Closer look inside
The first thing that I did once I removed the side panel was to grab and twisted several areas of the inside to get an idea of how well the case is built. Like a large margin of Thermlatke cases the M9 is well built. The arrangement of the inside is pretty typical from a distance and the case has a fair amount of structural rigidity to it. A good sign
The entire front half of the case is engulfed by the 5.25 bay frame. When using 5.25 devices these special brackets help to secure them in place. Up top we have a bracket that allows the adaption of a floopy or other 3.5” device. At the bottom is a three bay hard drive cage. Both the brackets and cage can be replaced for whatever reason. This is great for making room for a watercooling rad or extra long video cards. Depending how many hard disks you use this might be a good place to suspend one or two to counter vibration and seek noise.
To remove the HDD cradle from the case all you need to do is remove the three locks holding it into place. Then shift it to the location you favor. Once the cage is removed you can see the front mounted 120mm cooling fan. We have found in the past that removing the HDD cage has a good effect on airflow from the front to the rear, which always helps keep the internal components just that much more comfortable.
The rear of the case from the inside is about as adventous as the outisde rear except for the PCI locking mechanism. The plastic tab just pulls to the side to make room to slide whatever card in. Once the card is in place slide the tab back into place to lock it up ( Editor’s note: While tool-less retension mechanisms seem to be all the rage, it is seldom that we find one that is particularly good. Often they struggle with Dual-slot coolers on graphics cards. Case in point, the TJ-06 from Silverstone. I can’t help but think that providing Thumbscrews would be a better idea for many cases).
If you have not heard of Antec before you must be living in a cave or somewhere remote. Antec is one of the major players in the case and power supply market. At one time or another many of us have used ...
