On Figure 8 you can see an overall look inside the reviewed case. All parts inside the case are also made in aluminum. The motherboard tray is permanently attached to the chassis.
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Figure 8: Inside A+ Black Pearl.
Our first stop is on the power supply compartment, which can hold redundant units, as explained. What is really good about this case is that it is divided into three separated compartments: the power supply compartment, the hard disk drive compartment and the motherboard compartment. The communication between these compartments is made thru holes, used to pass cables from one side to the other. See the hole on the upper left side of Figure 9 which is used to pass all the cables from the power supply.
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Figure 9: Power supply compartment.
On Figure 10 you have a close-up on the wall that separates the motherboard compartment from the lower compartments. See the big hole used to pass cables from the power supply and also cables from the motherboard to the hard disk drives. We loved this idea as it allows all cables to be more organized and held together, improving the airflow inside the case.
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Figure 10: Walls that separates the three compartments.
The rear 120-mm fan comes with an adjustable arm that allows you to configure your system for the best possible cooling. This adjustment is done by loosing two thumbscrews, so no tool is necessary.
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Figure 11: Rear 120-mm fan with adjustable arm.
This case doesn’t use a screwless mechanism to fasten daughter boards to the case, but on the other hand it provides thumbscrews, allowing fastening cards without the need of using tools anyway. In fact we personally prefer this approach, as we’ve seen countless times these screwless mechanisms breaking because they are usually manufactured using cheap plastic.
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Figure 12: Thumbscrews for fastening daughter boards.
