A Closer Look: Exterior
First of all I want to take a look at the packaging of the case.
The packaging of the Strike-X Xtreme is rather striking and is a fully colored cardboard box with a large picture of the case itself surrounded by fire and a girl sitting next to it. For me just a plain cardboard box is OK for a chassis but its always more fun when there is some color. Then on the sides and the back there is some information ans some features about the case.
When opening the package we discover what we typically always see. I have already reviewed a lot of cases and it is always the same. But that is to say that this method is the best; a plastic wrapping around the case itself then 2 pieces of styrofoam on both sides and then packed in the cardboard box. This is nothing special but it does the job well, if the box is damaged 95% of the time there is no damage to the chassis itself.
So now lets look at the Strike-X Xtreme itself.
The front of the case is constructed, like most cases, out of a mesh front panel with a strong and robust plastic casing. In the middle there are 2 red accents, and when you connect them to the power supply they light up. I like that it is not overdone, cause some cases do exaggerate the lighting and special accents. There are 4 5.25″ drive bays and the bottom one is equipped with a 5.25″ to 3.5″ adapter. In the accessory box there is a 3.5″ cover included to install in the case, when a 3.5″ bay is installed.
This is the left side panel of the case, and I really like it. Its the Strike-X Xtreme case, so what Aerocool did is the themed the case with “X” as you can see there is a big “X” on the side panel and covered in mesh. So we have first a cool design and second we have more airflow. There is no option to install any fans on the side panel but I don’t think that is a real problem as the case comes with a 180mm fan on the front, an 120mm rear exhaust fan, and a 140mm fan on the top with a possibility to install another one.
This is, as you can see the back of the Strike-X Xtreme. On the top we have two pre-drilled holes for watercooling tubes. Beneath that lies the rear exhaust 120mm fan. Next to that is the place where the I/O shield needs to be installed. I really like the cover on the PCIe slots but its just impossible to remove on of the brackets whitout bending them (I didn’t even get one removed). And then at last the power supply mounting place.
Aerocool was so kind to include a dust filter beneath the power supply, which is great! Nothing is worse than a computer full of dust.
Here you can see Aerocool also implemented the “X” design on the top of the case, and just like the side panel finished with mesh. On the inside you can mount two 140mm fans.
Now let’s take a look at the IO panel of this case. There are power and reset buttons (like most all other cases out there), a power and HDD activity LED, two USB 3.0 ports, a 3.5mm microphone, and an audio jack. So nothing special but there does not need to be much more.
So now lets open it up and take a look at the insides…
