AeroCool Extreme Engine 3T Comments

I purchased this case from NewEgg for $123 shipped. I was replacing my half-busted AeroCool JetMaster Jr. case.

Pros: Awesome airflow/cooling, aluminum front doors, aluminum mesh front panels, fairly quiet, built-in 3 fan controller, looks really cool (that's subjective of course)

Cons: Lower build quality, it's louder than advertised, HDD bay screw holes are not even close to lining up, PSU mount holes are a little off but still work, no removable mobo tray, not tool-less

Overall I'm fairly happy with the purchase but I think it's overpriced. After working with it I think it should be at most $85. The reason it's louder than suspected is because the front aluminum mesh plates conceal the steel fill-in plates which have a big hole in the middle. These holes let out the sound of the NB, CPU and VGA coolers. Of course you can fill in the holes but it was annoying at first. The hard drive bay screw holes are so poorly off-line I can't believe it made it past the QC department at AeroCool. I mean... they're miserably off and you cannot mount more than 2 screws on a 3 1/4" drive. The fan controller works excellently and the side fan pushes in so much air you can feel the air exit from ANY hole/opening in the case. It's incredibly amazing how much air that thing pushes while making almost no noise. The front fan was also a bit disappointing. It's 14cm so it's also fairly quiet but there is a turbine-style fan in FRONT of the 14cm fan. The turbine thingy just spins slowly when the 14cm fan is on high and it doesn't spin at all when the 14cm is on low. The turbine is just there for looks but it would take a small miracle to remove it without destroying the whole front intake assembly. I really think the case has an excellent look to it and the LEDs aren't too bright even in darkness. My CPU, ambient and VGA temps dropped 2C across the board so it wasn't as much of a drop as I was hoping for.

Bottom line: This is a great case for those air-coolers who demand the best air-cooling possible. It's also a good case for a 1st or 2nd build. It's too bad the price is where it's at: it's just overpriced.

Thoughts?

For those in the "show me state" and other visually slanted folks:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811196021

Lots of pics.

a link or pic would be good so we don't have to wonder..

i think the pc-7b plus is one of the best values in cases myself .. but that's just me ..

mal

Here is a picture of it



Check out the review at 3dxtreme.net, its a good review. And it does get awesome airflow, all the Aerocool cases do though.

That pc-7b looks like... a box. LOL I like my cases to have a little flash to them. No side fan, though. It does have a blow hole so that's cool. I'm tempted to mod in a blow hole on my 3T. We'll see what happens after I get my VF700Cu on my vid card.

sweet case!

UPDATE

I made some mods to the case last night. After I installed my VF700Cu I decided to unplug my NB chipset fan because it's so stinkin' loud. To my surprise the temp only rose 2C from 38 to 40! I don't know what the load temp was so I'll have to check that but I played BF2 for an hour and had no ill effects. I'll keep monitoring it just to make sure it doesn't overheat but that 25cm side fan pushes SO MUCH AIR into the case I doubt I'll have a problem. I put mailing tape over the holes in the front steel fill-in plates to keep the air/sound from coming out the front. Using the built-in fan controller I hooked up my front, side and rear fans to it. When turned down the case is almost dead silent. I've never heard (or not heard) such a quiet PC! (I don't have any SFF exp so you have to understand where I'm coming from) When all 3 fans are turned up the sound is tolerable and definitely quiter than the JetMaster Jr. case. I also attached some soft, sound-absorbing fabric on all the flat spots on the case walls: top, side around the fan, opposite side and bottom. This reduces my hard drive clicking noise to a lower dull sound and seems to keep the sound pitch lower from all the components. (including turning the PC on and off) The thing I'm starting to appreciate about this case is that it seems to be easily modded.

Anyone have an Aerocool ZeroDegree to take some pics of? It looks like the inside is identical to the masstige, but i'm not entirely sure.

im looking at buying one of these coupled with a tuniq tower 120 - will it fit?
ive looked at the specs on their website for the dimensions and it only has the external dimensions. this dosnt infact tell me whether it will fit or not as i do not know how wide the 250mm fan on the is and so whther it would obstruct the tt 120.
if it does please tell me as this is a combo i really want

I almost bought that case until I found this, cheaper lol