Computing on Demand PC News & Reviews
Inside the case, the hard drive rack is removable and features a backplane that has separate connections for SAS and SATA drives. There are two 4-pin molex power connections to supply power to all drives and a large cutout for full length video cards. The cage is held in place by six total screws (4 screws on the sides and two on the bottom of the case). If you look carefully, you can see a pair of 3 pin fan connectors next to each of the 4-pin molex power connections. Don’t mind the Storm Trooper…
The four internal 2.5″ hard drives are installed in a secondary removable drive cage that is mounted to the top rear of the case. There isn’t much room between the two drive cages (a little less than 2.5 inches), but you can still squeeze your fingers through to make some last minute adjustments after build has been completed.
Once the hard drive cage is removed, the case reveals its side mounted fans that will keep your drives cool. Located just behind the drive cage are the two 120mm cooling fans that are responsible for pushing cool air through the system. Again, we have a positive pressure system here, similar to that of the Grandia series cases. This positive pressure cooling helps to eliminate dust by ensuring that all air that goes into the system is filtered. Both of the fans are SilverStone 120mm fans spinning at 1200rpm and both feature a 3 pin molex… hmmm… it just so happens that the hard drive cage has two of these… Thank you SilverStone.
Motherboard and PSU installation require the removal of the HDD cage(s). The pre-installed motherboard mounts make for a quick installation and the large interior space allows for clever wire routing. The cables have plenty of length and can be routed around the top fan to keep them safe from the intake fan blades.
Although we had plenty of room to work in the iStarUSA S-915 during our system build, it seems like things got a bit cramped by the time we were finished. This wasn’t the case with the DS380. Instead, we still had plenty of room to move around and make some last minute tweaks to things, even after the assembly was complete. I can easily fit my entire hand inside and remove and replace the CPU if I needed to.
