Supermicro is better known for its server business, but it appears that company has decided that 2015 is a great year to launch a gaming line. The company started with some computer cases which included the Supermicro S5 model and also launched a few gaming motherboards.

Exterior

The Supermicro S5 with its red color lines and brushed aluminum front looks polished and classy. The company used a high-quality brushed aluminum finish that is visualy appealing. The top of the front of the chassis includes two USB 3.0 ports, a headphone port and a sound microphone port. A reset button and on/off button and also on case's front panel.  All ports and buttons ease to access from any direction.

The chassis include a pop-out panel at the bottom containing a dust filter and a pair of fans. The filter covers two 120mm fans which can be upgraded to 140 mm in case you need more airflow.In our test, the two 120mm fans did a great job.

The top and bottom of the chassis have magnetic dust filters which are easy to remove. This is practical for cleaning, as computer case will get dirty, especially when sitting on the floor.

The right side of the chassis is fully closed to hide all cables, but on the left there are mounts for two 120mm fans or one 140mm fan. The back of the case includes a standard ATX opening with a 120 mm fan mounted. There is an opening on the bottom for two coolant line passages. One might need this for the water-cooling which would fit this case well. 

Seven PCI-E slots have openings for expansion cards are available on the back of the chassis. You will need one or two for a graphics card. The maximum GPU length depends on whether the dedicated 2.5" drive cage is installed. When the additional 2.5 inch drive cage is installed the maximal GPU length is 320mm, without the cage graphics card length can be up 420mm.

The combination of red plastic and brushed aluminum on front does get your attention. The black matte colour on sides is nothing fancy, but in this combination looks all right. I need to mention that on some models of chassis you can see bare metal inside, but our chassis was painted black inside too. Personally it looks much nicer when the inside is also painted in black.

Interior

Opening the side panel, you find the internal layout of this gaming case. The Supermicro S5 configuration includes two 5,25“ drive bays, four 2,5“ drive bays and six combination bays, which can house either 3,5“ or 2,5“ drives.

Each 5,25“ can be configured to accept a removable media drive, such as DVD or a storage devices, such are 3,5“ HDD.

The four 2,5“ bays are housed in a removable cage. If there are not enough drive bays for you the case ships with two additional removable cages, which can hold three 2,5“ or 3,5“ drives.

The 2,5“ drive cage is positioned in the middle by default to permit installation of longer graphic cards. It can be removed. You will need to do this if your graphics card is longer than 320 mm.

The steel used for the drive cages feels thin and does not look so strong. They do they job well once they are inside of the case.

The chassis can house up to nine fans. Two 120 mm or 140 mm fans can be mounted on the front of the chassis. The total of three 120mm or 140mm fans can be mounted on the top.

One 120mm fan can be mounted to the rear end and one on the bottom. Two 120mm fans or one 140mm fan can be mounted on the side panel of the chassis. That is a lot of cooling power.

The chassis also supports a water cooled CPU heat-sink. A 120mm radiator can be placed over the rear fan. There is a place just under the top of the chassis for the water-cooler 240mm radiator. The Supermicro S5 supports ATX, micro-ATX and mini-ITX motherboards.

Installation

The motherboard installation went smoothly and we noticed that the rolled steel is not everywhere, but there were no sharp edges. After mounting standoffs and with removed drive cages, we had plenty room to work. ATX motherboard fits nicely, but some bigger platforms like EVGA X99 FTW (150-HE-E997-KR) may block cable passages along the front edge. It can make problems for enthusiast builders who are using oversized motherboards.

With the motherboard in place, it was a simple matter to install power and cables. With some cable routing openings blocked, many were still usable with soft grommets, it was easy to complete our build. The result turned out clean build with little effort.

Technical specifications

Type :                                                  Mid-Tower
Motherboard Support :                        ATX, MicroATX, Mini-ITX
Dimensions (HxWxD) :                       18.3"x7.9"x19.7"
Space Above Motherboard :               2.0"
Card Length :                                     11.2" (16.5" w/o Center Cage)
Weight :                                              17.1 lbs
External Bays :                                   2 x 5.25"
Internal Bays :                                    6 x 3.5", 4 x 2.5"
Front Fans :                                        2x 120mm (2x 140mm)
Rear Fans :                                         1x 120mm (None)
Top Fans :                                          None (3x 120/140mm)
Left Fans :                                          None (2x 120/1x 140mm)
Right Fans :                                        None (None)

Conclusion

When you say the name Supermicro most of us think about server cases and racks, which can hold a lot of hard drives from top to bottom. More affordable and light gaming case such as S5 is something new from Supermicro. It is never easy to get to a new market segment but Supermicro build itself a nice team of gaming component expect that can help in the process. For a first mid tower, Supermicro S5 looks good but there is place for improvement. One can have a feeling that there is more than meets the eye.

The Supermicro Gaming S5 mid tower chassis looks very appealing from the front and the removeable magnetic dust filters are a nice touch. However when you look at the case from the side it will look like most other closed computer case. It would be nice to see a window, to be able to give us a glimpse inside of the machine. Bulding in the motherboard is very clean with all the cable routing openings, but we miss the possibility to look inside. There is little point of putting too many hours in all the cable management without the window.

The chassy offers a very good performance and flexibility, and with its $99 USD price, it is not the cheapest on the market. Few will find the need for all those drive cages unless you have gazillion of GB of "movies". There is definitely some space for a less expensive model with one drive cage at a more attractive price.

The S5 has the looks, the minimalistic design is definitely appealing. Many will like the brushed aluminum that gives it a premium look and feel and the red / black combination looks great. This is the first case of probably many to come from Supermicro, but the company is off for a good start.

chassis