Assembly

Installing the mainboard bears no real surprises. Simply use the included spacers and screws to hold it in place. There seems to be plenty of space for large CPU coolers, PSUs and graphic cards. I used two of the plastic clips to cleanly route the cables along the side of the chassis. The third one broke when I screwed it in too far, so you better be careful when using these. They are rather helpful in keeping things clean as you can clearly see, but tend to block a few of the connectors on the right edge of the board.


There is plenty of space around the CPU cooler and above it, thus using one with a 140 mm fan or with long heatpipes sticking out should be fine - as long as you choose not to install any fans in the side panel. Even the plastic locks for the expansion cards works surprisingly well. While the graphic card used in this review is rather small and light, any double height units will also be secured by a pair of these locks - well done Xigmatek!


Filling the hard drive cage on the other hand is somewhat tedious. While it is great being able to do so outside of the chassis, it has not been simplified in any way. Placing the cage back into a filled case can only be done by pushing it in the front. Before doing so, you have to remove three of the metal covers which are extremely hard to pry out as each is connected to the one above and to the sides as well. You have to cut them loose and pull them out. Once there is a large enough opening, simply slide the cage back with a lot of gentle force. At this point it held so well, that one could ignore using the plastic locks, but I did anyways.


The optical drive is pushed into the case through the front as well. Simply line up the holes with the locks and push them down. The pair of plastic units holds rather well, with just minimal play. For those who still use screws, you are able to do so and Xigmatek does include a few just for this purpose. Installing the PSU is easily achieved and Xigmatek includes four black case screws as well.


Once everything is installed and hooked up, it is still rather clean. I should mention that I used a few zip ties to help things along, but left the mess of the PSU cables on the very bottom. You cannot hide any cables below or behind the power supply, but most modern units come with sleeved cables anyways. Turning the unit over, we have clear access to the CPU cooler backplate right under the CPU socket.

Finished Looks

Xigmatek has equipped every fan with white LEDs, which result in a white and orange glow at each location. This looks certainly excellent - even in combination with the blue LEDs of the CPU cooler. For those who have also installed a cooler from the same manufacturer, will thus have a uniform lighting setup throughout the chassis.


The front intake fan can clearly be seen, as I had to remove the metal covers to reinstall it. Turning the case around, the rear one shines just as bright, while the top one is a bit more hidden behind the metal mesh. Overall all included fans are adequately quiet when turned down all the way, but get rather loud when pushed to full speed.