Page 3 - Physical Look - Inside
Removing the two side panels on the SilverStone SETA A1 is pretty straightforward. From the back, you can remove the two thumbscrews for each panel and slide them off the side. Unfortunately, SilverStone did not use any captive thumbscrews, which is a shame and should be found on most cases nowadays. The tempered glass panel is held on a metal bracket that slides and fastens to the case side. The metal also doubles as a frame around the glass panel, so users can hold onto something that conceals the fingerprints on the side glass. The steel panel on the other side is held on with a similar sliding mechanism. I think SilverStone could implement some improvements on these side panels in a couple of ways. For one, the glass panel has no sort of rubber padding or foam to prevent the glass from knocking against the rest of the case. Next, my SETA A1's steel panel was both tough to remove and insecure at the back. This was observed when removing the thumbscrews, as the steel panel easily flapped around while still being stuck at the front. While I can potentially write the tough removal as a one-off issue, I want some sort of locking mechanism along the frame for a secure hold on the side panel.
Once the panels are off, you can get a better look at the interior layout of the SilverStone SETA A1. As you already know, this case utilizes an open concept with little obstruction from front to back. The main division can be found at the bottom of the case and this sections off the power supply and hard drive cage from the rest of the chassis. It is not a solid division, as holes exist on this separation to allow air to pass through. Otherwise, the main area is where you can mount an ATX motherboard, although smaller sizes such as micro ATX and mini ITX can also be installed here. All of the included accessories can be found in a sealed plastic bag attached from the factory.
Removing the front panel requires a bit of caution, as there are cables running between the chassis and the front panel. These cables connected to the front panel are actually addressable RGB light strips that illuminate the front air vents. After some careful jimmying about, I was able to remove the front to reveal the two massive fans hidden behind the pink aluminum. These two 200mm SilverStone fans are placed here to bring fresh air into the case. SilverStone says these fans use sleeve bearings and can move at 800RPM. They produce 61CFM of airflow and 24dBA of noise. At the front, SilverStone has cutout the general area and lined it with a removable mesh bracket for easier cleaning.
Moving to the back of the SilverStone SETA A1, you can see the top area with mounting positions for more cooling options. SilverStone has rails for two 120mm or 140mm fans or for up to a single 240mm radiator. At the back, we have another single 120mm SilverStone fan here. This is a 3-pin voltage-controlled fan like the two 200mm ones at the front. Otherwise, you can see several standoffs are installed on the back area to get you started. You will need to install more standoffs for an mATX or ATX motherboard. Underneath, we have a large opening behind the motherboard. This is important for those who use third party CPU cooling options, as they have access to the back of the motherboard for installing brackets without needing to pop the whole thing off. This hole is also rounded off to prevent users from cutting themselves on the edges.
At the bottom of the case, you can see all of the routing holes that lead from the power supply and into the main chamber of the SilverStone SETA A1. This should allow for cabling flexibility for not only power cables to the graphics card, but also for front I/O connectors and what not. A sizable gap exists at the front near the fans to allow more airflow to pass in the front. It also means front radiators can dip into the lower region for maximum compatibility. You may have noticed some screw holes in the middle of the honeycomb pattern. This lets you mount your PCI Express riser cable and vertical bracket to mount your graphics card in a different orientation if you so desire. SilverStone does not include any of the hardware for such, but this is not too surprising.
Coming back to the front, we can get a better idea of how the 200mm fans at the front are mounted, as well as how much airflow will enter from the front. From here, you can see quite a bit of space is actually cut off, especially compared to how much room these fans take up. If you want to forgo these massive fans, you can mount your own fans or radiators, as there is support for three 120mm fans, two 140mm fans, or radiators up to 360mm in size. The wider 280mm radiator can also fit at the front. This is great to see the larger radiator compatibility here. Otherwise, there are more routing holes down the front. I would have liked to see grommets on these holes, especially since it would help with hiding excess cables in the back. The good thing is that these holes are smoothed off so you will not accidentally cut yourself or your cables on these cutouts.
Finally, on the back side of the SilverStone SETA A1, we have area for cable routing, storage mounting options, and the power supply basement. Starting at the left side, you can see all of the cables leading from the front I/O area. All of these cables are black, while the USB 3.1 Gen 1 and USB 3.1 Gen 2 cables are black ribbon cables. A standard addressable RGB header is also mixed in with these cables for the front lighting. It is great again to see these standardized headers for the lights. Two more cables come out nearer to the bottom, which are the two 3-pin headers for the front fans. We do not have any sort of cable valley on the back of the SETA A1, but we do have a good amount of space with approximately 1.7cm of space throughout. Underneath the motherboard opening, we have two metal trays for 2.5" storage options like solid state drives. These are held on by thumbscrews. At the bottom, we have the drive cage solution for larger 3.5" drives. These are two separate drive shells that secure to the case with sliding tabs and thumbscrews. They do come apart, so you could potentially just install a single one. In addition, these cages have the capacity to hold a 3.5" and a 2.5" drive at the same time. This means the SilverStone SETA A1 can support up to two 3.5" drives and four 2.5" drives in total, which is a pretty impressive amount for a case of this size. Finally, the power supply sits beside this drive cage with rubber feet to prop the power supply up and ensure an adequate air supply goes through the unit.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Outside
3. Physical Look - Inside
4. Installation and Conclusion
