what I mean then.
When you remove the front bezel, you gain access to a small door. This door allows you to use the rail system and install two hard drives without having to worry about losing the screws when mounting it. Just open the door and slide the hard drives home.
You say you have a tower of burners and want to have room for them? No problems with the lower portion of the drive bay tower. You will find room for yet another three optical drives in the lower section.
But if you don’t happen to require all this drive bay space, you can always add a nice 92mm fan and provide yourself some additional cooling for the case. This added flexibility is a plus and remember, the front cover provides a filtering design to help keep dirt to a minimum.
