Inside:

Front Panel Removed	Full Inside View	Drive Bays
Optical Drive Bay	Hard Drive Bay	Back Inside View

The interior of the case features a fully tool-less mounting system for all seven expansion slots, the five external 5.25” drive bays, the two external 3.5” drive bays and tool-less drive rails for mounting three drives in the three internal 3.5” drive bays. However, as you can also see in the pictures GIGABYTE does allow the option to be able to put screws in to secure the hardware. This is a nice option, especially if you installing a heaving set of SLI cards as seen here. At the back, you can see the tool-less latch-style retention system of the expansion bays. To the right of the expansion bays are the I/O plate and PSU mounting areas along with the included 120mm fan. The included fans use rubber mounts to keep vibration to a minimum. At the front of the iSolo case you will find the included 120mm intake fan. There is a gap between the fan and the drive bay. This helps push the cool air over the internal drives but does cost as much overall case air flow.

The front panel leads for the iSolo feature USB, Firewire, Audio, internal speaker, power switch. Missing are the reset and hard drive LED. I actually prefer a hard drive LED as it’s nice to monitor HD activity and a HD LED can often be a diagnostic device for the system. Also, the power switch lead is very short. It barely reaches the front right corner of the motherboard where the power switch header is usually located. Those were the only two minor deficiencies I found with the case layout. Located by the leads is a Molex connector for powering a blue LED that aluminates the bottom of the front bezel. There is also a three pin fan lead that actually is a splitter for both the front and back fans. These fans spin at low RPMs and do not draw much power. This enables you to plug in both fans into a single fan head on the motherboard.

Installation:

Mobo Installed	Video Installed	HD's And Video Zoom
Clip and Screw options	Optical Bay Clips	All Hardware Installed
Full Hardware Zoom	Full Hardware Backside

To install a 3.5” drive into the drive cage simply requires the attachment of two drive rails to your hard disk’s existing mounting holes, then slide it into one of the three available slots. The cage has holes between the three drive slots for cooling of the drives. To install the optical drives you must first remove the front bezel and remove the stickers covering the expansion slots. Once you have the bay cover and plate removed from the iSolo, installing an external drive is very simple. Slide the drive into the open slot with the retention bracket in the unlocked position and slid back. Line up the drive to where you want it and slide the retention bracket on the inside to the front of the case and lock it into place. Very efficient tool-less installation.

Even with the full complement of hardware installed, including the SLI video card setup, you can note the large open space available. Adequate space exists between the device bays and computer hardware to facilitate easy access to components inside the case. Anyone who has experienced sliced up hands while attempting to install hardware inside cramped quarters, will appreciate the space available inside this case. Even with power supply cords running in all directions, plenty of room existed to allow ample airflow as well.

Conclusion:

GIGABYTE has a budget case winner on its hands here. It provides a case that is very study and packed with features at a price that won’t drain your bank account. The cooling abilities of this case with the 120mm fans and mesh side were outstanding. It was whisper quiet, and cooled a comprehensive set of hot running hardware like a breeze (pun intended). The build quality was superb and the expansion options were right on the money.

The inside is spacious with enough room to install an internal liquid cooling system, and the option to mount an external system with holes already in place. No tools are required for installing drives or expansion cards. If you’re looking for a sturdy low priced case that fits your current and future needs, I can’t think of a better case for this price point. Thanks to GIGABYTE for providing this review sample. Go get yours from Newegg today.

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