Aerocool Strike-X GT Devil Red Edition Mid-Tower Review

I think it’s fare to say that I don’t like the Strike-X GT and it pains me to say it too, I generally love Aerocool as a brand and their PGS series are easily some of the best chassis on the market today, but when it comes to their budget models, they seem to just fall short of the mark when compared to the competition.

This chassis does have many shortfalls, the CPU cooling issues I had almost sent me crazy and it felt like someone had measured out space for the components but never actually tried a test build before they put the product to market, the h100i will not fit (although Aerocool never said it would anyway so I will let that bit slide), the H80i wouldn’t fit the rear mount, which should hold a water cooler, but it’s just too small an area and conflicts happen at the top of the chassis or with the PCI bays dependant on the coolers rotation.

There are cable management issues, such as why install three cable routing holes but not provide the space to handle the cables routed through them? Especially given we only installed a dummy SSD, had I installed an optical drive and couple of 3.5″ drives, things would have got ugly pretty quickly.

Yet there are always plus sides and there are solutions to many of the problems I had, the first would be to air cool your system, the TP800 fit nicely enough and while you might not get the bigger Phanteks coolers in here I doubt this case was intended for that end of the market anyway. There is no side window, so cable management isn’t here for style, it’s to be practical and while it does fall short, you can do a lot with a few extra cable ties and some care that would keep airflow nice and clear. There are also a lot of spaces to mount 120mm fans and while sound dampening isn’t going to be fantastic due to the open mesh on the panels, you could still pull off some impressive air cooling.

It’s not the best choice for those wanting a water-cooled, high performance rig, but a low to mid budget chassis will suit a low to mid power system and if you’re trying to save a few quid you are getting a fair few features for your money from the GT. There is lots of room for storage, good air cooling, you can fit multiple graphics cards and there is some light cable management.

eTeknix says: “It falls short of our eTeknix award today, as I do think there are better options out there but Aerocool have made a good effort to cram plenty of features into a low price model and its overall design does look rather cool in my opinion.”

Pros

• USB 3.0 support
• Two LED fans included
• Holds a decent amount of storage
• Good air cooling possibilities
• Cool looking design

Cons

• Lack of good air filters could cause many dust issues
• May get noisy due to open mesh design (dependant on your components)
• Cooler mounts could be improved