Assembly

Installing the motherboard is done by traditional means. There is plenty of space around the CPU area for large coolers. In terms of graphics card length, you should be fine as well, as most long boards utilize power connectors facing to the side nowadays. It may still be a bit tight getting HDDs connected, simply due to the fact, that they face toward the back of the chassis.


Silverstone has designed the large hard drive cage in such a matter, that allows you to fill it without any space between the drives. The metal contraption is lined with foam as an anti-vibration measure and is open towards the side facing the fan behind the motherboard tray. Having such an open side means, that the fans directly cool the drives, negating the need for a gap - according to Silverstone. Each drive is secured by the supplied black screws, with the PCB of the drive facing upward.


Filling the 2.5 inch bays is a bit of work. You will first have to take it out of the Kublai KL04, which means removing four screws on the underside of the chassis. Once free, the drive is placed inside the metal part and secured with screws, just like its bigger brethren. You can choose which way the connectors will face. Fearing that the connector will get in the way of the PSU, I did install them facing the large hard drive bays.


Placing the optical bay within the case is quite simple. Just pull off the front cover and push the drive into place. Once aligned with the front, lock it down with the mechanism, at which point it will hold rather well. You may use additional screws on the opposite side if you are worried about the strength of the plastic locking system.


Placing a normal sized PSU within the chassis did turn being a close call - especially with the modular cables. You will have a hard time accommodating a lot of 2.5 inch drives and a modular PSU within the chassis.


A similar issue arises with the HDD bays. The 2.5 inch one is so close to the 3.5 inch ones, that you may not be able to use the bottom two 3.5 inch bays if you fill the smaller cage with drives. Thus, this area of the Kublai KL04 is quite crowded. Due to the lack of rubber grommets in the motherboard tray, the interior of the chassis does not look quite as clean when compared to other variants with such materials covering the holes in the motherboard tray. This does not mean that the cables are not routed properly, but instead it just looks worse.

Finished Looks

With a drive installed, the chassis looks completely different than when no such unit is in place. The wide drive bay covers make the optical drive look out of place, as it is a gaping tear in the flow and design of the front. Luckily this is just a cosmetic issue and the ODD lines up perfectly with the bay itself. Blue LEDs light up when the system turns on, which look quite spiffy on the other hand.


Blue light shimmers through the cracks between the ODD and the unused panels. This is no big issue, but could have been avoided by a simple redesign of the front panels. Turning the chassis around, everything is easily accessible and having parts installed within the case actually adds to the overall sturdiness.