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IN THE LAB^
REVIEWS OF THE LATEST HARDWARE AND SOFTWAREI
nstead of a god of the sea, Gigabyte’s
midtower Poseidon 310 chassis is a petite
prince. But that’s merely a reflection of
this case’s size, not its prowess. It clocks in
at 7.75”x17”x20”—small enough to fit into
that nook in your desk or the space under
your bed.
Even given its small size, the Poseidon
supports up to fi ve 5.25-inch devices. We’re
unsure why this case—or any case, for that
matter—still bothers with multiple external
3.5-inch bays. You get two helpings of them
on the Poseidon. We would have rather sac-
rifi ced these and an additional 5.25-inch bay
in favor of more internal hard drive space.Though we’re not complaining about what we
get for internal storage: three hard drive bays
with included rails.
The Poseidon’s tool-free approach elevates
this case above those that attempt to save on
production costs by using screws. All of the
rig’s key parts can be modifi ed in a very short
amount of time. Want to install a new optical
drive? Pop off the front grill, slide it in, and
use Gigabyte’s locking mechanism to secure
it in place. Need to replace your videocard?
Don’t reach for the screwdriver. Just unhook
the locking tab, swap the cards, and secure the new one in place. The fact that we never had
to remove both side panels to modify our rig’s
insides makes us squeal with glee.
We also appreciate the Posei-
don’s two blue 12cm fans. One
pushes air over the drives, the
other whisks it out of the case’s
rear. Additionally, the case’s
grilled side panel diff uses
the fans’ light into a pleasant
glow, but depending on your
vantage point, this panel can
actually obscure the case’s
inner light completely.
The Poseidon 310 does
suff er from a few imperfec-
tions. The front-panel support
is a touch anemic with two
USB ports and one FireWire
400 connector. The case’s
smaller size becomes ap-
parent when you try to stuff
a larger videocard into its
bowels. An 8800 GTX –size
monster will fi t, but you
aren’t left with much room
for cables on the card’s sides.
A lack of motherboard tray
cable-management holes
exacerbates the issue.
As a whole, the Poseidon
310 is a fi ne chassis. Only a
few missteps keep it from
ascending to the Mount
Olympus of cases, but we
wouldn’t scoff at a lesser god.- D A V I D M U R P H Y
Gigabyte Poseidon 310
Raise a trident in honor of this chassis
The LED fan on the Poseidon
lends the case’s interior a subtle
blue glow that’s further softened
by the case’s grilled side panel.VERDICT$100, http://www.gigabyte.com.tw8
Almost completely
tool-free; hard-drive-
bay cooling; rubberized
water-cooling holes.Slightly cramped on the
inside; no cable man-
agement options; few
front-panel connections.TITAN QUESTGIGABYTE POSEIDON 310KID ICARUS