pcbuilder»pc builder masterclass
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ANEXTRAPAIR
Tryingtoholda radiatorinplacewhilescrewinga fanintothat
radiatoris trickywithoutanextrapairofhands.Actually,it wasonly
a problemforthefirstscrew,asafterthat,wecouldsubtlymovethe
radiator,orfan,orboth,tomakesureeverythinglinedup.Connect
thetop-leftscrewfirst,thenbottom-right,top-right,beforefinishing
withbottom-left.Oncethesecondfanwasinstalled,wecouldlook
atthewiring.ThefansintheDefineS2VisionareallPWMfans,so
wecouldplugthefronttwointothecontrollerfortheH115iPro.
Wedidn’tneedthecontrollerinstalledbydefaultinthebackofthe
case– it waseasytoremove,andmeanttherewerefewercablesto
dealwith.AllthesefansareARGBunits,soweinstalledthe Adjust R1
controller, giving access to lots of fancy light patterns.3
PLANTOBECOOL
TheDefineS2Visionsupportsa varietyofcoolingsolutions,
sowewerespoiltforchoicewhenmountingtheCorsairH115iPro.
Itsradiatoris big,asit supportstwin140mmfans,andworking
outthebestplacetoholdit wastricky.Oneoptionwastomount
it facingoutwardontherightofthemobotray,butthatdidn’t
provideoptimalairflow.Anotheroptionwastoinstallit intheroof,
butwefoundit a bittooclosetoourmemorysticksforcomfort.
Oursolutionwastoplacetheradiatorbehindthefansatthefront.
Oneproblemwasthatwecouldn’tinstallallthreefansandthe
radiator,butit stillprovidedsufficientairflow,especiallywiththe
rearfandrawingairacrossthemoboandcomponents.Wehadto
remove the existing fans from the radiator first – easily done.6
NEATANDTIDY
Thelastitemtoinstallis theharddrive.Therearethree
caddies;forcablemanagementreasons,wewentforthebottom
one.Cablemanagementisn’tmuchfunhere,asthereisn’ta lotof
room.Welikewrappedcolumnsofcables,butthespaceavailable
meanttheyneededtobeflattened.Westrippedawayasmany
cablesaswecould,buttherearestilla lottotakecareof,asthe
frontpanelhasUSB3.0type-Aandtype-Cports,aswellasa
coupleofUSB2.0ports,andtheaudiocables.Wecouldhavespent
moretimesortingoutthecabling,buttheARGBconnectorcame
undonesurprisinglyeasilywhenmovingthingsaround– thereare
onlysomanytimesyoucanopenupthecaseagainbecause the
lights aren’t working correctly before you lose the plot.5
LIGHTANDPOWER
We’dalreadyremovedthetwographicscardblankingplates,
butif youhaven’t,dosonow.Slidethecardintothetopexpansion
slot,andmakesuretheretentionclipflicksintoplaceasit hitsthe
bottom.Secureit inplacewiththethumbscrews.Installingthe
PSUis trickier,whichagainhaduswonderingif weshouldhave
removedtheshroud.Thisis a modularPSU,soconnectthecables
youneedbeforeinstalling;addingmoreafterinvolvestryingto
plugincablesbytouchalone.If you’vegota similarloadoutas
wehave,a singledrivepowercable,twoPCIecables,andthe12V
CPUconnectorsareallthat’sneeded.Screwthebracketontoyour
PSU,slideit in,andholdit inplacewiththethumbscrews. Feed the
cables as best you can to where they’re needed.