Sentey Optimus Plus Mid-Tower Case Review
By David Shields
Manufacturer: Sentey Inc.
Product Name: Optimus Plus
Model Number: GS-6000 PLUS
EAN: 812366022660
Price As Tested: $59.99 (Amazon)
Full Disclosure: The product sample used in this article has been provided by Sentey Inc.
If you haven’t heard of Sentey, you aren’t the only one. Despite having a large selection of chassis designs, gaming keyboards, mice, power supplies, and much more, you don’t really see their products on sites such as Newegg. The Optimus series chassis line is part of their enthusiast gaming series collection, a mid range option for low budget desktop builders that includes five cases.
This case, the Sentey Optimus Plus, features a large side panel window instead of fan mounts. Additional features include a fan controller, filtered intakes, a dedicated cooling fan for hard drives, and a SD card reader. These features come at an additional premium though when compared to other cases in the same price range. In this Benchmark Reviews article, I will discuss the Optimus Plus in depth and whether or not this is a good mid budget case for your next build.
Features & Specifications
| Case Type | Mid-Tower |
| Dimensions | 495mm x 190mm x 465mm |
| Materials | Plastic & Steel |
| Motherboard Support | ATX, Micro ATX |
| Drive Bays | Three 5.25″ / Five 3.5″ / 4 2.5″ |
| Expansion Slots | Seven |
| Cooling System | 1x 120mm Front LED (included), 1x 120mm rear LED (included), 2x 120mm top fan, 1x 120mm/80mm bottom fan, 1x 60mm slim for HDD tray (included) |
| Expansion Support | 270mm of GPU space, CPU coolers up to 135mm, CPU cutout 127mm, cable management space up to 9mm |
Optimus Plus Overview
We’ll start with the front panel of the Optimus Plus. It’s made entirely out of plastic with a glossy paint. Doesn’t look to bad, but plastic construction is always a turn off for some. Removing the front panel was difficult, and I ended up breaking one of the pins. At the bottom is a filtered intake for a single pre-installed 120mm blue LED fan, as well as a blue LED strip going top to bottom.
One side panel has a decent sized clear acrylic window that shows some of the interior, while the other side panel is plain. When I say it shows “some of the interior” it offers an excellent view of your expansions slots, PSU, and mess of cables, but that’s about it. The CPU is mostly out of sight. Both panels are made from a solid steel, and came off easily. It’s always nice to have panels that are easy to remove, especially on a budget case.
On the back, we find your standard assortment of expansion slots, a 120mm exhaust fan, and external water cooling grommets. What isn’t standard are the design of the expansion slots, which are apparently intended to be tool-less, or at least close. You can also see the other side panel with a raised area for cable management.
The top panel is made from plastic as well, with filtered mesh for a pair of 120mm fans. This mesh doesn’t cover both fan mounts, and in order to install fans you have to take the cover off (which means taking off the front panel too). The rest of the panel is solely for decorative purposes.
On the bottom is a removable dust filter for the PSU and bottom fan mount, along with an unfiltered mount for the 60mm HDD fan. Interesting concept, but being unfiltered and on the floor it’ll bring in a huge amount of dust should you mount it there. Note that if you install a PSU longer than 152mm, you won’t be able to mount a 120mm fan here, and any PSU longer than 178mm will block the 80mm mount as well.
The inside of the Optimus Plus is sized to fit ATX and Mini-ATX motherboards. When I saw it originally I thought cable management was going to be a nightmare due to there being only three routing holes. Pleasantly, I found out that it wasn’t too bad, and most of the cables were long enough to reach the board. The two exceptions were the six pin CPU and HD audio connectors, which were pulled quite tightly.
As there is no routing hole above the motherboard, you have to route the six-pin cable across the top of the board. Also, unless you like looking at a huge mass of cables through the window, get a modular PSU. Due to the high mounting on the motherboard, it isn’t possible to fit water cooling radiators on the top mounts. Because this is a more compact mid tower, GPU’s of up to 270mm can be installed, along with CPU coolers up to 135mm tall.
You’re next question is probably “how much cable management space to I get behind the motherboard?” Well, you get six millimeters of space behind the board. With the raised section of the side panel, you get an additional 3mm for a total of nine. Even so, I didn’t have to much trouble fitting the panel back on (granted I stuffed about half the cables into the HDD cages). You’ll note that you only get four tie down points, so you are rather limited organizing your cables.
The Optimus Plus is not particularly impressive or unique, but it gets the job done. It wasn’t too difficult to build in, and cable management was surprisingly painless for the most part. It does have its niggling issues though, and that holds it back from being an otherwise strong product.
