Installation
I decided to install some older hardware in this case. The setup is comprised of an ASRock K10N750SLI-WiFi motherboard, AMD Athlon 64+, ASUS EAX 1950Pro video card, Crucial Ballistix Tracer memory kit, Thermaltake Toughpower 1200W power supply, a 120GB hard drive, and an optical drive. First we had to install the motherboard standoffs. This ended up being very annoying as many of them would not go in all the way. I had to use pliers to get them installed correctly.
After the 15 minutes or so that it took to get the motherboard standoffs installed I was able to install the motherboard. The hard drive was next, just install the 2 drive rails on each side and slide the hard drive into an empty spot in the hard drive cage.
Next is the power supply. I easily slid into place, I like that little rubbers standoffs on the bottom of the case that the power supply sits on. They do not make it hard to install the power supply like other systems we have seen, but give the power supply proper support. After I installed the power supply I also installed the video card.
Your optical drives and 5.25-inch devices can be installed by removing the front bezel of the case, which easily comes off. Then go ahead and slide your devices in. NZXT provides thumbscrews to secure these devices, but I actually prefer using regular screws on these type of devices.
After I had everything installed I went ahead and routed all of the cables. This case does have routing holes which makes it easier to hide cables and connect everything. You can see how I routed some cables behind the back of the case. When I took the other side panel off I noticed the large hole where your CPU sits on the motherboard. This hole allows you to install a back plate for a CPU cooler. The hole is quite large so back plates for i7 and i5 CPU coolers can be installed easily.
With everything installed I went ahead and powered the system on. The side fan lights up bring blue and there are small accent lights on the side of the 5.25-inch drive bays.
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