Gigabyte 3D aurora case - gimme the negatives!

R B Customs · 5 Mar 2006 at 11:13

hey fuys... seriously thinking about getting one of these cases.
asaw one in a local shop and had a quick h=gander inside etc but i need some people to spill the beans for me... annoying things about it, bad things about it and maybe a few good ones...
every review cant fault this case !

on paper its perfect for ME, just wanted soem info from first hand experiences.

btw... how easy is it to access that front bottom LED that projects writing onto the floor... its not staying blue !

Rick

Noni · 5 Mar 2006 at 11:18

Well the aluminium is quite thin, so resonating might be a problem.

Also, no blowhole, so you might get some hot air trapped at the top of the case.

It has a door (boo) lol.

I think its really ugly

The grill on the side attracts dust.

Yewen · 5 Mar 2006 at 12:54

The dust is not really a problem, any case will draw dust in.

Resonation is a potential problem with almost any aluminium case and can be sorted in literally 5 minutes if you know what your doing.

The door, you have to open and close each time you change disk.

The LED projection may also be a problem, if your trying to sleep with the PC on, also I do not think that spending money on that 'feature' was wise, the hinges aswell are slightly on the suspect side.

Its a top case, not anything wrong with it that anyone could say "Do not buy this case because of this...." as it does everything right, apart from it is slightly overpriced for what it is.

If you like the Aurora then just get it, I can not see you not being happy with it if you like the styling.

Can not comment on the LED modding though, as I do not know anyone who has tried, but where there is a will, there is a way

aphex · 5 Mar 2006 at 15:07

I got the black one and moving from a cheap Antec case the quality is amazing. I had problems with the HDDs causing the side to resonate so I had to get some sewing elastic to suspend the drives.

Getting to the front is rather annoying though, you have to take both side panels off before you can release the front panel. Whats worse is that the cables to the front panel ports aren't very long so it makes it hard to get right in there, it might just me being noob though

bbreezeuk · 5 Mar 2006 at 20:16

The case is also to short from front to back as it is hard to fit motherboards in and have could cable manegment plus i cant use the primary IDE connector on my asus A8N32-sli as it is to close to the case

Zefan · 5 Mar 2006 at 20:27

Great case. The fans though, are a little dodgy. One of them starts to click randomly (It's to do with it glancing the plastic surround very slightly) and needs pulling slightly back out of its bearing and then back again. Also, if you plan on mounting a rad on the back without the Rad-Box thing, you WILL have to cut into the side panel, as it doesn't like closing if you don't.

bbreezeuk · 5 Mar 2006 at 20:39

If you do think about getting one of these cases personally i would take the black insert out of the side pannel to improve airflow which i have done with mine

quadboi · 5 Mar 2006 at 21:01

Easily breakable. (Well I HAVE HEARD)

R B Customs · 5 Mar 2006 at 21:58

hey guys thanks for dishing the dirt out !!
its a bit naff when all you hear is GOOD things and are horrified to find little anoyances ( sp ? )

the case is going to be heavily modified in terms of paint which im thinkingg will deadedn any resonating a little.

CD acces is no problem. im sure there will be cobwebs in my CD drive when i open it lol.

the main thing that attracted me to it was its size... and width 205CM... i have a 6600GT silencer and theres VERY few cases i can fit a fan between the GPU and the side pannel... i can in this one though !

whats the 5.35 bays liek in terms of those tool less attachement things ?
bbreeze:
my current case is just 39CM deep. and on my asus board its a VERY tight squeeze on the primary IDE... is it really a big problem with this case ? ive got about 6CM between the primary IDE and the fan on my rad at the moment.

thanks a lot for allt he responses guys... now to toss the coin... what you guys think the case is brilliant for ?
thanks again
Rick
(btw... im slowly wanting this case more

)

aphex · 6 Mar 2006 at 04:06

Reason I got the case was for the dual 120mm fans at the back as I wanted good airflow, side panel helps a lot too. So imo the case is best for airflow

Oh and the 5.25 bays are very very easy and quick to install. After you take the blanking plates out it takes less than 10secs to install a DVD drive. Just push the drive in and push the lock to the lock positions.

Steve JL · 6 Mar 2006 at 14:10

Front fan is prettly low cfm I have found as well.I changed mine yesterday and noticed that the led for the panel at the bottom was very easy to get to/mod.

Yes the build quality isnt up to a Lian Li but you get a lot more room(PC 60 before you see).

Temps have dropped considerably for me as well.

Only real gripe is the noise the HDs make.Looking at getting some sort of silencing now as its driving me nuts.

Steve

ja3h · 1 Jun 2006 at 00:06

thinking of getting a 2nd hand aurora in black. But after reading this read i'm having my doubts :S

I've got 3 hd's i'm concerned about the noise! >< i have an antec sonata 2 atm.

R B Customs · 1 Jun 2006 at 01:42

Wow this is an old one !!!
since this post ive bought one lol !
ive had the case in as many pieces as it will go and its one quality case.

you got to understand when i wrote this thread i wanted to know all the BAD things, not really the good lol.
.
as a few ppl have said, my only concern is the fans airflow... they seem to be doign hardly anythign for cooling, replace the fans and its one hell of a case.
perfect for watercoolign too. a dual radiator pops straight on the back

ive just built a system into a sonata, and ive found theyre Very small and cramped, and feel a tad flimsy. the aurora feels like its carved out of stone compaired to the sonata lol

R B Customs · 1 Jun 2006 at 01:44

on a side note, get the perspex pannel one over the mesh sided case if you can. most have found it cools better

Flanno · 1 Jun 2006 at 02:14

As hard drive cage on the front limits airflow effectiveness from the front fan, I thought the verison with the mesh would give better cooling as the 2 rear fans would be forced to draw air in through it. Would certainly help with an sli setup for sure.

roadie · 1 Jun 2006 at 12:50

I have one that I have made into a very quiet PC. I will get round to posting what I have done when it's 100% complete.

ichabod crane · 1 Jun 2006 at 13:08

its UGLY thats my only negative.

EDIT: sorry you have bourght it already ah well this thread i old!

ja3h · 1 Jun 2006 at 14:08

R B CUSTOMS said:
the aurora feels like its carved out of stone compaired to the sonata lol

Thanks for the post, i'll update it when i get one

WJA96 · 1 Jun 2006 at 21:34

Flanno said:
As hard drive cage on the front limits airflow effectiveness from the front fan, I thought the verison with the mesh would give better cooling as the 2 rear fans would be forced to draw air in through it. Would certainly help with an sli setup for sure.

If you get the mesh side panel make all the fans intakes and the hot air will leave naturally through the mesh. Works like a dream.

roadie · 2 Jun 2006 at 09:48

There is a nice Auorora build over at Silent PC Review that I am using as a reference for my quiet Aurora. It really is an excellent case and is very good value for money. The only problem with it as far as I am concerned is the HDD cage. It really should be orientated like that on my previous case, an Antec SLK3000B.