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DMFD-Minister
Limp Gawd
- Joined
- Jan 14, 2008
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I recently purchased a StrikeX-ST to house my first watercooling build. As far as I know, this is a relatively new case on the market debuting on October 10th 2011 and becoming generally available just a few weeks after that. That being the case, I think it will be relatively helpful for many who are considering this case for their next build if I do a mini-review and tell you all what is really possible and not possible with this monster, and perhaps you all can avoid the mistakes I made.
The Basics
The Aerocool StrikeX-ST is a "Full Tower" chassis according to Aerocool's website designed to accommodate Micro ATX, ATX, E-ATX, XL-ATX, HPTX motherboards, although based on the size of this behemoth, I would probably classify it as a Supertower. It is incredibly similar to the Xigmatek Elysium and the Rosewill Blackhawk Ultra on the interior and has some exterior similarities as well. So let's get the boring stuff out of the way...most of the features are in the graphic below. If anyone cares about packaging, it was good, case was well protected for transit with thick foam.
This case can also hold up to 21 fans
. I'm not sure that would be the best use of its space, and certainly wouldn't prove to be quiet, but I think the idea here is that there are options. Fan Options, Fans Included, and Case Dimensions are below...
Some Pics in Stock Condition
The Little Things Count
There's just a ton of options here. When I was first looking at this case, I thought I would be able to fit a 420 radiator on top, a 280 in front, and maybe a 200 on the bottom along with the power supply, but little did I know all of the caveats that would present themselves as I dove into this project. I'm going to attempt to explain some of these below. Most of these are going to be geared towards watercooling, because that is what I did to this case.
The Caveats
1. Non-Standard Pre-Drilled Holes
First, make absolutely sure that you know the spacing between the holes for the fan screws on both your radiator and case. The Aerocool StrikeX-ST does NOT use standard spacing when it comes to 140mm fans and it cost me a $110 radiator that could not fit in this case because of their failure to drill the holes properly. Standard spacing in between where one fan hole ends and the next begins on a different fan is 15mm for 120mm fans, and is generally 20mm for 140mm fans. So let's purchase a Black Ice GTS420. It has 20mm spacing, which is standard to the best of my knowledge. The StrikeX-ST drills it's 140mm fan holes 15mm apart. This is a MAJOR Screw-Up on their part. It means you can attach the first 140mm fan, but successive fans cannot be properly to be attached to the radiator. Worse, drilling the proper holes yourself is impossible because of the honeycomb pattern vents - you can not properly drill a single additional hole in it (the honeycomb).
So to be absolutely clear, this means you cannot use 140mm radiators (280,420). I checked every major radiator manufacturer out there for these specs after I discovered the issue. Not all of them post schematics like the one pictured below, but I found three or four that did and ALL 280/420 radiators used 20mm spacing. You certainly CAN mount 3x140mm fans to the top of the case, but when attempting to mount those fans to a radiator, you will have serious problems.
If you are going to watercool this case, I would recommend sticking with a 120mm configuration (120,240,360). Anything large than a 360 will require significant cutting and modification to the case.
2. Fan Control Boards Get in The Way
Second, the fan headers are a great idea, but for watercooling they are relatively poorly positioned. I have a 360 radiator mounted on top with 6x AP-15 Gentle Typhoon fans. This configuration is approximately 105mm from top to bottom, and it runs straight into the circuit board and any connectors coming out of it. You will run into the same problem if you are going to bottom mount as well. This makes the idea of fan control (built into the case) for anyone who is watercooling useless.
There is good news!
I was able to remove the fan control board and mount it on the backside of the case effectively taking it out of the main body of the chassis. When you screw them back in, only use the screws, not the mounting screws that were originally behind the board. Not sure what the official name is, but you have screws that your motherboard sits on, and then screws that screw into those. Get rid of the screws that are sitting behind the circuit board - I did not find them necessary. Screwing this board in all the way on the backside is necessary and it will punch out the two fan control headers on either side of the board as the soddering is compressed. In fact, they might even come straight out of the board. I was able to just push them back in (they will sit slightly higher than the 4 in the center) but still work fine. I then plugged in the power and was able to slide the back case door shut over it. It does bulge out a bit, but it worked. Pictures are below.
