SaharaGaming H600B

[testman78]

Introduction

Young brands always require special attention due to current trends in the PC component market. Some companies make an impact by producing and creating "special" products and others, well they produce cheap Asian copies. The latter might be a bit tedious to deal with sometimes, but the special ones are certainly a pleasure to take a look at. SaharaGaming is one of those young companies on the good side of the spectrum, with some interesting products over the last 12 months. For some time now SaharaGaming has been offering housings in a lower price segment. With the SaharaGaming H600B, the manufacturer wants to expand its product range with a midi tower that is in the midfield in terms of price. Every product we've seen from the company has been excellent and competitively priced. Can their new H600B chassis keep that trend going? I certainly hope so.



A quick look at the specifications:




Packaging & Contents

SaharaGaming ships the H600B in a brown box with an full-size image of the front of the chassis.



You will find detailed specifications and a sticker to let you know which model is inside on each side.



Two thick Styrofoam spacers protect the H600B from damage during transport, while a plastic bag keeps fingerprints and light scratches away.



Out of the box, you will find screws, five velcro ties, and a speaker to have been included. There is also a simple manual to get you started.






A Closer Look-Outside

Once unpacked, we see a little better what the chassis is all about. The SaharaGaming H600B offers a classic look. The chassis is made out of a steel structure with meshed front bezel. Measuring 470x230x390mm, it isn't too large.



The chassis uses a mixture of steel, ABS plastic, and glass to create a very clean design. It is quite simple and understated, which is perfect for these materials.



You will probably already have noticed this, nice light tinded tempered glass. When we flip the unit around we can see the right side panel a little better.




The right hand side of the case is unspoiled, with just a solid, smooth side panel, just how we like it.



At the front there are air inlets on the sides for cooling.



The strips at the right and left side are a brushed aluminium effect however they are plastic.



You will find all the connectivity on the front's top edge. The I/O panel consists of two USB 2.0, one USB 3.0, and the usual audio connectors, along with the power and reset buttons. SaharaGaming also includes an LED toggle button, which isn't hooked up to anything but allows you to expand your case lighting with your own controller. A connection for USB type C is missing, but in this price class this is also a rarity so far.



The top cover is magnetically attached and can be easily removed by hand. However, the cover is quite susceptible to signs of use, especially wrinkles or creases.



Underneath it are plenty of mounting holes for either two 120/140 mm fans. This also translates into radiator support of up to 280mm radiators.



In the rear, things look quite traditional for the most part. The rear gives us a 120mm or 140mm Radiator/Fan mount. At the bottom you can house a PSU up to a good 230mm width.



Below it we spot 7 expansion slots. However, these must be aborted and are then permanently removed. There is a slider to release the main side window once the screws are removed, strangely this is not repeated at the cabling side where there is just a notch half way up to get your fingernail behind. The panels did come off easily though.



The power supply area has a basic removable filter over the grille. There is a small unfiltered air intake at the front which may bring in some dust. We can also see two screws holding in the HDD cage.



Typically I do not have a foot fetish, but that is the right stuff right there. These are rubber suspended case feet, crafted in the a classy "hi-fi" look.




A Closer Look- Inside

To access the interior, simply remove the thumb screws to pull off the panels. There is also a slider to release the main side window once the screw is removed. Once detached, you will notice that the layout is as expected, with a metal shroud covering the PSU and a 3.5" drive bay for the cleanest-possible internal look.



In the main compartment is a solid metal shroud to hide the PSU and 3.5" drives. There are two openings to allow for the motherboard cable to be routed nicely.



Looking at the build bay we have space for up to E-ATX motherboards with a large cutout which helps with rear cooler clamping mechanisms.



There are various possibilities for cable routing. But unfortunately no openings are rubberized.



These are fairly large and should make routing easy. The lack of grommets also means things will not look as clean as they could in the end.



Taking a quick peek at the ceiling of the chassis reveals a simple but quite effective implementation which allows for two 140 mm or two 120 mm fans to be installed. You may also place a 280 mm radiator in the top as there is plenty of space to do so.



There are two openings to allow for the motherboard cable to be routed nicely.



All the cables within the C500B are of the default variety, but you will have to pull apart the audio and USB plugs as they come still attached as one big flat-band cable.



You may pry off the front panel to reveal a space for three 120mm or three 140mm fans. This also means that radiators of up to 360mm should fit within.




A large dust filter protects the entire front from dirt and grime. It is held in place by strong magnets so that you may easily remove it for cleaning without worrying about it coming off on its own.



Turning the chassis around, there are various cable-routing holes.



You have around 19mm worth of space to work with on the backside of the motherboard, which should be fine for most cable-management scenarios.



You you will find two 2.5" trays just underneath the big CPU cooler opening.



The chassis has mounting holes for up to two 2.5" drives towards the front of the chassis.



Underneath the shroud is one removable drive cage which may hold three 3.5" drives with traditional screws. The cage for the 3.5" drives can be moved slightly should you want a thick radiator in front or need the space for something else.



The PSU bay on the bottom of the rear uses rubber spacers that have been glued into place as resting points for the power supply.




