Hi everyone, hoping you are all keeping safe and well. I am back with another Sahara case review. Saraha seem keen to make an impact on the component market, putting out products and responding to feedback. So far we have seen some promising products that needed some improvement on quality and pricing. So today I have the Sahara Sea God H600b case on my desk, promising airflow and higher quality…
Let’s see what their latest chassis is like.
Sahara Sea God H600b Case Specifications & Features
CASE VARIANTS
- Sahara H600B without fan Black Edition
- Sahara H600B with 6 x 12cm Single ring fan and Sync Hub
- Sahara H600B with 6 x 12cm Pirate Turbo fan and Sync Hub
Model Number: Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â H600B12PT
Colour  Black
Dimensions: Â Â Â Â Â 390*230*470mm
Material Clearance: Â Â Â Â Â Â Â SPCC Steel, ABS Plastic 0.7mm
Product Weight: Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 6.5 KG
Motherboard Support: Mini-ITX, MicroATX, ATX,EATX
CPU: Â Â Â Â 188mm
PSU: Â Â Â Â Â 230mm
FAN SUPPORT
Front: Â Â 3 x 12cm / 3 x 14cm
Top: Â Â Â Â Â 2 x 12cm / 2 x 14cm
Rear: Â Â Â 1 x 12cm / 1 x 14cm
Fan Size: Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 12cm / 14cm
Fan Qty: Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 6
I/O PORTS
USB 2: Â 2
USB 3: Â 1
HD Audio: Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 1
LED Switch: Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 1
Reset: Â 1
DRIVE BAYS
Internal 3.5″: Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 3
Internal 2.5″: Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 4
External 5 1/4″: Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â no
Expansion Slots: Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 7+1
RADIATOR SUPPORT
Front: Â Â 360mm/ 280mm/ 240mm/ 140mm/ 120mm
Top: Â Â Â Â 280mm/ 240mm/140mm/ 120mm
Rear: Â Â Â 140mm/ 120mm
GLASS SUPPORT
Side: Â Â Â Â 1 x (gray tempered glass)
CLEARANCE
GPU: Â Â Â Â 380mm
Cable Management: Â Â Â Â Â Lowest Point – 17mm
Highest Point:Â 188mm
DUST FILTER
Front: Â Â 1 (included)
Top: Â Â Â Â Â 1 (included)
Bottom: 1 (included)
Sahara Sea God H600b Case Closer Look
The chassis arrives in a fairly sturdy box, featuring a drawing of the case, branding and some specifications on the box itself.
No you are not seeing double, the outer box features an almost identical inner box, this is I am told for better packaging to protect the case in transit. Inside the box Sahara have used the softer more rubbery polystyrene to reduce the amount of crumbled mess when unpacking, this also makes the packaging more reusable.
Once unpacked we have an airflow oriented case presented to us. The front bezel features lots of mesh and a design that reminds me of some server chassis on the market, albeit vertical rather than a 4U setup. The left side of the case is adorned with a smoked glass panel a popular choice for manufacturers at the moment.
Luckily for me the right hand side is not going to be showing off my mediocre cabling skills, a solid steel panel hides the more mundane components and cables.
The top of the case is fairly well populated and comes with a magnetic filter for the top grille. From left to right, Power Button, HDD and Power LED’s, Reset Switch, RGB Switch, USB 2.0, Headphone and Microphone Jacks, another USB 2.0 and finally a USB 3.0 Port. Not the latest and greatest but a good selection. I would have liked to see two USB 3.0 Ports on the top for better functionality especially as there is no extra cabling cost reducing USB 2.0 ports to one. A Type C port would have been better still.
The bottom of the case inclues a filter for the PSU fan, four Hi-Fi style feet and one screw to unmount the internet 3.5″ Drive Caddy.
The back of the case is nothing special and is actually disappointing as it features spot welded IO sheilds for the PCI slots, this devalues the chassis quite a bit and when building you have to ensure you remove them in advance of mounting the motherboard as there is a risk of scratching the board when removing them. We also have one of those sliding clamps which don’t really do anything to hold expansion cards in as they still have to be mounted with screws, this space would be better utilised with a couple of vertical PCI slots.
With the steel side panel removed we get a good look at the available cable management, drive bays and PSU mounting area. The PSU area is spacious and the front 3.5″ caddy is removable. Two very solid looking 2.5″ bays sit at the back of the motherboard. There are quite a few cable routing holes but no rubber grommets to keep the cables safe. The white box inside is the included accessories.
Inside the accessories box, we get a bag within a bag containing all the screws. We also get a motherboard beeper speaker, some narrow velcro cable ties and a nice little extra of rubber port dust covers for the USB and Audio ports on the top. Also included is a case manual in Chinese and English.
