Aerocool Dream Box Chassis Kit Review

Final Thoughts

Pricing

The Aerocool Dream Box is currently available from CCL Computers for £90.05, which isn’t exactly cheap, but when you open the box and realise just how many bits and pieces that you get for your money, it’s actually pretty great value. I’ve seen Lego sets with less in for more money, and the idea that you can make it into whatever you want, even if it’s not a PC case, is pretty priceless.

Overview

I’ve got to say it, the Dream Box is completely and utterly bonkers. It’s wildly impractical for most day-to-day users and it requires a level of creativity and patience to put together that not everyone will be able to commit to. However, I absolutely love this bonkers, wildly impractical, patience-testing pile of pipes of screws, because there’s really nothing else quite like it in the chassis market.

For most desktop gaming systems or office systems, there’s little practical benefit to what Aerocool is offering with this kit. For those who are looking to build a unique design to show off some cool hardware, such as companies who are building a demonstration system for an event, case modders, and even enthusiast overclockers and hardware testers/reviewers such as us here at eTeknix, there are tangible benefits, but they come at a cost.

A lot of the benefits of this kit can be solved by investing in a pre-made open air test bench, but that’s hardly an imaginative solution. You’ve really got to want to build your own to buy this kit, but if you’re creatively inclined, then you’re going to love every aspect of it. It’s not the most intuitive thing to put together, and will take some trial and error, but at least if you’re not happy with it or you need to expand it, it’s only a bit of tool time away from being just how you like it.

Obvious benefits are that the open air design is going to be great for cooling. It does also mean that dust and other debris can be a hazard to your components, but this is true of any open design, test bench or similar hardware installation. Then again, it’s also easy to reach, clean and generally maintain your components too. Cable routing, or getting a clean-looking build at all can be tricky, but certainly not impossible. What’s really cool is that there’s nothing stopping you adding your own custom components, brackets, or even taking a saw to the aluminium pipes and cutting them to a length that suits your needs. Furthermore, you can always buy more than one kit, and build something truly massive. If you wanted a three level, triple motherboard, E-ATX water cooling test bench, then it’s certainly possible to create one. Or you could just build a hat and coat stand, it’s really up to you.

Pros

• Endless building possibilities
• Expandable
• Supports any hardware you want it to support
• High-quality components
• Good price (relative to how much hardware you get in the box)
• Lots of fun to work with
• Open-air design is great for cooling
• Ideal for custom test bench installations

Cons

• Limited instructions included
• Exposed components prone to collecting dust

Neutral

• Can be time-consuming to construct
• Not ideal for first-time system builders

“The Aerocool Dream Box is unlike anything else on the market today. It’s really up to you if you want to build one of the most unique chassis’ on the market, a high-end test bench or a humble mini-ITX LAN rig with carry handles. The possibilities are endless and if you’ve got the creativity and the patience for it, it can be a lot of fun too!”

Thank you Aerocool for providing us with this sample.