Home | Forums | Cool Case Gallery |Archive | Reviews | Articles | Guides | Links | VH Gear | Contests | Downloads | Contact
 
  Editorial: 2.5 Years+ with the Lapinator Plus  
 
 
  VIZO EZ-SURF Fanless Notebook Cooler Review  
 
 
  Thermaltake Massive 23 CS Notebook Cooler Review  
 
 
  Corsair 32GB Flash Voyager GT Review  
 
 
  Kingwin F-35 HDD Enclosure Review  
 
 
  OCZ Eclipse Double Laser Gaming Mouse Review  
 
 
  Thecus N7700 Ultimate NAS Server Review  
 
 
  Vantec NexStar Vault HDD Enclosure Review  
 
 
  NZXT Panzerbox Gaming Case Review  
 
 
  Thermaltake Massive 23 ST Notebook Cooler Review  
 
 
  Maxcube Amoris 6010 Case Review  
 
 
  ASRock NetTop Ion 330 Review  
 
 


 Prolimatech Megahalems
 Thermalright Venomous X
 Prolimatech Mega Shadow
 Noctua NH-D14
 Noctua NH-C12P SE14
 Noctua NH-U12P SE 2
 Scythe Mugen 2 Rev. B
 
CPU Coolers, Case Fans, Quiet Cooling, and Water Cooling

Get prices for...

 
 
Top Products

Motherboards
Intel | Abit
Gigabyte | Asus
Epox | Iwill
MSI | Shuttle
Tyan | Soyo
ECS | ASRock

Processors
AMD | Intel
Compaq

Cases
Antec | Lian-Li
Thermaltake
SilverStone
Coolermaster
ATX | BTX

Graphic Cards
ATI | nVidia

Memory
DDR | DDR2
Corsair | Crucial
OCZ | Patriot

Sound Cards
Creative Labs
Turtle Beach

Hard Drives
Seagate | Hitachi
Western Digital | Maxtor

Monitors
Viewsonic | Dell
Samsung | Apple

CD & DVD Burners
Plextor | Lite On
Sony | LG

 
 

 
Best viewed @ 1024 x 768 and higher

Sigma La Vie Case Review
Date Published:
05-22-2008
Written By:
Stygian
Edited By:
Diceman
Provided By:
Sigma
Where to Buy:
Sigma
Discuss Article:
VH Forum link
Pages: 1 2 3

Getting Inside:

With the use of thumbscrews on the side panels getting inside the case is a breeze. The side panels slide back about an inch and then come off and you'll have to remove both to install drives into the case. Each side panel has a small handle to make pulling them off easier.


Thumbscrews.

Side panel removed.

With the side panel removed you can better see the 80mm side LED fan, which has been mounted to exhaust air from the case. As mentioned before, it might be better to set this as an intake since the rear 120mm fan already provides exhaust. The interior of the case is fairly spartan and not very flashy. Looking at the accessories you get, things are similar: only a power cord, manual and small bag of screws. You don't really need a lot of screws for this case since many of its aspects are tool-less.


Accessories.

Inside view.

The drive bays show case the same tool-less system as seen in the Sigma Luna case. With this system, you don't need to use any screws to secure the drives. Instead, you simply slide the drive into position and then lock a latch down; the latch inserts a peg into the screw hole to keep the drive from moving. It's quick and secure, but as we'll see, there are problems with this system when used to secure HDDs.


HDD bays.

Front 5.25" drive bays.

Side fan set to exhaust.

The HDD bays are positioned at the bottom of the case and the cage is sideways as compared to the rest of the drive bays. Any HDDs you put here will be right behind an optional 120mm fan, should you choose to fill that fan mount. However, installing a 120mm fan there is a bit tedious as you'll have to completely remove the front panel in order to accomplish that, but at least it is possible, unlike with the earlier Sigma Luna case.


500w PSU ratings.

PSU connectors.

PSU fan.

The PSU is nothing to write home about and though it's probably okay for a basic system, most people will want to replace it with something that doesn't look so generic or feel so light weight. Nonetheless, it does have an ATX 20/24 pin connector, 4-pin ATX +12V, one 6-pin PCI-E and 2xSATA connectors. Near the motherboard area you can see the rear 120mm exhaust fan and coupled with the PSU fan you can see that there will be a decent amount of exhaust. That's why I recommend perhaps switching the side fan to be intake.


Motherboard area.

Drive latches.

The other side of the case is unremarkable but you need to remove this side panel if you want to install external drives, since there are latches here that you have to use to secure the drives to the case. Additionally, you'll have to remove the other side if you want to remove the motherboard tray for installation.


Other side of case.

Front panel connectors.

Mobo tray screws.

The motherboard tray is nothing fancy, as it's one that doesn't slide out and support expansion cards as well. Instead, it only allows for mounting of the motherboard and you must put the tray back in the case before you install expansion cards. This is not to say that it's not helpful; on the contrary it's much easier to attach the motherboard screws on a removeable tray rather than inside the potentially cramped interior of a case.


Mobo tray swings out.

Mobo tray removed.

Same tear-out I/O panel.

Unfortunately, the Sigma La Vie has the same tear-out I/O shield that you must almost certainly remove. Having this makes absolutely no sense, as in 99% of the cases, your motherboard won't match up with it and you'll just have to use the motherboard-provided I/O shield. Having to tear out the one that comes with the case is just one more added trouble that you don't need.


120mm fan will fit up front.

Bottom interior.

As noted in the Sigma Luna review, one of the biggest disappointments was the inability to fit a 120mm fan in the front position despite the mounting holes being present. Thankfully, the La Vie doesn't suffer from this, as a 120mm fan will fit in place, though the front panel needs to be removed in order to put the screws in position.

<< Intro & Specs | Installation & Conclusion >>

 

Got News? Send 'em in!

.


 

  Quiet Computer Fans
  Quiet CPU Coolers
  Quiet PC Power Supply
  Noctua Fans
  Noctua CPU Fans
  Quiet PC Fan
  Quiet CPU Fan
  Notebook Coolers
  Laptop Cooling
 
Acoustic PC: Quiet Computer Hardware & PC Soundproofing

 - Computer Power Supply
 - Data Recovery
 - Raid Data Recovery
 - Data Recovery
 - Computer Forensics
 - RAID Data Recovery
 - Computer forensic
 - Data Recovery Services
 - Computer Forensics
 - Computer Liquidation
 
 
 
 

Copyright © 1999 - 2010 Virtual-Hideout LLC.
All other trademarks and copyrights on this site are property of their respective owners. All Rights Reserved.