Building the System & Finished Looks

Installing a motherboard into the H600B is quite easy as the spacers are pre-installed and one comes with a guiding pin, which has the motherboard fall into place effortlessly.



Next I went ahead and mounted the fans to the case. The 120mm unit in the back is an Pirate Duo Rings and set to push air out the back of the case.



In addition, we install two 120mm Pirate Duo Rings fans at the ceiling. Even when using 140 mm fans or a 280mm radiator, there is plenty of space for the motherboard components.



At the front we install three intake 140mm Typhoon Duo Rings fans. There is plenty of space for three 120mm fans here as well, or an 360 mm radiator setup if you like.



With a maximum CPU cooler height of 188mm and a maximum graphics card length of 380mm, it supports most standard gaming and multimedia setups.



As you can see, there is plenty of space for long GPUs, and because of the wider body, a large CPU cooler is no issues either.



Adding storage in form of SSD is easily achieved by taking of the metal trays and screwing the drive of your choice to them.




Once filled, simply put it back where you grabbed it from on the backside of the motherboard tray and and secure the thumb screw to keep it in place.



You may add two more SSD's by using the specific mounting locations.



The steps to include three 3.5" HDD's are quite similar as you may just take out the metal drive cage after removing the screws holding it in place. Underneath is where you go to remove the screws holding the drive cage in.




3.5" drives may be mounted with traditional screws.



With that done, slide cage back into place.



There is not much to say when it comes to the PSU as you are just meant to slide it in before securing it with four black screws.



There is plenty of space for long PSU units.



In the rear, the cable mess is nicely hidden and contained with plenty of space next to the PSU.



The big feature of the H600B is undoubtedly the lighting.



With the glass panel back in place, the SaharaGaming H600B continues to make a very clean impression.




Once turned on, the rainbow effect with the RGBs is still the coolest aspect in my opinion, and the H600B runs a good compromise between the brightness vs. effectiveness of the lighting element in the chassis. On top of that, SaharaGaming has done a good job with the diffusion, so the LEDs don't pop out too much. In the rear, you can see the glow of the rear fan, and everything is where you would expect it to be with a chassis of this layout.





Test System & Methology


Processor: Intel Core i9-9900K
CPU Cooling: Noctua NH-U12A
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Pro
Memory: 16GB (2x8GB) T-Force Pro Dark @ 3600 MT/s
Video Card: Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Super
PSU: Thermaltake Smart 750W
SSD: 240GB PNY CS1311 2.5-inch SSD
OS: Windows 10 Pro x64



Software:

CPUID HW Monitor 1.23
CPUID CPU-Z 1.65
Prime95 v27.1
Furmark 1.11.0

I am testing the SaharaGaming H600B performance as follows:

We installed three intake 120mm Pirate Duo Rings fans at the front. We installed also an 120mm Pirate Duo Rings fan at the back. The Phanteks Eclipse P400A, BitFenix Nova Mesh TG and Kolink Observatory RGB have their own same fan/s configuration.

Room temperature is kept at 22C throughout my tests.
The CPU Fan is set to 100% to eliminate inconsistencies as a result of PWM control.
Idle temperatures are obtained after booting the PC and idling on the desktop for 30 minutes.
CPU load temperatures are obtained after running Prime95′s Small FTTs test for 15 minutes.
GPU load temperatures are obtained after running Furmark's Burn-In Test for 15 minutes.


Results-Temperature

In it's stock configuration, the SaharaGaming H600B performs admirably, achieving 71 degrees celsius across both the CPU and the GPU. We're not seeing any crazy results here under load, likely suggesting that the stock fans are working sufficiently in contrast to other chassis.




Final Thoughts

The H600B remains a fairly compact chassis despite the fact that you may house even an E-ATX motherboard in there. The workmanship is on a very good level and the choice of material is convincing. The housing is visually successful and looks modern and young thanks to the RGB lighting. Especially the extreme diversity of the lighting settings know how to please. We really like the pairing of the front panel and cooling fans adds some depth to the overall look. Having the ability to switch to different modes and colours on-the-fly is a convenient feature to be included and this functionality adds value to this chassis. Storage wise you'll have plenty of options in the form of four SSDs and three HDDs. The room separation between the power supply and mainboard areas and the well-placed cable bushings allow very good cable management in the visible area. The closing of the right side is possible without problems even with a large amount of cable with good laying. The interior also has a lot to offer: Graphics cards up to a length of 380 mm, PSU's up to a length of 230 mm and CPU coolers with a maximum height of 188 mm fit in without any problems. And any type of water cooling, can be installed without major problems. Putting the H600B through its paces in terms of cooling reveals a capable unit. Along with this type of design does come the associated noise but this is the trade-off that system builders have to settle for. There are niggles, though, such as lacking of USB type C connection and the flimsy PSU filter. Even the PCI slots that cannot be remounted should cloud the overall picture somewhat.



The SaharaGaming H600B definitely gives you a lot of case for your money, as it offers solid cooling - exceptional where CPU air coolers are concerned - plus attractive lighting, a glass side panel, plenty of water-cooling possibilities, and solid build quality all for just British Pounds 60(without fans and sync hub).