Review System

Assembly

Installing the motherboard is done by traditional means, and there is plenty of space all around to reach all the connector. As you can see, there was no need to remove any of the support beams for this step. However, as soon as the liquid cooler went in, we had to take off the beams. As there are no provided means to secure cables to the chassis interior, we wrapped them around the fans before assembly to keep things as tidy as possible.


Adding the GPU is easy as well because of the spread out layout of the Pan Slim. You first have to connect the PCIe ribbon cable to the motherboard. With that done, screw in your graphics card while making sure the support bracket keeps it nice and level. The slot end of the ribbon then simply clips into the connector on your GPU.


Placing the SFX-L PSU was just as comfortable, with loads of room all around. Raijintek includes six classic screws, so the power supply won't go anywhere. Interestingly enough, the Pan Slim could easily hold an ATX PSU without any issues at all. All Raijintek would need to do is offer the cutout in the back and move the fan-mounting holes underneath the GPU area half an inch to the right to make sure the PSU and fans don't interfere.


Including SSDs can be done outside of the chassis, and rubber rings have been pre-mounted on the cages. We chose to install one drive on top of the case for visibility, but you may add two more within for a total of three.


Classic 3.5" drives are installed the same way utilizing the larger cage. Once filled, simply place the cage back inside the case. We made sure both cages face each other with the connectors and used a single strand from the modular PSU to power the drives, along with the pump of the radiator.


With everything installed, wiring up the power elements was a little trickier than expected because most SFX units tend to come with shorter cables than ATX variants. The CPU power cable was just long enough to go straight from the PSU to its port, and we ran it above the GPU to keep it away from the fans. Then, the 24-pin ATX power cable was too short, so we had to use one of our sleeved extension cables to reach the motherboard. At that point, it was long enough to swing around the GPU area as well. Flipping it over, you can see where the radiator is mounted on the left side, as well as the rear of the GPU and the clear opening for the CPU cooler mounting bracket.


Flipping it back over, we could not resist turning the system on before putting the cover back on. While the tubing is hovering above the fans, their tension means they are never going to fall on the fans anyways. That said, if you are worried, you can get fan grills for a couple of dollars.

Finished Looks

With the cover in place and the system turned on, you can see a red LED within the power button to let you know things are actually up and running. While this is fine, red is so 1999. White or at least blue instead would have been nice, but that is only my subjective opinion.


In the rear, all the functional parts of the case are spread out across the whole width of the Raijintek Pan Slim and easily accessible. You can also see the GPU and AIO fans through the two openings in the top of the chassis. As our ITX board did not come with a 5 V RGB header, the hub-mounted LEDs within the fans are off, but should yours have lighting, you will certainly see them from this angle.


Also, as you are meant to place a monitor on the Raijintek Pan Slim, we went ahead and placed a 24" HP monitor on it for good measure. Compared to the width of the chassis, it has around an inch less on each side.