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Introduction
Sentey is new to Techwarelabs’s line of computer case manufacturers and have sent us their Arvina computer case for a review (GS-6400R). The first impressions out of the box are very good as this is a vibrant red color with nice lines. The rest of the construction initially looks well built and has quite a few desired features built into the case that have become a staple in the custom case market. Lets take a looks at what the Arvina has to offer.
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Features
Sentey lists a few of the main features that make the case unique from others on the market today. Of course they don’t list that the case has a rare eye popping red finish.
| Supports Motherboard E-ATX (33cm x 30cm) |
| 6 Cooling Fans Red included |
| 1 mm Steel SECC Chassis |
| Mesh Front Panel |
| Card Reader + 4 USB + E-Sata + Native Sata + Audio |
| Easy SATA drive connection without enclousures |
| 21.65 (L) x 8.42 (W) x 20.47 (H) |
Computer case market
The Arvina’s red finish has brought up a discussion amongst the staff causing us to list a number of cases on the market that are available in colors other than gun metal gray or plain black. Surprisingly, it turned out to be a pretty short list. Let this be a wake up call to case designers; black and gun metal cases with acrylic windows are a dime a dozen. Manufactures like Lian Li with their new Anodize Red Color came to top of our list for being unique and desirable other ones listed would be the InWin Allure for the case that touches on artistic side. I’m sure we are not alone when we say we’d like to see more colors in the computer case market… right?
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Closer Look
So let’s take a closer look at the Arvina to see what features it comes with.
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| The front of the Arvina is a full metal mesh, not plastic like some manufacturers. | The side of the Arvina does not have a window which seems to be the norm for cases these days, but rather it has a raised vent with graphic. |
The Florida sun did make the case appear a little lighter than it looks indoors, but the red paint does grab your attention for sure. The raised vent side is made of plastic and is pretty rugged. The side panel, like most of the case is made of metal.
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| The top two 5 1/4″ drive bays are outfitted with spring actuated doors which will conceal your ROM drives from view, so if you happen to have a ROM drive that has a white bezel you are not out of luck. | It is quite nice that the case comes with two doors built into the case. Though if you want to install a drive bay accessory to monitor the case, you will need to use the third bay down from the top. |
To maintain the red and black theme and also to keep the front of the case uniformed, the Arvina comes with built-in ROM drive access doors to hide the ROM drives from view. Also, the fans have a dust collecting mesh that can be easily removed and washed by hand. There are also dust meshes for the optional fans.
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| Inside the front panel is a large 140mm fan | The Arvina is outfitted with a removable HDD cartriges that can be quickly removed by a flip of a latch and also the entire five drive bays can be removed as one unit with a flip of a one latch too to give you access to the back of the 140mm fan. |
The inside front panel fan is a 140mm fan which is pretty standard for custom cases and with this large size comes a default quiet operation. Located just behind the 140mm fan are 5 drive bay trays which are removable by the flip of a red tab. These drive trays are pretty nice but with the extra material of the tray we would assume the tray would obstruct the air flow from crossing the bottom the drives. The trays do have holes in them to allow air to flow through, but it still looks like a restrictive design.
Closer Look Continued
We really liked how easy it was to remove the HDD cage. With just s flip of a switch the entire cage is removed.
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| The five HDD trays are easy to remove with a flip of the red lever on each tray. | The HDD cartridge can also be removed from the case to access the 140mm fan. |
The innovation of such a design is nothing less than impressive. The ability to easily remove drives and access the case without tools it simply awesome. Though removing the entire 5 tray unit would likely not happen often, it’s still a really handy concept.
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| Each of the 3.5″ drive trays also support the ability to mount 2.5″ drives with mounting holes on the bottom of the tray. | Shown here is the bottom of the HDD tray |
The five removable tray are designed to handle 3.5″ and 2.5″ drives with mounting holes located on the bottom of the trays. Once the drive is mounted the tray simply snaps right back into place. As we stated earlier, the “tray” design appears to be restrictive to air flow.
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| Another unique feature to the Arvina is the GPU fans located on a swing door on the side of the case. | The GPU fans swing out of the way with a press of button. Also once the door swings open the power to the fans is switched off. |
The GPU fans on the swinging side door can be placed at specific heights for the graphics cards. These fans are also controlled by an on/off switch on the top of the case which we will cover a little later in this review.
Closer Look Continued
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| Seven PCI slots which are tool-less design | One 120mm fan located at the top of the back panel to exhaust the hot air from the case. |
The back of the case is outfitted with seven tool-less PCI slots. The back of the Arvina also includes a 120mm fan to exhaust the hot air from the case. Shown at the bottom of the left photo is a small tool kit that comes with the case. Though the case “is tool-less” the case does come with this small kit with a I/O gate, small screw driver and a small micro fiber swatch to wipe the finger prints off the case. The small tool kit snaps into the frame of the case for easy storage.
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| The bottom of the case is outfitted with six rubber feet to assist with reduction of vibration noise and also have large vents to pull in cool air from outside of the case. | The inside bottom has two openings to the bottom for the power supply and another 120mm fan if the consumer wants to add another fan in the future. |
The bottom is unique because it has six rubber feet to help reduce noise. One more item that is unique to this case is the option of installing an after market 120mm fan.
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| Inside the top of the case is two 120mm fans | The top of the case is meshed for the exhaust of the two 120mm fans |
The top of the Arvina comes with two 120mm fans which exhaust the heat of PC components out the top of the case. The outside of the case, like the front has a removable filter that can be washed to assist with keeping your PC components clear of dust.
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The Right Side and the Top front up close
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| The right side of the case is pretty blank and for the most part the side that we were disappointed to see nothing as far as a design. | Once the side panel is removed we see a well planned out design to run cables and wires to keep the motherboard side of the panel clean of clutter |
The right side is blank, but once it’s removed the layout is well thought out and executed. The interior on the right side has room to access cables on the backside of the CPU, which is very much desired in the market today.
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| The top front area of the Arvina includes the fore mentioned on/off buttons for the fans. One huge power button, audio ports for MIC and headphones/speakers and four USB 2.0 ports. | The unique feature that stands out is the built in card reader outlets for CF/MD, XD, SD/MMC, TF and MS/M2 |
Finally, to wrap up the Arvina case is the I/O ports on the top of the case just in front of the fans. The dust cover hide away plastic door slides out of the way to reveal four USB 2.0 ports, and two Audio ports for mic and headphones. The hide away cover is another dust preventer and functions very well. The USB ports being only 2.0 is a disappointment, but the case did come with a set of SATA extension cables that give you the ability to quickly and easily add an external drive to the computer; essentially this gives you the ability to run a drive to the motherboard and achieve normal HDD speeds. The extension cable is a “think out side the box” design concept, but it would be nice to have USB 3.0 ports instead. There is a lot a built in multi-card reader at the top.
Conclusion
Sentey Inc. has a real winner with the Arvina case. The design is well thought out and clean. The emphasis is on “clean” because of the dust collecting mesh that is hand washable as well as a clean look with it’s spring loaded front bay doors. The bright red color is very bold and attention getting and will stand out amongst the crowd. The only two draw back of this case would be the right panel looking too plane and the USB ports on the top being just 2.0. Other than those two points, this case is very much desirable. Nice job!
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