Zalman Z9

Zitat: The Zalman Z9 is not the case that the extreme gamer or enthusiast would fork out the money for, but one must know this also is not the crowd who the case is aimed at. The person considering the Z9 is budget-minded, looking for a good deal, but yet not giving up on quality. What is liked about the Z9 is its near tool-less operation for mounting hard drives. Simply installing four screws into the HDD and then inserting it in to the HDD cage is all it take to achieve this. Another feature of the Z9 that cannot be overlooked is the interior. A growing trend we are seeing in a lot of more expensive cases, and now slowing starting to see in lesser priced towers: the painted interior. Another nice bit that Zalman didn´t skimp on was the cable routing. You have more than enough room to weave them in and out in order to get them where they are needed, but also plenty of tie points to keep them there. Zalman includes two fans with the Z9, the rear exhaust and the front intake. But there are five other locations in which to install fans. This is a good feature to have as some cases really need the help of extra air flow to keep everything in good working order. Keeping in mind that this is a budget gaming case we really can´t mark this against it, but the only real flaw we found was the expansion slot inserts. Sure they are vented, but in order to utilize the slot they must be permanently removed. Perhaps the inclusion of at least a couple screw in plates could be added to give the consumer a way to block those slots that had been previously used. The Z9 does not include a windowed side panel which is very popular these days, but at $65 we really can´t complain. If you really want that option all that is required is to fork out another $10 above the Z9´s asking price and upgrade to the Z9 Plus. With that you will also get a nice two channel fan controller.