Both versions of this case have a small mesh and a duct on the left panel (the panel you remove to build your PC), matching Intel’s Chassis Air Guide Design 1.1. You can adjust the height of the duct to better match the CPU cooler you are using, as this duct is used for improving CPU ventilation (read our How to Correctly Assemble PCs with Pentium 4 Prescott tutorial for an in-depth look on the role of this side duct). You can also replace the duct with a 80-mm fan if you’d like to, and you can also add a fan to the mesh (pay special attention to Figure 6 for the available holes for you to install these fans).

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Figure 6: Side duct.

Even though you can remove the right panel (the panel behind the motherboard) the metallic plate where the motherboard is installed is permanently attached to the case, so you can’t remove it to facilitate the motherboard installation. This panel must be removed for you to correctly install disk drives to this case (more on this later).

On Figure 7 you have an overall look inside Thermaltake M9.

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Figure 7: Inside Thermaltake M9 case.

The two 120-mm fans that come with this case glow in blue when turned on and use the traditional peripheral power connector. One of the down sides of this case is the fact that the fans don’t provide a speed controller and since they don’t use a small 3-pin power connector, you can’t monitor their speed thru your computer as well. On Figure 8 you can see the rear 120-mm fan.

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Figure 8: Rear 120-mm fan.

On the other hand one good thing about this case is that it uses a screwless mechanism to hold daughter boards. To use this mechanism you must press each individual lever and move it up or down as needed. To move each mechanism you need to move it up to a slight angle, otherwise it won’t move.

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Figure 9: Screwless mechanism for holding daughter boards.

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Figure 10: A closer look on this mechanism.