Introduction

It has been a while since we have had the pleasure of reviewing any items from our friends at AeroCool USA, we just recently found out that the Spam Assassin settings on our mail server had been acting a bit to aggressive and had been blocking a number of friendly emails and those from AeroCool USA was one of them.  Today we have the pleasure of reviewing one of the high-end cases from AeroCool's Performance Gaming System's Group B series.

If you haven't visited AeroCool USA's web site recently check it out and you will see that the Performance Gaming System cases are broken down into sub-categories by letters.  Starting with the letter V = Value series, R = Professional series, S = Aluminum series, B = Ultimate gaming series and finally the letter Q = compact series.

The BX-500 falls under the letter B = Ultimate gaming series so come along as we check this case out.

Features

• High performance "Super Mid-Tower" case for gamers and enthusiast – supports all High-End MB including Extended-ATX.
• Solidly constructed chassis – 0.8mm SECC Japanese Steel
• Beautifully finished front panel – the combination of aluminum and metal mesh . eludes “Class” and “Elegance”.
• High-end Graphic card Support – Supports longer high-end VGA cards up to 380mm.
• High Expandability – Supports 5 x 5 1/4” ODD devices, 1 x 3 1/2" device and 5 x Hard Drives.
• HDD and PSU Protection – Includes anti-vibration rubber to protect your HDDs and PSU from shock.
• Ease of Installation – Screw-less 5 1/4” bays, 3 1/2” bay, HDD trays and PCI Slot make this chassis an easy install. The HDD cage is also rotated 90 degrees to help .ease Hard Drive installation.
• Easy Access top I/O ports – 4 x USBs, Audio/Mic, 1394 and e-SATA ports are located on the top panel for easy access.
• Smart Cable Management – “cable management clips” are pre-installed inside the chassis to minimize your cable mess and improve the system airflow.
• Smart Fan Management
  As this chassis can support 10 fans, Aerocool pre-installed 2 units of “fan adaptor PCB boards” inside the chassis to help you tidy your fan connections.
• Dust Protection – Includes front "Dust Filter" and bottom “Dust Filter” to prevent dust. entering your computer.
• Un-rival Airflow – install up to 10 fans !!!

Specifications

Cooling System

Packaging

As we look at the front panel of the BX-500's shipping shipping carton we see that it contains a lot of information that should helper the buyer decide if this is the case he/she is looking for. They can base this decision on the information provided on the front panel of the case.  You can also see that it bears the PGS B logo which we spoke about earlier.  I also like the fact that AeroCool has placed placards of the case letting the UPS and Fed-Ex drivers know that this is a fragile and care should be given to handling this case.

The rear panel of the carton shows a number of different views of the case and by looking at these pictures you can begin to see that this not your cheaply made cookie cutter case that so many companies offer these days.

The end panel of the case has the specifications for the BX-500 thereby presenting the prospective buyer with all of the vital information for this particular case.

To insure safe arrival the case is protected with large piece of Styrofoam and plastic covering that will prevent the Styrofoam from damaging the case.

A Closer Look @ AeroCool RX-500

The AeroCool RX-500 is a full tower case that is constructed of high quality steel except for the front bezel of the case which is made from injected molded plastics.  Looking at the front of the case you can see that are a total of five usable 5.25" drive bays but with the current configuration the top slot is used for a 3.5" drive bay.  When you look at the case from this angle it appears to be a window installed on the left-hand side of the case (facing case), but this is not the case what you are seeing is the openings for the four - 120mm fans that cane be installed there.

The only thing of note on the opposite side of the case is the opening that allows you to install either an 80 or 90mm x 15mm fan which in turn will blow air directly on the processor.  This is the first time that I can remember where I have seen this ingenious idea in action.

Next we turn our attention to the front of the case and you will notice at the very bottom of the bezel is the AeroCool badge and then moving up the bezel a bit further is the PCS-B logo.  At the very top of the bezel we have the 3.5" drive bay that allows us to install a floppy drive, by making use of the floppy drive you will of course sacrifice one 5.25" drive bay.

