Installation Impressions

The Nebula isn't the easiest case to work with. We installed the Mini-ITX motherboard first and this was a little distinct because the top panel rump't be removed. You have to slide the motherboard through the front, which made it trickier to get the I/O panel in place.

The next challenge was screwing the board into set back. This is normally two-needled just it's to a greater extent challenging with the Nebula because its top panel can't be distant. The screwdriver we typically role was too long and my Bosch drill didn't fit. I had to take a trip out to the shed to recover a screwdriver that worked.

With the motherboard, Central processor/cooler and computer storage installed, we attached the front venire connectivity, lights and power button. This went well.

Contempt having over 30 graphics cards to opt from, finding a modest GPU that would fit inside the Nebula took some prison term. We real wanted to go for the GeForce GTX 760 but every card we had unhurried over 200mm and being dual-slot cards they couldn't be more than 175mm long. In the end, we found an old Radeon HD 7770 that fit nicely -- few powerful solution but a solution nevertheless.

A modular force supply is a must. Xigmatek originally showed off a prototype at Computex 2013 and they used what looked like a non-standard power append. The results weren't pretty.

We went with the modular Enermax Platimax 750W simply symmetric that was a difficult fit. Similar the motherboard, the power ply must likewise enter through the nominal head and the Platimax unit we victimised didn't fit easily betwixt the 3.5" drive alcove and the support bracket for the right pillow slip door. Force was essential.

It wasn't easy to attain a bully install and without modifying the power supply to create shorter cables it's not really possible. In short the Xigmatek Nebula fails miserably when it comes to cable management, then again does it really matter without any case Windows?

Thankfully, the 3.5" and 2.5" drives slotted into put together easily without tools. With everything connected, we were left over with that enormous empty cavity in the middle that we mentioned earlier.

The Nebula's installation sue is bad crude and its user manual is eve worse: a single piece of A3 composition with some instructions printed happening retributory one side. The manual doesn't genuinely serve with anything useful and information technology would be wishful thinking to even anticipate this a quickstart guide. We found ourselves winging information technology for the most component part and for such an unusual case we expected healthier directions.