Disassembly and assembly with CPU, storage and 1 TB M.2 NVMe SSD
Let us start with the first step, the installation of the desired CPU. First of all, I want to start with the Ryzen 3 3300X, the big brother Ryzen 9 3950X will follow. In addition, there is a 1 TB NVMe SSD with the ADATA Falcon, which I will put into the x4 slot. i could also install another 2.5″ drive for the data, not bad either, but unnecessary for the test at first. The 2x 8 GB DDR4 3200 from Samsung must also be enough for now.
In order to be able to start at all, the cover in the floor must be removed. That’s five screws, if you don’t want to disassemble even more (as I did for interest). The five screws are also sufficient for easy component replacement. The plate is locked with noses, so that you have to push it towards the back, this is easy and done in less than 5 minutes. That one collects the skulls in a bowl is of course a search for honour.
Once you’ve taken the plate off, it’s on the inside. We can see that the right fan for the CPU is mounted separately and is not connected to the heatpipe construct like the GPU fan on the left. It’s important that you not only loosen the screws marked 1 to 6, but also the two on the left of the GPU fan and of course its small 4-pin connector.
In order to change the CPU, we unfortunately have to loosen the entire cooling construction for the CPU and the GPU and also remove it in one piece. CPU alone is of course not possible for logical reasons. If a CPU is already plugged underneath, you have to be very careful, because it sticks often enough and is torn out of the socket when you remove the cooler. Unfortunately, this once again shows the weakness of the AM4 socket, especially since the CPU pins are also highly sensitive. So please pay attention and if necessary put the cooler down in such a way that the pins of the firmly attached CPU are pointing upwards.
Then you can virtually cut off this stubborn CPU with some dental floss. But again, please do not use force, but instead use skill and brain. The hardware will thank you for it in any case. And now it’s time to get down to business and I’m putting in the new CPU. Plus the SSD, the RAM was already in it.
After I added some heat conductive paste to the GPU and the CPU, which is not too viscous, I start assembling again. Put the cooler on carefully and tighten the screws from 1 to 6, then finally put the two screws for the fan and of course the fan connector back on. Then the base plate can be put back on and the battery pack must be inserted. Ready!
Interim conclusion
The skill level is really not very high and you can completely rebuild an XMG Apex 15 barebone in a quarter of an hour if you hurry. But you really don’t need more than 30 minutes. Five screws for the base plate and seven for the radiator are really no magic trick. The quality of workmanship is super and apart from a clever smaller cross-head screwdriver and some heat-conducting paste, you don’t actually need anything else. All household items.
Maybe Schenker should consider selling the part directly as a barebone, because the configurator unfortunately doesn’t give it away so naked. So far, I definitely think it’s not bad and you could probably get around 1300 Euros or less with the barebone without the additional stuff. The question remains whether one wants that at all. The thermal image analysis and performance comparisons are available in the follow-up, which of course takes some time as usual. But it’s coming soon, I promise!
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