Installation and Testing
To
the right is a picture of the Audi's case latching mechanism. The Space
K-1 features the same great design. Hansan has gotten the closest to a screwless
design that I've seen with this case. There is a lift up tab on either side
of the cover. Simply pull them up and slide the case off towards the front.
Simple and easy. Once the cover is on locking the tabs down really does
secure the case. I lifted a fully loaded case and shook it and the cover
didn't even budge. I wouldn't recommend that type of abuse on a daily basis
but it is nice to know that not only is the latching mechanism convenient
but strong also.
I mounted
a classic Abit BX6r2 motherboard in this case. Not the latest and greatest
but certainly representative of most ATX boards. It was here that I noticed
one strange exclusion in the Space K-1. The Audi case featured some very
nice plastic risers to set the motherboard on top of. The Space K-1 came
with some pretty standard looking metal spacers. Standard until I tried
to put them in the case. I broke two (my superhuman strength!) and one came
broken right out of the package. Hansan did send enough that I still had
plenty to mount the board with but I think the plastic risers in the Audi
case are much safer and easier to work with.
Here's
a picture of the guts of this case. The similarities to the Audi case are
pretty obvious - especially the rolled edges on the top of the case. One
thing that initially concerned me about the Audi case was that the frame
seemed to flex towards the top. While I appreciated the rolled metal I was
worried about flexing. As soon as I installed a CD-ROM into one of the bays
the flexing completely disappeared with the Audi. The Space K-1 didn't suffer
from flexing as much as the Audi case did. I'm sure a lot of the extra weight
I noticed with this case would be the slightly thicker metal. Luckily, the
rolled area on the top of the case was carried over in this design. Hansan
even added a couple of cutouts near the rolled edge so carrying the unit
is much easier now. Progress is a neat thing.
I've lauded the Moretec power
supply that Hansan has used previously over and over. I really like that
power supply. I was pretty surprised that they didn't go with it again with
this case and instead went with a unit manufactured by HEC. I was surprised
until I saw the extra fan on the bottom of the power supply and that it
was P4 compatible. Gotta keep up with the times and the ATX Moretec wouldn't
offer all the versatility and usefulness that this power supply does. One
unusual aspect of this power supply is that the bottom exhaust fan has a
motherboard connector to get its power. Umm, this thing is in a power supply
right? Seems to me that would be the most logical place to hook it up. I
suppose if you let your motherboard turn the power to the fans off when
a desired temp is reached then this setup will make sense to you. I personally
will side with prudence and try to cool my case as much as possible whenever
the computer is on.