3. Front-Mounted Radiator - While leaving hard drive cage mostly intact
I didn't want to chop my case to hell to get a radiator up front...I'll leave that to the real case modders. All I wanted was to get a radiator up there to fit. We're playing a game of millimeters here. You will need a slim radiator, and the slimmest one I could find is the Black Ice GTS 240 (remember, we can't use a 280). On the back side of the case, the spacing between the hard drive cage and the front honeycomb panel is about 45mm, BUT the opening to actually get it in there is about 31mm. So your radiator needs to be quite thin. I was just barely able to squeeze the 240 in there an it measures 29.7mm thick. You will run into problems with the hard drive cage here because you still need to add barbs or compression fittings, and they extend into the metal sides of the hard drive cage. Solution: cut out one of the metal brackets that the hard drive tray slides into to make space for the fittings. You will lose one (at most two) hard drive bays for tubing and fittings, but you still have an ungodly number left. Seriously, who needs 10 hard drives? Maybe I shouldn't have asked.
Also, the holes in between each of the metal backets that the hard drive trays slide into is just big enough for 1/2" OD tubing.
Now mounting the fans up front is going to be a challenge depending on how thick they are. I used AP-15 Gentle Typhoons pushing air into the case at 25mm thick. I ran into two problems.
1. The front case molding isn't designed for this scenario. Solution: remove the front fan filter (held in by 6 screws) and do a little cutting. I bought my first Dremel tool for this work.
2. The screws that come with the radiator aren't long enough to go through the fans, steel honeycomb panel, and then reach the radiators pre-drilled holes. Solution: Buy #8-32x1-1/4 bolts as well as #6S Flat Washers. You will need to place one or two washers between the steel plating and the fan to prevent the fan blades from scraping against the steel. You will need these as well if mounting a radiator up top as well. (Note: your bolt diameter could vary. Black Ice supported #8-32, but it was tight) Pics Below:
Koolance Compression Drain Plug
4. Cramming it all in there
The distance from the top of the case to the top of your motherboard is about 107mm. Be sure that your fan/radiator assembly does not exceed this or you are going to run into problems. As you can see below, I just barely eeked by with my 6 AP-15 Gentle Typhoons in push/pull configuration and a Black Ice GTX360 with scant millimeters to spare.
There is room for DVD drives in the 5.25" bays and for wiring with a 360 radiator, even though it is a tight squeeze, it is doable. If you have a 5.25" bay resevoir, you will want to mount that as low as possible because the tubing angles just won't work in the top two bays.
My Build (so far)
I am currently in the leak-test phase of this build, so I do not yet have a power supply, DVD drives (although they have been test-fit), or hard drives installed. Still, this will give you an idea of what is possible with this case with a little modification.
[/IMG]
Ok, I'm sure I forgot a ton of stuff, and I could probably be more thorough, but it's 2:15am and I have a job I need to get ready for. I will add more detail as I recall it. Please feel free to ask me questions if you have any.
So to wrap up, as a watercooling case, I'd probably give this a B because of the 140mm hole spacing. In my mind, this is a HUGE oversight. Everything else seems pretty workable with minor modification. However, this can be a little taxing on someone who doesn't have the patience to deal with it. The top fan control knobs, hard drive reader, and USB3.0 ports are a plus and save you the expense of buying your own fan control, although if you want real RPM readings and more fine control, you'll want to invest in real one. Cable management is quite easy as well. That's all I got for now. Hope this helps someone out there. It's my first review.
