A look Inside

Taking the system apart serves no purpose since there are no upgrades that can be done. However, should the system get a bit dusty, being able to clean it is still a good thing. To start with, you are going to need to remove the four screws on the bottom. Once done, that will allow for the removal of a large piece of the chassis.


With the shell removed, we now have a closer look at the soldered WiFi module, a Qualcomm Atheros QCA6174 802.11ac, along with the SD card slot and fan header. You will need to very carefully remove the WiFi antenna cables from the module and unplug the fan to proceed from here.


At this point, the daughter board can be removed by lifting it up and away from the mainboard. This will give you access to the CMOS battery should you need to replace it. Next, you have to flip the mainboard over and gently lift the fan off the mainboard/heatsink assembly. Be careful as there is some tape here to keep it snugly in place. The fan is a Martech DF0601012RFHN, and it is used to cool an all-copper heatsink. Speaking of the heatsink, it being solid copper was quite a surprise. With such a beefy cooler, I expect thermals and noise to be excellent.