Disassembly
This is straight forward.
Start by removing the top and bottom covers. Each is held in place with a single screw.
Remove the screw and then the cover can be slid back a short way and then removed. The outer
side panel can also be removed in a similar fashion.
This uncovers a metal side panel that is held in place by six screws. Remove the six screws.
At this point you may find that the side panel is still held in place. This is because there
is a thermal pad that sits between the CPU heatsink and the metal panel to aid
heat transfer. Looking at the photo (right) you should be able to make out some of this
compound above and to the right of the un-drilled area of the panel. With some care the two
can be separated.
A view of the reverse side of the side panel showing the thermal transfer pad.
It looks like this side panel was actually designed for a different motherboard as the
CPU heat sink and the solid area of the side panel do not exactly align.
The front panel is held on by four clips, two on the top and two on the bottom, that
line up with slots in the metal chassis. Gently levering these up on either end of
the front panel lets you remove it and so gain access to the two internal USB sockets.