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Gigabyte 3D Aurora 570 Review
[Abstract]
IntroductionGigabyte jumped right into the crowded enclosures market when it introduced the impressive 3D Aurora last year. For a debut chassis, it certainly made an impression on us with its c...
[Content] PCDigitalMobileGame
Interior Design
Tool-free installations are the norm for high-end nowadays and they can even be found in some budget chassis. Gigabyte's 3D Aurora was a fine example of this user-friendly approach and the 570 continues to do an excellent job. First, there are hardly any rough edges inside this casing. All the possible edges that could graze your fingers have been smoothened and rounded. There are still some rough edges, especially around the hard drive compartment, but it would take some effort to hurt your fingers on them. Then there are all the neatly routed wires, from the power connectors for the fans to the various cables connectors for the USB2.0 and FireWire ports. All these have been pre-routed for your convenience and together with the extra depth of the 3D Aurora 570, this is one spacious and orderly chassis to work with.
Now there is more space than ever inside the 3D Aurora 570. The depth has been increased by around 6cm, meaning more elbow room when installing your components. However, the interior design is exactly the same as the original 3D Aurora so most users probably won't notice the extra spaciousness. |
There is still quite a lot of empty space after installing our motherboard, PSU, graphics and drives. Notice the large strip of space between the PSU and the motherboard. |
An example of the pre-routed cables for the 3D Aurora 570. This one neatly rounds up all the connectors for your USB and FireWire ports at the front. |
Installation of the external 5.25-inch drives required a bit more work. You have to bang open the drive bay covers from the inside of the chassis using a screwdriver and while there is an admirable amount of space to maneuver within the spacious casing, we would have appreciated an easier method of removing the plastic and aluminum covers. Removing the whole front bezel in order to facilitate the removal of the drive bay covers out is also too much of a hassle here since you have to unscrew both side panels first. After you got the covers removed, it's easy slotting your 5.25-inch drives in and then locking them in place with the built-in tool-free mechanism.
Just like the original 3D Aurora, a storage box for the extra screws and accessories of the casing is found at the hard drive cage. It's removable of course if you need the space. |
Similarly for the 3.5-inch external facing drives, one would just slot them in after removing the front covers. For the internal 3.5-inch hard drives however, you would need to attach a pair of snap on plastic runners before slotting them into the hard drive cage. The orientation of the drives makes it quite convenient for the power and SATA/IDE cables, though we would recommend SATA drives for best effect. Just like the original Aurora, the hard drive cage contains a small storage box where the screws and other accessories for the casing are stored. It can be removed simply by unscrewing it if you have many hard drives and need the space. We just found it useful for the spare casing accessories that are easily lost otherwise.
Tool-free. Enough said. |
Again, all the seven expansion slots for the 3D Aurora 570 are tool-free and like the older Aurora, the same latch mechanism is used to secure the add-on cards. It was quite simple to use (perhaps we now have more experience with such a contraption) and users too should have no problems with it. When we were done with our motherboard, graphics card, optical drive, hard drive and power supply installation, there was still ample space in this full tower. Particularly, the motherboard looked so tiny within that giant hulk and there was quite a fair amount of empty space between it and the power supply. This spaciousness should help improve the ventilation within the casing and aided by two 120mm fans, we have no doubts that the 3D Aurora 570 has the same quiet and user-friendly pedigree as its predecessor.
All your expansion cards are held by this latch. It's strong and secure enough but you can always supplement it with your own screws. |
Quiet, 120mm fans with blue LEDs. Now where have we seen that before? |
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