Xigmatek Aquila Micro ATX PC Chassis Review

A CLOSER LOOK – INTERIOR FEATURES – CONT’D

The front panel removes with a fairly hard tug at the bottom. Be careful of the wiring as it’s attached to the front panel.

Up top we have knockout plates (seriously? Who still uses those?) for the 5.25″ bay and also one for a 3.5″ bay which, by looking at the disturbed powdercoat around the three holes, looks like was installed at some point.

Moving downward we see mounts for 120mm, 140mm or 200mm intake fans.

The 5.25″ bay cover is only removable from the inside of the front panel via the white clip on either end.

The front intake filter is removable for cleaning but not easily. You need to pop off the front panel and then bend 9 tabs that are actually part of the front mesh to remove and clean it. Do this one too many times and I guarantee those tabs will be snapping off.

The Aquila comes with a decent user’s manual, a bag of hardware, some small black zip ties and an internal USB 3.0 to 2.0 converter.

The converter makes it possible to use the two USB 3.0 ports on the case with a motherboard that doesn’t have any internal USB 3.0 headers.

The HDD cage assembly can be removed to accommodate thicker fans or a fan/rad combo in the front intake spot. But doing this is a tad tricky. First, remove the front panel. Second, remove a total of eight of these screws (two on the front and back of each bottom foot), then remove three screws in the bottom of the case and three inside securing the tray to the rest of the case.

Once that’s done you can remove the HDD cages for the 3.5″ drives. Note that doing this gives you room in the front but you lose ALL 3.5″ drive mounting locations.