Contents
Externals
Lets start from the front. What we can see on the very front are plastic doors which consist of plastic frame and then the plastic brushed panel. On some of the Zalman pictures it is black and on another it has blue tint which I would say is artificial to enhance the blue LEDs in the upper fans. This piece we can see has clearly violet tone. It is true though that the actual tone varies greatly according to the viewing angle and ambient lightning. The hinges are on the right side and cannot be swapped so count with the fact you can only open it to the right side.
Behind the doors we can see the two 5.25″ external positions and beneath them also the plastic grill in front of the front fans. However, if you close the door, it gets completely obstructed and only intakes some air by the sides where are some openings. The doors hold closed rather well as they carry strong magnets. So while there is no mechanical system which could break, after opening it three times you already notice some surface on the plastic just where the magnets are. Take a close look at the left-bottom side of the picture.
On the internal side of the door we can see noise-dampening material which ensures less noise will be coming from the front fans. And no air to them as well…
On the top-frontal part of the Z9 Neo we can see the button/connector panel. Similarly to the Azza Taurus 5000B, also the Zalman Z9 Neo carries rubber caps in the USB ports. This is a handy feature to protect the ports from dust. There are none for the audio jacks though.
From the side you can clearly make out the profile of the Z9 Neo case and the opening for front and top fans. The metal part has a sharply contoured edge, and this is basically your typical base “box” (for lack of a better term). The plastic covers (front and top) are then just attached to it, giving it slightly different shape. Both the covers are easy to remove though. The optical properties of the matte metal paint and the plastic are much more alike this time (unlike with the CSAZ-5000B). The toned window is highly glossy so I had to blur it a “little bit”. You don’t need to see all the mess in my room, right :D
There are no perforations on any of the sides. The window-less side is just bare metal, nothing to see there. Both side panels come with thumbscrews so you can remove them easily with just your bare hands. The rear fan perforations are somewhat larger than the fan itself, the reason is unclear to me. You can also see some more perforations next to the expansion slot brackets, which themselves are full of holes. I personally don’t like to have holes everywhere you look as it disrupts the airflow and collects dust. Fortunately this part is sturdy enough for me even despite all the holes.
The power supply mounting position supports the PSU in both positions, facing up and down as well. Though in this case it makes no sense whatsoever to even think about placing it other than facing down. If we look at the bottom we can see just a single fan opening, for the power supply. There is a dust filter, easy to remove.
Under the filter we can see the same honeycomb perforations.
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