A Closer Look - Inside

While the overall construction quality is great, the AI4's interior is rather simple. To allow for both hard drives and long GPUs, the hard-drive cages have been removed and replaced by a plate. Turning the chassis around, you will notice a large cutout to give you easy access to the CPU socket's underside should you want to replace the CPU cooler. This is something other cases of this size sometimes lack.


Taking a closer look at the vertical mount, it has holes for two 3.5'' or three 2.5'' hard drives. The former are mounted onto rubber rings, while the latter are not. While other mATX units can hold up to six 3.5'' drives by employing traditional cages, they solve the space issue by allowing for the removal of the top three to four drives while keeping two 3.5'' bays. anidees has chosen to offer a fixed 3.5'' bay below the two external 5.25'' bays and the possibility of a floor-mounted unit instead. This makes for a total number of four storage units despite its tiny size.

All the external drive cages utilize thumbscrews as a method to secure devices, which is great as most screw-less systems in this price class are just a waste of plastic.


Turning our focus to the rear, you will find that thumbscrews hold the five mainboard expansion covers in place. Above these is the aforementioned 120 mm exhaust fan, while the PSU may be mounted into the very top by traditional means.


The AI4's ceiling is, interestingly enough, completely solid, with just a small opening to allow for cables to be routed down and into the case. anidees could have cut this whole cover out to give you some more wiggle room while saving a bit on weight and material cost.


The cables within the chassis are nothing out of the ordinary. anidees updated the color of the USB 3.0 cable with the v2 version of the chassis, and it now matches the interior. You will also find a Molex connector for the fan controller here.