SMALL BUT MIGHTY

A TIDY, PROFESSIONAL VIDEOGRAPHY WORKSTATION

LENGTH OF TIME: 2–3 HOURS LEVEL OF DIFFICULTY: MEDIUM

1 SHIELDS DOWN

LET’S KICK THINGS OFF WITH a case stripdown. The cooler and PSU come screwed into the case, and cables are pre-routed, so there’s no need to mess with them. First pop out the front glass panel and rear perforated panel. These secure the U-shaped metal casing that forms the top and side panels of the case; once they are free, it should simply lift off the frame. Carefully remove the polystyrene that’s cushioning the AIO cooler.

That’s all you need to do for now; removing the side panels is a completely screwless process, so ignore the tiny screws around the frame. The entire case can be disassembled (the long edges of the frame are plastic struts secured with Phillipshead screws), but that won’t be necessary for this build.

2 RADIATOR RELEASE

AT FIRST, it seems impossible to install a motherboard inside this case without removing the bulky 140mm radiator and fan entirely. Fortunately, NZXT has a nifty solution for this. Two screws at the top of the bracket securing the radiator are clearly labelled (with arrows cut into the metal!), and removing these allows the entire AIO cooler to flop down out of the case via a concealed hinge. Situate the case in an upright position and be careful when releasing the second screw, as gravity will act fast and you don’t want to damage the radiator. Make sure that the CPU block and pipes are also clear of the case, but don’t bend the pipes too much, as these short tubes aren’t as flexible as those on larger AIO coolers.

3 MOTHERBOARD READY

LET’S GET THIS MOBO PREPPED. If you buy a new unit, the MSI B550i board should come with the standard AM4 cooler bracket (a plastic “hook” bracket on either side of the processor) already fitted around the CPU socket. If not, install that first.

This is easy enough to do; position the metal backplate beneath the motherboard so that the four screw holes line up with the four holes around the socket, then attach the two plastic brackets with the provided screws. Each bracket’s “hook” should be pointed away from the processor if fitted correctly. Place your motherboard on the box it came in (or, if you have a dedicated antistatic building space, use that) and you’re ready to start installing components.

BE GENTLE WITH THE RYZEN 9 3950X. That’s $700 in a tiny slab of metal and silicon. Check that the pins are undamaged on any Ryzen CPU before trying to fit it to a motherboard, as a slightly bent but repairable pin may snap and render the whole chip unusable. No, we’re not speaking from experience. Anyway… lift the metal retention arm on the CPU socket and carefully drop it into place, being sure to line up the gold triangle on the chip’s corner with the triangle on the corner of the socket.

This 3950X is somewhat distinct from the other 3000-series Ryzen processors we’ve seen; the font is subtly different, and the gold triangle is smaller. Once the chip is in place return the retention arm to its original position.

5 THE RAM’S HORNS

THERE’S ONLY TWO DIMM SLOTS AVAILABLE on this B550 board, so you don’t have to worry about picking the right slots for full memory speed. Release the clasps on the slots and push each stick of memory into place until it clicks, both at the clasp end and the opposite end. Both clasps should be secured, and the memory should sit flat in the slot. We are going to have to mess about in the BIOS later to ensure that our memory is running at full speed, since it’ll likely default to a lower frequency like 2,400MHz.

This motherboard and processor should support the full capacity without issue, so there’ll be a hefty 64GB of RAM to play with once the system is up and running.

6 LET THAT SINK IN

WE’LL BE MOUNTING the Corsair Force MP600 SSD on the motherboard, but first we’re going to need to remove the heatsink that comes with it. This can be somewhat fiddly, so take care not to damage the SSD itself. The heatsink is held in place by a clasped metal bracket that also cradles the drive, but the drive is also stuck to the heatsink by a strip of adhesive thermal padding. You’ll need to apply a bit of force to free the heatsink from the clasps, but the lower bracket’s metal does flex a little, which should allow you to remove the sink and then peel off the bare drive. Do this last part slowly, as you don’t want to tear the sticky padding and leave any bits of it stuck to the drive.

7 ARMORED UP

ONCE THE SSD IS ALL NAKED (oh my) you can install it to the motherboard. First, you’ll need a small Phillips screwdriver to remove the M.2 heat shield on the board. Be careful when doing this, as it has its own tiny fan and is attached to the board via a thin cable. You don’t have to disconnect this; just place the shield carefully on the board beside the M.2 slot.

