the mini maestro PC
BUILDING THE MINI MAESTRO
A MEAN MINI FIGHTING MACHINE.
LENGTH OF TIME: 1-2 HOURS
LEVEL OF DIFFICULTY: MEDIUM
1
BARE BONES
STRIPPING DOWN THE CASE is one of the best things to do at the start of a build. When all the panels are off, it helps you see what you are working with and gives you as much room as possible—a must for cramped ITX systems. Plus, it’s a good chance to see the case without all the hectic mess that’s about to unfold. Without any glass panels, this chassis looks pretty intimidating, considering its size. Right, let’s get into this mini beast. First, pull off the side panels using the concealed push pins. Easy-peasy. The same goes for the top panel. To get the front panel off, remove the plastic clasp pins that secure it before popping it off with the push pins again. Once that’s done, we can take out the dust filter and— boom—there’s a meaty-looking skeleton (oh, the irony).
2
IN GOES THE CPU
AS WITH ALL INTEL CPUS, it’s vital that you don’t touch the bottom pins. These are super-delicate, so just gently pinch the sides of the chip when placing it on the motherboard. Lift up and raise the retention arm. To do so, you have to push it outward to unhook it, then lift the arm up to reveal the socket, leaving the plastic cover in place. Next, we need to match up the arrow on our Intel chip with the arrow on the motherboard. Once it is positioned correctly, we can lower the bracket back. Pull the retention arm down slowly, so that the bracket slots under the Torx screw, and push the retention arm back securely into the hook again. This will pop the plastic cover off automatically. Just remember to take your time—this is the brain of your build.
3
BRACKET RACKET
TO FINISH WITH THE CPU for now, we need to work on the back of the motherboard. Gently turn the board over, and make sure you work on a soft antistatic surface, checking that no header pins are bearing the weight of the motherboard. Align the cooler backplate to the mobo screw holes, then turn the board back over again. Once this is secured, we can start adding the stand-off screws. Grab the stand-offs and secure them in place. Then add the Intel brackets to the stand-offs to later fit the pump on to. Make sure these are aligned facing outward from the CPU. Tighten the stand-offs diagonally to secure everything. Diagonal tightening ensures good alignment and is a handy tip for all sorts of tasks. Once done, the CPU and bracket can be left alone for now.
4
RAM TIME
UNLIKE NORMAL ATX BUILDS, this ITX motherboard only has two DIMM slots, so we can’t really mess up the DIMM priorities. That said, you always have to pay attention to the groove at the bottom of RAM sticks. This little groove in the pins will sit in the DIMM slots in one position only. Before inserting the sticks, make sure the clips on each end of the slots are opened—this is a very easy process. Then slot the sticks into place, push down, and you get a nice satisfying click at each end. There you have it—the DDR4 RAM sticks are secured and ready to battle against all of your Chrome tabs. For our build, we are using two 8GB sticks, which should handle all your browsing and gaming needs.