Gigabyte Sumo Omega Gaming Chassis Review

Fresh out of the box, the mid-tower Sumo Omega has an aggressive look of a classic muscle car, with its dark body color and hard lines.  Black is currently the only color it is offered in but, even if you don't plan on breaking out the airbrushes, the Sumo Omega plays with some gloss and steel highlights to really accentuate the chassis.  

A recessed front panel gives the Sumo Omega a very clean and crisp look at a distance without ports, plugs, gauges and dials dripping from the front.  It's only when you get closer do you see what the Sumo Omega has to offer.  The front panel offers a pair of USB 2.0 and a pair of USB 3.0 plugs, SD/MMC/MC card reader, headphone and microphone plugins, fan controls for the 120mm's, and the LED switch for the lighting effects.   I was a fan of all the blackout plugs for the USB ports when not in use.  They're not only useful in keeping the dust out, but continue the trend of keeping the chassis looking very clean.  I think the star feature of the Omega's control deck though is the hot-swappable HDD drive bay behind the fan controls, great for moving data and media quickly to and from the Omega's drives.

The front panel contains three 5.25" media drive bays, and accessing them is easy as pinching the side clips together and pulling the bay door plug away.  The plugs themselves, along with the lining of the entire front face of the case are wire mesh and backed in foam to help keep the dust, and the decibels in your system reduced.  Each intake fan is also screened with a soft synthetic filter in order to further prevent contamination and dust from coming inside.  These dust filters are also all on slide out trays, making removing and cleaning the filters very easy.

The side panel has a stylish wire-meshed embossed pop-out, adding a little style, some dimension and more space for the LED's to illuminate from.  It also serves to highlight the monster 200mm LED lit intake fan.  The 200mm intake does have a removable filter on it as well, along with its own individual fan controls to adjust the speed.  One thing I notice when removing the side panel, is the embossed design seems in place to just house the filter, and does not appear to recess the fan much, if any.   So be mindful that the intake will eat up some headroom inside the chassis in case you were planning to install a heat sink taller than 160cm.

One trend I'm beginning to notice about this chassis is how modular the whole design is.  One example is the angled top plate of the Omega can be removed if desired by pressing the recessed clip in the back of the case and lifting it away, providing a nice wire mesh base close to the dual 120mm exhaust fans in case your dream build includes an external radiator that needs a flat spot to sit.  I find options like this refreshing, offering modding options should one choose to utilize them, or to incorporate the stylish design of the chassis as Gigabyte intended if not.

So, now that the outside has been thoroughly admired and examined, it's time to pop the hood.