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My old setup ran a rather bulky 360mm AIO CPU cooler, which may be overkill, but it presented an interesting quandary when moving to the X50. Ideally, the cooler would be mounted at the top of the case, so the pump in the CPU block is always filled with liquid, but with the PSU on top, that’s not an option.
Fortunately, both the front and motherboard support up to three fans each, with room for massive radiators. There are enough options that I spent a lot of time thinking about how I wanted to build my fans. I ended up mounting my giant cooler to the side of the case and installed three fans on the bottom for intake, which isn’t my favorite setup as a dog owner, but the magnetic filter was easy enough to keep clean. for me GPU It takes direct advantage of the cool air intake at the bottom, and my CPU radiator was running an average of six degrees cooler than it had before.
When it comes to the actual build in the system, there’s a surprising amount of space on the front of the case and behind the motherboard. The hard drive bay takes up a good chunk of space, but like most people, I’m only using M.2 drives at this point, so I went ahead and removed it to make room for the fan and pump controller. There are some spots that get a little tight, like the cable loft next to the power supply, and the space at the bottom where the input and output cables pass under the motherboard, but that shouldn’t be a problem once you’re done building, and there are plenty of tie-down points with hook-and-loop straps throughout to keep things organized.
Striving for perfection
Photo: Brad Burke
When a case looks this elegant, it can be difficult to live up to that ideal, which is my main complaint about the X50. As I put the finishing touches on my design, I couldn’t help but notice all the little details I hadn’t taken into account. For example, the fan cables were grouped well but were clearly visible in the gap at the bottom of the motherboard. Meanwhile, my power supply’s fan met one end of the circular hole but left a noticeable gap at the far end, with cables visible in between. Neither has any impact on performance, but I notice them every time I scan the system.