Gigabyte 3D Aurora 570

Dan Chiappini limbers up for some fun with a flexible case.

Let’s face it, even within the enthusiast community there’s still some hesitation about putting thousands of dollars of your faith in liquid-cooling systems. Despite a proven track record, the risk of your PC full of precious technical gadgetry being flooded by a dodgy seal or a split pipe is enough to turn people off. Enter the Gigabyte 3D Aurora 570, the perfect case for dabblers and geeks strong of will, but who fear the move away from air-cooling.

Sizing up at 205 x 522 x 570mm and 8kg it’s a bit larger than your average midi ATX case, but uses the space to cram in five 5.25” drive bays, room for a pair of 3.5” drives and five hard disks with the included toolbox removed – or two if you leave it in. It’s about 10 percent larger than the last Aurora model, with the internal dimensions giving you plenty of room to get creative with cabling, and the snap panel helps secure strays without needing to get freaky with a packet of zip ties.

The body is aluminium, but is offset by the heavy steel lockable door. It’s a welcome change from the flimsy plastic doors, secured by pins that break during transport and everyday optical drive use.

Gigabyte has taken a firm stance on putting quality first, and in doing so you’d be hard-pressed to find a rough surface inside the chassis, keeping the blood sport to a minimum. Tool-less design is also the order of the day, with slide rails for all your drives and a single-hinged metal strip securing cards by the backplane. This case has been specifically designed to work best with the new revision of the 3D Galaxy II kit, and even includes mounting holes on the bottom of the case for the reservoir. The back panel has two pre-drilled outlets with grommets for passing your water-cooling tubing through.

The extra space inside goes a long way for tube weaving if you opt for the liquid route; if it’s not your thing, it’s still a great case for an air-cooled machine, giving you the option to upgrade to a water kit down the track. The sheer size also means there’s plenty of space past the edge of the motherboard’s PCB to install those pesky longer length graphics cards like the GeForce 8800GTX.

Three 120mm fans adorn the case. One is mounted behind an intake on the front and helps cool the drive bay, while two exhaust fans on the rear also line up with the radiator of the Galaxy kit to further cool water as it runs through the loop. All three fans have the obligatory blue LEDs for that bling look. No PSU is included.

In the box you’ll find two side window options. Default is a chain mail style panel for ventilation, but you can easily pop and swap it using a screwdriver for the clear Perspex look, and to show off your box’s guts.

It also includes a front projection LED system to display your own logo, or if you’re a total fanboy, Gigabyte’s. It’s not going to put Lian Li, Antec or Cooler Master out of business, but it’s a nifty little extra that’ll add a quarter-inch to your e-peen when you’re showing it off to mates.

The 3D Aurora 570 does a great job either as an air-cooled system in an oversized case or as the perfect companion to Gigabyte’s 3D Galaxy II water-cooling kit for those who dare to take the plunge. The size and bulk make it a bit big for regular LAN goers, and you may need to clear some desk space due to its size, but it is the perfect case for those who crave component legroom, with the option to grow alongside the user. Best of all it costs about the same as your average basic enclosure.