Sentey Optimus GS-6000 PC Case

So, you’re an Incredibly Cheap Bastard and decided that you need a brand-spanking new PC case instead of screwing Ebay sellers for brand-name quality merchandise for a fraction of the cost.  Since you’re an Incredibly Cheap Bastard, then not just any old inexpensive case will do: you have to have a really cool-looking case without spending any major coin.  Well, do I have great news for you!  There are now several great PC chassis for around $60 that even Darth Vader would be happy to have in his office.

Sentey’s Optimus Mid-Tower PC Case may be just what the Cheap Bastard ordered, as it has a very modern futuristic look, has a sleek black finish, and has a bunch of cable-management and tool-less drive mounting features that are found in more expensive cases.

Features

• Black chassis
• 120mm top led fan
• 120mm frontal led fan
• 180mm side led fan
• 120mm rear fan
• Fan control
• 19.09

Technical Info

Case Type	Mid Tower	Card Reader	MMC/SD
Material	SECC 0.7mm	Thumb Screws	Yes
Front Material	Plastic	Feet	4 Rubber Feet
External Color	Black and Red	Front Cooler	1 x 120mm w/ LED
Chassis Color	Black	Side Cooler	1 x 180mm w/ LED
Side Panel	Solid with 180mm fan	Rear Cooler	1 x 120mm
Motherboard	ATX, Micro ATX	Top Cooler	1 x 140mm
Drive Bays 5.25″	3	Fan control	Included
Drive Bays Ext 3.5″	No	Watercooling Support	Yes
Drive Bays Int 3.5″	4	Power Supply	No
Expansion Slots	7	Dimension	19.09″ x 7.48″ x 18.31″
Sliding Bays	1	Accesslories	1 Speaker connector 1 expansion slot cover 1 plastic support manual
Clamps Included	Yes	Net Weight	4.9 kg
Panel LCD	No	Gross Weight	5.8 kg
Frontal ports E/S	USB 2.0 + Aud. and Mic.	Warranty	1 year

Now that we have the technical stuff out of the way, let’s take a look at the case…

One can’t help but notice the sleek black finish of the case upon first glance.  The body is made from 0.7mm SECC steel which has been painted black with a satin finish.

The top of the case has several interesting design shapes, which taper off to a few chevrons.  The top is so sculpted that you would think that it is molded plastic, but is instead fabricated out of thin steel. Unfortunately the metal is so thin that it can easily be bent by pressing down on it with moderate pressure.  The rear of the top panel is covered with mesh, which allows the pre-installed 120mm exhaust fan to do its duty.

The back of the case is pretty standard, as it has a 120mm exhaust fan, motherboard I/O area, 7 option card slots, and a cutout allowing the installation of a standard power supply.  The back also has two holes with rubber grommets to allow tor a water-cooling reservoir.

The left side has an elongated pentagon shape with mesh, which allows for air to enter via the generous internal 180mm fan.  The side is secured in place with two thumbscrews, and slides and pops off easily.

The bottom of the case has four tall rubberized feet that are secured in place with screws.  Also along the bottom are ventilation holes for any power supply you may want to install, which have been covered by a long air filter.  Below the drive cage area is a ventilation hole to allow fresh air to access any installed drives.

The front panel is where a lot of goodies are.  The panel is made of molded black plastic, with the exception of the mesh drive covers.  The top of the panel has two large Power and Reset buttons, which feel a little bit mushy to press.  Integrated with the power/reset area is a long power light.

Below the power area is an integrated front input/output area, which includes a media card reader, two USB 2.0 ports, a headphone and microphone jack, and integrated fan rheostat.  These features alone are a great value-add to this case, as not many chassis with this entry-level price tag include these.

Below the I/O area is a stealthed optical drive cover.  The Open button is a little mushy, and requires a little more intention to touch any installed drive.  The drive door is held shut with a standard long spring, rather than a hinge spring, which is just one of my pet peves about PC cases that just don’t have a place in this world.  Straight springs can get caught on the drive tray, become tangled, and in general just look sloppy.

On the next page we open up the Optimus.

After we open up the case, we can take a look at the internal features of this case.  With both sides off, one can’t help but notice all the cable-management holes, nooks and crannies this case has been designed with.  There is a generous hole in the motherboard area which allows for installation of larger heatsinks that require access to the motherboard’s underside.  With this feature, you never have to remove your motherboard whenever you decide to upgrade your heatsink.

There are also several oblong holes that allow you to snake cables underneath the motherboard tray and to the hard drive and optical drive bay.  There are also areas that are popped-out which are intended for securing wires with cable ties.

The hard drive bay area is certainly worth mentioning, which again is another feature found in higher-end enthusiast cases.  Other cases we’ve tried do allow drive installation on rails, but only have plastic rails.  The Optimus case gives you four metal trays, which have been ventilated to allow adequate airflow around the drive.  Red plastic rails do secure the drive and tray to the slide-in area, and the rails are hinged at the top.

