Mountain Mods Ascension CYO (Custom Computer Case)

Assembly

Assembling the case was a little difficult due to the instructions being a little out-dated. As with any assembly required product the most difficult part was figuring out which screw went where. To start off you attach the front and rear panels to the base. At this point you would also attach the wheels, but I decided to not use them.

Next we want to attach the support beams along the top of the case to prevent twisting since this is a box shaped case that will be holding a heavy amount of components.

Now this is a good time to install the power and reset switches along with the LED’s. Just slide them in and lock them in place with the nut that you removed from each.

Now that the basic frame of the case is installed you can attach the motherboard tray and install the motherboard onto it. All you have to do is just insert the tray with the motherboard installed and the rear I/O panel in through the back of the case and tighten it down with thumbscrews. Then you tighten the tray itself down to the bottom of the case. At this point the one thing I don’t like is that the tray isn’t supported that well. But as the build goes together the Motherboard tray is supported by the back panel and the security flange.  This is minimal, but is adequate support for even the heaviest of system builds.

Now I install all of the bay equipment and then install the radiators and fans. Now the case is starting to look really good! First rendition of the loop is almost completely installed.

Now the PSU is installed and the hell of cable management starts to sink in. I’m thinking about making a false bottom for the case so I can hide the mess of cables. Especially considering I chose a big window for the second side panel!

Here is my “cleaned up” cable management. As you can see it’s not really cleaned up. I’ve decided that it is definitely  impossible to hide the cables without a false bottom.

Here are pictures of the rear of the case and a close-up of the bays. I really like the PSU slot cover. It looks great. I find it sad that Mountain Mods did not provide any solution to cover up the unoccupied bay slots. It just looks strange to have holes in the front of the case. Editors note: Mountain Mods states..”It might not take non-standard bay covers, but standard ones yes.  A variety of bay covers are available on our website for after market purchase as well.”

Finally it is leak testing time! The case is looking great and now I just need to make sure there are no leaks and bleed out the loop a little bit before I can fire her up.

The loop held up during leak testing and everything turned on fine on the first attempt. Very happy with the results! The case looks beautiful in action and even though some people may not like the box shape I think it looks very sexy!