[section_title title=Closer Look – Interior]
Closer Look – Interior
Here we have a first look at the inside of the Deep Silence 4. For a relatively small chassis, it is pretty well equipped inside. At the front of the chassis we have six full size hard drive bays, all of which are totally modular to allow access to the from 120mm fan. On top of these mounts there are also the two SSD mounts that I spoke about earlier when we looked at the underside of the chassis. You will also notice that the two optical bays feature a tool-less design which works well and seems robust enough to handle a lot of usage. As for internal connectors, we have a full-size USB 3.0 as well as an internal USB 2.0 header. We then have the normal power and reset connectors and the audio header too. The cables at the bottom of the case are from the fan controller we shall take a closer look at those shortly.
On the inside of both the side panels we have a bitumen style noise dampening which is very effective at blocking the internal noise from the system. The only downside I could find with it was when routing cables in the back of the chassis, the bitumen would take up a couple of millimeters of room and make routing some of the larger cables, such as the 24pin, a little more difficult.
A little look at the hard drive caddies shows us that Nanoxia have decided to use steel ones instead of the plastic ones we see from a lot of manufacturers. When you push them into their mounting there is a very nice click to let you know the clips have snapped into their mounting point. You will also notice that there are holes to mount the SSD’s on these too with the full size mounts featuring some rubber grommets to reduce any vibrations from the hard drives during operation. The caddies themselves do not flex at all, even when empty and when installed they barely rattle in their mounts.
The rear of the chassis gives you a better look at the foam surrounding the power supply mount, you will also note the four foam feet that are spread around the air intake, these will also dispense with a lot of the vibrations caused by the power supply. You also get a better look at the ventilated PCIe slot covers mentioned on the previous page.
Moving around to the opposite side of the motherboard tray, we can see that there is a good amount of space with regards to cable management and routing options. With regards to the space for the cables in the back, it is 15mm, but remember to take about 2mm off for the bitumen on the back of the side panel. This still gives enough room for a decent amount of cables to be hidden away, but as per normal, take your time to route them and you shouldn’t have any issues at all. You will also notice that there are three rubber grommets, two on the side of the motherboard and one next to the power supply. These grommets are relatively sturdy but still take back their normal shape and structure when they are not being used. You will also notice that there is a generous handful of cable tie points scattered around the back of the motherboard tray, this should enable the user to easily manage any cabling that they may want to hide around the back. The only criticism that I can have here is that the rubber grommet on the back is a little too small for my liking and made things a little tight trying to get all of the required cables through. Another thing worth noting is the large size of the CPU cut out, which is always a nice thing and makes life easier with regards to fitting the cooler of your choice.
While strictly not an internal part of the chassis, I would like to give this accessory a mention as it is a complete master stroke on the part of Nanoxia. They have decided to include an 8pin CPU extension cable which has been sleeved in black just to finish off the look. The reason that I think this is a master stroke is that there has been numerous times when I have been reviewing cases where I have needed an extension cable and not had one to hand, so for Nanoxia to think of this is brilliant.
Here is the closer look at the connections for the fan controller that I promised earlier. This is just one of two that can be found inside the chassis, as there are two fan controllers. The fan controller has a molex power supply to power 6 fans on each controller. This does seem a little extreme when you consider that the case can not house 12 fans.
With regards to the amount of clearance for CPU coolers, the Deep Silence 4 can accommodate tower coolers up to 160mm in height which for a small chassis is not bad at all.
