Installation
For the installation portion of this review, we wanted to hook up one of our newest LGA 1156 systems. One of the first things I did was remove the bottom fan that was attached to the left-side panel door so I could attach it to the back panel of the Staray to improve air flow in the case. I was a little perplexed as to Enermax’s reasoning for not including a back panel fan when they included three others in the case.
To remove these fans, users will need to unscrew 10 screws to take off the mesh window that covers the fans. Then, they will need to remove four more screws to uninstall the 120mm fan.
Lastly, I attached the fan to the back panel of the case, which I feel significantly helps improve air flow, which is a big concern for me as I attempt to use this case for one of my LGA 1156 test benches.
Next, I installed a DVD burner that slid in easily through the front panel of the Staray.
To secure the DVD burner, I re-attached the plastic lock on the side of the optical drive bay and turned the red knob to the locked position. Now the DVD burner is secured to the case. Pretty simple huh?
After installing the DVD burner, I moved on to the power supply. This was another easy component to install that only needed four screws.
Next, I installed the motherboard and started connecting all the power cables to various hardware in the case.
Adding a SATA hard drive was quick and easy and used the same locking system that we used for the DVD burner.
Here is the final product after installing the video card, SATA data cables, and front panel jumpers. The entire process took around 25 minutes and was one of the easiest installations I’ve performed in some time. This type of case design has been popular for some time now and I was very comfortable installing all my LGA 1156 system parts. After seeing everything installed, I really want to change my opinion about the real estate available in this case — it’s actually a lot more spacious than I initially thought. There’s also plenty of room to hide cables on the back side of the 3.5″ bays and in the 5.25″ bays.
