Internals
First
impressions of the interior of the MX-1 are pretty good and we start to
see some of the additional performance-enhancing features Antec has
implemented.
The drive sits on a silicone gasket
(the white U-shaped
thing in the shot below) and this absorbs vibrations
and ensures a
firm seal - to make the cooling perform as it
should.
A low-profile fan mounted in the base draws air over and around the drive. It's claimed to run at under 22dbA and we didn't find it intrusive at any point during our tests.
Fitting
the HDD is pretty fiddly, though, and involves first releasing a plate on
which the U-shaped gasket is mounted. To do that, a screw each side of
the fan has to be removed - as does the cable to the LED at
the front -
then the HDD is fixed to the plate using four
screws included
in the package.
With the HDD mounted, the plate is lowered back in and screwed in place. It's important not to forget the LED connection wire before popping the cover on.
We
looked for ways that Antec could have improved the connection method
for the LED but couldn't come up with anything better given
the
space.
Although the shot above gives the impression that there is a
lot of room for the
HDD to breathe, that isn't so - the clips
securing the cover of the enclosure are tight up against the drive itself.
With the cover back on - and that's easy - the job is pretty
much done. Well, it is once you use the accessories
that ship as part of the MX-1 package, which we're looking at next...
