When installing components into the Quarterback you will definitely want to remove the core-fan bar before you begin. It is simply too cumbersome to work around, especially when connecting optical and floppy drives. On this particular motherboard, the ATX power connector position was also directly under the upper fan and required using the rear-most mounting location of the bar. Some care must also be taken when running cabling around the fans such as the IDE and floppy ribbon cables and power wires so that they do not block or become entangled in the blades.



Other than that, installation was pretty uneventful. The motherboard went in without a hitch and the power supply followed. The hard drive rails snap on easily and lock tightly in place. The optical and floppy drive latching mechanisms worked very well also, in fact these are some of the best tool-less drive mounts I have worked with, both in their ease of use and how well they hold the drives in place. In some other cases they are hard to slide, have vague-feeling catches or allow the drives a little too much movement for comfort. Not so with the Sunbeamtech Quarterback.



The side panel fan lights up blue and matches the power and hard drive activity LEDs on the front. There is just enough space for the fan to fit with the core-fan bar located in the rear-most position. With the power supply directly above, the CPU is nearly surrounded by fans, two blowing air over it and two pulling air away from it. The lower core-fan not only blows air over the video card but also pulls air in across the hard drives. Up front, three of the 5¼" drive bays are accessible without opening the grill door: the top, center and bottom one, as is the lower 3½" floppy bay.

On to final thoughts and conclusion.