The Basics
The Aerocool StrikeX-ST is a "Full Tower" chassis according to Aerocool's website designed to accommodate Micro ATX, ATX, E-ATX, XL-ATX, HPTX motherboards, although based on the size of this behemoth, I would probably classify it as a Supertower. It is incredibly similar to the Xigmatek Elysium and the Rosewill Blackhawk Ultra on the interior and has some exterior similarities as well. So let's get the boring stuff out of the way...most of the features are in the graphic below. If anyone cares about packaging, it was good, case was well protected for transit with thick foam.
- 10 Hard Drive Bays (accomodate 2.5" and 3.5")
- 10 Expansion Slots
- 4 5.25" Bays
This case can also hold up to 21 fans
. I'm not sure that would be the best use of its space, and certainly wouldn't prove to be quiet, but I think the idea here is that there are options. Fan Options, Fans Included, and Case Dimensions are below...
Some Pics in Stock Condition
The Little Things Count
- Power Supply area is lined with about 3mm of foam padding to dampen vibrations (top & bottom)
- Side Fan Mounts, Hard Drive Trays (for 3.5" disks) have rubber rings to dampen/absorb vibration
- 7 holes for watercooling to be precise
- Panel Connectors Attached well - I have removed the top and front panel at least 50 times, and sometimes with force. All connections have been sturdy
- LOTS of mounting screws, wheels, (you'll probably need them when this is loaded) manual was rather basic though
There's just a ton of options here. When I was first looking at this case, I thought I would be able to fit a 420 radiator on top, a 280 in front, and maybe a 200 on the bottom along with the power supply, but little did I know all of the caveats that would present themselves as I dove into this project. I'm going to attempt to explain some of these below. Most of these are going to be geared towards watercooling, because that is what I did to this case.
The Caveats
1. Non-Standard Pre-Drilled Holes
First, make absolutely sure that you know the spacing between the holes for the fan screws on both your radiator and case. The Aerocool StrikeX-ST does NOT use standard spacing when it comes to 140mm fans and it cost me a $110 radiator that could not fit in this case because of their failure to drill the holes properly. Standard spacing in between where one fan hole ends and the next begins on a different fan is 15mm for 120mm fans, and is generally 20mm for 140mm fans. So let's purchase a Black Ice GTS420. It has 20mm spacing, which is standard to the best of my knowledge. The StrikeX-ST drills it's 140mm fan holes 15mm apart. This is a MAJOR Screw-Up on their part. It means you can attach the first 140mm fan, but successive fans cannot be properly to be attached to the radiator. Worse, drilling the proper holes yourself is impossible because of the honeycomb pattern vents - you can not properly drill a single additional hole in it (the honeycomb).
So to be absolutely clear, this means you cannot use 140mm radiators (280,420). I checked every major radiator manufacturer out there for these specs after I discovered the issue. Not all of them post schematics like the one pictured below, but I found three or four that did and ALL 280/420 radiators used 20mm spacing. You certainly CAN mount 3x140mm fans to the top of the case, but when attempting to mount those fans to a radiator, you will have serious problems.
If you are going to watercool this case, I would recommend sticking with a 120mm configuration (120,240,360). Anything large than a 360 will require significant cutting and modification to the case.
2. Fan Control Boards Get in The Way
Second, the fan headers are a great idea, but for watercooling they are relatively poorly positioned. I have a 360 radiator mounted on top with 6x AP-15 Gentle Typhoon fans. This configuration is approximately 105mm from top to bottom, and it runs straight into the circuit board and any connectors coming out of it. You will run into the same problem if you are going to bottom mount as well. This makes the idea of fan control (built into the case) for anyone who is watercooling useless.
There is good news!
