Aerocool DS (Dead Silence) Case Review

[grokem]

1) This case isn't too flashy. Alien angular shapes with neon lighting and windows are what I consider flashy. This case in almost any color will look sophisticated and elegant to my eye because it has a great shape that doesn't look like it will attack you and is a single color that doesn't glow.

2) I love so many of the details. The compartmentalization of hot and cold is a growing trend that while hasn't made a huge difference in cooling, but I still like to see. The fact that you can remove the 5.25 and 3.25 external bays is huge! So many cases don't allow such an obvious feature given that most external bays aren't used anymore. The ability to have an open or closed top. Etc.

3) I want to see an mITX version of this case!

4) Hopefully for the mITX box they will remove the external bays. This would really help the case look better without breaking up the front with slots as well as allow them more flexibility to make the case much smaller.

5) It's hard to complain about the PSU space when you put a 700watt PSU in a micro-ATX case. There are a ton of very good 14" PSUs out there that would have been a breeze to install.

 

[Onus]

Grokem, I agree with all those points except #4. I still like having an optical drive, and I could put a card reader in the 3.5" slot.

 

[f-14]

i have a a 1970's table top fan quieter than this thing.
looks like a box only Mac OS X users could love

 

[Beitzel15]

The biggest downside I see is the lack of space to run SLI/Xfire.

For the money, the best M-ATX case I've seen is the Corsair 540 for $130-$140.

 

[DarkSable]

The biggest downside I see is the lack of space to run SLI/Xfire.

For the money, the best M-ATX case I've seen is the Corsair 540 for $130-$140.

Go check out CaseLabs' Mercury S5. Beats the Corsair hands down.

 

[brightside]

those ARE pretty neat looking and clean cases for minis.

 

[Crashman]

The biggest downside I see is the lack of space to run SLI/Xfire.

What do you mean?

 

[ninjustin]

Does this case actually have enough room for two video cards? I'm looking for something like this but with room for say two of the Ice 7950's Looks like it would be close.

 

[Crashman]

Does this case actually have enough room for two video cards? I'm looking for something like this but with room for say two of the Ice 7950's Looks like it would be close.

You can find Micro ATX boards with two slots spaced in positions 1 and 3. That type of board can hold two double-slot cards. Airflow to the first card is restricted, but Tom's Hardware has done similar builds in the System Builder Marathon.

 

[kraft_mkd]

I put on hold my order because of this case. I like mATX Prodigy-M but IMHO something is wrong with their airflow solution. Too much air pushing and noise. Water, yes,but air? No.

 

[Cyberoam]

I've got the Prodigy and for a Mini ITX case, its HUGE... but I knew that and I got it for the HDD and cooling capabilities. The new Prodigy M which can fit a M-ATX doesn't appeal to me AT ALL coz it loses so much just to fit a bigger MoBo!

I wanna upgrade to a M-ATX system with adequate cooling options with enough HDD storage and this case is perfect. I think this Aerocool DS Cube has a way better layout than the Prodigy M and with all the colour options, the design looks great to me.

 

[Cyberoam]

Also, if anyone's interested or doesn't know... the smallest high-end Mini ITX case around is the EVGA Hadron Air. It looks gorgeous to me but its a bit pricey coz of the slim gold standard PSU.