IT’S TIME TO MOUNT THIS MOBO. Even with the radiator out of
the way, there’s still little room to work here. Place the H1 on its
side with the tiny motherboard plate facing upwards, and lower
the motherboard assembly onto the four standoffs. These
standoffs may be partially blocked by the pre-routed cables;
be sure to move these so they won’t be trapped underneath the
board. The rear I/O shield comes pre-fitted, and it should line
up with a slot on the underside of the case—more on this later.
The four screws needed to secure the motherboard are in
the case accessories box. A long magnetic-tip screwdriver can
make affixing these screws easier, as the cramped case makes
getting your hands in close to the motherboard a challenge.ONCE THE SSD IS ALL NAKED (oh my) you can install it to the
motherboard. First, you’ll need a small Phillips screwdriver to
remove the M.2 heat shield on the board. Be careful when doing
this, as it has its own tiny fan and is attached to the board via
a thin cable. You don’t have to disconnect this; just place the
shield carefully on the board beside the M.2 slot.
The B550i comes with two standoffs pre-installed; remove
the one closest to the slot. Fit the M.2 drive and gently push it
down so the other end rests on the correct standoff, and secure
it with one of the tiny screws included in the box. Then, remove
the protective plastic from the shield’s sticky pad, and line up
the screw holes before sticking it in place and screwing it down.THE PCIE RISER should be fully secured, plugged into the mobo
at one end and pre-fitted onto the frame at the other. Remove
the two thumbscrews from the rear I/O slot (on the underside
of the case). Turn the case sideways so the open end is facing
upwards, and position the GPU inside the frame before lowering
it into the slot. It should click into position, and the rear I/O should
be flush with the rear opening on the case. For us this requires
a lot of pressure on the card, but that might not be the case with
every card. Hold the GPU in place while you replace the two
thumbscrews. Once the card is secure, plug in the two PCIe
power cables; only one eight-pin connector is needed, so strip
away and coil the extra two-pin connector on the second cable.WITH THE COOLER SECURED, it’s time to get this radiator back
into place. The hinged bracket lifts back up easily and only
needs to be secured with the two screws removed earlier, but
there’s two things you need to deal with before you can do that.
First up is the pump and fan power cables; these plug in right
next to each other on the motherboard. The three-pin pump
connector can be plugged into the four-pin header. Secondly,
the two AIO tubes need to be lowered into the case and curved
outwards from the block—otherwise they won’t bend safely
when the radiator is returned to its original position. Place the
case upright to fit the radiator, and hold it in place with one hand
as you secure the first screw, otherwise it’s liable to pop out.7 ARMORED UP 8 MOUNTING RANGE
11 HINGE SCIENCE 12 VERTICAL REALITY
compact computing
24 MAXIMUM PC SEP 2020 maximumpc.com