Have any of you ever heard of AzzA? I have seen their cases in passing, but nothing has ever come my way for review. I’ve admired their designs on several occasions, but have never had the privilege of going over every square inch of one of their chassis first hand. AzzA started out as a manufacturer of motherboards, donates a minimum of 50% of their net profits to charity, and has a motto of “Your satisfaction is our success”, and I am just now getting to review their hardware? I’m about to call my congressman.
But seriously, for a company that always seems to be focused on everyone else, they have done a heck of a job of making themselves look good with their cases. Case in point (no pun intended) is the Solano 1000 Chassis. There’s a 1000 and a 1000R. The 1000R has red fans, while the 1000 has blue fans. That’s the only difference. The Solano 1000 is the subject of our review today, and here are some sweet details on this well ventilated case:
Ultimate Cooling System:
Introducing the all-new AZZA Solano 1000/1000R gaming case! Its innovative design in so many aspects will satisfy the needs of the extreme computer gamer and power user. The case is designed for maximum thermal management with fans installed everywhere to keep your components cool. A 230mm blue/red(1000R) LED super fan is mounted on the top for main ventilation.
A second 230mm blue/red(1000R) LED super fan is built-in on the side panel to facilitate CPU cooling.Two additional 140mm blue/red(1000R) LED fans are installed in the front panel to boost the cooling of HDD cage. And a 120mm fan is mounted in the back panel vented to the outside. To sum it up for you, a total of 2x230mm fans, 2x140mm fans and 1x120mm fan work synergistically to provide you unprecedented airflow.
Maximum Compatibility:
This full tower case supports extended ATX, ATX, and Micro ATX motherboards and the thumb screw design allows for easy installation of seven PCI expansion cards without tools. A plethora of drives bays, including up to ten 5.25″ and eight 3.5″ bays, allow you to grow your system over time. All the bays have a thumb screw design for easy assembly as well.
That’s not all! A removable HDD cage can accommodate up to eight HDD’s. The two front intake 140 mm fans are especially designed to boost HDD cooling. Moreover, an adjustable PSU support bridge is located in the bottom and you have the option of installing the PSU with the fan facing either up or down, for air intake or exhaust. The pre-drilled fan holes right underneath all but help to eliminate the PSU as one of the heat sources in the case! Furthermore, since cable can be organized behind the pre-drilled motherboard tray, this case comes with a superior cable management system that allows for ameliorated cable routing and improved airflow.
This PC chassis is manufactured with high-quality Japanese steel, solid and sturdy yet not weighty. The interior has a stylish black paint finish. With its high-end features along with the superb exterior design, the AZZA Solano is the ultimate choice for your gaming needs. You can count on impressing your friends at the next LAN party!
When I opened the box I was a little disappointed at the front of the case. It was about as standard as it gets when it comes to cases. Flat black from top to bottom, with ten drive bay covers covering the entire front. The fourth from the bottom bore a chrome AzzA logo, but other than that, it was Plain Jane. The top three can be popped out for optical drive placement, but the bottom seven are covering the two blue LED 140mm intake fans that reside in the front of the hard drive bays.
Things got a little better as I continued my inspection. The top has a nice little panel with all the ports and buttons on it. On the left side are the Reset button and the HDD LED. Then from left to right we have the eSata port, the USB 3.0 port, the audio ports, the USB 2.0 ports, and finally the square chrome power button. There are no fan controls on this case. The placement of these buttons and ports tells me that this is certainly a chassis designed to be set on the floor of your work/gaming space. They can all be accessed by reaching straight down if it’s set on the floor. But having it on a desk beside your monitor will most likely involve you having to stand up to get a clear look at what you’re plugging into up there.
Slightly further back we have a tray built in for any flash drives or keys or wads of gum that you can’t find a proper place for under your desk. This seems to be a trend lately. Building in trays for those who can’t seem to keep track of their small objects. I would love to say something witty about people needing to keep better track of their crap so that things like this wouldn’t be deemed necessary by chassis manufacturers, but I still can’t find the 8GB drive I lost six months ago. Go a little further back and you’ll find the top exhaust vent that harbors the massive 230mm fan underneath. That monster also glows blue.
The side that comes off for motherboard access is pretty nice. There’s a massive 230mm blue LED fan near the rear of the case, which would blow nicely on the CPU and video card. There are two windows that start in the middle of the fan at the top and bottom and move forward to surround the fan, but not quite meet. The end result is a nice mechanical-style Plexiglas window that doesn’t crowd the eye, but doesn’t pull in punches in design. It offers style and cooling without compromising one or the other.
Taking the side off of this case is nothing unusual. Unscrew the two heavy steel thumbscrews on the back and slide the side back with the built-in plastic grip. Once it moves back about a half inch then you pull it away from the side of the case. I don’t know if it’s just this case or if it’s all of them, but it was a struggle to get the side to come off once it slid back. It really wanted to be on there. But once I got it off I got a better look at the inside of this hull.
The coolest thing about this case is the internal drive bays. The eight are divided into two sets of four. AzzA advertises that there are up to ten 5.25” bays and eight 3.5” bays. It needs to be noted that these are not separate numbers. If you take away one set of 3.5” bays to install one 5.25” drive then you are immediately down to four slots for HDDs. You are also going to be missing a fan. Each set of 3.5” bays is a cage that screws into the case. You have to take off both sides to install or remove these cages. Once you remove one you have access to four more 5.25” bays underneath. Each cage has a front fan built into it. The cage and fan all comes out as one piece. So if you take away HDD space, you also take away come airflow.
I pulled one of these cages out myself to check it out. The back part is solid black steel with foam cushioning inside to protect the hard drives from shifting or scraping. The hard drive is inserted from the back of the cage and pushes right up against the 140mm clear fan for optimal cooling. These fans also have a slight blue tint to them for extra color when running.
Down in the bottom of the case I found a cardboard box that appeared to be coming apart. I taped the bottom so that it would stay together and opened the top. There was an external bay cover that was made to accept a floppy drive or card reader and a bracket that went along with it, a baggie of various screws and thumbscrews, and the motherboard speaker. According to the manual there were supposed to be two zip cable ties and three releasable cable ties. I found one of the latter in the bottom of the case and one in the bottom ridge inside the right side of the case behind the motherboard tray. I never found the third releasable tie or the two regular zip ties. I think this case doubles as a black hole.
I noticed that there wasn’t much depth between the right side of the case and the motherboard tray. I measured at just a tad over a quarter of an inch of space. Not exactly heat-friendly. The standouts were also industry standard. Just raised nubs on the tray that accepted brass standout screws. Nothing to complain about, but nothing to cheer about either, in my opinion.
There was a plain black 120mm exhaust fan at the top of the back. Under this were the PCI expansion slots, each with a cover that is removable by taking out a thumbscrew. To the left of the expansion slots are the two rubber-lined holes for water cooling hoses. And finally, at the bottom, is the PSU dock. There are ½” risers at the bottom of the case to hold the power supply up off the bottom, where there are two built-in grills ready to accept two more fans for added cooling. And the bottom has four long plastic legs to keep it up off the floor for better airflow.
Altogether I think that this case does exactly what it intends to. It cools your hardware quite effectively, even with minimal space behind the motherboard tray. The huge fans and great airflow make up for any other shortcomings that this chassis might have. It’s a nice case, aesthetically pleasing, and efficient at cooling. There’s not much more you can ask for from a company that takes half the $114 you spend on the thing and sends it to underprivileged children.