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The Side Panel

The ports are located on the right side of the case, as seen from the photo below. I am personally not a fan of side mounted ports, since I do not want the case manufacturer to determine where I am supposed to place my case. For example, if the case is inside a computer desk where there is a pre-set amount of space, side mounted ports don't work very well. Had the ports been front mounted, this should never have been a problem.

As you can see, you get a 6-pin Firewire port, 2 USB, headphone and microphone jacks. Also pictured is the lock. The lock is something that Gigabyte has done right. Whereas Thermaltake has had the problem of using generic keys in their locks, it appears that Gigabyte's keys actually have unique notches to them, which improve security instead of just providing the image of security.

The Other Side Panel

The side where the windows usually are, in fact, does not have a window. It seems in the past year, the idea of putting windows in cases is becoming less common, with many top end manufacturers going with a wind tunnel or better ventilation in favor of the flashy and less useful windows. In the case of the Aurora, Gigabyte has done exactly that - a case that has (half of) the side panel completely peppered with ventilation holes for today’s higher wattage graphics cards and CPUs. Fear not, Gigabyte has also installed dust filters to limit the amount of dust that enters through those holes. Keeping them clean will be your responsibility obviously.

If you take a look closely, you see that the side panel also has a lock, which thankfully uses the same key as the front door. (Of course, being the flip side of the panel, you can only see the back side of the lock - but the keyhole is there).

The Back

This is where it gets interesting. Now you can see what we mean when we say that this is a big case. Whereas most cheapo mid ATX cases only have space for a 80 mm rear exhaust fan and most better ATX cases have space for a 120 mm fan, the Aurora actually has the screw holes to install two 120 mm fans (and in fact has 2 LED fans preinstalled for you). If you look at the size of the PCI card slots, you can also get an idea of how thick this case is. In short, this is as close to a server case as you’re going to get before the line blurs.

Another thing of interest - if you look next to the expansion card slots, you see two black rings. These black rings are actually made of rubber, and are designed for watercooling pipes. This is the first case we've reviewed that has paid such attention to the needs of new-age watercoolers. However, this should be no surprise, since Gigabyte makes watercooling solutions, which are guaranteed to work perfectly in this case.

The Front Panel

There is room for five external 5.25 inch drives, and 2 external 3.5 inch drives, plenty of room for anything really. All of this is hidden behind a door, including the power and reset buttons. Under the door is the intake for the front 120 mm fan.

The nifty part of the front is that the LED from the fan can illuminate a logo onto the ground (or desk). The principle behind it is simple - light cannot penetrate black, so by using a stencil, which can be found here, you are able to project any word or image onto the ground. Nifty trick, and is probably why the bottom half of the case sticks out a bit.

The Top

As you can see, nothing spectacular on top this time around.