A Closer Look - Inside

To gain access to the interior of the chassis, simply remove the thumbscrews holding each panel in place. The first things you will notice is the shroud that covers the PSU bay and the large hard-drive bays. An air vent has been placed right behind these bays for as much airflow as possible, and a Zalman logo has been embossed across the shroud's side.


You will find an asymmetrical hole for easy access to the CPU cooler's brackets on the other side. However, it may be too small to accommodate some motherboards out there due to its design. Velcro strips also help in keeping the interior nice and tidy, while numerous openings with rubber grommets make for a clean and clutter-free interior.


The bottom of the front holds an HDD cage with two trays for either 3.5'' or 2.5" drives. Above the cage are two 120 mm fans for a total of five pre-installed cooling units. You may replace these with two 140 mm units or a radiator of up to 280 mm in size. In the very top are two 5.25" drive bays, which are removable as well. While Zalman only mentions dual-fan radiator support, there is, interestingly enough, nothing to keep you from installing a third fan alongside a larger radiator in the front after you have removed the two drive bays. Sure, airflow for the top fan would be restricted, but Zalman could simply offer vented drive-bay covers as either an extra or as a part of the package.

The 5.25" drive bays also have mounting holes for two 2.5" drives to be secured to the underside. You could, as such, use the bottom bay for such a drive without obstructing the external drive bay itself. You could even go as far as to install a total of four such drives there without any optical drives.


You may also install two SSDs onto the side panel, right next to the fans in front, which is a great place to show them off to curious onlookers.


In the rear, below the shroud, is the PSU bay, which is pretty standard. It comes with four simple foam spacers to keep vibrations to a minimum. Above it are the seven motherboard expansion slots, with each cover held in place by a thumbscrew. The 120 mm fan in the very top is set to push hot air out through the back of the chassis.


Lastly, there are two 120 mm cooling units out of clear plastic and with blue LEDs in the ceiling. These should do a great job in shedding a nice amount of light on your hardware, which will have them draw as much attention as possible from onlookers.


All the cables within the Zalman Z9 NEO are of the default variety and are sleeved black to go with the interior of the chassis.