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THE INTERIOR
Cracking open the side panel reveals a smooth black interior with
some ergonomic touches, but nothing too unusual. The main distinguishing
feature is the bottom-mounted PSU — an increasingly common setup these
days, but still a departure from the standard ATX layout. Aside from providing
thermal isolation for the PSU, the bottom mounted position also provides a bit
more room for the beefy extended-length power supplies that are becoming so
common.
One thing that stands out is the amount of plastic that is visible.
As in the recently reviewed Silverstone Raven, the internal drive sleds are made of plastic, as are the quick-mount
"buttons" that secure the optical bays. Both intake fans are mounted
in plastic harnesses that include space for filters. There is another filter
mounted on the floor of the case for the PSU fan. This isn't necessarily a bad
thing; plastic parts are flexible, and therefore less prone to vibration resonance.
However, it is also somewhat fragile, and the fit of the plastic parts with
the metal frame did not seem good overall. This was particularly noticeable
in the drive sleds, which seemed to fit inconsistently depending on which bay
was used (the top was tightest), and the fan harnesses, which did not seem to
be securely fastened, and could be rattled in position.
Door open. Note the acoustic foam on the side panel.
One major anti-noise feature is acoustic foam on both side panels. Both panels
fit quite tightly despite a quick release latch. This is a welcome improvement
over the TJ07, where much of our criticism focused on the large, poor-fitting,
resonant panels. Acoustically, the non-windowed version is probably the safer
choice since the foam would cover the full panel, but we had no problems in
practice with our windowed sample.
Intake fans at the front and top; single exhaust at the rear.
Access to the back is necessary for installing drives and routing cables.
Note the hot-swap harness installed in the top drive bay.
There is a little space behind the motherboard tray to route cables and appropriately
placed holes at the top and bottom to allow cable access.
Plastic drive trays for up to seven internal drives.
Hot-swap SATA is possible in the top bay with an included bracket.
Storage space is plentiful, with seven internal drive bays available. The bays
are split into two sections (four on top, three below), both of which are removable
to make space for long expansion cards — or a drive suspension of some
kind. Silverstone reports that cards up to 10.5 inches long can be accommodated
without removing any bays, while 12 inch workstation cards fit easily once the
bay is removed.
A full drive rack would almost completely block airflow from the front.
The fan is mounted on a quickly-removable bracket with a filter mounted in front.
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