Optimus Plus Detailed Features
The front panel features on/reset switches with a power/HDD activity LED, microphone and headphones jacks, one USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 port each, and an SD card reader. You’ll notice a little button on the first 5.25″ bay. This will press the open/close button of whatever optical drive you install, which will push open the panel. Its a nice touch to keep your case looking clean on the front.
This interior view shows the expansion slots. To install something in a slot you have to unhook the clip then twist/pull the blank out. I am unsure if Sentey intended the clips for holding expansion cards in place, but I found they didn’t fit my 750TI so I used some included thumbscrews.
The tool-less locking system for the 5.25″ bays is pretty simple. Oddly enough though, an extra mechanism is installed even though no 5.25″ slot is present. The product pamphlet lists one external 3.5″ bay, which may be what that’s intended for.
The hard drive bays are made from aluminum, and are actually pretty sturdy, especially compared to the usual plastic ones in budget cases. They can mount either 3.5″ or 2.5″ drives. However, when I installed my SSD I found that because it mounts in the middle of the bay, I couldn’t fit the power cable properly.
Finally, this shot shows the 60mm fan mount on one of the trays. You can install this on any of the trays, or below them at the intake vent. Hard drives don’t usually run at high temperature, but its an interesting feature to say the least.
The Optimus Plus does have a bevey of unique features that could potentially be attractive to a buyer. Whats nice about them is that they actually do work, and for the most part, work well. But again, some issues still exist, like the SSD mounts and tool-less expansion slots, so it’s not perfect.
Mid-Tower Case Final Thoughts
Sentey’s Optimus Plus is something of a mixed bag. It has definite advantages, but it has problems as well. Good construction, solid features (included same rare ones not found on most case designs) a mostly tool-less installation, and simple cable management are all great things in any case, especially a budget design. But nagging issues such as SSD mounting, cooling and expansion options, and several seemingly pointless design choices hold it back.
Optimus Plus Conclusion
The four fan mounts provide decent cooling for the price, although water cooling options are limited to the rear mount. Fan controllers are always a nice touch, although it can only control two fans. On the plus side, the included fans are pretty quiet, so long as you aren’t running them at full speed.
In case you haven’t figured it out yet, this case is designed with a certain Autobot in mind. The color scheme, front fan grille, and other details are all supposed to embody Optimus Prime. Well, last I checked Prime wasn’t mostly black, but I can envision a pretty nice looking system with red, blue and chrome components. It’s a decent looking case, and doesn’t mark up or collect dust as badly as some, but I think Sentey was trying to be simplistic while not going overboard. Unfortunately, the result really didn’t accomplish either. You’ll either choose it for the looks or want to throw it under a truck.
Plastic bodywork, steel structure. Pretty standard for a case in this price range. Aside from the minor mishap with the front panel the whole case is pretty solid though. I especially like having hard drive bays that aren’t the usual cheap plastic brackets in this price range. I still don’t quite understand the expansion slot system, but since it works with or without their design, it’s sufficient.
This case has got a lot of little gimmicks and interesting additions, but are any of them actually worth anything as far as functionality goes? Well, that depends. The expansion slots can potentially be used without tools, but its not easy and they might not be compatible with all cards. The 60mm fan is a nice touch, but you don’t need cooling for hard drives really. Bottom fan mount can’t be used with larger PSUs like me Corsair HX750, and finally the SSD mounts on the 3.5″ bays made it very difficult for me to plug any cables in, so its actually just sitting loose on the tray. So honestly they function, but are the worth the extra premium?
Available online for $59.99 (Amazon), the Optimus Plus is not the greatest value. A lot of great mid towers exist for this or less, such as the Rosewill Challenger, NZXT Source 210, Cooler Master HAF 912, and Corsair Carbide 200R. The only selling point over it’s competitors is really the looks, extra dust filtering and card reader for those who don’t want to buy a 5.25″ bay version.
The Sentry Optimus Plus is not a bad case. It’s got a solid construction and a few useful features. But when so many quality cases exist in the budget market, does the Optimus Plus really stand out? Buy it if you like the unique features, looks, and simplistic design. But if you prefer more cooling, customization, and expansion options, choose one of it’s competitors.
Pros:
+ Solid construction.
+ SD card reader.
+ Relatively cheap.
+ Unique gimmicks are actually usable.
+ Fan controller.
+ Mostly filtered.
Cons:
– Poor value in comparison to competition.
– Minimal water cooling support.
– SSD mounts poorly designed.
– Window isn’t well positioned.
Ratings:
-
Performance: 8.50
-
Appearance: 8.75
-
Construction: 8.75
-
Functionality: 8.50
-
Value: 8.00
