Contents
Cooling & component installation
The front and top transparent fans are the same, model BDH12025S. They come with white LEDs, and I have found no specifications for them at all. That means we will have to wait for the actual measurements to discover their speed. They use molex connectors and quite frankly, are of very poor quaility. I noticed one of them was connected poorly to the others (they came all daisy-chained together). It took about ten minutes to fix that thing. Molex connectors are good only as long as they are made properly (=not El Cheapo). Otherwise they become a nightmare instead. This is the second case.
Because of the foam filters combined with the metallic mesh, the light emitted by the fans quite weak. It is not that bad in the end as white light is generally comes through quite strongly in the dark. The rear fan is black and comes without LEDs but it does have a DMI connector. Otherwise it is the same model.
The top plastic cover also uses only a few pushpins so it’s easy to remove it. The base for the fan installation protrudes slightly from the case so the fans are situated more or less on the same level. The component installation and cable management in this area is easier thanks to that.
The front and top dust filter also deserves some comment. While the bottom filters are very easy to remove and clean, the other two filters need to be removed with the whole front panel and then unscrewed. Plus, the mesh pads need to be bent in order to be removed. This is somewhat complicated and I also have doubts as to the integrity of the screw threads in the plastic body over time. So while you can clean the bottom filters every few weeks, the front filters are more like a “once a year” operation, and even then who knows how many cycles it can handle. I should mention that the front filters can also get very dirty, very quickly. Azza clearly has some space for further improvements here.
For component installation with the CSAZ-5000B, I randomly selected the first Full-ATX motherboard I found together with some larger card. (In particular, the PCI-X Adaptec 29160 SCSi controller, tested in multiple slots). No problems were been found during this installation so I can state that the tolerances for the mounting positions are precise enough.
I have also tried to see if the CSAZ-5000B can support a slightly taller power supply with a 9cm fan, the Delta Electronics DPS500-QB. Unfortunately, as usually, Azza did not allow for any extra space between the PSU and the motherboard. I am not sure if cutting away the PSU mounting base would help as there are some rivets on the bottom which would also block the PSU. So this case is definitely not ready to support multiple graphics cards with large heatsinks in CrossFireX or Tripple/Quad SLI. For such a setup, you would also have to use the bottom PCIe slot, but the VGA cooler would be blocked by even an ordinary ATX power supply.
On the other hand, mounting 3.5″ hard drives is very easy, just insert&go. For 2.5″ drives you need to use the ordinary bottom screw positions. As I already stated, these plastic caddies fit into the cages from both sides so it’s up to you which side you choose to access them. There are also a few extra holes in them you can use to install 8- or 9cm fans. It is useful in case you have powerful hard drives which need extra airflow (like I do with 15k Enterprise drives).
Installing all the HDD cages was not so easy in practice, as in theory. As I already noted, the two plastic pieces which are meant to hold the middle cage in place arrived broken. It seems that the packing isn’t good enough to protect the cage while it is installed in the case. I suggested to Linkworld that they should use softer plastic. Maybe also removing the cage and attaching it to the bottom of the case with tape or wire for transport would also help. The user can then choose to install the cage later if he wants. Some manufacturers use this method for packing removable items, and I never encountered any problem with it. Linkworld was kind enough to send me replacement parts so it is now working properly.
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