Unpacking and unpeeling the protective layers reveals a very solid looking acrylic case. Just moving it from the box to the floor was already enough to prove that this was a significantly more substantial case than the Soyo case we looked at before, which was a little on the flimsy side when moving around. The BT-85 comes with the standard midi-tower four 5.25” bays which should leave a spare bay even if you use a couple of optical drives and have a fancy sound card like the Terratec DMX or Creative SoundBlaster Audigy ZS platinum. When it comes to 3.5” bays, the case comes readily equipped with two exposed slots, for floppy drives or card readers, plus a further five internal bays for hard drives. If you forego the now almost obsolete floppy drive you could fit a total of seven hard drives, certainly the most number of bays I have seen in a case of this type.
One thing I like about the drive bays is that they all are equipped with vibration absorbing rubber grommets. If you are using a loud drive like an IBM or a Western Digital, this will be a very welcome addition to the case. Right in front of the drive bays you will immediately notice two fans. These are made by Evercool and come readily equipped with bright LED fans integrated into the clear plastic housing. This will help to keep the drives very cool, and at a good sound level thanks to the built in rheostat.
A rheostat is a continuously variable electrical resistor used to regulate current, usually controlled by a dial for exact adjustments. In our case, the rheostat regulates the current being fed to the fans, thus altering their operating speed. At full whack these fans are not particularly loud, but might be a little obtrusive if a very quiet/silent system is your goal. At minimum speed however they make virtually no sound at all.
