Date: October 16th, 2006
Article by: Joe Anderson (Hardware Reviewer)
Edited by: Nathan Glentworth (Owner / Head Editor)
Product was submitted by: Zalman USA
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PRODUCT COMPOSITION (cont'd)
Zalman has provided an abundance of fasteners, along with an allen wrench and some extra mobo standoffs. They've also included a multi-connector for the fans and five blue Velcro strips to help the user keep all the wires and cables nice and tidy.
The ZM-MC1 allows the user to connect up to four fans to a single 4-pin connector while running two at +5V and two at +12V. As we'll see later, this little device came in very handy during installation.
PRODUCT PICTORIAL AND WALKTHROUGH
This is a very sleek, sexy case. Clean lines and a solid, no-nonsense design combine to give the Fatal1ty case a definite high-tech yet user-friendly appeal. Let's take a tour around the FC-ZE1 and look at its construction and design features.
The brushed aluminum has been anodized black, giving the surface a matte finish. Graphics, logos and helpful tips have then been etched or engraved lightly into the finish. At first glance, these look like they are painted on the surface, but closer examination shows very fine lines incised through the finish into the aluminum below. I assume this is laser etching. These “etchings” continue around all four sides of the case.
Four big bays and a floppy-sized bay are available on the front panel. The top 5.25-inch bay has no cover provided, presumably since all users will have at least one optical drive to install. The front panel, like the rest of this chassis, is 5mm aluminum with precise cutouts for the drives, ports and other features.
The power and reset buttons are aluminum with translucent surrounds that glow blood red when switched on. The customary speaker and microphone ports follow power and HDD activity lights. Two USB and one firewire port round out the front panel I/O features. Clean, simple design features are used throughout this case, and the attention to detail is both welcome and refreshing.
