at least on my revision of the case, the very top bay for 5¼” drives was fastened with several rivets… i counted:
- 8 attaching it to the front panel
- 2 to the mobo back plate panel
- 4 on the top and lastly
- 2 more if you want to separate the top cage from the middle cage… i wanted to remove both the top and middle cages (to install a 240mm radiator, see why below) so i left the two cages riveted together, but that then meant i still needed to detach the middle cage from the bottom cage, which required 2 more rivets.
nearly all of the rivets are a nice straight shot with a drill, EXCEPT the 4 on the top require removing two individual pieces from the outer top of the case to get at them… first the upper plastic comes off with 6 easy latches… look under the top lip and you’ll find 3 bendable plastic latches on each side, 2 towards the back of the case and 1 up front… there are also smaller internal plastic latch pins (like in most toys) in the middle of this plastic near the handle… be gentle, i probably broke the tips of one set but it still all went back together very solid when i was done anyway… after that top panel is removed, there are 6 screws to remove what appears to be a handle reinforcement bracket … then you can slide the last plastic piece up there back about a quarter inch to unlock and lift up, with the front panel wires giving just enough slack to get a drill onto the 2 rivets that last panel covered up… the other 2 rivets are already exposed after the first top piece comes off.
why do this? =)
i started out this case in 2015 with an X99 mobo, i7-5280 cpu and just the 120mm Corsair H80i GT cooler in the back fan position… this seemed like plenty of cooling power at the time (the double thick rad, with both push & pull fans was supposed to be decent)… but now i want to throw an i7-14700k in there which seems like it deserves at least a 240mm radiator
if you have this case, you know it’s top mount story is sad… the core problem is there’s not enough clearance from the top of the case to the beginning of motherboard components so, either the fans or the rad have to be OUTSIDE, RIGHT UNDER THE HANDLE… yuck, besides looking like trash, it’s nuckle grinder city.
the rear possibility is only a 120mm space
which leaves the front area as the only other option
the easiest spot in the front would be to remove the two lower drive cages since theyre just screwed in
problem there is the radiator would then sit below the pump which is bad juju…it’s pretty well documented at this point that it’s best to have the topmost point of your radiator ABOVE the CPU block where the pump is… and the cpu on a typical tower config like this always sits up pretty close to the top of the case, hence the need to bring the rad up that high as well
theres lots of youtube material showing all AIOs have some air, which apparently increases over time due to evap though the hoses (wild)… natural physics means air inherently rises to the highest point in the loop… putting your pump higher than the rad means the air winds up there which means lots of no bueno stuff: sub-optimal water circulation, maybe even none at all, annoying gurgly air bubble noises eminating from the pump, premature pump failure, fun fun fun… so i’m hoping by opening that upper drive cage cavity, i’ll be able to mount the radiator juuust above my cpu block… and it seems like the bottom cage would still be available for a few 2½” & 3½” drives
everything came together well! very pleased with result
love that the top of radiator does indeed wind up sitting nicely higher than the pump and the tubing is perfectly positioned as well
bottom half of radiator is mounted with long bolts. i didn’t realize the top wouldn’t be aligned with any bolt holes but a well placed zip tie feels very solid
overall there’s 8 case fans total…
- 4 x front push-pull inbound on the radiator - 2 were the red rgb that came with the case and 2 came with the AIO
- 1 x front bottom inbound cold on the drive cage
- 2 x top exhaust - new Noctua NF-P12 redux-1300 PWM 4pin
- 1 x back exhaust
-
the PSU fan is also an intake
- fired right up to CPU idling @ 30 degrees
- no fan & pump rattle noises
- fans run at a nice quiet rpm
threw the nVidia 4070 i had from another build in here and my son is getting good FPS on everything (Call of Duty, etc)
good’nuf!