Assembly

Installing the motherboard is done by traditional means, just like you would in a normal chassis. Spacers and screws are used to secure the board and hold it in place. I have used a low profile CPU cooler, but you are able to install much taller units, so even 120 mm tower coolers should easily fit, thanks to the design of the cube chassis. The same goes for graphics cards, as there is planty of space, even for the longest units to be installed within the Gigas. Be sure to connect everything like SATA cables and so on to the board before continuing as the rest of the system components will block easy access to the motherboard.


The next step is the PSU. It is held in place by black case screws, with the fan facing the air vent on the side of the chassis. Interestingly enough, Xigmatek did not leave any space between the bay and this wall, which means that the fan grill of the PSU pushed against the side of the chassis quite hard. Xigmatek should move the PSU bay into the chassis horizontally by a few milimeters, that should do the trick and avoid any strain on the rivets holding everything together.


You will have to install the hard drives outside of the case, as these are placed into the cage of your choice first, and then put back into the chassis. Thanks to the rubber rings and use of special screws, vibration should be kept to a minimum here.


Last, but not least, fill the ODD cage and put the entire unit into the chassis. A single screw holds this one in place.

Finished Looks

Once the cover is back unto the case, the Gigas makes a good impression. On one hand its cube attribute makes it a bit easier to carry than a mid tower, but on the other hand it is bigger than other mATX cases from Lian Li for example. All the connectivity is easily accessible in the back and one can clearly see the fan from the power supply. A dust filter in this area would have been good as well - too bad Xigmatek did not think of that.


Another issue is the optical drive bay cover. The Samsung ODD - certainly one of the most wide spread manufactures for such devices - gets stuck every time when closing the tray. This is due to the fact, that there is a little bump in the cover in which the tray gets stuck on. This is something other manufacturers have already solved, so there is no reason why Xigmatek should not have been able to get it right from the start.