Aerocool Strike-X GT Devil Red Edition Mid-Tower Review
Peter Donnell / 11 years ago
The total build time for this chassis was 90 minutes, making this my 2nd longest ever build, the longest being my first ever chassis review. I had an absolute nightmare with this case and I fear much of that was down to not being completely familiar with its dimensions as well as Aerocool not really planning the interior out very well.
I first tried to install with out Corsair H100i, which unfortunately did not fit due to conflicts with the motherboard top edge, memory and the 12v 8pin connection cable. I had similar issues with the H80i when trying to mount that at the back of the chassis, as the space provided to mount a water cooler is simply too small. I finally settled with the Cooler Master TP800 and I discovered that the CPU cooler mounting hole on the motherboard mounting plate was too small and this meant I had to remove the motherboard to chance coolers.
The build does however look pretty good, I did have troubles with the cable management due to the lack of space behind the motherboard but as you can see it’s still fairly tidy looking in there, at least for a chassis that has no side panel window.
Since we only have one drive to install I left the mounting trays out of the build, opting instead to mount our Kingston SSD directly to the bottom of the chassis, this leaves the maximum amount of space possible for airflow from any fans in the front of the chassis.
The TP800 has plenty of breathing room and there is more than enough room to install additional fans on either side of it. there is also a good bit of room for out GTX 560 Ti and I’m confident this chassis would hold a dual Sli / Crossfire configuration.
The top fan mounting area is a welcome feature but I feel it could have been better integrated as that panel really is too close, had it been a tiny bit higher we could have had a 240mm radiator in here with ease.
Side panel back on and everything looks nice and clean, you can see through the side mesh easy enough and clearly make out our CPU cooler.
Dim the lights and turn on the power and you can just about see the rear LED fan, although it is obscured by the CPU cooler a little, while the front fan gives off a subtle glow. In reality it was brighter, but the lighting conditions of our office were not in my favour at the time I took the photo.
