Introduction
We haven’t reviewed an Aerocool chassis in some time, and we had a favourable experience with their products in the past, so we were happy to receive the Aerocool X-Predator II full tower chassis for review. The Aerocool X-Predator II is a large chassis, it’s also going to accommodate the E-ATX motherboards out there, such as the Asus Rampage Extreme V for example.
We have an E-ATX motherboard, and we struggle to find a good chassis that will support an E-ATX motherboard comfortably. So we are glad to see the largest consumer form factor supported. The Aerocool X-Predator II also comes with some common but interesting features none the less. A full-blown chassis air cooling fan set is included, as well as a basic and integrated fan controller to manage them.
We see this a lot in chassis these days but it would always be for the front or top fans, in the case of the Aerocool X-Predator II, all fans are included and managed by the fan controller if you so desire. The front panel fans also light up, and with the large panel window, it seems Aerocool are providing an out of the box experience for anyone wanting lights, managed air flow and a window to watch it all through.
Add to this support for a lot of storage, eight internal HDD trays and the X-Predator II has some serious cross functional support for anyone wanting a chassis with built-in cooling capability, or a storage server for example.
Aerocool are not finished there either, the Shell-like vent structure on the top of the chassis aids airflow out of the top if required and they have thrown in a HDD/SSD caddy just in case you want to swap some data. All good stuff, the Aerocool X-Predator II seems to want the customer to have as big an out of the box experience as possible, so let’s take a closer look.
| Specifications | |
|---|---|
| Chassis Type | Full Tower |
| Manufacturer Number | 4713105958164 - Black Edition 4713105958171 - White Edition |
| Material | Steel 1.0 / 0.8 mm/ Plastic |
| Motherboards | E-ATX / XL-ATX / ATX / Micro ATX / Mini ITX |
| Chassis Dimensions | 232 x 559 x 595 mm(W x D x H ) Overall |
| Expansion Slots | 10 |
| 5.25” Drive Bays | 3 (Exposed) |
| 3.5” Drive Bays | 8 (Hidden, Internal 3.5” HDD Tray) |
| 2.5” Drive Bays | 8 (Hidden, Internal 3.5” HDD Tray) |
| Air Cooling | Top : 120/140mm fan x2 (2 x 140mm Black fan Included ) Front : 120/140mm fan x2 (2 x 140mm LED fan Included ) Rear : 120mm/140mm fan x1 (1 x 140mm Black fan Included ) Bottom : 120mm/140mm fan x1 (Optional) |
| Max AirFlow | 48.7CFM Per Fan |
| Water Cooling | Rear : 120mm Radiator Installation Top : 1 x 240/280mm Radiator Installation |
| PSU | Standard ATX PS2 (optional) |
| Max VGA Card Length | 342 mm (465 mm) (Without HDD Cage) |
| Max height CPU coolers | 170mm |
| I/O Ports | 2 x USB3.0, 4 x USB2.0 , HD Audio + MIC, 2 x Fan Controller, HDD Docking |
Aerocool push this chassis as an air or water cooling ready chassis with plenty of features, it may well turn out to be one of the best chassis for internal space we have seen yet and one that offers a lot of versatility, you may just be spoiled for choice on what to use this chassis for. From an external design aspect, the X-Predator II is not our cup of tea, we prefer a minimalist design of chassis, but we were struck by the quality and sturdiness of the exterior plastics, and in the flesh the design was actually impressive. The X-Predator II is also a very dominating chassis, it is very large and would be wasted on a low-budget build.
Aerocool X-Predator II Full Tower Chassis Review
Packaging - 8.5
Features - 9
Build - 8
Component Compatibility - 8.5
Price - 9
Consumer Experience - 8.5
8.6
There is only one other thing we didn't quite like and that was the cables for the top I/O panel, there’s a lot and we think Aerocool have done a good job bunching them all together, it will take a little more time than normal to route them as you want. Once done, at least for us, we could forget about them and enjoy the chassis and the benefits the top I/O panel provides.