A Closer Look
Rather impressively, the Aerocool DS230 chassis has two high-quality side panels with noise isolation foam. The soft foam exudes a more premium feel and illustrates the product’s commitment to minimising the noise output. Of course, choosing a solid front piece instead of a windowed side panel may be an issue for certain people who prefer to look at their PC’s internal layout. Saying that, the windowed panel doesn’t really coincide with the system’s component selection.
The system’s chassis opts for a power supply cover which hides excess cabling and allows for a neater finish. Unfortunately, this cover plate isn’t removable which complicates the initial build process slightly. On another note, the case has a generous amount of cable management holes, drive caddy mounts and incorporates RGB lighting via a stealth control panel. In terms of build quality, the Aerocool DS230 is pretty good and the steel construction feels very durable. However, the plastic floor section almost seems disconnected from the main unit and could be stronger. On the other hand, I didn’t encounter any problems with the chassis’ design and think the stylish aesthetic will appeal to PC gamers.
I’m a little perplexed by the decision to install the stock Intel heatsink with the label upside down. Of course, this isn’t the most pressing of issues but it’s a source of annoyance if you like things to be in their correct orientation. Thankfully, the solid side panel perfectly obscures the heatsink which makes this a non-issue. The only viable explanation which comes to mind is Freshtech Solutions wanted to route the cabling a particular way and felt this could be done more effectively with the label placed downwards.
Even though the Intel stock heatsink has a pretty poor reputation among hardware enthusiasts, it’s perfectly capable of cooling modern processors running at their stock frequency. This makes its inclusion a fairly sensible strategy and a good way of cutting costs. On another note, the system has a single 8GB DIMM operating at a hefty speed of 3000MHz. This arrangement allows you to exponentially increase the memory capacity at a later date. The only downside is, the memory will run in a slower, single channel configuration than two 4GB modules.
The Zotac GTX 1050 Ti Mini 4GB sports a neutral design and exposed PCB. Furthermore, the card is extremely efficient and doesn’t require any additional power beyond the PCI-E slot.
Freshtech Solutions have proficiently attached the front panel cables through the chassis’ cable management cut-outs. As you can see, the minimum amount of cable length is visible in the front section which creates a very professional appearance.
Here we can see the chassis’ unusual styling and integrated LED strips. The product’s lighting adds a more exuberant touch and allows you to modify the appearance. This is achieved without inhibiting the system’s understated theme. Also, the Freshtech Solutions logo isn’t too overbearing and compliments the build’s colour scheme rather nicely.
The system’s cable management has been completed to a high standard and end result deserves praise given the power supply’s non-modular design. As a result, a large concentration of cables had to be concealed within the power supply chamber and carefully arranged. Thankfully, the excess cables and tied away in an effective manner and I didn’t encounter any protruding cables which pressed against the side panel.
Around the power supply, the 8-pin EPS, 24-pin ATX and SATA power cables are coupled together using zip-ties. Once again, everything is professionally kept in its rightful place and the logical cable runs showcase Freshtech Solutions’ thoughtful approach.
The chassis incorporates a PWM fan hub which has been taken advantage of to limit the cabling in the front section. As you can see, the front panel cabling is grouped together and attached to the chassis’ cable management holes. Additionally, there’s enough to room to easily install an SSD or 3.5-inch mechanical hard drive without changing the default cabling.
Finally, the SSD is placed in a dedicated drive mount and the central positioning makes it easy to connect the SATA data cable.
