SuperMicro Gaming S5 Special Edition Chassis Review

Peter Donnell / 9 years ago

Final Thoughts

Pricing

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find pricing information from our preferred retailers at the time of writing and this is likely due to this being a fairly new product. However, the SuperMicro Gaming S5 does has an MSRP of around $94 and our contact at SuperMicro informs us that the regular version will be shipping at Newegg for this price in the USA with the “special edition” retailing at $99. The equates to around £60-£70 in the UK and SuperMicro are currently working on getting it stocked there too. This price puts it alongside the NZXT Source 340, Corsair Carbide Spec-03 and Fractal Core 3500.

Overview

I really like this chassis, even just from taking it out of the box I knew it was going to be a great case. It looks fantastic and for many people, that’s more than enough justification to want to build a system inside it. Of course, looks aren’t everything, but from a design perspective, SuperMicro have gotten off on the right foot. The build quality backs up the design nicely and the brushed aluminum front panel with its red highlights sets the chassis apart from the often plastic heavy models that dominate this price range. The only faults I can find with build quality is that the side panels are a little thin, giving them a little bit of wobble and making them tricky to put back into place. This isn’t an uncommon issue in this price range and fixing it would no doubt lead to a price increase, so I guess they have to balance this somewhere. The other would be the small cable routing grommets, but this is a minor issue and SuperMicro have put quite a few grommets in place, so it also balances out somewhere

The inclusion of large magnetic dust filters for quick and easy maintenance, as well as a set of three good quality 120mm fans is certainly a welcome bonus, giving you more than enough cooling performance for the majority of build types, right out of the box. I’ve seen many chassis in this price range that only come with a single fan, so this certainly adds to the value for money.

Fully modular, tool-free, hard drive bays are also a great addition. This gives you the option for front or bottom mounted cooling solutions such as radiators, clearance for ultra-long graphics cards and a whole lot more. Of course, you can leave the drive bays in and make use of all ten hard drive bays, making this a great solution for a workstation that requires a demanding amount of storage capacity.

Pros

Great aesthetics
Dust filters
Three pre-installed fans
Tool-free drive trays
Three separately removable hard drive bays
Routing grommets

Cons

Side panels are a little too flexible (not uncommon at this price range)
Cable routing space is a little tight
Limited availability

Natural

Routing grommets could be bigger

“Wether you need a reliable and versatile case for at home, or in the office, the S5 has got you covered. This is a good all-round product that would make a solid gaming system or even a workstation that required a lot of drive bays. Let’s hope SuperMicro continue to develop their new range, as they’re already off to a great start.”