Now at the rear of the RX-500 we find that the case has been prepped for a water cooling setup having had the holes already drilled and careful covering the edges of the opening with a rubber plugs to keep the tubing from being cut on the edge of the holes.  The power supply is mounted on the bottom of the case thus allowing it to breath in fresh air from the bottom of the case. There is also the opening for the I/O back plate and the slot covers which happen to be all tool-free.

The one area of the outside of the case we haven't looked at yet is the top of the case, this is where we will find the dual 120mm fans that help remove the trapped hot air inside the case.  Also we have the accessories panel located toward the front of the case.

With door to the accessories popped open we can see that is truly a full-featured panel. You have four USB connectors, I eSATA connector, 1 Firewire connector and the microphone and headset connectors and finally the reset button.

With the front bezel removed you can see that all of the drive bays except the top on have RFI shields on them and whether you know it our not these should be left on so as to help keep your computer from interfering with other electrical services in your area. Located at the bottom of the case we have a single 120mm fan that has a removable filter that can be cleaned and replaced whenever the need arises.

On the backside of the bezel you have removable filters as well that should be cleaned as often as the lower 120mm filter.

Here is the one feature we would have liked to have seen changed and that is the case not coming with any of the fans for the side-panel.  This basically means you are going to have to either order them when you order the case or get the case and be mad and order them or purchase them locally for upwards of somewhere approaching 40-some dollars.  Why not just include four of the sweet red LED fans AeroCool makes and since they can get a huge discount by order in a huge quantity then they can raise the price of the case accordingly.

We mentioned earlier how the power supply draws it's air in through the bottom of case and in this picture you can see where the huge opening is directly under the location where the power supply is located.

A Closer Look Inside the AeroCool RX-500

With room for even the longest and largest video cards the AeroCool RX-500 will fit the bill no matter what your plans are to install in this beast.  The case may not have a removable motherboard tray, but when you have as much room as this case does the tray is becomes a non-issue.

Looking at the back-side of the case you can see the opening for the 80mm that we spoke about earlier and black things you see on the rear panel are very slick wire hold downs which are great for securing the wire behind the motherboard tray and allows the rear panel to go on a lot easier.

Here is a view of the rear facing 120mm fan and below it is the tool-free slot covers, you can also see the area on the motherboard tray where the 80/90mm fan can be inserted.

You will notice that the area around where the power supply will meet the case there is a something black there.  What it is is a anti-vibration gasket that keeps the power supply from being metal against metal on the case and this small rubber piece can make a huge difference.

Here we can see the air filter on the bottom of the case,  if you so desire you can place a 120mm directly on top of the filter to help bring fresh air into the case.  Now here is a really slick feature that I think should be in every case made, what we have is a printed circuit board that has one Molex connector which supplies the power to the board and it has a total of six - four pin fan connectors.  This is so handy if you case has a large number of fans like this one does when it is fully dressed out.

Located at the bottom we have a total of five 3.5" drive cages which the hard drive rest in and then are pushed in as the trays act like little cradles.  The pins that hold hard drives in place are surrounded with silicon and take the vibration out of the hard drive.

When it comes to the 5.25A" drives we tool-free compression latches that when released allow the drives or optical drives to be pulled out the front of the case.

Here we have the top mounted 120mm fan that will be handy if you plan to water cool since this will allow a dual 120 radiator.

To handle the top mounted fans AeroCool has added another of the PCB boards at the top of the case so the wires for the top mounted fans would be easy to route.

Conclusion

So that about wraps it up for the AeroCool BX-500, in recapping some of what we consider to be the high-lights of this case we can go without mentioning the vast cooling system this case has once all of the opening for fans have been filled.  We are talking about eight 120mm fans, so just image how well a case would be cooled if it had a 960mm fan installed in it (8 x 120mm) = 960mm.

Another thing that we really loved about this case is the PCB feature which allows you to route all of your fan plugs to one central point where it can be powered by a single Molex connector.  Last but not least is the look of the case itself and the reasonable price, these two items alone would be a good reason to purchase on of these cases.

A special thanks to Alex and our friends at AeroCool USA