Assembly

Installing the mainboard is done the traditional way. You will have to use the stand-offs and screw the board down with the included black screws. Even though the chassis has an opening in the mainboard tray, so that you may reach any CPU cooler backplate, it seems that the square is not quite big enough. With the Zotac 790i Ultra board used, the top to mounting holes around the socket are partially covered. Xigmatek should make this hole just a tad bit bigger to avoid this issue.


As I mentioned before, the expansion card locks do not only look inadequate, they actually are. Even with a small graphic card like the one used in the review, I could easily jiggle things around. Considering the fact, that these plastic parts are not secured in any special manner, you may just want to take them out and use traditional screws instead. I am confident that they will pop out under pressure eventually - especially if you go to LAN parties from time to time. There is enough space left above the mainboard to fill the two 120 or 140 mm openings with fans, but not enough clearance for a radiator - too bad. All Xigmatek would have needed to do is design the top plastic case cover to offer enough space to hold the fans, so that you only need to mount the radiator under the ceiling within the chassis.


Installing the hard drive is easily done outside of the case. Simply place the drive in the tray and screw it down with the special screws supplied. Then slide it into place. As you can see the connectors are facing away from the main side panel, giving you the possibility for clean cable routing. This also means that you will see every cable you have hidden in this area through the opening in the side panel.


Installing the optical drive does not require any screws. While the pair of sliding locks do hold the drive in place, it still had a bit of play. To avoid any build-up of vibration, you should secure the drive with one or two screws - which sadly defeats the purpose of the locks.


The PSU bay is another highlight of the case. The foam lining is perfect and should work fine to keep vibration away from the chassis frame. As you can see, there is still some space left for longer units, but you may have to remove the plastic frame for the bottom case fan if the PSU is very long. After everything is installed I have routed the cables along the side of the mainboard with the help of the plastic clamps. These do not hold well at all, so I suggest you go out and buy black zip ties to use in combination with the holes in the mainboard tray. While I applaud Xigmatek for packing this case full of features, it feels like a few of them are just used for marketing instead of real functionality.

Finished Looks

After closing everything up and turning on the entire system, I was happy to barely hear two very quiet 120 mm fans. The fact that Xigmatek has included two fans is great enough, but also offering a low noise level and unique white LED lighting is excellent.


Both fans can clearly be seen, shimmering though the openings in the front and side. I have to admit, the color combination of the fan blades along with the white LEDs looks very spiffy.