In Win Matrix mATX Case Review

Installation & Usage
First you want to go ahead and install your motherboard. In Win has already installed the standoffs so you just need to line up your motherboard and screw it in. It is probably a good idea to remove the cooling fan to make more food for you to install your motherboard. To remove it just unscrew the 2 screws that are holding it in place and pull it out.

In Win Matrix mATX Case In Win Matrix mATX Case

Once you have your motherboard installed you want to plug in all of your connections first. Things are going to get kind of cramped inside so it is better to get it done now before you install everything else and realize you don’t have room and have to take things apart. Next go ahead and install your video card. We installed a Sapphire X1300 XT, which is not a large card by any means and it took a lot of adjusting to get it into place. I’m sure installing a large card in this case would be a real pain.

In Win Matrix mATX Case In Win Matrix mATX Case

Next I went ahead and installed the hard drive, I opted to install it in the external bay as it was easier. Just slide it in from the front and screw it into place. If you want to use 2 hard drives the drive cage above the external bay is removable. So you can fit a total of 2 hard drives in this case.

In Win Matrix mATX Case In Win Matrix mATX Case

Next is the optical drive, just slide it into the large cage and screw it in on each side. The first drive I tried actually would not go all the way in, making it stick out the front of the case way too far. I used a second drive and was able to get to go all the way in. Not sure why the first one would not go in all the way. Once you have the optical drive installed just reinstall the optical drive cage. This is where I ran into trouble, my CPU fan was too big and the optical drive bay would not completely reinstall. I am using an AMD based system with a low profile CPU cooler, but I still had this issue. This case is made to be used with an Intel system with the stock CPU cooler. That really limits how many people can actually use this case.

In Win Matrix mATX Case In Win Matrix mATX Case In Win Matrix mATX Case In Win Matrix mATX Case

If you do have an Intel System with the stock cooler you can benefit from the partition plate cooling technology. This technology reduces back draft to efficiently streamline airflow in a unilateral direction; providing exceptional thermal performance.

It would be great to see this technology in action, unfortunately we do not have an Intel-based mATX system.

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