Introduction
Today is a pretty special day for me, as we have the Aerocool Xpredator II chassis in for review. It has been over four years since I reviewed the original Xpredator chassis and it was one of the first chassis I ever reviewed here at eTeknix. Now with several hundred more chassis reviews under my belt, I’m eager to see how Aerocool have evolved their original design to meet the demands of the market in 2016.
A lot of the basics about this chassis are still the same, as it’s still a massive full-tower chassis, it still offers up support for XL and E-ATX chassis, and has a few of the same design choices. But there are certainly some improvements in the spec, such as the addition of more USB 3.0 ports, even more clearance for longer graphics cards, improved cooling support, more storage and in the name of modernisation, less 5.25″ drive bays, and a much more refined side panel design.
The chassis immediately looks cleaner than the old design, with a clear side panel window that offers up a great view of the main components, while hiding the storage trays towards the front of the chassis.
The top panel features adjustable fin design to help you tweak the airflow and noise suppression capabilities of the chassis.
Push the slider to the back, and the fins open up for better airflow.
Pull it forwards and they close up nice and tight, helping keep debris out of the chassis and reducing the amount of noise from your system.
The front panel is very well equipped, with four USB 2.0 ports, two USB 3.0 ports, a 3.5/2.5″ hard drive dock, HD audio jacks, as well as dual three-speed fan controllers; you won’t find many (if any) front panels that are this well connected without optional hardware.
The right side panel is just a plain white panel, but as with the rest of the metal work, it comes with a lovely powder white finish that matches up well with the lightly textured white plastics of the top and front panels.
The new front panel design is nice and sleek, with three 5.25″ drive bays at the top, each fitted with quick-release clips. There’s plenty of ventilation in the lower section, as well as some side vents for extra airflow. The front offers support for 2 x 120 or 2 x 140mm fans, but don’t worry as you get 2 x 140mm LED fans pre-installed.
Around the back, four rubber grommets at the top for water/cable routing, a pre-installed 140mm fan, 10 ventilated expansion slots and an ATX PSU cut-out.
Finally, we have a slide out dust filter for the PSU, as well as an extra mount for an additional cooler on the base of the chassis (internally, of course).
So only the central drive cage is removable? I have Predator 1 and nonremovable drive bays are the worst part of this case. If Predator 2 has only one cage removable, then it is still a poor design. Also it’s impossible to mount radiator with fans on the top (for instance to cool down CPU), there’s simply not enough room.
Hi WhyCry. I am ordering the case Xpredator II at the moment because it says it fits 280mm radiator on top (I ordered Corsair H110i extreme). Do you have this particular case or do you have the Xpredator original first model? Thanks. If it doesn’t fit the radiator I will return the case. Also my Asus mobo is very beefy at the top so I am sceptical :/ We see when I get the parts.
240 radiator and two 120 fans fit just,its very close and you need to to use 120 rear fan also.Great case otherwise