Test System

Assembly

Installing the motherboard inside the Silverstone SETA A1 is done traditionally, with screws and spacers. The cable-routing holes nicely line up along the side and top edge of the board, and the cutouts in the shroud are also quite useful in keeping things clean with the audio, USB, and I/O leads coming out where they should. There is plenty of room for large GPUs of up to 350 mm, as well as virtually any air cooler on the market of up to 175 mm.


Installing the storage units, you may simply pull the tray out of the case upon removing the thumb screw holding it in place. As you can see, both the 3.5" and 2.5" drives are held in place by classic screws, so you know things will stay in place no matter what.


The only gripe I have is the fact that the 2.5" drive is pretty far inside the tray, which makes connecting things up a bit more difficult than it could be, as the mounting holes for the SSD could simply be moved towards the edge of the tray a little more. That having been said, it is great to see that Silverstone chose to make the most of all the space by allowing for both drive sizes to be installed simultaneously.


Adding an SSD to the metal tray is something we have seen many times over as you simply remove the thumb screw and use traditional methods to secure the drive. Once screwed down, simply put the whole contraption back in its place.


As with GPU and CPU cooler compatibility, PSU compatibility is great as well. Silverstone advertises up to 180 mm for PSUs, which means you can throw most of what the market offers into the SETA A1 without having to worry about fit.


Last but definitely not least, the RGB controller may be installed by connecting the SATA cable and RGB connector. It may be placed wherever you like to ensure you can reach the button if you opt not to re-purpose your reset switch instead. It has magnets inside its housing, so it should stay in place nicely.


With everything installed, the cable management is clean considering the well-placed routing holes. As you can see, I have placed the RGB controller on top of the shroud at the bottom-right corner of the motherboard. In the rear, it quickly becomes apparent that the well-placed zip-tie mounting hooks allow you to keep all the cables away from the grommet-less openings, which really helps keep things tidy.

Finished Looks

With the system turned on, I was expecting to see the visible glow of the RGB strips, but the studio lighting was unfortunately too bright to really capture the glow properly. There is a bit you can see from the bottom strip, as its illumination bounces off the white table. A power button lights up white to let you know that the system is up and running.


Thanks to the clear glass side panel, you can clearly see all the parts within the system, which looks great because of the well-framed panel without any mounting screws sticking out of it. In the rear, everything looks pretty traditional with all the cables properly attachable.