Page 3 - Physical Look - Inside
By removing the two thumbscrews at the back, one can open up the side panel on the Xigmatek Elysium. The side panel seems to be a little fragile in structure, because of the enormous acrylic window. To quickly describe the interior of the unit, the first word the comes to mind is, well, 'big'. Luckily, I am happy to say that Xigmatek has kept the excellent build quality throughout the interior of the chassis. Painted matte black all around, fitted with rubber cable flap hiders, and cabling options found all around, the Elysium is very user friendly. The two HDD cages are built exceptionally well with a steel framed body and rubber vibration dampeners, but again, more on that later.
As stated previously, the Xigmatek Elysium is able to house up to HPTX sized motherboards. Other form factors compatible with this chassis include XL-ATX, E-ATX, ATX, Micro ATX, and Mini ITX. The standoff mounting holes are clearly labeled with letters that correspond with the user's manual. A set of twelve standoffs are already pre-installed onto the motherboard tray. Seen at the back is the top mountable PSU metal cover and a 140mm exhaust fan that uses a 3-pin motherboard header. At the top is a large fan area to accommodate up to three 120mm fans, three 140mm fans, or two 200mm fans. The spacious roof design also allows high efficiency 36cm radiators to be installed for water cooling enthusiasts.
You will find two CPU openings right below. Both openings are large enough to easily install aftermarket CPU heatsink backplates. The larger hole is actually quite big, and should be able to accommodate motherboards of different generations without any issues.
Because the case can utilize a bottom mounted power supply, we can see the usual ventilated grille. Four rubber pads are placed at the bottom to absorb vibrations from the PSU. On the picture above, you may be able to see a lining of black foam around the PSU bay. This will further absorb vibration from the power supply. The same black foam is also found at the top PSU mounting hole. Just above the bottom mounted power supply unit bay are ten expansion card slots. The expansion slots use thumbscrews to secure the slot covers as well as the installed expansion card.
Towards the front are two HDD cages. Each HDD cage can hold up to four hard drives, and are constructed out of a steel frame. The trays incorporate high quality rubber dampeners to dampen vibrations generated by the hard drives. To install a standard 3.5" hard drive, one needs to first remove the cage from the optical bays, slide a hard drive in, and use the provided screws to secure the unit into place. The Elysium cannot accommodate 2.5" drives by default. This means if you have an SSD that does not come with an adapter, you are out of luck. In this day and age, I think most people with the Elysium are enthusiasts who own solid state drives, and it is unfortunate that Xigmatek did not keep this in mind.
One feature I have never seen before on other cases is the fan PCB power connection adapter. Found behind the optical bays (One top, one bottom), these two PCBs allow up to six 3-pin header fans to be connected onto the circuit board, while being powered by a single Molex connection. To make things better, Xigmatek has decided to drill out two more cutouts for these PCBs located around the motherboard tray, just in case one needs to move the PCB to a more convenient location. This feature is simply brilliant -- well done!
Removing the right side panel, we can take a quick glance at the frequently overlooked space behind the motherboard tray. All the front panel wires are routed to the back of the motherboard tray, and are cable-tied neatly for the end user from the factory. Also, found around the back of the motherboard tray are a lot of cable tie holes, as well as a large gap for an immense amount of cabling room.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Outside
3. Physical Look - Inside
4. Installation and Conclusion
