Zalman GS1000 SE is identical to GS1000, but made entirely in steel instead of being a hybrid aluminum/steel like the original GS1000 – thus being more affordable. The only feature that was removed on GS1000 SE was the hot swap connectors from the three lower hard disk drive bays. All other features are the same: four 5 ¼” bays and six 3 ½” bays for hard disk drives on the front of the case. The covers from the hard disk drive compartments are still made in aluminum.

Of course the change in material made a huge impact in weight, which increased from 26.4 lbs (12 Kg) to 38.4 lbs (17.4 kg).

The external plastic parts are available in two colors: black like in the sample we reviewed or titanium (dark grey).

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Figure 1: Zalman GS1000 SE case.

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Figure 2: Zalman GS1000 SE case.

This case comes with the stands shown in Figure 3, which are particularly recommended if you install a power supply with a 120 mm or bigger fan on its bottom part or if you install fans on the bottom part of the case. In Figure 4 we show GS1000 SE with them installed.

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Figure 3: Stands.

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Figure 4: Zalman GS1000 SE with stands installed.

In Figure 5, you can see the front panel from this case. As you can see, this case doesn’t have a front door. This case has four external 5 ¼” bays (two of them coming with 5 ¼”-to-3 ½” adapters) and what is really unique about this product is that the hard disk drive bays are located on the front panel (more on this later). There are two compartments holding three hard disk drives each.

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Figure 5: Front panel.