Zalman Z-Machines GT 1000 Case

Next we turn things around and have a look into the left side of the case.  Beginning at the rear, we see the replaceable expansion slot covers complete with thumbscrews and the 120mm exhaust fan.

  

Now I like to think of myself as a regular guy.  As such, I don't pick up a manual until I have to.  With this in mind, the rubber covered screws, pads and locking runners mounted to the floor of the GT 1000 completely baffled me.  I'm looking at these thinks thinking are they for mounting CCFLs? cables? water cooling hosing?  I had to go to the manual in the end.

        

The four rubber screws between the pads are actually screws to be attached to a hard drive.  A drive thus shod locks into place in a tool free rubber dampened mount.  Two of these HDD mounting areas are here on the base of the GT 1000.  My hat comes off to the Zalman design team for an excellent drive mounting mechanism.

  

The forward drive areas keep with the black anodized scheme we have seen thus far.  Opposite spring mounted thumbscrews for optical drives as you expected.

  

The hard drive cage is another new design to me.  It has a number of rubber rollers inside that allow up to four hard drives to be slid into place.  The cage has ventilation holes cut in both sides that look smaller than normally found in most hard drive cages.  With the two 92mm fans mounted immediately in front of the cage, there will be plenty of air exchange to keep the drives cool.  Superficially, it also would appear that this type of a more closed cage would restrict air flow.  While this is true, I don't see this being bad as the only air intakes are at the bottom and the only air exhaust is at the top of the rear of the GT 1000.  This set up allows for an air current to be created.  The air coming in the bottom of the case creates increased air pressure which is what in effect circulation is all about.  Direct air is nice but circulation is key.

  

Back to the drive rack; you can see below how a drive is inserted.  The corresponding front bar is pulled down and a thumbscrew used to lock it in place.  The secret to this cage is the inch thick foam pad at the back to provides the resistance to keep the drive mounted firm and as you guessed already with all this foam and rubber, vibration free.

     

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