SilverStone Seta D1 Review

Based on the same chassis frame as the Seta H1 we recently reviewed, SilverStone's $159.99 Seta D1 packs a far greater number of interior accessories that add up to a much broader-than-normal array of configuration possibilities—and at a lower price than the H1. Depending on your needs, this PC case might be the Seta to fill them. This ATX chassis can house oversize motherboards and has massive storage-installation flexibility that belies its plain exterior. And CD/DVD hounds, perk up: If you're an optical-drive or 5.25-inch-bay holdout, you've met your modern dream case.

A visual scan around the outside hints at the Seta D1's appeal, with its four removable front panels sized for classic 5.25-inch bay devices (optical drives, system status displays, fan controllers, and the like) and an accessory box so large that it fills the whole power supply bay. The ATX-standard seven expansion slots plus a two-slot side mount for vertical card conversions is carried over from the recent Seta H1, with which the Seta D1 shares its structure. This case has a solid left panel, though, so doing a vertical graphics-card mount here would be aesthetically pointless.

We also see something that doesn't appear often in largish mid-towers: Front-panel ports on the case's actual front panel. A four-pole (right out/left out/ground/mic) headset combo jack serves most recent headsets. Next to it are a USB 3.2 Type-C Gen 2x2 and two USB Type-A Gen 1 ports, while a reset button and power button with two level indicator lights are located opposite those ports.

While the top panel also has a magnetic filter sheet covering its fan mounts, we’re going to treat that location as an exhaust (no filter needed) when looking at the Seta D1's service options. These include a power supply dust filter that easily slides out from the bottom rear edge, and a front panel filter that's…well, a little more difficult to deal with.

Removing the front and side panels essentially turns the Seta D1 into the H1, or vice versa, if we ignore the plethora of screwed-on parts. Those screwed-on parts, though, are the D1's difference-makers. They include four internal 3.5-inch/2.5-inch trays (down the inside front), a dual 5.25-inch external device cage (above the four trays), and a dual-140mm front panel fan mount that keeps the external drive bays accessible, though a triple-fan bracket is also included. Since the drive trays generally use cables, the cable-opening plugs are not factory-installed on the Seta D1.

The front-panel dust filter may be removable (see the screws), but it's still encapsulated in a plastic frame that has a logo that probably shouldn't be washed. Like with the filter sheets captured within the mesh drive-bay covers, we’re recommending either compressed air from the back or vacuuming from the front to remove all that inevitable dust, dandruff, and pet hair that will collect.

Here's where specifications and reality begin to diverge: SilverStone says that the Seta D1 will support ATX motherboards up to 10.4 inches deep, or SSI-CEB, which is 10.5 inches deep, and not only are those depths different…they don't even reflect the total space within the motherboard area. Like the Seta H1, the Seta D1 has a full column of standoffs near the front of the motherboard tray to support the forward edge of SSI-EEB motherboards, i.e., the 13-inch-deep workstation giant we’ve come to know in the extreme consumer PC space as full-spec Extended ATX (EATX).

Supposing that you want to keep the internal drive bays, you’ll probably want to know that the actual space between the I/O panel and the installed bay adapters is 10.9 inches. That's enough space to swallow the 10.6-inch-deep Gigabyte X670E Aorus Xtreme, though Asus’ 277mm ROG Maximus Z690 Extreme and MSI's 277mm MEG X670E Ace might make contact with the installed cages. Maybe. 277mm is, after all, 10.9 inches. If you're buying this case for the drive cages and trays, be careful if you also will be installing an XXL-size motherboard.

One could, of course, remove all those drive bays and install any ATX-height board they wanted, including those previously mentioned 13-inch-deep models. Doing this gives users access to the 57mm of radiator space behind the front fan mount. Of course, the reason why you probably bought this case in the first place is those bays and trays, so think that through.

The Seta D1's opposite side has the two dedicated 2.5-inch trays and dedicated dual-3.5-inch drive cage found in the H1. Repositioning the drive cage in its forward position increases power supply space from 9.5 to 10.6 inches by reducing front radiator space from 57mm to 27mm. Builders who need "all the space" down there have the option of removing the cage entirely.

