Corsair 400R case blocks access to P9X79 mother board SATA ports

Hi all,

 

I built the system you see listed here recently and it works fine except for 1 problem. The Corsair 400R case's motherboard tray is recessed and when you mount the P9X79 on the standoffs, the entire lower row of the Intel & Marvel SATA connectors on the P9X79 are blocked by the rising lip of the 400 R motherboard tray.* These SATA connectors are right at the edge of the Mother board and face toward the front of the case. No SATA cable (straight or right angle) can be plugged into the lower connectors.* The upper SATA ports are accessible (which is what I am currently plugged into) but it is frustrating to not have access to half of the SATA ports.* Is there a work around to this short of cutting a hole in the Corsair 400R case?** Has anyone else had similar difficulty with access to the lower row of the SATA ports on a motherboard with the recessed motherboard tray used in the 400R? What is the best way to cut through the case?

 

Thanks for any help in advance.

 

C_man

I believe I saw a mod somewhere on these forums that addresses this. Just use Google to our advantage I'm sure you'll find it.

Thanks for the response I will search for mods to 400R case to adress this.:sunglasse

In searching via Google it is apparent that the 400R case does in fact block the lower row of SATA connectors on some mother boards. The fix is to cut out the part of the case that is blocking the SATA ports with a Dremel tool. One other message I saw suggested using larger standoffs for the right side of the MB. This however, would require some significant dissassembly and complete removal of the motherboard which I would like to avoid since everything else fits (including an H80 cooler and extra fans) and works nicely. I will go the Dremel tool route (very carefully) since this only should require removal of cables and protecting the MB from any stray particles.

 

I had suspected that this would be what I would have to do, but was hoping for a better alternative.

 

C_Man

:sigh!:

Having the same problem (400R with Sabertooth Z77)... Just started my build last night and noticed that I had issues with USB 3.0 and the SATA ports. May try the Dremel fix tonight. I took the board back out and got the USB 3.0 hooked up, but it is at a slight angle putting pressure on the port/board.

http://www.overclock.net/t/1119694/official-corsair-carbide-series-200r-300r-400r-500r-owners-club/3520#post_20002543

 

Take a look here for a simple mod I have done on mine.

 

And unfortunately, if you do not wanna take everything out of the case, forget about using a dremel in here. There will be no room to cut where you have to. It will be much less trouble to just take the motherboard out then trying to cover it. You could still slip with the tool and kick in the motherboard itself. The cutting disks can cut through metal like butter. Just imagine what it would do to a motherboard?

 

Material will still get everywhere while cutting. Cutting metal always create lots of sparks with is actually hot metal flying. It will eventually get on all you electronic parts Inside, and it will surelly create shortcuts. You need to clean your case very thouroughly after using a dremel Inside it, before reassembling the computer. Do not take the risk of ruining a pricey motherboard because you wanna take some short route to get the job done. It takes only minutes to take it out of the case, and it cost nothing. A ruined motherboard of that price will take you time to get a new one, you will still have to take that one out, it will cost you more money then just buying a bigger case. So do not be impatient and lazy when doing case modding, even a small task like this one. All case mods begin by getting the case to a bare metal box, without any other components in there.