The B550i comes with two standoffs pre-installed; remove the one closest to the slot. Fit the M.2 drive and gently push it down so the other end rests on the correct standoff, and secure it with one of the tiny screws included in the box. Then, remove the protective plastic from the shield’s sticky pad, and line up the screw holes before sticking it in place and screwing it down.

8 MOUNTING RANGE

IT’S TIME TO MOUNT THIS MOBO. Even with the radiator out of the way, there’s still little room to work here. Place the H1 on its side with the tiny motherboard plate facing upwards, and lower the motherboard assembly onto the four standoffs. These standoffs may be partially blocked by the pre-routed cables; be sure to move these so they won’t be trapped underneath the board. The rear I/O shield comes pre-fitted, and it should line up with a slot on the underside of the case—more on this later.

The four screws needed to secure the motherboard are in the case accessories box. A long magnetic-tip screwdriver can make affixing these screws easier, as the cramped case makes getting your hands in close to the motherboard a challenge.

9 CABLE FABLES

GETTING THE CABLING sorted is laborious. The twin PCIe power cables for the GPU should be partitioned separately into the cavity on the opposite side of the case, so leave them alone for now. Connect the pre-routed power cables to the motherboard, then the front I/O cables. Run these around the edges of the board, so that they don’t get in the way when you fit the cooler and close the case. Use the velcro straps inside the case to keep the cables from resting on the motherboard components.

Since the H1 makes accessing the rear I/O tricky, you may want to leave those cables disconnected and invest in an external USB hub. Lastly, plug in the loose end of the PCIe riser. Curve it around the edge of the board to fit into the expansion slot.

10 COOL WAVES

LET’S GET THIS COOLER IN PLACE. The H1 comes with the Intel bracket pre-fitted, so remove that and replace it with the AMD version in the accessories box. This isn’t complicated, but consult the H1’s instructions for more detailed diagrams. The Intel bracket slides out from around the CPU block with a bit of force (the plastic casing may shift a little bit). Replace it with the AMD bracket, and attach the two clasps to either side with the long screws and sprung standoffs provided.

Once the bracket’s ready, put a pea-sized blob of thermal paste on the processor and push the CPU block down over it, attaching it to the plastic “hooks” on both sides, then screw it down until it won’t budge. Don’t over-tighten it, though.

11 HINGE SCIENCE

WITH THE COOLER SECURED, it’s time to get this radiator back into place. The hinged bracket lifts back up easily and only needs to be secured with the two screws removed earlier, but there’s two things you need to deal with before you can do that.

First up is the pump and fan power cables; these plug in right next to each other on the motherboard. The three-pin pump connector can be plugged into the four-pin header. Secondly, the two AIO tubes need to be lowered into the case and curved outwards from the block—otherwise they won’t bend safely when the radiator is returned to its original position. Place the case upright to fit the radiator, and hold it in place with one hand as you secure the first screw, otherwise it’s liable to pop out.

12 VERTICAL REALITY

THE PCIE RISER should be fully secured, plugged into the mobo at one end and pre-fitted onto the frame at the other. Remove the two thumbscrews from the rear I/O slot (on the underside of the case). Turn the case sideways so the open end is facing upwards, and position the GPU inside the frame before lowering it into the slot. It should click into position, and the rear I/O should be flush with the rear opening on the case. For us this requires a lot of pressure on the card, but that might not be the case with every card. Hold the GPU in place while you replace the two thumbscrews. Once the card is secure, plug in the two PCIe power cables; only one eight-pin connector is needed, so strip away and coil the extra two-pin connector on the second cable.

13 CLOSING TIME

WE’RE ALL DONE, so it’s time to seal up this 2001-monolithlooking monster machine. Take a little time to tuck in any stray cables before closing the case. The large metal cover goes back on first, lining up with grooves on either side of the frame to slot back down into place over it. With that done, the rear panel and window pop back into place easily. All done!

Now, when setting this system up, you’ll first need to put it on its side and plug in your network cable, display cable, and any USB peripherals that you’re using. All of these cables can then be routed neatly out of the slot on the rear of the case once you place it upright once again.

14 UP TO SPEED

ONE LAST TASK before this system is ready to chow down on some delicious video files. That HyperX Predator memory won’t run natively at 3,200MHz, so take a quick trip into the motherboard BIOS to rectify that. Thankfully it’s nice and simple; fire up the BIOS by hitting F2 on boot, then turn on the first A-XMP memory overclocking profile. This should set the memory to the correct 3,200MHz frequency and give you full performance. To double-check, boot up the system proper and install Windows, then download CPU-Z from www.cpuid.com and check the memory tab. This should display half the speed, so if it says 1,600MHz, you’re good to go!