Page 2 - Physical Look - Outside
Before I had finished putting the Sentey Arvina GS-6400B down on the ground, I am already become impressed by its looks. A crisp sharp look with smooth edges and brilliant metallic surface is an enticing sight. The dark blue color is very well thought out; as it is subtle, yet provides a strong accent to the chassis. The Sentey logo is very nicely placed in the front -- large enough to display the logo, but small enough so it isn't overwhelming dominant at the same time. Initial impressions are good, but my only complaint is the cover on the side panel vents. It just looks a bit glaring, since it extends off of the case by a significant amount. It is nothing to worry about from a practical point-of-view; however, from a visual perspective it just seems to take away more than it adds to the look and feel of the case. The case's material is 1 mm thick SECC metal for the main panels, with some dark blue plastic to give it the desired shape. For those that don't know, SECC is an industry standard for computer chassis material, given its excellent properties and strengths it is certainly expected for any good quality non-aluminum chassis. The hard plastic, on the other hand, feels a bit cheap and flimsy.
The front of the case is quite appealing to my tastes -- with a good solid mesh over the surface, it certainly did not look like the meshing is an afterthought in the design process. I especially like the easy to access card reader at the front, providing a way to quickly insert and read from your typical digital storage cards. All of the mesh at the front has filters directly behind it to keep dust out of your system. The top two panels are also bay covers that you can open and close easily without taking away from the look of the case. The reasoning for why just the top two covers have this, and not all of them is a bit questionable. I do have to say most people generally do not have the need for more than two optical drives so this is acceptable; however, those who do have more than two might find this slightly bothersome. The dust filters behind this mesh on the front are very easy to remove. Simply pull off the front panel, which offers a bit of resistance, but comes off easily, granting you access to the back side of the panel.
Now here is something that bothers me. Why put dust filters on every part of the case, and then have a large unprotected air intake vent at the bottom of the front panel? This vent is hidden from view, but is located directly under the bottom of the mesh at the front of the case. This vent is a large opening, and provides an easy entry point for dust into the system. This almost completely eliminates the point of putting the dust filters behind all of the mesh in the front. I will admit this vent allows for you to easily remove the front panel off the case, but it doesn't need to be a large opening? It could have easily been a simple indented part for a grabbing point. Some might say this is a minor issue, except for the fact this appears to be a glaring design flaw, which has been discretely hidden from view.
Changing our view to the top of the Sentey Arvina GS-6400B, you will see that it is covered with mesh all along the top. This has dust filter protection as well. The design of the top is very clean, and the mesh flows smoothly with the look of the case. Here you will find the nice and large power button, which lights up in a soothing blue color when the computer is turned on. Adjacent to it are four additional buttons to turn on and off the various fans around the system. Coming from a case that lacked this feature, I think this is a great idea from Sentey, but how often I would use them is another topic to discuss.
The top panel also has an acrylic cover, which is designed to protect the ports from dust accumulation. I don't think this is necessary, because the cover has to be retracted whenever you want to use the various ports or the reset button. These ports consist of one eSATA port, four USB 2.0 ports, a native SATA port, one headphone jack, and one microphone jack. I can easily say I would have my USB stick plugged in most of the time, so the cover isn't very useful, and is more of an annoyance. A noble effort, but turns out to be inconvenience to anyone who is actually going to use the front ports often -- considering the whole point of front access ports is for quick and easy plugging in of devices, haha. I do like the positioning and location of the reset button, however. Since it slightly out of the way, it won't be accidentally hit, and yet remains easily accessible.
The first then you will notice about the back are the red tabs on the expansion card slots. Why they are red in a blue case is a good question. In my opinion, they should be blue to match the case, and not red to match different variants of the Sentey Arvina GS-6400. Although the benefits of this design choice are clear from a manufacturing point of view -- not to mention some may argue it actually delivers a good sense of contrast to the product. Only one re-attachable expansion slot cover is provided, while the rest of them are not re-attachable. This is quite disappointing for something of this price range. Fortunately, not many people will look at the holes at the back in the event that you do swap expansion card locations. In our photo above, you can see the opening for the power supply located nicely below the expansion slot array. The motherboard I/O location is standard next to the 120mm exhaust fan. Above the exhaust fan are two rubber grommets for a water cooling system.
Flipping over the case to see the bottom, your eyes will naturally drift to all the air vents along the bottom. Fifteen in total if you feel like counting; all of them are covered with a dust filter on the inside. A unique feature here is that they provide mounting of a 120mm or 140mm fan on the inside, so you can actually utilize these extra air vents for more airflow inside the Arvina. The bottom of the case also has six rubber feet, with two located at the back, and four located up front. This is a great way to reduce the vibration from the case, and evenly distribute the weight of your hard drives and optical drives over four rubber feet at the front.
Lift the Sentey Arvina GS-6400B back up, and you will see the side. As I commented earlier, the side panel has a large cover over the vent. I feel this is a bit large, but it would definitely reduce the noise of the side exhaust fans and reduce the amount of entry points for dust into the system. Both side panels come off easily with two thumbscrews each. The thumbscrews effortlessly twist in and out of the side panels, which excellent for anyone who wants easy access into their computer. The Arvina GS-6400B case also has a small latch on the side to keep the cover from falling off after removing the thumb screws, and makes removal of the side panels simple. This is a well thought-out design and I'm pleased by how easy it is to remove the side panels of the case. Now with the side panel off, let's take a look inside!
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Outside
3. Physical Look - Inside
4. Installation and Conclusion