I was able to remove the fan control board and mount it on the backside of the case effectively taking it out of the main body of the chassis. When you screw them back in, only use the screws, not the mounting screws that were originally behind the board. Not sure what the official name is, but you have screws that your motherboard sits on, and then screws that screw into those. Get rid of the screws that are sitting behind the circuit board - I did not find them necessary. Screwing this board in all the way on the backside is necessary and it will punch out the two fan control headers on either side of the board as the soddering is compressed. In fact, they might even come straight out of the board. I was able to just push them back in (they will sit slightly higher than the 4 in the center) but still work fine. I then plugged in the power and was able to slide the back case door shut over it. It does bulge out a bit, but it worked. Pictures are below.
3. Front-Mounted Radiator - While leaving hard drive cage mostly intact
I didn't want to chop my case to hell to get a radiator up front...I'll leave that to the real case modders. All I wanted was to get a radiator up there to fit. We're playing a game of millimeters here. You will need a slim radiator, and the slimmest one I could find is the Black Ice GTS 240 (remember, we can't use a 280). On the back side of the case, the spacing between the hard drive cage and the front honeycomb panel is about 45mm, BUT the opening to actually get it in there is about 31mm. So your radiator needs to be quite thin. I was just barely able to squeeze the 240 in there an it measures 29.7mm thick. You will run into problems with the hard drive cage here because you still need to add barbs or compression fittings, and they extend into the metal sides of the hard drive cage. Solution: cut out one of the metal brackets that the hard drive tray slides into to make space for the fittings. You will lose one (at most two) hard drive bays for tubing and fittings, but you still have an ungodly number left. Seriously, who needs 10 hard drives? Maybe I shouldn't have asked.
Also, the holes in between each of the metal backets that the hard drive trays slide into is just big enough for 1/2" OD tubing.
Now mounting the fans up front is going to be a challenge depending on how thick they are. I used AP-15 Gentle Typhoons pushing air into the case at 25mm thick. I ran into two problems.
1. The front case molding isn't designed for this scenario. Solution: remove the front fan filter (held in by 6 screws) and do a little cutting. I bought my first Dremel tool for this work.
2. The screws that come with the radiator aren't long enough to go through the fans, steel honeycomb panel, and then reach the radiators pre-drilled holes. Solution: Buy #8-32x1-1/4 bolts as well as #6S Flat Washers. You will need to place one or two washers between the steel plating and the fan to prevent the fan blades from scraping against the steel. You will need these as well if mounting a radiator up top as well. (Note: your bolt diameter could vary. Black Ice supported #8-32, but it was tight) Pics Below:
Koolance Compression Drain Plug
4. Cramming it all in there
The distance from the top of the case to the top of your motherboard is about 107mm. Be sure that your fan/radiator assembly does not exceed this or you are going to run into problems. As you can see below, I just barely eeked by with my 6 AP-15 Gentle Typhoons in push/pull configuration and a Black Ice GTX360 with scant millimeters to spare.
There is room for DVD drives in the 5.25" bays and for wiring with a 360 radiator, even though it is a tight squeeze, it is doable. If you have a 5.25" bay resevoir, you will want to mount that as low as possible because the tubing angles just won't work in the top two bays.
My Build (so far)
I am currently in the leak-test phase of this build, so I do not yet have a power supply, DVD drives (although they have been test-fit), or hard drives installed. Still, this will give you an idea of what is possible with this case with a little modification.
Ok, I'm sure I forgot a ton of stuff, and I could probably be more thorough, but it's 2:15am and I have a job I need to get ready for
. I will add more detail as I recall it. Please feel free to ask me questions if you have any. So to wrap up, as a watercooling case, I'd probably give this a B because of the 140mm hole spacing. In my mind, this is a HUGE oversight. Everything else seems pretty workable with minor modification. However, this can be a little taxing on someone who doesn't have the patience to deal with it. The top fan control knobs, hard drive reader, and USB3.0 ports are a plus and save you the expense of buying your own fan control, although if you want real RPM readings and more fine control, you'll want to invest in real one. Cable management is quite easy as well. That's all I got for now. Hope this helps someone out there. It's my first review.
