I have a Hyper 212 EVO in mine. It barely fits, had to work a little to get the cover on and closed. When closed you can see the cover dented/bent at the area. Hasn't caused any damage to motherboard or anything else though.
In the mid section there are 3 fans for intake. Nothing on the top or bottom.
I'm not using a rack either, I have laying on a plywood shelf I made that is about 6" off the ground. Been running fine for over a year and a half now.
Would you mind going into your process a little more?
What do you suggest to do to check drives to make sure everything is good?
I don't know too much about the subject of testing drives, thought SMART would be enough paired with looking for physical damage.
Just to add to this. I bought 10 drives 2 days ago. All came without any physical damage and passed all SMART tests.
Didn't expect any less though...not sure why people expect to get DOA drives so "often".
I don't think I've ever gotten a drive DOA.
Received 10 drives (2 shipments of 5 each) today from Newegg in this new packaging. Had 4 boxes with 2 drives each and 2 boxes with 1 each. Drives were packaged tightly with no movement whatsoever. Haven't had a chance to test the drives yet, but hopefully no DOA.