Page 4 - Installation and Conclusion
Unsurprisingly, I started by installing the power supply in the basement and routing the necessary cables to the intended places. The power supply in question here is the Seasonic PRIME 600 Titanium Fanless 600W, which is a pretty lengthy unit at 17cm. SilverStone says that a maximum of 18cm clearance is available with the drive cage installed, so I got only at a centimeter of space left for cables. As such, I could only install one of the drive caddies into the case. I installed a Western Digital Blue 1TB into the cage and plugged in the necessary power cables. Once again, it is great to see the number of drives you can put in this compact mid-tower ATX case, though you should keep your power supply length in mind if you are using 3.5" hard drives. Finally, I routed the necessary cables for powering different components here and mounted the power supply in place. Overall, the amount of cabling space at the back is pretty sufficient, as I did not run into any issues, even with thicker cables like the bundled 24-pin motherboard cable.
I installed a mATX motherboard here, but from this angle, it looks like it fills the entire Silverstone SETA A1 in height. This is not the case, of course, as the larger ATX motherboard form factor will fit. I followed the routed power cables and plugged them in in addition to plugging in the fans and the connectors. SilverStone comments that users can put in CPU coolers as tall as 175mm, while graphics cards up to 350mm in length will also fit here. Most longer graphics cards with three fans should comfortably fit here, unless you are pairing it with a front mounted radiator. These are still solid compatibility specifications once you put into perspective the overall footprint of the SilverStone SETA A1. Otherwise, I wish we had grommets on the routing holes to hide some of the excess cables.
With my system installed and everything plugged in, I fired up the computer for the first time and everything came to life. According to the standard APH Networks sound scale, where 0 is silence and 10 is loud, the SilverStone SETA A1 is 4.5/10 under full load and 2.5/10 in more normal situations. Unfortunately, these large fans do make quite a bit of noise at full speed. This is probably due to the use of sleeve bearings in the fans rather than something like fluid dynamic bearings. At slower speeds, however, the fans are a bit quieter. What I do really like are the addressable RGB lights at the top and the bottom of the curve. While the photo does not capture this as well, the lights are quite vibrant off the white case. The lights are intended to bounce off between the front aluminum cutout and the steel shell for a neat effect. With its universal header, you can plug these lights directly into the motherboard or use the included lighting controller to modify the LED effects.
-----------------------------------------
At its core, the SilverStone SETA A1 is a very good case with unique design elements. Its stylized front and appearances are not like the typical rectangular prisms you may be used to, and I think it looks good while setting apart from its competition. It is made with solid materials like aluminum, steel, and tempered glass. Internally, we have a more typical layout with good clearances and layout to not stop users from picking larger components. This includes multiple radiator mounting locations, clearance for longer graphics cards, and housing a handful storage drives. In addition, all of the intake areas are mesh filtered to prevent dust from settling inside. Building in the case was a good experience with sufficient amount of space for cabling and a modular drive cage to be removed if you do not use it. The addressable RGB solution works and shines well, while also including a universal lighting controller if you want to use it. As a whole, the SilverStone SETA A1 has a lot of strong elements in this case, but there are some small areas of refinement that should be addressed. For one, I feel like SilverStone cut some other corners in its finish. I would expect most premium cases to use captive thumbscrews, but we do not have this with the SETA A1. I would have also liked to see rubber grommets on the routing holes and some sort of cushioning on the glass panels. Finally, I think the installed fans on the SilverStone SETA A1 emitted more noise than I would have liked under full load. At press time, the SETA A1 can be found for around $135 USD, which puts it in a premium pricing category, even when we take into consideration the ARGB tax. As such, I think the SilverStone SETA A1 is a solid ATX case, but it should be amended in its finish to make it a truly convincing buy.
SilverStone provided this product to APH Networks for the purpose of evaluation.
APH Review Focus Summary:
8/10 means Definitely a very good product with drawbacks that are not likely going to matter to the end user.
7/10 means Great product with many advantages and certain insignificant drawbacks; but should be considered before purchasing.
-- Final APH Numeric Rating is 7.3/10
Please note that the APH Numeric Rating system is based off our proprietary guidelines in the Review Focus, and should not be compared to other sites.
The SilverStone SETA A1 is a stylish compact mid-tower ATX case that can accommodate most things you want to install.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Outside
3. Physical Look - Inside
4. Installation and Conclusion
