We like to thank eTONIX for sending us the Aerocool GT-S White Edtion case. Since this is a full tower case the box dimensions are humungous. The box art is great, a nice step away from the dull brown cardboard boxes. Nevertheless it's what is inside that matters.

The white/blue theme directly appears once we remove the windowed side panel. While this color match is not one of my favorites I can imagine some might actually digg it. A white and black might be more appealing to the European market, however this all is personal taste. A full tower case has got room to spare, allowing to easily build in tons of storage, any large oversized XL-ATX motherboard will perfectly blend in and the possibility to add more graphics cards your power supply can handle. How about being able to store up to 7 3.5" HDD and up to 5 optical drive bays ?

Via the backside of the blue motherboard panel we can clearly spot the big processor and the numerous cable routing cutouts. Sadly the Aerocool engineers centralized the 8 pin CPU routing cable hole, making it impossible with our hardware setup to reach the motherboard plug without using an extension cable.

A bit cutout is positioned just above the power supply to route USB/firewire and HD audio cables. Cable management in a full tower case is a breeze, though the rubber inserts drop out far too easily. In the rear, 4 holes are provided for an external watercooling setup. Shouldn't a modern full tower case be able to house it on inside ?

The 3.5" HDD bay is fixed, something we are not accustomed too as most enclosure manufacturers opt for a modular or removable bay design. Either enhancing the airflow by rotating the HDDs or allowing monstrous graphics cards after removal. Aerocool remained loyal to a sturdy HDD bay cage design, thus limiting the maximum length up to 333mm. While being more than sufficient for most graphics cards out there, we still are left with a desire for something more, especially since we are dealing with a full tower case.

The plastic HDD bays are also in a blue colored theme; while they perfectly serve their purpose, again we are left craving for a more up to date design. Why no anti vibration rubber grommets and more preferably a screw less design ? Maybe this all serves for a higher purpose: maximum cost reduction.

The front bezels can be easily removed by pressing the blue plastic versus one another. Nice touch, though how often does one need to remove these ?

The front look can be altered to the desires of the end user. Either by positioning the white magnetic plastic cover high or low or completely leaving it out . Useful or not I'll let you be the judge of that...

In the rear a 140mm blue LED fan takes charge to expel the heat. The Aerocool team also opted to include a top 200 blue LED fan too to avoid any hot air being trapped in the top part of the case. It's twin brother, thus another 200mm Fan is installed in the front to blow air over the storage devices and hardware.

Fan specifications:

The top panel can be gently removed with light force, no screwdrivers are required here. The top panel houses on one side the power and reset button. On the other side two buttons are present for the Fan controller function. Four steps are selectable: 0 - 50 - 80 and 100%. The I/O panel includes two USB2.0 and two USB3.0 ports plus an audio in and out jack. Sadly the top meshed grill is not foreseen of a dust filter.

After removing the front panel we can have a glance at the front dust filter and the 4 white build in LEDs for that extra lighting touch.

The power supply rests on four oversized rubber dampers, luckily it receives a bottom dust filter to enhance the longevity.

Assembly in a full tower case is as straight forward as it can be, though as mentioned on the previous pages, we had issues with the centered position of the 8 pin power plug hole and our Corsair HX1000 PSU cables. Overall cable management is a breeze in these big enclosures, though we feel some of the cutouts could have been positioned better to achieve a more efficient and cleaner build.  The Optical drive too was hard to lock properly. This 3.5" locking mechanism needs a quick revision as in its current shape it's not up to the task. Some of the rubber grommets, needed to be refitted into position once we had routed a few cables through them.

Installing a 120 or a 240mm radiator poses no problems; nevertheless even with all the space in the top compartment Aerocool opted to not include holes for a 280 or even the possibility to install a 360 radiator, at least not without utilizing a Dremel cutter. The oversized bezel locking mechanism works great, properly securing the AMD 7970HD GPU.

The build in Fan LEDs provide quite a spectacular running gaming rig once powered.

