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A
Closer Look:::…
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Speed
Control Knob
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Just
below the drive bays there is a big black knob. It is for
controlling the speed of up to four fans. Time to look inside….
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Internal
View
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Once
I removed the side panel, I was a little disoriented. Everything
is mirrored from what I am used to. To gain access to the
workings of this case, you remove the right-hand side panel
as opposed to the left. This is a natural consequence to
the inverted motherboard. I would also like to point out
the innovative locking system for the side panels. Rather
than thumbscrews, Enermax has incorporated plastic slide-locks
that simply slide over a stationary screw head. Talk about
tool-less… you needn't even have calloused thumbs to
work on this.
Inside
the case, you can see the wind tunnel. This is their new
cooling innovation, and reasoning behind the inverted BTX
style. Heat rises, and by putting the CPU at the lowest
point in the case, it locates it in the coolest part of
the case. The blue plastic housing creates a wind tunnel
across the CPU. This serves two more cooling purposes. Firstly,
it restricts the heat from the CPU from bringing internal
temps up by containing it. Secondly, the two 120mm fans
draw fresh air in the front and blows it out the back, creating
a focused circulation that not only cools the CPU, but keeps
ambient temps down as well.
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Internal
View
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Kudos to Enermax for this innovative design. I'll post graphs
with temperature data at the end of this review. You'll
see just how effective this new system is.
Moving
up, we find the PCI slots. The locking system here is plastic
finger clips that snap easily over the mounting tab on your
PCI and AGP cards. The clips snap nice and tight, however,
there is a little looseness in the card once it's mounted.
It's an inconsequential amount, but something worth noting.
I haven't found a tool free system for PCI cards that is
as tight as screws yet remained easy to open and close.
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Internal
View
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Just
opposite the PCI slots is a mount for an 80mm fan to keep
fresh air flowing. There is no mount for another exhaust
fan, but with a mesh front, and dual fan PSU, enough hot
air escapes this case that drawing fresh air in seems sufficient.
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Internal
View
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Moving
a little further up the case, we find the HDD bay. The sideways
mounting system allows for up to five hard drives to fit
easily. They are mounted just below the PSU so that heat
is drawn up from the HDDs and expelled through the PSU.
Again, tool free installation is a factor, with metal rails
that snap on either side of each drive, and snap into place
nice and solidly.
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HDD
Bay
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