Assembly

Installing an ATX board within the case is a snug fit, but thanks to the well-placed cable management openings, everything is still accessible even with the pre-installed fans on the shroud. The GPU is installed using the usual methods as well and easily clears the two intake fans on the side of the chassis. As you can see, we did pop off the front glass panel for the assembly process.


Similarly, the HDD cage can be removed after removing two thumb screws. The downside is that these are located on the underside of the case, so you will end up having to tip your system over to get to these. Your 3.5" drive can either be fitted on top or inside the cage using screws once again. Interestingly enough, there are two possible positions for the HDD cage, but there is no need to leave any room towards the front of the case, as there is nothing you could use it for anyway. As such, we placed the drive in that spot to give us as much room as possible for the PSU. In other words, Formula V Line could do away with that placement choice without compromising the functionality of the case at all.


Adding a PSU to the system is just as straightforward and even big units will fit easily within the Crystal Z8 Floe. Once positioned, one has to use four screws in the back of the chassis to pin it down.


Even though the Formula V Line Crystal Z8 Floe is fairly compact, that 360 mm radiator will fit nicely with room to breathe at the back and front. This means that it can co-exist with the rear fan without issue. As expected, it just barely clears the motherboard, and you will not have access to the connectors at the top edge of the board. As such, make sure to pre-connect everything before installing the cooling unit. If Formula V Line ever makes a BTF capable version of this case, this could be a really beneficial feature to eliminate that blocking aspect.


With everything installed, the interior of the Formula V Line Crystal Z8 Floe will still reveal cable messes due to the lack of grommets, so we tried to minimize cables crossing those openings. Fortunately, the fact that the AIO covers the top certainly helps and the same goes for the thick GPU. With the black variant, it will all blend into the background, but those with the white option will have a harder time. We had to invest a considerable amount of time attempting to cable manage the chassis. While it is great that this case has this many fans, the tooling is clearly not meant to accommodate them as there are not enough hooks for zip ties for this type of setup. We had to bunch up a large swath of cables above the PSU and bundle them with four individual zip ties. That similar approach had to be done towards the front of the chassis, due to a lack of hooks there. Considering that the Crystal Z8 Floe can also hold two more fans in the front thanks to the included mesh panel and mounting hardware, you do have your work cut out for you. Having a few Velcro strips would certainly have helped by providing a reusable method to secure wires while you figure potential routes out.

Finished Looks

With everything assembled and the system turned on, you are immediately greeted by the fluid ARGB elements inside the six fans, which perfectly match the rest of the illuminated components. The Crystal Z8 Floe sports a generic blue power LED to let you know the system is up and running. While this is expected from a budget chassis, others using this same body did opt for a nicer, white LED instead.


Looking at the Formula V Line Crystal Z8 Floe through the front, you can clearly see the GPU lit up by the glow of the side fans through the gently tinted glass. In the rear, everything is where you would expect to see it as well. Once small detail worth mentioning is the fact that the ports on our GPU were quite close to the bridges between the expansion slots. That said, they all remained accessible. It may be useful for Formula V Line to review making these bridges skinnier or even going bridge-less.


Viewing the case from the main side, you can see the PSU branding shine through the mesh panel, so you could buy yourself an ARGB equipped unit and get some illumination out of that as well.


Thanks to the included mesh panel, you may easily convert the dual-glass channel to a more airflow focussed chassis. The two cooling mounting bars only allow for two 140 mm units to be installed, you would not be able to relocate any of the included 120 mm units, even if you were OK with the labels of the reverse bladed fans facing you.