Xigmatek Asgard 381 Mid-Tower Chassis Review

With the side panel off we can see that the Asgard isn’t lacking in features for a budget chassis. The back plate features a decent size cut away section, which should help with changing and mounting any CPU coolers. There are some limited but very welcome cable management cut-outs which should help keep things neat and tidy. There is also a native USB 3.0 header with a 2.0 break off to ensure backward compatibility with older motherboards.

The rear of the chassis features a decent quality Xigmatek 120mm fan, which will act as the systems main heat exhaust.

The 5.25″ drive bays feature quick release mechanisms for quick and easy drive installation / removal. While there are 8 hard drive bays, these only support 3.5″ drives, for SSD drives you would need to use a adaptor bracket, which can be bought for a few pounds, or usually come included with your SSD. Each of these drive slots comes with a simple twist lock mechanism, making for a simple tool-less installation process. The base of the chassis (between the hard drive rails) you will also find screw holes that allow you to mount a single 2.5″ hard drive to the base of the chassis.

Around the other side we can better see the cable management cut-outs and also the plentiful cable tie down loops which are perfect for keeping your cables neat and tidy.

While I await a new ruler for this purpose, you can just about make out that the rear of the chassis offers us 15mm of clearance, more than enough room for almost any systems cables.

The front panel comes with a simple air filter, which can be removed for maintenance. But the thing that stood out the most is that this chassis has no intake fans pre-installed. The only fan to come with the chassis was the 120mm fan in the back.