Sentey Optimus Case Review Author: faceless105 -- Posted: 2011-04-26
One of my favorite areas to review are computer cases. This is where you see some really cool innovations for functionality and performance. Best of all, you see some pretty impressive designs, which lets be honest, matters to all of us when we're showing off our systems. Today we'll be taking a look at the Optimus from Sentey.
The case specs on the Optimus product page really don't give it enough justice, so we wanted to include their specs as well as their some extended specs.
Material
- Steel Construction, w/ Plastic Front and Top Bezel
I/O Ports
- USB 2.0 x 2, Mic x 1, Headphones/Mic x 1
- SD/MMC Card Reader x 1
Dimensions (W x H x D)
- 190 x 425 x 450 mm (7.48 x 16.73 x 17.71 inches)
Drive Bays
- 5.25" - 3 external, one is a Stealthed Bay
- 3.5" - 4 x internal
Expansion Slots - 7
CPU HS/FAN Clearance
- 132mm / 5.22" High
Included Fans
- FRONT: 1 x 120mm BlueLED
- SIDE: 1 x 180mm BlueLED
- REAR: 1 x 120mm
- TOP: 1 x 120mm BlueLED
Water Cooling
- 2 x Rubber Gromet Pass-through Holes For an external Radiator
Additional Features
- Toolless design
The Sentey Optimus comes loaded with a number of great features. The first and most notable is something we're seeing more and more is a toolless design. The Optimus does this very effectively with locks for expansion cards, drive bays, and removable hard drive trays.
Beyond a toolless design, the Optimus has a few other extremely convenient features.
- Vented PSU
- Wire Management with many areas cut out of the motherboard tray
- CPU Backplate Access
- Stealthed drive bay
Time for the first hand experience...
Working with the Optimus went extremely well. Even with a toolless design you can still expect to need a screw drive with the motherboard and the PSU, but those are pretty standard, and if you have thumb screws on hand, then your PSU will just be that much faster to put in place.
Installing the drives was also a breeze. We opted not to use the stealthed drive cover. This wasn't for any reason beyond personal preferences. Also, having already installed the motherboard, the fact that the hard drive trays face outward and are removable just makes things all the more convenient.
The large vented area below the PSU allows for it to circulate independently, preventing it from taking in already warmed air. I particularly love this feature because it will go the distance on helping your case stay clean.
In addition to the case fans on the front, side, rear and top of the case, the Optimus should be very well cooled. There is also space in the top of the case for an additional 120mm fan. Making sure you're getting a proper amount of air flow should never be an issue with this case.
Now it's the moment of truth, time to power it all up. One thing I was worried about would be noise since the Optimus comes with 4 fans. To my surprise, the fans run extremely quietly; to a degree that I found them barely audible. The case also had a very cool glow to it.
As for Pros and Cons... Pros...
- Very well vented while keeping the noise down.
- The card reader is a huge plus
- Fan controller on the front bay
- Toolless design
Cons...
- The outside material has a lot of plastic. Not exactly a con, but something worth making a mention of.
Overall, I really like the functionality the Optimus offers. Even better, for the price, it's definitely a great deal. Check below for some of our additional shots of it in action, and let us know what you think!
Here you can see it starting to be loaded up and running.
