Starting Installation

I'll start my installation by removing the two screws holding the motherboard tray in place, take it out and using Thermaltake's letter system, setup the posts for a ATX motherboard. You can notice the tray is made of two separate halves held in place by screws. This gives the tray some added strength and solid support for your motherboard.


Before we can mount the motherboard on the tray we'll need to install Thermaltake's H-clips which will hold the water block in place. In the picture to the right the diagram shows the order for the H-clips, Mylar pad, Foam pad and needed hardware. I don't know about you, but in this day and age I really frown on documentation with black and white pictures.


The posts match the motherboard holes with no missing or extra ones. Just make sure you're aware of which side faces the back of the case before you screw it down. You can install the water block prior to setting the motherboard on the tray, but you must have at least installed the H-clip with screws on the bottom of the motherboard first. As you can see in the first picture I chose to install the water block after I mounted the motherboard on the tray.


You can use the thermal paste supplied by Thermaltake or the one you prefer. Some may want to check out the article on applying thermal paste by Djbbenn here. I used the washers on the top under the copper columns, from past experience I found the H-clip will start to get scratched up from being taken on and off. After plugging in the LED that's in the top acrylic of the water block you can add your memory now if you want.


Before we mount the motherboard we'll need to do the rest of the odds and ends. We can remove the case back plate by removing two screws that hold it in, next we snap in our backplate that came with the mobo. I placed a red box around one of the mounts the motherboard slides on.