Inside the main bay checking radiator compatibility it was quite easy to slide a 280mm radiator into the space, a longer 360mm radiator will also fit just be careful with the tilt when angling it into position. If a radiator is to go below the PSU shroud level it should be no thicker than 30mm.
The Sea God has lots of space for radiators and fans in the top of the case. The case width allows for the majority of radiator thicknesses providing there aren’t any high motherboard heatsinks, something to be mindful of, but there’s a very clever set of mounting rails away from the motherboard set towards the glass side of the case. Here I have installed two 120mm Fans to give you an idea of space available.
A neat feature of this case is the front panel coming off completely without any wires feeding into the chassis, this makes very easy work of mounting fans on the front of the case which will have plenty of air through the front mesh grille.
Fitting three 140mm fans was relatively easy, it did require me to remove the drive cage which came out easily once the single screw underneath was removed. The cage has four rubber mounting grommets to help dampen drive vibrations which pretty good.
With the front drive bay removed the chassis can take long power supplies, this compatibility is limited in many cases these days so this is nice to see.
The rear 2.5″ HDD mounts unlock easily with one screw, very easy to work with featuring space to mount your 2.5″ drive any way up to take advantage of cable routing.
The cable management capability is pretty good and only big, thick clusters of cables will pose an issue getting the panel back on. The cutouts are there right up to E-ATX which is a great capability, just bear in mind remaining space for custom water loops, however with the advent of distro plates featuring pumps it is less of an issue. The Velcro ties fit great through the metal cutouts of which there is a generous amount. The Fan/RGB controller is reused from a previous Sahara review along with their fans so don’t expect these to be included, and unfortunately I had to use white tack to stick it to the case as the sticky pad that originally came with the hub only worked the once.
With components fitted the main chamber it looks very tidy, here we also get a view of the front magnetic filter reducing the amount of dust into the system.
Fully assembled and it’s fair to say that this case was very easy to build into, the only real annoyance was the welded pci-e covers. The steel is of a thick enough quality everything fit accurately and without previous issues of fan screws popping through the guide rails, so definitely a build quality improvement. The front panel side decorations are plastic but are painted well so as to look like metal.
With the computer powered on the Sea God H600b looks just as good (though remember the fans are not included). The vents, mesh and window make showing off your RGB stylings easy and airflow is absolutely not a problem. I do like this case for its aesthetics, and the materials are of an upper budget quality too that has to be borne in mind. It will house your components well without any glaring worries.
The Sahara Sea God H600b Case Review: The Verdict
Having built into the H600b chassis it was a mostly pleasurable experience, aside from those horrible spot welded PCI covers. The rest of the case was OK, nothing groundbreaking but still an attractive build option with excellent fan and radiator compatibility. Build quality is of an upper budget level, with the steel used being thick enough to take components without any distortion.
Space inside the case is decent with an E-ATX build absolutely possible along with cabling holes that would compliment such a build. Cable routing is very often overlooked when E-ATX capability is claimed it’s just a shame that the case has no grommets to at least cover the unused holes. Cable management around the back is fairly decent – you get a good selection of anchor points for the Velcro ties or normal cable ties. The power supply compatibility is great, with the removable front drive cage very well implemented, and the 2.5″ mounting cages also are easy to manage.
Overall this is a case that will not pose you problems with a build, even the mounting for the top for fans or radiators is set away from the motherboard to reduce the risk of falling foul of incompatibility with all bu the largest motherboard heatsinks. (Note: we didn’t come across any incompatibility, but prefer to err on the side of caution and suggest you check compatibility where possible before buying.)
What’s hot:
- Good airflow
- Easy to build in
- Excellent fan and radiator compatibility
What’s not:
- Spot welded backplanes
- No vertical GPU slots where there is room
- Priced too high
So with an OK build quality and some good features this case should be on it’s way to being highly recommended, but that recommendation comes with some caveats… The spot welded back plane parts are just a no-no, I have even seen very low priced budget cases use proper screwed in plates. The sliding clamp for PCI expansion cards does nothing other than waste space that could have been used for vertical mounting plates. The price at the time of review without any fans or controller is £59.99 making this an expensive choice, I did see some unknown suppliers with cheaper offering but we do have to beware of high shipping costs and availability.
The good points do outweigh the bad though, the little extras included such as the port covers and the great selection of dust filters leaves me thinking that this case deserves a silver award. If Sahara drop the price and think seriously about replacing those back plates it could fare much better. As it goes this is a good case if you can get it at a decent price.
Thanks to Sahara for sending a sample of the Sea God H600b Case in for review.
Hi does this board support true e-atx (300 x 330 cm ) or the fake gaming e-atx only ?
Measuring up my EVGA X299 FTW K that would actually fit , pretty tight but you would still be able to manage cables IMHO