As indicated on its accessory box, the North Momentum includes 16 M3 screws for attaching up to four 2.5-inch drives, eight screws for attaching the motherboard to factory-mounted standoffs, four power supply screws, an extra motherboard standoff, eight shoulder screws and eight rubber grommets for mounting 3.5-inch drives, and four cable ties. You’ll also find a stylish user manual, but that’s packed outside the case.
(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)
Now for the easy part! Once we had our motherboard installed, we connected it to front panel buttons and ports via a power switch and split power LED leads, an HD Audio cable, and Gen 1 (19-pin) and Gen 2×2 USB cables. As their signal cables are daisy-chained in series, the case’s three Momentum fans connect to a single motherboard fan header.
(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)
We aim for test consistency, which usually means mounting our cooler as far back on the case’s top mount as we can fit it, so that its fans will give the greatest possible airflow over our motherboard’s CPU core voltage regulator. Even though the North Momentum provides only 35mm of vertical clearance for our 54mm-thick cooler, its 44mm of horizontal clearance almost allowed everything to fit normally: Only the mirrored cover of our motherboard’s lighted I/O connector concealer stuck out past the I/O shield, and 45mm beyond the standoffs.
Our options were to either slide the cooler forward around 30mm, or squeeze it in. After initially squeezing it in and finding that the top of the case wouldn’t snap into pace, we slid it forward around 10mm, squeezed it in, and found that the top snapped into place as expected. A slight compromise, but full transparency here!
(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)
While our fitment issue appears unique to the mirrored plastic plaque of our test motherboard, that problematic feature (see the blingy “ROG”?) certainly looks nice all lit up. But, if you’d like to copy this build, we’d recommend sliding the cooler a little farther forward than I did, even if doing so slightly reduces its airflow over the voltage regulator. As you’ll soon see, the voltage regulator is more than cool enough.
(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)
We mentioned earlier that cable passages above the top of our motherboard were sparse and possibly insufficient, but found the one hole to be completely sufficient…if not exactly convenient.