A visual examination
Housed in an attractive, if somewhat understated, chassis there's still plenty of room for expansion, with only two out of the available five 5.25in drive-bays occupied.
Scan has sensibly chosen to include a 7-in-1 card reader - and it's a combo unit that includes a 3.5in 1.44MB floppy disk drive. This could be particularly useful in combination with the on-board Express Gate photo feature to quickly show digital photos from your camera to friends and family.
It's unlikely you'll find anything missing connectivity-wise around the back. With its eight USB 2.0 ports, dual Gigabit Ethernet, FireWire and eSATA, this system has connectivity that should please even the most geared-up enthusiast.
Despite the extensive ventilation holes at the back of the chassis the system remained exceptionally quiet even when under extreme load.
Up top are the obligatory front-facing USB, FireWire and audio ports.
At the rear can be seen the second of two large but fairly quiet 180mm fans. Unlike conventional designs this acts as an intake rather than an exhaust.
As mentioned earlier in the review, this model of the Fortress is pre-fitted with a high-quality side window. Apart from the tidy cabling and usual PC components, there's not a whole lot to see, though.
Around the other side there's even less to see. Of note is the fact that both side-panels are pre-lined with noise-absorbing material, which probably goes some way to explaining why this system is so quiet.
In addition to two thumbscrews, the side panels are also held on by a simple-to-operate spring-loaded latch which you can just about make out at the top-right of the picture.
Assuming you have some cables spare, upgrading your drives should be a doddle as both the 3.5in and 5.25in drive bays are of the tool-free variety.
The Corsair HX620W PSU, shown in the bottom left, has an easily removable dust-filter - as do the rest of the intake fans - filtering out any dust from entering the chassis.
