Coolermaster Ammo 533 Case Review :: The Ammo 533 Interior

Interior View

Interior Goodies

After peeling away the side panels, and popping the bezel (though truth be told, there's no point to removing the right panel), we found ourselves in a very well laid out, but also very cramped case interior. Thanks to the solid backed motherboard tray that spans the wilderness from hardware to drives, this case should be as structurally sound as it is difficult to route wires in. Starting over in the area you'll probably come into physical contact with most, we found a set of interesting metal and plastic locking rails - just slide your drive to the desired position, slip the rail forward, and push down the tiny lock mechanism - simple, effective, although somewhat worrisome. While the drive was indeed held firmly in place, we wish a better system, just like what was found on Sansun's Bat - was put into place here. Thankfully, when the rail is in position, you can use long screws (which are included) to secure the device in place, meaning that along with optical drives, 5 1/2" devices can participate too, without pitching around or falling out at the first sign of trouble. This simplistic locking mechanism is also implemented on the one removable and one non removable HDD mount, found in the cage affixed to this one. We have no doubts that the system will be secure enough to hold most bay/rheobuses in place, along with an archaic floppy drive, if you so choose to pick your poison there. Installed below these tool free cages are a trio of properly cooled bays, held in a cage that can be removed by unscrewing four screws - two on the motherboard tray and two on the case's bottom. Into this cage, three drives can nestle, held in place by plastic rails with small magnetic nubs that fit into the hard disk's holes. Once slid in, these drives are sound and secure - they're definitely not sneaking away on you. Unfortunately, due to the case's design, there is no way that you're going to install the drives backwards, or use thick cable solutions such as the ones found on the original X-Connect to power these drives.

Interior Drive Bays

Motherboard Tray Back

Sweeping across the primer grey expanse found either on the floor or the wall, we find ourselves crossing a motherboard tray that'll support about anything - from ATX all the way to Baby AT, but bar the extended formats. Clamped just above the lower cage on this tray is a wiring guide which channels both top and side mounted ports - but with a cost. This thing is just TOO close to the motherboard, meaning that you have to pull the wires back as you push the motherboard down, effectively forcing it into place. Forget about using anything behind the cables though - there's just not enough clearance. Heck, with how close the cables are to the drive cage wall, users of Abit's past motherboards will definitely have trouble with their side slung ports. Back to the task however, we found a collection of notched black arms that'll securely hold any card in place, since it hooks down to hold the side, not the top. To release a clip, just push its center down and out, which will slide it out of the case - to be seen as black in the back. Once the arm is released, the bay covers (the ever popular ribbed kind) can be pushed out, much in the same manner as the included token I/O shield - which carries a layout we haven't seen a modern motherboard use in, oh, years now. Beside the I/O area, there's a 120mm fan mount, which, as noted before, will conflict with tall motherboards. Further up in the case, there is a pair of folded steel edges, as well as a pair of screw holes to hold the PSU up and bolt it in place. For what it's worth though, the only company we've ever seen to put this support bracket on is Enermax, so at least it's inclusion is a plus, considering that it's short enough to stay out of the way of the behemoth PSUs. Apart from what you've seen here, there's really nothing else to say about the interior of this case. It'll be a true PITA to try and route wires here - with a tiny amount of space under the HDD cages, and nothing to stuff them be hind. The end result? We're thankful that there's mesh to let the case breathe, over acrylic to show the world what's inside. Although, you could still install cathodes to cast a mesh'd glow onto your foes. With that in mind, let's see how a system looks inside these confines.

Interior Rear Panel

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