With the top cover removed we can get a good look inside the case. The layout is fairly typical with the drive bays located across the front and power supply and motherboard across the back.
The 5.25�drive bay bracket is permanently pop riveted in place while the 3.5�drive bay bracket is designed to be removable.
To the left of the 5.25�bays (when viewed from the rear) is a small, removable bracket for mounting a single hard disk drive. Ventilation holes in the side of the cover allow cool room air to flow in and over the HDD to help keep it cool.
The two small circuit boards mounted on the right side of the inside front panel handle routing the various I/O cables and enable the sound level meter to do its dance.
As we mentioned earlier, the Cavalier 2 did not come with any documentation or installation instructions (other than the power supply). The Cooler Master website lists an “Installation Guide�on the Cavalier 2 page, which covers the basics of installing hardware (drives and motherboard) and includes detailed pin outs of the various I/O cables. However there is still no mention of connecting the VU meter or what to do with the included PCI bracket audio connector or patch cables. Going to the FAQ page for the Cavalier 2 provided a link to the “How to install the VU Meter document� which illustrates how to connect the VU meter to the PC’s sound card via the provided cables and PCI bracket Y-connector.
Also in the front-right corner of the case (again, when viewed from the rear) is a single 80mm intake fan, which pulls cool, outside air in thru the louvers in the side of the case.
Cooler Master uses threaded brass standoffs to securely mount the motherboard to the chassis.
The motherboard slid effortlessly into place and the mounting holes lined up perfectly with the standoffs. There is plenty of room to work around the board but the case fills up quickly once a full compliment of drives, accessories, and cables are installed.
The two rear 60mm exhaust fans clip into a plastic retention frame. All three cooling fans come fitted with 4-pin Molex connectors on the end of 11�long leads.
All the necessary USB, Firewire and accessory cables come preinstalled and are plenty long to reach the headers and connectors on most motherboards.