In addition to the four factory-mounted 3.5-inch/2.5-inch drive trays, the dual 5.25-inch external drive tray, and a dual 140mm front fan mount, the Seta D1 includes two more 3.5-inch/2.5-inch drive trays, one more 5.25-inch external drive tray, and a triple 140mm fan mount. Since the factory-mounted twin-fan cage protrudes into the lower two external drive bays, employing all four external bays requires removing the front fan mount completely. Switching to the triple-fan mount requires forgoing external bay devices completely, though removing the factory-installed external bay tray does make room for the two extra 3.5-inch/2.5-inch internal drive trays. Finally, fitting a front-panel radiator requires removing all of the trays that would block it: Removing all front trays even makes room to fit a 420mm-format radiator, as we found in our Seta H1 review.

Other devices shown above include (from left to right) a bag of M3 and #6-32 assembly screws, a bag of motherboard hardware with screws and standoffs, five cable ties, a cable grommet, two support brackets for GeForce RTX 30-series Nvidia graphics cards, bags of bracket and drive screws, several cable plugs, and four guide pins for the inward face of the 3.5-inch/2.5-inch drive trays.

Cables include 3-pin fan, USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 for the single Type-C port, USB 3.2 Gen 1 for the dual Type-A ports, HD Audio for the front-panel headset jack, and a front-panel button/indicator LED group. A third cable for the rear fan is included but not shown.

Our standard test components almost fit perfectly: Our graphics card was only 0.1 inch too long to fit with the removed drive tray installed, and our top-mounted 240mm-class radiator fit tightly against the 5.25-inch drive cage.

Without any side-panel windows or RGB on the chassis, the front-panel indicator LED is all that shows us visually that the system is running. Mesh panels on the front and top still allowed us to see our RGB components, but only when we cared enough to peer inside from those angles.

Here's a quick recap of the test components we used inside our Seta D1 test build...

One of the stranger differences between the Seta D1 and H1: the Seta H1's special 140mm-framed 160mm fans. Due to center bulge, they didn't even fit inside its own front-panel fan mount. The larger blades evidently gave it enough of an airflow advantage to push the Seta D1 to second place.

Both the D1 and H1 versions of SilverStone's Seta have the same exhaust fan, and we fit our AIO CPU cooler above the motherboard's voltage regulator identically in both tests, so it really makes sense that the two cases are matched in this metric. Both take first place over similarly priced competitors.

GPU temperature evaluation brings us back to the difference in intake fan, where the Seta D1 had 140mm fans and the Seta H1 had 160mm fans on 140mm-hole-spacing frames. Even though they’re only separated by a couple of degrees, the larger fans win and the smaller fans lose, with the results of both competing-brand cases falling in the center.

The Seta D1 is a mere one decibel quieter than the Seta H1, with all four cases so closely matched that cooling performance and hardware support will more likely be the factors that turn buyers for or against the product.

Performance and storage options here should certainly come into play; you probably won't be in the market for this case unless you want its unusual mix of storage talents, including the 5.25-inch bays. But maybe one deciding factor for you will be price? Had the Seta D1 included only the components that are factory-mounted, we’d expect to see it priced at $140 and targeted at that waning class of PC builders who still need to mount 5.25-inch bay devices. Alternatively, if it had included just the triple-fan bracket and a glass side panel, we’d have expected to see it priced at $140 and targeted at liquid cooling enthusiasts who would like to place a 420mm-format liquid cooling radiator up to 460mm long (tall) behind its front panel.

Instead, we’re looking at a set of installed brackets that we’d expect to add around $20 to a bare case, plus an accessory kit of swap-in components that's worth as much as the installed brackets. That makes the Seta D1 a fair deal in a way that the H1 wasn't. For value seekers, getting what you paid for only becomes a problem when you can't simultaneously use all those features you paid for, so just be sure that the D1 meshes closely with your vision for your PC build: mega storage, or mega cooling.

SilverStone's Seta D1 ATX chassis gives PC builders more drive and cooling flexibility than most cases we've tested in recent years. Storage hounds and optical-drive devotees will thrill to the counter-2020s design.

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