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The MAG Forge 100R arrives from the factory with just six motherboard standoffs pre-installed, MSI has provided extra standoffs along with a bag full of screws. Remember to install three extra standoffs in the correct location when installing an ATX motherboard before attempting to fix the motherboard into position.
Due to the generous amount of free space at the front of the case, installing a standard size ATX motherboard is a breeze in the 100R. There is plenty of room to manoeuvre the motherboard into position, even with our ROG Crosshair VII and its I/O shroud, there is just enough clearance to the rear-mounted exhaust fan.
Installation of the Fractal Design Celsius+ S24 240mm AIO wasn’t too difficult either, again the space at the front of the case helps and MSI has placed the top radiator mounting more towards the tempered glass side panel, which again makes the installation of the AIO and surrounding power cables more accessible.
While there is plenty of space for a large graphics cards such as our Gigabyte RTX 2070 Super gaming OC, the screw holes on the PCIe slots are not in great alignment, it took considerable force to line up the graphics card to the screw holes and it almost felt like the screws could cross thread, so not ideal.
Fitting the HDD into the 3.5-inch bracket is quite tight and a little awkward. However, once the HDD is in position, it is held in the bracket very tightly and there is no chance of it moving during vibration when powered on.
To detach the 2.5-inch SSD bracket from the rear of the motherboard tray, remove the screw and slide the bracket upwards to release. Screw your SSD into position on the bracket and then simply side the bracket back into the slot and fix in place using the screw at the top.
Compact mid-tower cases can sometimes throw up issues when installing the power supply, it can be quite tight when sliding the power supply in from the side. In the Forge 100R, there is just the correct amount of room to slide in the power supply and it seems like there is enough space behind our Seasonic Focus power supply to hide the unused cables.
We were quite surprised at how well the MSI MAG Forge 100R deals with cable management. All the cables cutouts are perfectly placed and there are plenty of eyelets on the back of the motherboard tray to tie cables down, the only slight let down is the lack of rubber grommets.
Overall Installing the system inside the MAG Forge 100R was a pleasure, the ample space at the front of the case makes it easy to position the motherboard and allows for plenty of room to fit high-end long graphics cards. Our only real gripe was the alignment of the PCIe screw holes and the slightly tight fitting of the 3.5-inch HDD into its bracket.
