A couple of weeks ago we received this nice piece of blue delight from RaidMax. This baby is called AEOLUS, derived from Greek mythology as the “Ruler of the winds”. In essence a son of Poseidon, yet I wouldn’t recommend pouring water anywhere near your pc, or you yourself may become the new god of room-on-fire.

Design impression

When you first unpack the Aeolus, you will immediately notice that this is a very lightweight gaming case. Due to the fact that RaidMax chose to incorporate a lot of PVC and thin rolled steel they got the total weight of this case down to the essence. Depending if you are a “portable” gamer (visiting many LAN parties) or the after hour home assassin, this being-light might matter. In general light is better for “portable” gamers. For home users sometimes a thicker chassis might be beneficial if you wish to keep it more sound insulated.

The front features one blue fan (default) in the middle turbine-shaped “thingy”. Optionally you can stick a 2^nd 120mm fan below to get that extra bit of airflow. We chose to glue some mini blue cold cathodes to the fan holder in the photos.

There are 3 clips which can be removed to house any 5,25 inch drive (DVD/BLURAY, Card reader, Fan controller,…). Completely on top you have your backslash shaped start button on the left, 2 green & red indicator LEDs and a regular slash shaped reset button on the right. The complete front is made in a radiator-style front mesh, giving it this particular “industrial sexy” look & will benefit from better overall airflow.

On top you can find 2x USB 2.0, 2x Audio 3.5 female jacks and 1 E-SATA connector. Further on top there is room to place a 2.5inch external hard drive, we tried putting a 3.5inch external hard drive on top but that obstructs the above mentioned ports. The back end of the top side also houses 2x 120mm fans pumping the hot air out of the case.

The left side panel features a transparent PVC cutout ( so you can see what’s going on inside the case) with the option to add a fan to the side (which could come in handy if you are using Crossfire or SLI setups). The right side panel is just plain black.

Rear end of the case is quite your average case backside, featuring 1x 120mm fan and ability to easily insert tubes for a liquid cooling system. A particularly special feature of the Aeolus is that its backside is almost entirely made in a honeycomb pattern, which is a good idea to allow easy airflow.

Dimensions that fit the biggest GPU

One of the most impressive features of the Aeolus is the fact that the mid department of the case is a complete empty run-through, giving you the ability to utilize the full length of the case to house even the biggest and badass graphics card out there.

Manufacturer’s dimension of the Aeolus are  520(L) X 225(W) X 475(H)mm with 430mm of space to fit the GPU.

Panties down

… and they’re very blue today.

The inside layout of the Aeolus really is something you don’t encounter every day (unless you actually own the case). The hard disks are housed in a box segment in th bottom right of the case in a 2 stacked vertical x 2 horizontally. The hard disks must be placed inside tray slots and can be connected by removing the back panel.

Next to the hard disk “box” you can find the power supply. The trend is to integrate the PSU at the bottom of the case, mainly because this keeps heat generated further away from where the CPU is located. It’s also beneficial to keep down the noise some PSU’s generate.

As mentioned previously, the middle section is empty to provide the full width space needed for some of the bigger graphics cards on the market.

In the top right hand side of the case we see 3x bays for 5,25 inch devices. RaidMax uses a special tool-less mounting option, saving you the hassle of screws.

Pricing

RRP is around $70, depending on where you buy you can get it cheaper, though availability can sometimes be an issue. There aren’t that many shops who sell these cases in Europe/America, so you might want to check the homepage of RaidMax to find your local distributor or online store.

Final thoughts

The airflow inside this case is amazing. Mainly thanks to the 4 default exhaust fans and option to chuck in a 5th and 6th if you please. Noise levels are bearable and not particularly off putting compared to similar competing manufacturer’s products (Sub 30db). No matter how much onion soup you consume, this gaming beauty is going to stay the ruler of the wind in your room.