A Closer Look - Inside

To take off the side panels, one needs to remove the thumb screws. A lock on the windowed side holds the panel in place as well. This may be good if you frequently access the interior of the Spedo, but you should use the screw when taking the case on the road. Turning the panel around reveals the large 230 mm fan. Thermaltake has even created a connector at the bottom of the panel, which connects to the fan cable on the case frame. This means that you can open the case during operation and the fan will simply stop spinning. This is the first time I have seen something like this - very cool! The only downside is the fact, that this system is only for power and the fan cannot be controlled by the mainboard.


Turning the case over, there is another surprise. Three tiles have been placed here. These are called CRM or "Cable Routing Management" by Thermaltake. You may remove them, route your cables, tie them in place with the supplied zip ties and then put the panels back on. This should not only help you in hiding the cables but also in holding them down to put the side panel back into place.


Moving our focus into the case itself, there is more plastic to be found. Thermaltake has placed four separate pieces of plastic in the case. One divides the mainboard area right in the middle, while the other acts as a barrier between the PSU and the mainboard. The two additional covers, simply cover these two areas. I do not see any point in dividing the mainboard, as some components may require active cooling from the CPU fan, nor do I see a good reason to put these side covers on. The plastic used for these four parts is very bad and feels flimsy. The clipping system does not hold very well at all and you will find yourself cursing, trying to align the holes of the dividers correctly after having everything installed and cables in the way. It would have been better for Thermaltake to omit this "feature" and reduce the price of the chassis instead.


Taking a look at the drive bays, these are actually well designed. The top and bottom bays are intended for external drives and have a very nice looking mechanism in place. Thermaltake has lined the front covers with dust covers, as you can see from the above picture. This image was taken from the bottom two drive bays.


The middle holds two hard drive cages. Each can take three drives. You may pull each hard drive bay separately, or remove each cage completely. The locking mechanism for the trays is quite elaborate and should work well in holding the drives in place.


Upon removing both trays, the front fan can clearly be seen. You will have to remove this fan to turn the trays around with the help of the four afore mentioned plastic spacers. There is an additional fan holder, which can be moved up and down a bit within the chassis. You may mount the additional fan here.


After we remove the plastic panels, the interior layout looks quite simple. The drives are located up front and the are no real compartments. Taking a look at the rear. The PSU bay is constructed in such a way, that there are rails to place the power supplies on. There is no foam lining and the fine dust filter does not look easily removable. Behind the PSU bay is another location to place an additional 120 mm fan. Moving upward there are the eight expansion slots. Thermaltake has included an additional one for those mainboard breakout pieces to route USB or other connectivity to the rear of the chassis. By using that eighth slot, you wont loose any real expandability. It would be great to see this feature on more high-end cases. Above that are the two 120 mm fans. An additional unit can be mounted on the mainboard tray to cool the area right under the CPU.


To finish our tour of the insides, here is a picture of the 230 mm fan in the ceiling of the Spedo, when viewed from the inside of the chassis.