LENGTH OF TIME: 2-3 HOURS
LEVEL OF DIFFICULTY: EASY
1 TEAR DOWN
IT’S PRACTICALLY become a tradition at Maximum PC that we start our builds by stripping our chassis down to the bare bones, so no reason to go changing things. The Phanteks P400A isn’t too complicated, so tearing it down was a breeze. To remove the front panel, grip underneath the bottom with one hand while holding the case down with the other, then pull from the bottom to pop it off. The main glass window is held on with four thumbscrews, and to remove this we always recommend laying the case down on its back, given we’ve had close calls with glass panels slipping. The back panel has two captive thumbscrews, and once these are loosened, you can simply slide the panel out to remove it.
As you can see, this leaves us with a bare structure to work within, which is a good time to start thinking about potential cable management. Also, we have positioned both of the original case fans to be exhaust fans, one at the back and one at the top. These are held in by four short case screws.
2 TOTALLY NOT RAD
NZXT’s Z73 RGB AIO, and it would have certainly spiced up the aesthetic of this build, but in this world, you don’t always get what you want. We’ll reveal why we didn’t end up using this shortly, but just to run through what we were going for—we positioned our radiator on the outside with the three RGB fans on the inside. As these were going to be intake fans, we needed to make sure the faces of the fans were facing outwards. One of our favorite ways to remember which way round to position your fans is with the phrase “faces suck”. These fans secure onto the
