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 PICTORIAL AND WALKTHROUGH (cont'd)
Heavy duty seems to be the order of the day for this chassis, even on the inside. The optical and floppy bays are aluminum plate and rock solid. The real jewel is at the bottom though. The HDD cage is a marvelous example of simple, elegant design.
We'll go into how it works in detail later, but the rubber rollers and sliding bars make this my favorite feature of the Fatal1ty chassis. The cage is not removable, but it doesn't need to be.
The mobo tray doesn't seem to be removable, either. It is, as a matter of fact, and I'll get to this feature a little later. The chrome-plated standoffs look nice, but will be hidden once we get a system in this beauty.
The expansion slot fixture is plated steel and extends upward to include the I/O shield area. The slot covers break out and are not replaceable, a bit of a disappointment in an otherwise stellar design. In the lower left corner you can see the hinge and some of the construction detail.
Four Hi-Fi-style feet grace the bottom of the case and feature rubber pads to protect your desk. Don't grease the hinges!
The right-side panel is a two-piece design, giving the user separate access to the drive bays and the motherboard. There are screws around the perimeter of the panels, but you'll notice that there is no evidence of the standoffs coming through the panel. I continue to be impressed by Zalman's design and its execution. This is really top-notch work!
In appearance, the rear of the Fatal1ty is fairly standard. As we'll see during installation, there are a few nice touches here, too. The 120mm exhaust fan is unencumbered by slots or holes to impede airflow and the fan is rubber-mounted to minimize noise. Several warning messages are also in evidence here. The top of the case is smooth and featureless.
As if you couldn't already tell, I'm very impressed with the Fatal1ty so far. I'm eagerly anticipating doing the installation, so let's get busy!
