A Closer Look - Inside

Once the top cover is removed, the black insides can be seen. To cover the overall layout: all drives are placed in the front of the case, while the back houses the mainboard to the right and the power supply to the left. The mainboard stand-offs have already been installed, so the case is ready to be filled right away.


The two hard drive bays are identical and are made of aluminum as well. They are secured by three screws each. One of which is hard to reach and this is where the included screw driver comes in handy. The middle houses the single optical drive bay. Due to the layout only drives which are shorter than 17 cm can be used. To test this compatibility a Pioneer 16x DVD drive is used, which is just under 17cm long. Both hard drive cages pull air into the case from the side walls with the help of an eight centimeter fan.


Once the hard drive cage is taken out, the fan can clearly be seen. It uses a mainboard header with RPM reporting. This is different to the two case fans used in the back of the case, which utilize Molex connectors. The interesting aspect of the included fans is the fact that all of them feature a temperature diode to control air speed. This means even if it is connected directly to the power supply using the Molex connector, it will vary in speed according to the temperature recorded by the diode.


The single optical drive bay features four relatively small screw holes and is secured by four screws inside the case itself. Both hard drive cages need to be removed to gain access to this drive cage. Moneual LAB suggests to install the optical drive first and then place the mainboard inside the case, to avoid any problems at a later point.


The back of the case houses an air vent at the bottom area of the mainboard. This allows fresh air to be pulled in by the general air flow within the case, which then moves over the expansion slots and out the back of the case. The PCI brackets are easily removable and reusable. There is no use of any fragile plastic, which is a definite plus for such an exclusive case.


The afore mentioned fans utilize Molex connectors and are both eight centimeters big. The little green bubble is the temperature diode implanted into the fan. Both cutouts for the backplate and power supply are very clean. The power supply can only be placed inside the case with the possible 12 cm fan facing out of the case. This means that the PSU will only have access to fresh, cooler air.