SO THAT WE COULD fit in our AIO later on with the Corsair
RGB fans from that kit at the front of the case, we had to
remove the front two fans. This leaves us with only one other
place to put them, at the top. As all of our front three fans
will be pulling in air through the case, and the other case fan
at the back is already set up as an exhaust fan, we decided
to use these as exhaust fans too. Remember, when it comes
to fans, faces suck. This means we need to have the faces
of the fans pointing towards the inside of the case in order
to pull the hot air away from the motherboard. Each fan is
connected with four Phillips screws and is super easy to
detach and re-attach. Just make sure to route the cable
through the back of the case and also ensure that it’s long
enough to reach the commander core fan controller.7 FAN RELOCATION
BEFORE WE INSTALLED our motherboard into the case,
we take both the winged panels off to lay the system down.
After that, we attach the CPU cooler bracket for the AIO
pump. This is an easy job, but make sure you choose the
correct bracket, in our case the Intel one, and the correct
standoffs. For this board and CPU, we use the Intel 115x/1200
standoffs. The bracket slots in behind the CPU at the back of
the motherboard. Once aligned, screw the standoffs in place
at the front of the board. Now it’s time to install the mobo.
It didn’t need an I/O shield to be added first, so it’s an easy
installation. First, we angle the I/O plate into the slot in the
case and gently rest it flat in place. Using eight screws, we
fasten it onto the board, starting with the corners then the
middle screws. And, just like that, the board is in.8 CPU COOLER BRACKET AND MOBO
11 ADDING THE GPU
NOW, THIS IS ALWAYS a pretty nice addition to the build and
by the size of this 3080 from ASUS, we are glad we chose
this huge 7000D AIRFLOW case to fit it in. To add this into our
case, we first have to take off two of the small backplates
from the back of the case. We don’t need to take the top one
off just the two below it to make room for our GPU ports.
Then we push down the PCIe tab which is similar to the tabs
holding the RAM sticks in place. First, make sure the port
section of the GPU goes in at an angle so it fits in with the
case, then make sure it clips in place to the PCIe slot. We
choose the top slot as this is the primary PCIe port.12 SUPPLYING THE POWER
THE LAST HARDWARE component to go in is our NZXT C850
PSU. This is a modular design, so we could easily install this
with no cables getting in our way (yet). The PSU slots right
in the bottom of our case and secures into place with four
screws. This adds even more weight into the already hefty
build, so we’re glad we only had to pick this up and transport
it once. Don’t try lifting this build on your own, aside from the
aches that will follow, you don’t want any chance of dropping
this monster, that doesn’t even bear thinking about.the Alder Lake machine
24 MAXIMU MPCFEB 2022