Internal details

The case construction, despite the use of lightweight aluminum, is very solid. A bar across the side of the case and a support plate at the lower part of the case make it very steady and durable. The aluminum construction makes it a bit more susceptible to scratches though, so be careful while working with tools in there, although I don’t think that is necessary since the case can be assembled with only a simple screwdriver for mounting the motherboard and power supply unit (no other tools are required). What I did not like is that the PCI slot covers are not re-usable which means that you simply throw them away once you break them off the case. There is one spare PCI slot cover included in the bundle, but I would certainly prefer all the covers to be re-usable to begin with. That should be no problem for people that do not switch systems and add/remove PCI cards very often.

On the other hand, what I really did like about the PCI slots is their retention mechanism. A simple lever controls the mechanism which holds or releases all of the expansion slots in a single move. It is a very nice and innovative way to hold all of the cards in place with a single move of your thumb. It won’t restrict VGA cards which require two PCI slots too, like many of the tool-less PCI retention mechanisms out there.