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Zalman GS1000 Full-Tower Case
Installation
Like I said, if you're going to use the space behind the motherboard tray for cable management, you may need extension cables for the 24-pin and 4- or 8-pin motherboard power cables, just because the travel is that long. Aside from that, if you run into any problems fitting parts into this case, you're doing something really backwards; there's huge amounts of room and lots of space between sections, and parts can be inserted in practically any order. If I was competing in a speed-building competition, I could only hope that this case qualified. Cooling There are so many cooling options available to this case that the only way you might run into problems is if you decide to go fanless. Even then, I think you'd have to fill up the spaces with carpet padding or something, the cooling is excellent. And if that's not enough, it's got pre-drilled, grommeted holes for water cooling. Still, I wish Zalman included more fans. Two is about the minimum, and for the money, I'd say they're padding their bottom line.    Especially given how sharp and un-finished the steel is. I cut both hands before I even installed hardware in this chassis, which is just terrible. The steel is sharp everywhere that it's punched; even the fan grills are a hazard. Fortunately, there's a lot of space to avoid them, but still. For shame. Another thing that bugs me is that the cladding and the bezels don't line up. Everything plastic on this case is high-tolerance, with gaps and spaces; up close, it's not very clean at all. The feet are held loosely in place (not that you're likely to move it around much) and the exterior in general feels both flimsy and last-minute. The paint's great, the stuff that's painted is questionable. Conclusion It would be easy to think this was a great case at a distance, or in pictures. In person, things don't add up. It's not that it's bad, it's just not good for the price. You can get other, much finer chassis for the same amount of cash or even less, and if you're spending the money on something like a fancy Nehalem rig, you'll be seriously disappointed. Much of the build quality is tempered with straight-forward installation and agreeable looks, but after a while, even the case doors look a little cheap. It's a nice case, not great, and I wouldn't pick one up for the asking price of $180. Zalman's trading on their reputation with this chassis. While it absolutely meets the minimum standards for a pretty and humungous case, it just doesn't smack of quality or construction. Once you get past the looks, it's nothing but a scaled-up, well-dressed budget enclosure. Pros  Stylin' Sturdy Genius use of thumbscrews Roomy Easy to installCons  Only two fans Sharp edges mostly everywhere Poorly-fitted plastic bezels No vibration-dampening Cheap hard drive cages Way more plastic than meets the eye
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