Take note that we used the 120 Corsair Hydro 80i AIO as cooling aid instead of the regular 240 versions. This was chosen to verify the efficiency of the top 200mm Fan. Aided by the two large Fans the Aerocool GT-S is not a cooling monster alike the CORSAIR Carbide 450, it however does a decent job at keeping all components running at acceptable operating temperatures.  Tests at lower Fan speeds were not conducted as the setup got noisier the lesser rpm they ran at.

Overall very acceptable temperatures, especially those from the PWM are great. The top 200mm Fan does a good job at expelling the heat.

Noise wise the Aerocool GT-S is audible, though thanks to the 200mm Fans used, we never measured anything higher then 36dBA.

The Aerocool GT-S white edition is a full blown full tower chassis, the specifications on paper look more then intriguing. Two huge 200mm and one 140mm fan for massive cooling potential at low noise, a build in fan controller, ATX-XL motherboard support, quad GPU ready,... though first glance looks can be deceiving...

Look wise, one has to be a fan of these like we call them at the office Transformer look-a-likes. However again looks are up to your own personal taste. What works for one, might be dull and ugly for another person.

Out of the box, equipped with the two big fans and the Corsair H80i this GT-S performs quite okay in the cooling department, considering though it is a full tower chassis it leaves room for improvement. The two included 200mm LED fans keep the installed components well within proper operating temperatures at a reasonable noise level. If one needs more cooling up to 7 Fans in all sorts and dimensions can be installed. However awkward design choices like no added support for a 280mm or even a 360mm radiator in the top part remain bizarre. The space is there, why not utilize it to the max ? The omission of a top dust filter made us scratch our heads again. Finally adding a fan in the windowed panel, again not equipped with a dust filter is also not up to current standards either.

More erratic design choices can also be found in the storage part of the case. A non-removable HDD cage, no screw-less HDD trays and a bad functioning locking mechanism for the optical drives put this Aerocool GT-S in a not so great daylight.

The inclusion of the fan controller is a nice addition, though the rated 25W again might be a limiting factor; secondly when lowering the Fan speed of the boxed fans, an additional humming noise became more and more apparent. This should be the other way around not ?

The Aerocool GT-S White retails around 125 Euros, putting it straight versus offerings from Corsair, Bitfenix and Cooler Master. While these might not all be full tower versions supporting XL-ATX motherboards, their build quality is far superior then what this GT-S case has got too offer. The lack of all-round dust filters and other bizarre design choices really hammer hard on the value of this Aerocool case; weird because value for money is one of this manufacturer's trademarks.

Is it all bad then ? No but alike the Ronin case it's a mixed bag. The Aerocool GT-S offers a specific look and color scheme, love it or hate it. The Fan and case integrated LEDs will make it stand out of the crowd at a local LAN party. Storage wise it will live up to the expectations, the same accounts for the cooling. The latter can be easily upgraded, but that is where the positive note ends. In all honesty this case has too many shortcomings to recommend it. If this review was done a few years back, the conclusion could have turned out quite different. Though the end user gets spoiled and manufacturers need to focus now not only in quantity of features, but also in quality. Browsing through Aerocool's own product line it might be even better to opt for the cheaper XPredator variant, otherwise Corsair's Full tower Obsidian 750D is a far better alternative. The Aerocool engineers really have to adapt the current design to the demands of today's market to remain competitive. It's time for a change for the better...

PROS:

• Full XL-ATX motherboard compatible
• Adequate cooling performance
• Cable management
• LEDs ( for those that like it )
• Quad VGA support
• Black edition available

CONS:

• No top dust filter
• No screwless HDD design
• Optical drive locking mechanism
• No 280-360 rad support
• Bang for the buck is low
• Build quality
• Audible Fans for 200mm versions

We wish to thank eTONIX for the Aerocool GT-S White case

Sven from ASUS for the X79 Sabertooth  motherboard

Kaysta from G.SKILL for the RipjawsX dimms

Tones crew for the support