A Closer Look - Inside

As mentioned before, the paint job is great. This is also due to the fully painted side panels. Once turned around, it becomes apparent that the paint is not simply sprayed on, as the inside of the sides are black as well. The window is kept in place by metal prongs which have been cut out of the side panel and bent over the edges of the window. This is a simple but surprisingly effective method. Once the panel is removed, the no frills interior is exposed. Considering the price of the Alpha it is no surprise that there are no unique features inside the case.


Taking a look at the PSU bay from the inside of the case, there are two ledges to place the unit on. This should make it easier to install the power supply and also increase structural integrity if using a large PSU. The 120 mm fan is placed above an area which is completely solid. It would have been great to see two holes for water cooling setups or maybe cut-outs for legacy connections in this area. On the bottom, the PCI covers are secured with flat screws. NZXT has opted for the trusted and true screw method instead of trying to place a cheap screwless contraption on the seven expansion slots.


The external drive bays look quite normal, but you have cut-outs for the plastic locks on both sides. The internal drive bays utilize the widespread plastic rail method to hold the hard drives in place. This system is simple, cheap and effective.


The front I/O connections are as expected, but NZXT goes all out on the audio plug, even providing individual pins so that you will be able to connect it no matter what. This even gives you the option to connect sound cards to the front audio which do not officialy have an HD or AC '97 audio header. The power, reset and LED connections are of the usual kind as well. The only downside here is the single power LED plug. Some mainboards, including the ASUS P5K3 Deluxe used in this review, utilize a header with an empty pin space between the two filled ones. Some boards even go as far to feature a 2 pin and 3 pin connection, but all these problems would be solved if NZXT were to split the two pins of the power LED connector. I was not able to plug this cable in, due to this incompatibilty. There is a front LED which lights up the clear plastic frame in a blue light. This Molex connector is simply connected directly to the PSU or placed inbetween any connection like an optical drive or hard drive.