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Fong Kai USA FK-330 Steel Case Moving to the back of the case, I want to point out a couple of things to you. The most obvious is the large fan grill. The case is designed to accommodate a 120mm exhaust fan. The large holes allow for very good ventilation. This next little 'feature' caught me by surprise. The screws which hold the opposite side panel and PSU in are not the normal Phillips head type. Instead they are designed for a Torx bit with the option of being able to use a flat bladed screw driver. Why this was done I can't begin to guess. A Torx head screwdriver is not something that most people have laying around the house, unlike the normal Phillips head. And while they did make it possible to use the flat blade screwdriver, I have skinned way too many knuckles and broken quite a few screw heads, so thumbs down from me on this feature. The first thing I did was pull them out and replace them with good old fashioned thumbscrews. Guess what? The thumbscrews weren't needed. I found out this side panel is permanent.....it doesn't come off. After talking with Dean about this, we fired off an email to the folks over at FKI about this and a few other items which concerned us. Their reply to this particular one was "As far as the opposite side and motherboard tray, why would you want to disassemble a chassis just to install your components?" Well, the first thing I thought of was "Because you can, and we like to do that to route our cables". To each their own I guess. I do have to admit that the side panel which does come off has the best tool free latch that I have seen. Positioned at the top of the panel, it lifts up, retracting the rod on the inside which holds it in place and comes off very easily. Also nice is the lock on the side panel, because if you're like me and have two very curious dogs, then things tend to get broken when you're not around. Removal of the side gives us our first look at the innards of this case. Taking at look at the back of the case first, we see the fan cage for the exhaust fan. The fan cage is another tool free feature of this case. The cage just pops right off allowing you to install a 120mm fan. However, for the price of this case, I would think that they would have included a fan with it. While 80mm fans are everywhere, I for one don't have any 120mm fans just laying around. This will add to what you need to spend if you buy this case. Just below the fan cage, are the expansion slot brackets. Also tool free, these are very neat. There are two green tabs, one at the top and one on the bottom. Just push these and the retaining bracket folds back, allowing you to remove the covers. |
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