Aerocool XPredator II Full-Tower Gaming Chassis Review

Final Thoughts

Price

The Aerocool Xpredator II White Full-Tower Gaming Chassis is available from most major retails, and can be found for around £110 at Box.co.uk. This obviously isn’t cheap, but given the size, capabilities and overall specification of the chassis, it’s certainly competitive, as you do get a lot for your money.

Overview

I love the original Xpredator chassis, it was a complete curveball in terms of design and features and had a distinct design that really stood out from the crowd at the time. Of course, its design and features are starting to look quite dated, but given its around half a decade old, that’s to be expected of a chassis that came out when Nvidia was still pushing the GTX 5xx series! Now the Xpredator II is here, bringing things up to 2016 specifications, and I must admit that I’m very happy with the upgrades.

The Xpredator II still has a very distinctly Aerocool design, but it’s also a lot more refined and sleeker looking than its predecessor especially in the powder white finish of this model, although a black version is also available for those who prefer it. The new side panel design is certainly a huge improvement and a much cleaner design, the reduction in the number of 5.25″ drive bays fits more with the needs of modern system builds, and room for larger graphics cards is certainly an advantage given the huge coolers of many high-end cards these days.

While it’s not cheap at £110, you get a huge range of features for your investment that go a long way to justifying the cost. First up, we have dual fan controllers built-in to the front panel, allowing you to take command of all five pre-installed 140mm fans, plus any extras you wish to add to your build. Add to the fan set up that we have a retractable ventilation system on the top panel and you can set your fans to low/high/off at will, as well as open/close the top of the chassis to get the best airflow or silence from your system when you absolutely need it. You’ll also find tool-free drive bays, extensive cable routing options, dust filters where they’re needed, room for the biggest motherboards on the market, more than enough room for (up to) quad GPU configurations and much more.

The build quality is robust, and while it is a little plastic heavy on the exterior, it’s all durable and very nicely finished, giving you a great final looking product and while style is subjective, we think the finished system build looks pretty great here too. It’s obviously tailored for the gaming market with its fairly extremely angular design, but that’s certainly no bad thing here.

Pros

• Durable build quality
• 5 x 140mm fans pre-installed
• Dual fan controllers built-in
• Adjustable top panel ventilation
• E and XL-ATX motherboard support
• Good cable management
• Good value for money (price vs features & size)

Cons

• A bottom dust filter would be a welcome addition
• Could do with a small cut-away to allow easier access to expansion slot screws

“The Aerocool Xpredator II is a welcome addition to the Aerocool range. It takes everything we know and loved about the original and gives them a modern twist, making this a seriously versatile and capable gaming chassis for 2016 and beyond.”