Up Close, Looking at Details (Cont.)

Looking further, the cooling aspect turns into the innovations that Spire has brought with the Pininfarina case. When going through the installation procedure of a new computer you need to correct tools to get all components installed in a correct manner. And basically you need at least a screwdriver and many screws to fit it all the different components in the computer case and to make sure these are firmly fit together. Well on that point Spire is advertising with their Pininfarina designed case a tool-less way of getting this done...

The expansion drive bays each have what is becoming the standard locking mechanism for holding drives into place. You install the device you want in your machine then take the hold-down device and align it with the holes in the drive cage and the ones in the device you want to lock into place then turn the center knob to lock it securely in place. This is one hell of an easy mechanism and gets rid of quite some burden with finding the right screws when installing the floppy drive, memory card reader, CD-Rom drives and so on. And easy tool-free click and hold mechanism certainly is the way to go.

Each of the expansion bays has their own cage, where the external ones are not removable but featuring the easy tool-free lock mechanism. Next I would like to bring your attention to the hard drive cage at the bottom. The jury is still out as to weather or not a straight drive cage or transverse drive cage provides the best air flow. Either way you slice it, straight drive cages make hard drive installation and removal a pain for mid sized ATX tower cases. Is it any different with the Pininfarina design? At least the extra stickers seem to be indicating that it is...

Spire elected to go with a straight hard drive configuration, but with a twist. The drive cage is removable, and pivots sideways so as not to interfere with installed PCI expansion cards. By simply removing a thumb screw located on the side of the drive cage and then releasing the latch which is positioned directly above you can now pull the cage out slightly and then swing it around to about a 45-degree angle from the front of the case which allows installing hard drive far easier. Just below the resolving hard drive cage you will find a toolbox with all the necessary support hardware.

Naturally the tray is as organized looking as the rest of the Pininfarina case with a spot for all the pieces and as much as we tried, we couldn't get anything inside to shake loose from its mount. There shouldn't be any rattling coming from this little box under operation. This covered plastic box is holding unused tool-less drive rails, screws and wire ties. The toolbox can be re-used to store whatever when going to a LAN party. However the PCI slot covers are not tool-free as you will find on a number of the high-end cases made today, but I don't consider this to be a bad thing. It does mean however that a screwdriver does come in handy to secure the expansion cards.