Gamemax Aurora Mid-Tower Chassis Review

Final Thoughts

Price

The Game Max Aurora is priced around £79.99 at most major retailers. However, with a bit of Google-Fu I was able to find it for as low as £67.99. In regards to the features and specifications, I think that’s a fair price and it seems competitive, but I would feel better for paying closer to £60 given some of the issues we ran into with the quality of the chassis. Considering you can get a Game Max Onyx for around the same price, which has the better build quality and more tempered glass on it, I’d say Game Max are their own worst enemy here.

Overview

I like this chassis, but it’s making it hard for me to love it. When it comes down to the little details there are just too many small things wrong with it. Will they be a problem for every person or every system build? Unlikely, but they’re things you should take into consideration before committing to building your system inside one.

Fans

The inclusion of three gorgeous RGB LED fans is a huge bonus, as is the lovely remote controllable fan and lighting hub. These items likely account for a fair chunk of the MSRP. However, their use of a non-standard connector limits their expansion options and ruins an otherwise welcome addition to the chassis. Also, all three fans are mounted as exhaust by default, so I would suggest moving them. Too much exhaust means negative air pressure in the chassis, and it’ll suck in dust from every crack and crevice.

Side Panels

The left side panel is a lovely bit of tempered glass and a welcome addition to virtually any chassis. However, I’m not sure what their aim was with the right side panel. The material feels a bit thin, and it’s not helped much by the stamped out design. It makes the panel weaker, looks cheap, and is only going to allow dust into the chassis. Game Max, ditch that panel design asap.

The Awesome Stuff

It’s weird that some design choices have been overlooked here, as the Aurora gets a lot right too. The cable routing and management, in general, is fantastic. In fact, the routing hole placement is some of the best we’ve ever seen. The grommets are of a nice quality, and cable tie loops are plentiful. The PSU shroud hides the ugly cables and even hides a few tool-free HDD bays. You can mount even more drives on the motherboard tray, and again, even those have some good cable routing holes. There are nice dust filters on the top and bottom too, giving you clean airflow. Adjustable mount 120/140mm fan mounts on the top and rear of the chassis, giving you great flexibility there also. Plus the RGB lighting looks fantastic, and way above what we normally see in this price range.

Should I Buy One?

I’m really torn on this one, and I think it’s the right side panel that hurts the build the most. If you can live with it, the chassis does have a lot of nice things to offer. However, I think if it were a bit cheaper, I may be able to go easier on it. Right now, I think those wanting a great looking, great performing, and affordable Game Max chassis should look at the Kallis, Obsidian, Polaris, Draco, Moonstone, or Onyx.