Turning our attention to the rear of the case, there is just not a whole lot to really point out other than the complete steel construction, power supply, seven tool-less peripheral card slots and the large 120mm rear exhaust fan. In this photo you can see that only the right side of the case is accessible through thumbscrews. The other side can be opened, but you have to pull out your philips screwdriver to remove the standard case screws. With other cases, this would lead to a little bit of irritation if people needed access during installation, but with the Cavalier 1, you will never need to open that panel anyway. Why? I can sum it up easily....Tool-Free Installation". More on that later farther down the page.
One thing I do want to point out and stress, this case has only an aluminum front and the rest is ordinary steel. Because most of the case is steel, the weight goes up dramatically. If you are an avid LAN gamer, I would not suggest this case for your upgrade. It is just to heavy to be lugging from home to the event.
While on that note, I was a little confused as to why they are charging such a high premium price for a relatively standard steel chassis with an aluminum faceplate. Granted it does have a rather attractive design, front audio gauge and an included power supply, but I do see other similarly equipped options available on the market for US$30-$50 less. Food for thought for an educated consumer.
Once the case is opened, you will see that the interior design is standard and relatively roomy for quick and easy motherboard installation.
As I said earlier in the review, there is room for five external 5.25", one external and four internal 3.5" drive bays.
Installation is very simple. Slip the device in to the bay and push the slider towards the front of the case and then pull down the locking mechanism. Installation should take no longer than 10 seconds per device.
Cooling the harddrives is the lone 80mm 30cfm intake which is quiet and can be upgraded if you feel that you need additional case airflow.
