Interior Details
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The aluminum top cover is held in place with six flat-head machine screws. With the cover removed, we can get a good look at the interior layout. The Zalman HD160XT enclosure exhibits excellent build quality. All the internal components are anodized for added aesthetics and a uniform look. As you can see, there are a lot of wires and cables already inside the HD160XT enclosure but Zalman has carefully secured them for shipping.
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Looking towards the rear of the case, the layout looks very similar to a typical mid-tower ATX chassis. The most notable exception is the inclusion of two 80mm exhaust fans. (A pair of 60mm fans is the norm in many HTPC enclosures.) Threaded standoffs come preinstalled for mounting a full size ATX motherboard and alternate positions are available for mounting micro-ATX boards.
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Along the front of the case are two removable drive bay enclosures, which have been redesigned for easy removal. (Some users complained that all the little screws used to mount the drive cages in the original HD160 were hard to reach.) Now all you have to do is remove one easily accessible screw at the top and slide the cage bracket out. The bottom mounting flanges of both the HDD and ODD cages slide into and are held securely by a pair of Delrin brackets — very nice!
The ODD bay has room for one 5.25′ optical drive on top and brackets for mounting a single 3.5′ HDD underneath. Removing the ODD cage reveals the memory card reader installed in the front corner below the MCE/Keyboard and fan control circuit board.
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All four of the pre-installed fans are fitted with 3-pin connectors that plug into the fan speed control board. Two temperature probes are also provided, which can be associated with the fans using the included M-Play Zini software.
The HD160XT HDD cage has also been re-designed for easy removal and now holds up to four 3.5′ HDDs. Individual drives are mounted with shoulder screws that go thru rubber grommets to help minimize the transfer of vibrations and noise into the main chassis.
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With the HDD cage removed you can clearly see the backside of the LCD monitor, I/O panel, power-On and IR receiver circuit board, and the 92mm exhaust fan. Again, there are a lot of wires and cables required to support all the hardware features the HD160XT comes with. Zalman has done an excellent job of labeling all the connectors, providing connectivity options where needed, and clearly documenting the wiring process.
The MCE/Keyboard, fan control circuit board, and LCD obtain power thru three separate connectors. +5VSB power is made available from the 24-pin main power adapter so the HTPC can be turned on using the remote control.
God, I wish they still made this case. It’s a beautiful case I have a Zalman HD 160 with Am5 Motherboard and 32 gig on memory it’s a great machine.