Tuesday, February 22nd 2022
AeroCool Unveils Cipher Mid-Tower Case with 15 Drive Bays
AeroCool unveiled the Cipher mid-tower case targeted at those with copious amounts of local storage. It features a mostly conventional horizontally-partitioned layout, but with a key difference. Toward the forward-right region of the case, is a fan vent that holds either two 120 mm or two 140 mm fans; and can mount 280 mm or 240 mm radiators. The radiator ends up in the crawl-space behind the motherboard tray, while its fans are on the other side. It exhausts through vents along the right side-panel. The left side-panel has these vents, too, but serves as intake. This is where things get interesting. There are four detachable 3.5-inch drive-cages mounted along the motherboard tray (with clearance for the radiator fans). These cages can either serve as a fresh air-guide for the side-mounted radiator, or hold up to eight 3.5-inch HDDs ventilated by those fans. You can pluck out the drive-cages you don't need.
The storage features don't end there. The bottom compartment has an additional three 3.5-inch bays, two 2.5-inch drives can be mounted behind the motherboard tray, and two on top of the partition, for a total of 15 drives, not counting the M.2 SSDs on your motherboard. Other ventilation options include three 120 mm front fan-mounts behind a mesh intake; three 120 mm top exhausts, and a 120 mm rear exhaust. The expansion slots include two vertical slots. Front-panel connectivity is pretty standard, with a USB 3.x type-A, two USB 2.0, and HDA jacks. All this, in mid-tower dimensions of 205 mm x 485 mm x 485 mm (WxDxH). The company didn't reveal pricing.
The storage features don't end there. The bottom compartment has an additional three 3.5-inch bays, two 2.5-inch drives can be mounted behind the motherboard tray, and two on top of the partition, for a total of 15 drives, not counting the M.2 SSDs on your motherboard. Other ventilation options include three 120 mm front fan-mounts behind a mesh intake; three 120 mm top exhausts, and a 120 mm rear exhaust. The expansion slots include two vertical slots. Front-panel connectivity is pretty standard, with a USB 3.x type-A, two USB 2.0, and HDA jacks. All this, in mid-tower dimensions of 205 mm x 485 mm x 485 mm (WxDxH). The company didn't reveal pricing.
17 Comments on AeroCool Unveils Cipher Mid-Tower Case with 15 Drive Bays
aerocool.io/product/cipher/
I also don't get the side-mounted radiator. Where is it attached to exactly? I don't see any room or cut-outs for the pipes, and the vents seem to be quite airflow-restricted, too.
Other than that, I like the design. Shame I don't need space for 15 drives, as I've recently moved all my internal storage to nvme.
The side ventilation holes are airflow for the hard drives, not radiators.
Doesn't look very interesting, when things like the Define series from fractal is a thing
I can’t imagine how much noise this’d make with 11 3.5” drives (odd numbers = why?), let alone the poor airflow for servers with any real load.
I just saw that the other day when looking to see if there was anything new from CM. I don't recall seeing any press releases etc, but the Australian pricing I saw amounted to about $150 USD.
after some period the plastic will lose the grip and risking the hdd sliding off