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Illuminated fans are a matter of personal taste. Generally speaking I don't much like them but the red LEDs at the front of the Graphite 730T are rather appealing.
Installing the ASRock 990FX Killer motherboard, AMD FX-8350 processor, four modules of G.Skill Ripjaws X RAM, Sapphire Radeon Tri-X R9 290 4GB graphics card and Noctua NH-U12S air cooler in the Graphite 730T was easy. There is plenty of space inside the case and the components simply drop into place.
I like Corsair's habit of installing a single post that lines up with the screw hole in the middle of the motherboard. This allows you to line up the motherboard with the I/O shield and then pop it into position before you install the fixing screws.
The optical drive slid into its bay with a solid and reassuring snick. Damn I love tool-free bays when they are done right!
You will note this photo shows the mess at the back of the motherboard tray. It's a bit of a rat's nest but there is plenty of room for all the cables (I measured 30mm clearance). The only problem was the stretch for the case fans. ASRock doesn't help as the locations of the fan headers on the 990FX Killer are in some curious locations but this merely serves to emphasis the large size of the Graphite 730T. I cheated and extended one of the fan cables by plugging in that Zalman fan controller you see in the photo and then whacked it up to High.
The other feature of note on this side of the case is the rack of four 2.5-inch drive bays that I mentioned before. If you have the money for a 500GB SSD (or two) you can dispense with those large, clunky 3.5-inch hard drives.
If I am entirely honest it's a bit of a mess on this side of the case but …
…once you swing the door closed the system looks as pretty as a picture.
Here's a quick look at the filter on the bottom of the case with the power supply installed.
The air cooled system with the Noctua looked pretty good but to my eyes this build with the Corsair H100i liquid cooler is very pleasing on the eye. You'll note that I installed the radiator in the roof of the case so the two 120mm fans are in addition to the three 140mm fans that come with the case.
There was no dismantling or messing around as the radiator simply slid into place.
I did, however, remove the magnetic top dust cover in order that air could flow through the cooler.
