Thermaltake LANBOX - VF1000BWS
Close Up: Thermaltake LANBOX VF1000BWS - Reassembly
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Building a complete system in the VF1000VWS is pretty well painless, especially since it's much easier to work on components when they are removed from the case. First, the motherboard gets installed on to the tray, with all standoffs already in place. One small, useful touch is one of the center stand-offs is actually a male post that keeps the board tight to the I/O shield and the holes aligned while securing the remaining screws.
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Next, the rear PCI shield is removed which reveals four screws, one for each blank. This is another area where we feel the use of screws are excessive. Since a single screw bracket is already in place to hide the screws, the mechanism could have been designed with the dual purpose of masking the brackets while also securely holding the PCI cards and blanks in place. Above the PCI slots is a place for an additional 60mm fan and the U-shaped knock-out can accommodate tubing for an added water cooling kit, as we mentioned earlier.
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The main drive cage's side mounted 3.5" drive bay is situated so the drive is visible through the case's side panel, which makes it ideal to use a transparent hard drive, such as the Western Digital Raptor X. Before installing the hard drive, however, the CD-ROM drive needs to be installed as the hard drive blocks access to one side of mounting screws. Additionally, two 3.5" drives can be installed in the secondary drive cage.
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Mounting the PSU is relatively simple as even that bracket is removable. After removing several screws, the bracket lifts out and PSU easily slides into position. Once complete, the motherboard tray gets slid into position and the necessary case cabling connected to the respective headers on the motherboard. Next, the PSU is placed into position, anchored with screws and all accessible connections are made to the motherboard and video card. Lastly, the two bay 3.5" drive cage is mounted into place followed by the main hard drive cage and all remaining power connections are made before closing up the shell.
