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Aerocool DS Cube Computer Case Review

Cases & PSU/Cases by leeghoofd @ 2014-03-21

Taiwanese case manufacturer Aerocool is known for its affordable enclosures, however that doesn't necessarily imply the products are inferior in design nor quality. Sadly our last encounter with an Aerocool product was not that stellar. The full tower GT-S case was overpriced, especially looking at the build quality and cooling performance it delivered. This more humble looking DS cube could change our state of mind; featuring mATX and mITX compatibility, the provision to install an optical drive, being water cooling ready and even normal sized air coolers can be installed in this Dead Silence Cube. Could this DS be one of the main competitors in the HTPC or portable mini game PC market? Time to open the box to discover the Aerocool's Cube offering.

The Build and Temp Results

For the test setup we have to thank Tones and Gigabyte NL for supplying us with the GB Z87N-WIFI mITX mainboard. The installed hardware was:

Intel i7-4770K cooled by boxed cooler
Gigabyte Z87N-WIFI mITX mobo
16GB of G.SKILL 2400C9 ram
ATI 7970HD videocard
2 x Western Digital Green Caviar 1TB HDD
Thortech Thunderbolt 1200W PSU

Once fully assembled the windowed panel offers a great sight on the installed hardware. Perfectly hiding the cable clutter as the bottom compartment is not visible.

We used the 1200W Thortech Thunderbolt Power supply as it's a real challenge for cases of this size, to be able to hide away all of them ultra long cables, yet there's plenty of room to do so. Our ATI 7970HD graphics card required the removal of the FDD bracket. Otherwise it would have been impossible to fit the PCI-E power supply cables.

We performed the temperature tests with the closed lid instead off the ventilated black one. Temperature wise the Aerocool DS performs as expected. The silent, but slow spinning fans have a harder time to ensure proper ventilation versus the superb Corsair Obsidian 250D. Take note that this DS case still has room to improve the airflow, After installing the top ventilated lid, overall temperatures drop by about 1.5-2°C. which is a clear indication heat gets trapped in the top part. Noise wise no unexpected results, the DS case is silent, the noise of the boxed Intel cooler and the GPU fan spinning are far noisier then the boxed case fans.

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