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When it comes to installation in this case, there are one or two surmountable issues. Unfortunately, due to limited motherboard space – and as with the original Spec-04 – you have to think carefully about where to start with components. My original plan was a full ROG-themed build, but this fell flat with a Maximus IX Extreme board which wouldn’t fit.
The Extreme’s chipset heatsink backplate conspired with the case’s limited motherboard tray area (the Extreme is pretty wide) to derail me. As such this case’s 272mm ATX limit is true, and switching things up I opted for a shorter motherboard. A further issue arose when I tried to fix the motherboard, then install the backplate for my CPU cooler.
Due to an oddity in the cut-out of the case’s motherboard tray, with the motherboard fixed the backplate for the cooler is impossible to fit. This means putting the back-plate in place before securing the motherboard down.
A final, more minor, but fiddly issue came (as expected) with the 2.5” drive installation. Having originally fixed my SSD on the bottom mount, I found its proximity to the SATA ports meant an excess of both power and SATA cable bundled up in one place. Moving the SSD to the highest mount eased the issue, although connecting both SATA and power cables to the SSD did prove fiddly as both cables have to pass through the routing cut-out and immediately flex to connect to the drive.
It’s a real lip-biter. Few builds are a completely smooth though and, but for the motherboard issue, fitting a system in this Spec-04 Tempered Glass rates as fairly painless.
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