Installation (continued):
I then installed the motherboard and tried to wire up the "front" panel connections. I could not get the front audio wire to reach the header on the motherboard since it is located on the bottom next to the expansion slots. It isn't really a huge deal to me, as I rarely use the front audio connections anyway.
When I tried to install the power supply I realized I had another problem. Since the CPU cooler is pretty tall, I could not slide the power supply into place. I had to remove the motherboard and install the power supply first, then put the motherboard back in. You can see in the below right image how close the CPU cooler is to the power supply.
Installing the 3D Core-Fan bracket back into the case was a task. Remember when I said it has two positions? It still does, but with a power supply installed it cannot be installed into the other position. If your power supply is longer than mine, then it might even interfere with the bracket, making it impossible to use the 3D Core-Fan bracket at all. I had to remove all fans on the bracket, then put the bracket in diagonally and slide it into place.
After I secured it with the screws at the top and bottom, I wanted to see if I could actually get a 120mm fan to fit. There is no way possible to install a fan on the upper section of the bracket due to the fact that the CPU cooler is tall, and the memory modules have huge heatsinks. Also, since the video card is rather long (9 inches to be exact), I could not install a fan in the bottom right area. So out of four areas on the 3D Core-Fan bracket I could only install a fan in one area, the lower left. This will still help cool the eVGA GeForce 8800GTS, bringing in some fresh air from the ventilation holes in the side panel.
Operation:
Now that the installation of the Sunbeamtech Tuniq 3 Mid Tower ATX case was finished, I couldn't wait to see how it looked with all of the lights and CCFL turned on. The below left image is without the 3D Core-Fan bracket installed; you can see everything is blue! On the wall behind the case you can see a blue image of the hexagonal ventilation holes behind the 120mm LED fan. The below right image was taken with the 3D Core-Fan bracket installed, but it blocks a lot of the view inside. The blue LEDs on each fan are very bright, and if you remember where the Firewire port would be, you can see some blue light shining through that, too.
