If you’re a PC enthusiast, you’ve certainly heard of Gigabyte and their great motherboards. I also suspect that many of you at one time have used their products. While not really a major player in the PC case market segment, Gigabyte has really grown over the last few years and surprised us today with a great new case design. Their latest offering is their Setto 1000. Talked about by Gigabyte as, “their latest masterpiece,” the Setto 1000 has an interesting look and some innovative features that definitely set it apart from any other case at its price point. Please follow us here at D3Reaction as we take an in-depth look at Gigabyte’s latest chassis offering.

Setto 1000 Specifications:

Model No.

GZ-AX1CBS-SNS/SNG/SNB

Dimensions ( W x H x D )

185 x 410x 480 mm

Colors

Silver / Metallic Gray / Black

Side Panel

Intel CAG 1.1 Air Duct + AGP Vent

Front Bezel Material

Aluminum + Steel Mesh

Body Material

SECC

Drive Bays

5.25″ x 4, 3.5″ x 1 (External)
3.5″ x 6 (Internal)

Expansion Slots

7

Form Factor

ATX / Micro ATX

I/O Ports

2 x USB 2.0 / 1 x IEEE1394 / 1 x Audio Set (AC´97/HD)

System Fan (Front)

1 x 12cm Silent Fan

System Fan (Rear)

1 x 12cm Silent Fan

Carton Dimensions (mm)

L495*W260*H575

Gross Weight (lbs.)

15 lbs.

Let’s Explore:

The Setto 1000 arrived in an attractive and sturdy cardboard carton. Inside, the case is protected by a plastic bag and nestled between foam blocks (standard PC packing).

The Setto 1000 has a distinctive profile and the matte black finish with aluminum front. That gives it a military/industrial quality that fits right in with what a gaming system should be. The mesh on the front panel design is a great idea as it should equate to excellent airflow and cooling. The panels are steel and are held in place with black thumbscrews in the conventional manner.
There aren’t many accessories, because of the fact that the case comes out of the box requiring little attention from the user.

What appears to be a pretty plain interior actually has some pretty nice features, providing a favorable experience for everyone from the beginner system builder and to even the “experts”. The drive areas can house seven hard drives or six hard drives plus one floppy, with all hard drives being cooled by their own 120mm case fan.
Similar to what Gigabyte had done with their Aurora case, Gigabyte engineers use a classic common-latch design for fastening the expansion cards, which comes in handy if you’re always modifying your systems configuration or doing updates. The other great feature is this case is liquid-cooling ready. As you can tell by the two outlets, this case comes ready to install Gigabyte’s Galaxy 3D liquid-cooling system or any external radiator designed liquid-cooling.

Now lets take it look at the front, which is actually very clean looking – in fact, I love their attention to detail with their laser-cut power buttons. Plus, the front ports always help.

As you can see, this is a pretty standard case, with 2 USB ports, Firewire, and audio jacks.
Testing:

For heat testing, we ran a series of tests to push the CPU and RAM load to their max. Then we kept a close look at the temperature on the CPU, graphics cards, and case interior, checking it against the ambient. Before we did this though, we got an idea of how well the system holds up when idle and without any active applications running.

Final Thoughts:

During the installation process of this system, I was unable to find any rough edges sharp enough to cut except for the area by the power supply cut-out. Another feature that was impressive was that the only tool required was a Phillips for the motherboard – the rest of the installation was a tool-less design for securing the components to the case, making installation quick and easy. This truly is a case that a first-time builder could purchase and use without having any issues at all.

Now, when it comes to pricing, the Setto 1000 is expected to sell for $99.99 at Newegg, making this case a great deal.

All told, the case is another very solid offering from Gigabyte’s line of products. The case still comes in at a price that is on par with a number of high-end aluminum models, but few of them will be as quiet or as able-to-cool as this one when it came to the internal components. As for its shortcomings, the Setto 1000 does not have many. Other cases may be able to fit in more 5.25″ devices and more drives, but this chassis is well-equipped to handle the rig of a demanding gamer or systems builder. Overall, we here at D3Reaction give Gigabyte props for the design and attention to detail in this case.