A Look Inside
Getting inside the case you can see that Zalman has gone with an all black interior. The first thing that I noticed when I opened the case was that Zalman is using the external USB 3.0 connectors rather than the internal connector. Although they do provide a PCI slot cover so you can easily route the cables around to the back of your case.
Starting at the front of the case we have the four 5.25-inch bays and the single
3.5-inch bay. The 3.5-inch bay can actually be used as a 5.25-inch bay if you remove the adapter. All of these bays use the older simple screw installation, no tool-less systems here. Moving down there are 5 hard drive slots, which your hard drives will slide into using a tool-less system.
The power supply of course will be mounted on the bottom of the case and there are 4 small rubber feet that will lift your power supply off the bottom of the case for better airflow. There is also a spot on the bottom of the case for a 120mm or 140mm fan.
The PCI slot covers are the ones you have to break off and again no tool-less systems here. Up top you have the 120mm exhaust fan and 120mm blue LED fan.
There is a large CPU cutout so you should have to worry about installing your aftermarket CPU cooler while your motherboard is still installed inside the case. There are a few cable routing holes, but they do not have the rubber inserts in them. The metal is rounded though so you shouldn’t rip or cut your cables.
If we take the opposite side of the case off we can see how everything is routed. Also you can see the entire bottom of the case is open so you will be able to route your power supply’s cables easily. Also on the backside of the motherboard tray is a spot where you can mount a 2.5-inch solid state drive. While there is not a ton of room on the backside of the motherboard tray there is ample space to route some cables.
You will find all of your mounting hardware inside the case along with a CPU power extension cable, a PCI slot cover for routing the USB cables, an extra PCI slot cover and the user’s manual.
