Inside
On the inside of the case it is laid out quite neatly. The edge’s of the steel are rolled to prevent any injuries while working in the case. After carefully running my hand around the inside of the case I found no sharp edges.
The PCI expansion slots have some nice ideas built into them. When they are removed they expose a spring loaded piece of metal which pushes against the cards or expansion port blanks. This cut’s down on noise and vibration creating a quieter PC. The top expansion port blank has a cut out in the middle. This allows the cable from the front firewire/USB port’s to be routed outside of the case and plugged into the desired port on the motherboard. On some cases the PCI slots are sometimes held in with thumbscrews. It’s a great feature and ideal for quick, tool-less removal of cards. It’s just a shame the Advance A320B doesn’t come with thumbscrews on the PCI expansion slots. I would expect this is to keep cost down and be able to produce a quality case for a sensible realistic price.
One thing I always look out for when reviewing case’s is to see whether or not a removable motherboard tray is present. Unfortunately the Advance A320B doesn’t come with one. A removable motherboard tray makes it easier to install your motherboard into the case, but I found it no problem installing my hardware in this case even without a removable motherboard tray.
At the top of the case are 4 spaces for 5¼ inch drive bays. The drive blanks are quickly removed by pushing them forwards. When I installed my DVD drive and Cool Drive 4 I was a little shocked that the screw holes in the Cool Drive 4 didn’t line up with the slots cut in the case. This mean’s I am unable to have my Cool Drive 4 lined up flush at the front of the case and safely secured in place. I had no problems with my Pioneer DVD drive though.
Cooling
The Advance A320 has space for 3 fans within the case. At the rear there is space for 2 x 80mm case fan’s (1 x 80mm 4pin case fan pre-installed). At the front it is slightly different. You can either install an 80mm fan or a 120mm fan. I wouldn’t expect the front intake fan to be efficient since the acrylic front of the case restricts air from entering the case. Only a few holes at the bottom of the acrylic front allow air in. It is also difficult to install a fan into the front of the case. It involves removing the acrylic front to gain access to the screw holes.