Data-Driven Assembly

01 OPEN IT UP

Before we start plugging things in and screwing things down, unbox the Enthoo Pro 2 case and strip it down so it’s fully prepped for building in. The side panels come off easily via thumbscrews, and the exterior filters lift right off (either via plastic tracks or magnets), but the front panel can be a bit more challenging to remove. The push-pins on the back of the panel require quite a lot of force to release, but be careful not to damage the plastic. Underneath this panel (and its funky mesh window) is another dust filter, secured magnetically.

You’ll need to install an HDD drive bay – the case should come with four – but we’ll get to that later. You can leave the plastic blanking plates on the motherboard mounting boards in place for now, and the same goes for the screwed-on metal plate that can be removed to install a secondary ITX system. The PSU shroud includes a hinged cover that is secured with two extremely tight thumbscrews, but you can leave that closed for now too. The front I/O cables come pre-routed with handy Velcro strips but will need re-arranging later on, once the system is installed. One last thing you probably will want to remove is the SATA SSD mounting plates, purely to free up some cabling space behind the motherboard.

02 BENEVOLENT CREATOR

Let’s unbox this motherboard. The first thing you’ll probably notice is the chunky