Installation Impressions

An advantage to working with a product as exciting as the tòu is that shortcomings are often overlooked because it's so special that you can make compromises you might not otherwise be willing to make.

Keeping in mind that the tòu lacks a CPU hole in the motherboard tray, we installed a CPU cooler with the motherboard out of the case to avoid any issues. For the photos, we used an LGA2011 setup which doesn't need rear motherboard access due to the nature of the socket design. Still for LGA1155 or AM3+ users there is a good chance the after-market cooler you install will require rear access, so keep that in mind.

The CPU cooler of choice was the Thermalright SilverArrow SB-E Extreme, which stands 165mm tall and tests the limits of most cases. Despite coming in contact with the glass panel it was possible to just fit the SilverArrow SB-E Extreme inside. So realistically we would put the maximum CPU heatsink height at around 164mm if you want to avoid flexing the glass.

With the CPU and its cooler installed along with the memory modules, we fitted the motherboard into the tòu without any issues. Next the 3.5" drives were installed and again this is a little different to the norm, though we like the final result.

First, the aluminum tabs that support the drives must be removed and this is done by undoing a pair of thumbscrews – easy enough. Once removed, the drive can be fitted and then the tab re-installed. There is a small cutout in the back tray that allows the hard drives SATA/power connectors to be accessed from the opposite side of the case. This is quite ingenious and very neat at the same time.

With the hard drives installed, we moved on to the power supply. PC Power & Cooling's Silencer Mk III 1200W provides ample power and looks great inside the tòu.

The tòu has room for graphics cards as long as 380mm, which is more than enough for the Radeon R9 290X or GeForce GTX 780 Ti. Moreover, it is easily possible to fit two or three of these cards, while depending on the motherboard used you could squeeze four in.

Installing everything neatly into the tòu was relatively easy and the cables behind the motherboard tray go largely unnoticed.

Despite its unusual design, working with the tòu isn't that difficult though you still need to take more care than with a regular case, as evidenced by the panel that cracked upon delivery. The front right panel was damaged during shipping, but thankfully In Win shipped another one out right away. We hope In Win keeps a heap of spare panels.

With the components inside its time to turn the lights on!