Computing on Demand PC News & Reviews
Internal space is well thought out as you have room for 6 hard drives; 4 in a rack and two on the bottom of the chassis. The rack uses a tool-less system that is really quite interesting. The hard drives are held in place by a system of rollers and a foam backing. As cumbersome as it looks it is quite effective and efficient. The HDD rack is constructed of the same high quality material you would expect and looks to be something from a medieval gauntlet. Each roller is constructed of a lightweight durable plastic material to allow some flexibility.
The bottom racks that hold the last of the hard drives use a latching mechanism with the drive held in place by 4 screws affixed to your hard drives retention holes. They are flat on the bottom of the case and provide ample room for expansion card clearance. The front fans provide enough airflow to keep the drives located in this position cool to the touch and with this placement tidy wiring is easily obtained.
It seems that most of the main stream and/or upscale chassis being put out now have opted to place the power supply at the bottom of the chassis. There is much debate as to which location is preferred, however, it places more weight at its specific location and when placed at the bottom it allows air that hasn’t been warmed by other components to pass through the PSU. Installation is easier at the bottom of the chassis if you assemble your systems with the chassis upright though as the likely hood of you dropping it is less. Zalman chose to have the PSU (Standard ATX or ATX12V) mounted at the top of the chassis here.
The backside of the chassis does not deviate much from the standard. There are seven expansion slots and the graphics on the back don’t bother me much as the rear of the chassis is rarely seen, however, the chassis has a bit too much as it is so if they chose to omit them I would be fine with it. Airflow is moved through the chassis with the aid of a 120mm red LED fan.
What does this all boil down to? Zalman has put a 27.5 lb, aluminum based, z-tastic chassis at my disposal. The thick aluminum and industrial feel put this chassis where it should be… at the top of its class. This does not mean that there is no room for improvment though. I would definately lose the thin aluminum bands between the 5.25″ drive bays so we can install a backplane if we so choose; the graphics could be a bit less dramatic as well. The well thought out interior and tricked out side panel setup leaves me wondering why they didn’t offer a candy apple red version. Bottom line… would I spend $300+ dollars on one? I did, this one is mine.
