A Closer Look - Inside

Gaining access to the Matrix is no easy feat. In Win has spent a lot of time designing this chassis, which has resulted in a very unique interior layout and opening mechanism. Instead of simply removing a side panel, you will first have to take off the rear door, then pull half of the plastic shell off the case. While this is sufficient to get general access, you may also continue disassembly.


The next step requires the removal of the front part of the chassis, at which point you have remove the upper covers, to be able to install a mainboard. It may look really tight and crowded, but it is not nearly as bad as it looks upon first sight.


You may then take off the upper portion of the interior cover. This then gives you the space to take off the 3.5 inch tray, internal fan, power supply - leaving you with the bare chassis. The very bottom drive bay cannot be removed, but there is a yellow clip to hold any external unit - like a card reader or floppy drive - in place, so you only need to screw it in place from one side.


The tray is intended to be used with a hard drive. The fan above it directly pushes cold air to the drive to keep temperatures in check inside the compact In Win Matrix.


Taking a quick look at the rear area of the case from the inside, there are no real surpries here. In Win has moved the screws, which hold the mainboard expansion bay covers to the outside, to save space. The front I/O connectors are actually removable. It is interesting to note that the connectors at this end are color coded in the same fashion as the pins on modern mainboards (red for Firewire, blue for USB and yellow for audio).


The connectors you have to use are kept in the traditional black color. It would have been a nice touch if In Win would have used color connectors at this end as well. The power, reset and the LEDs plugs are of the ordinary kind. The one notable - certainly positive - addition is the secondary power LED plug. This means that it will fit no matter if your mainboard has two pins next to each other or with a single space inbetween.