The optical drive bay comes with several tool-less screw-in holders, but I’ve never really been a fan of these.  They do look great, with a red plastic hub that secures the whole thing together, but your drive is only secured from one side.  Either you live with the fact that installation took about two seconds, or you have a drive that’s half-installed and can introduce additional vibration to this case.  I heartily recommend taking the extra minute and secure your drives with screws on both left and right sides, especially since the opposite side of the drive bay is not obscured in any way.

The case comes with several clear plastic fans, and many of them are cool-looking clear fans with LEDs.  The side has a very large 180mm fan with LEDs.  There are two exhaust fans on the top and back, and two intake fans with LED that not only introduce fresh air into the case, but pull double-duty by cooling your hard drives.

Unfortunatley these fans get their power with huge-ass Molex connectors rather than standard 3-pin or 4-pin fan power adapters… which is my other major pet peeve about cases.  When I encounter these fans, the first thing I usually do is rip them out and replace them with new ones, but that isn’t feasible in this instance as there are severeal odd-sized fans, and replacing them would easily cost about half the price of this case.

You pretty much are stuck with the Molex fans if you want to use the integrated fanbus, which distributes power via Molex plugs.  It would have been great (and probably would have solved some space issues) if the I/O panel had a real fanbus that utilized 3-pin and 4-pin leads, and used fans that were compatible with this system.  I have to detract major points from any case that still uses Molex power connectors, and you shouldn’t tolerate it, either.

On the next page we go over installation considerations.

Installation is easier than you might imagine, thanks to the thoughtful tool-less and cable-management features.  There isn’t a whole lot of room in the case if you opt for a full-sized motherboard, but you will have a little more room if you use mini-ATX or smaller mainboards.

There are lots of options when it comes to routing your cables, and there is adequate room on the backside between the motherboard tray and the exterior panel.  No adhesive mounts are required, as you can use cable-ties to secure wires from your power supply and data cables.

The power supply area is pretty standard, as far as bottom-mounted PSUs go.  I would highly recommend a modular power supply, and only use the cables necessary for the install, which will help reduce cable clutter in the bottom of this case.  You can route your power cables up the right side of the motherboard tray and tie them down so everything looks nice and neat.

As mentioned before, you can install your optical drives and other 5¼” devices with the quick tool-less hinge, but I highly recommend that you use standard case screws on the left and right sides of your devices.

The option card area allows for tool-less installation.  You just push the pin to release the mechanism and then pull the pin up.  You have to pull out the integrated card covers, but only pull out the ones you need because this case doesn’t come with extra slot covers.  Once a card is installed you just push the pin down to secure it in place.  I really don’t trust tool-less pins such as these for video cards with heavy heatsinks, which is probably the most likely option that a PC builder will install.  I would highly recommend using screws to secure your cards into place.

Installing hard drives is pretty simple, and is completely tool-less.  The red plastic rails are hinged at the top of the drive tray.  Just pull the rails to the left or the right, and they will pop off, with the top hinge remaining attached.  Just place your drive in the tray, and then push the rails back in, which forces the red plastic pins into the drive’s mounting holes.  Then just slide the tray into the drive bay until you hear a satisfying click.  The drives are very snug and won’t be going anywhere.

The front panel I/O has lots of cables that can be routed to your motherboard, and they all have adequate length to get to where they need to go.  The HD audio and USB port cables are pretty standard, as is the USB lead for the integrated media card reader.

On the next page we render our conclusion.

The Sentey Optimus GS-6000 PC case is a great-looking case that you can be proud of, and is certainly interesting enough to get a few jealous looks at the next LAN party.  It has a good set of features that are usually only found in cases with higher price tags, such as integrated fanbus, watercooling holes, media card reader, drive trays, and a thoughtful cable management design.

Regardless of how it looks, there are a few issues to consider.  For one, the metal is very, very thin, and can become easily dented or bent.  I hate to point it out, but there is no room in this world for fans with large 4-pin Molex connectors… they are ugly, get in the way, and cannot be monitored by your motherboard.

These issues may not matter to you, especially since the case just looks so freakin’ awesome.  The case has an amazing price of just around $60, which just about anyone can afford.  Even you, the Incredibly Cheap Bastard.

REPORT CARD : Sentey Optimus GS-6000 PC Case
category rating comments Quality 3 Construction could be better, but looks great and has good features Innovation 4 Lots of thoughtful installation options, and features that you don’t find in cheap cases Performance 5 The airflow in this case is really good, and can keep overclocked hardware chilly-fresh Installation 4 Average room for a mid-tower case, which make the cable-management features more valuable Value 5 A case with these great looks and features are hard to find at this price point.
FINAL VERDICT: 4 out of 5 stars