Assembly
Assembly
We’re now ready to assemble our configuration inside this Corsair 2500X. Here are the components that will be used for assembly:
- Motherboard: MSI B350i Pro AC
- CPU: Ryzen 5 3600X
- Graphics card: ASUS ROG Strix RTX 3050
- CPU cooler: Cryorig C1
- Power supply: Silverstone SX750
Power supply:
In this 2500X case, we can easily mount SFX power supplies as you can see. By default, the SFX/ATX adapter is present, so all we have to do is position the block and screw it onto the back of the case. In the case of an ATX block, we’ll proceed in the same way, but with the proviso that we remove the aforementioned adapter present as standard.
Storage:
As we’re not using an M.2 SSD on our ITX configuration, we need to fit a 2.5″ SSD. To do this, we’ve chosen to mount it in the HDD cage, as close as possible to our power supply unit. There’s nothing complicated here, as we’ll need to remove the hatch securing the storage units. We pull out a basket, position our SSD, screw it in and put everything back in place. Of course, you’ll need to pay close attention to the direction of the connectors in order to plug in the SSD.
Installing the motherboard :
Installing the motherboard is straightforward: simply place the board in its slot and screw it in place. The spacers are already in place, so there’s no additional handling required. Note that while a wide backplate access is present, this is obstructed by the HDD cage mounted just behind it.
Cabling :
Control panel:
Wiring the control panel is no problem. Most cables exit at the bottom of our motherboard to connect to their various headers. So we use the small opening in the expansion slots to pass the F_PANEL and HD_AUDIO connectors. The cables will run just in front of the motherboard’s PCIe x16 connector, so we won’t have any problems plugging in our graphics card.
As forUSB 3.0, this will come out on the right-hand side of our motherboard… Finally, through the wide backplate access. On the other hand, with an ITX motherboard, we can afford it. However, as we’re not equipped with a corresponding header, theUSB-C won’t be plugged in.
Of course, to clamp the cables, we use two clamps, one at the wide opening on the left of the motherboard, the other in the bottom left-hand corner.
Motherboard, graphics card:
Once again, we take advantage of the compact size of our B350i Pro AC to run theATX24 pins through the wide backplate access, once again.
However, when it comes toEPS12V for the processor, things get more complicated. In fact, the cable passages above the motherboard are not accessible by default. To access them, you’ll need to remove the hard disk cage in front. Two small screws hold the cage in place.
As for the PCIe for the graphics card, we’ve chosen to run it just below the motherboard’s 24-pinATX.
Installing the cooler and graphics card :
As we said earlier, the HDD cage seriously obstructs the wide backplate access. To fit the cooler, you’ll need to remove it if you wish to fit a heatsink while the motherboard is in place. Otherwise, we’ll mount the heatsink on the motherboard before installing it in the case.
As for the graphics card, there’s no difficulty, just proceed as usual: remove the expansion slots corresponding to the graphics card slot. Plug the CG into its PCIe slot and screw the graphics card in place with its bracket.
Overall :
The assembly of our configuration required a few additional disassemblies. In this model, the HDD cage is positioned in front of the large backplate access, which is a problem both for wiring and for mounting a CPU cooler. However, given the format of the case, it becomes difficult to position it elsewhere.
For the rest, we encountered no particular difficulty. Behind the motherboard, thanks to the presence of the power supply unit, there’s plenty of space and wiring is easy!
