Aqirys Procyon

[Darksaber]

The Aqirys Procyon joins the illustrious inner circle of open-air cases. With its two glass panels, five fans, and angled motherboard, it certainly seems to have all the special DNA to set itself apart from the boring black boxes we usually contend with. Add its affordable price point and our interest is piqued!

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[bonehead123]

So, just EXACTLY how many moar of these conglomerated-transformerish-prehistoric-abortion-gone really-really-bad clustercrap cases do we really need in the world anyways ?

oh DO tell pleeze

 

[Vayra86]

At this rate you're gonna need a special conclusion page just to list the cons properly! Holy crap and well played

 

[Chrispy_]

You say unique looks, but this general theme has been spun several times now, going back to the Cougar Conqueror of about five years ago, since copied by Thermaltake's AH, Antec's Torque, Jonsbo's MOD3/MOD5 and some others that joined the bandwagon like Kolink/Raijintek. There's are probably more but that covers the brands we tend to see at retain in the US and Europe.

The Cougar set the trend in 2017, Arguably is was likely inspired by the InWin D-Frame in 2015 though the Cougar is different enough to be called its own style.

2015 (InWin)

2017 (Cougar)

2018 (Antec)

2020 (Thermaltake)

2020 (Jonsbo)

2020 (Kolink)

2021 (Kolink)


That last one (Kolink Big Chungus Shredded Ed.) should set alarm bells ringing, because it's identical. One of two things is true here;

1. Kolink and Aqirys are the same company operating as different names for different regions
2. This style has reached rock bottom, like "gaming chairs" where one garbage-tier factory in China spits out a product and lots of brands all resell it as their own.

 

[Udyr]

All these styles... it's like someone played Front Mission for a very long time, got bored out of it and decided to make cases based on the robots design.

 

[Darksaber]

You say unique looks, but this general theme has been spun several times now, going back to the Cougar Conqueror of about five years ago, since copied by Thermaltake's AH, Antec's Torque, Jonsbo's MOD3/MOD5 and some others that joined the bandwagon like Kolink/Raijintek. There's are probably more but that covers the brands we tend to see at retain in the US and Europe.

The Cougar set the trend in 2017, Arguably is was likely inspired by the InWin D-Frame in 2015 though the Cougar is different enough to be called its own style.

That last one (Kolink Big Chungus Shredded Ed.) should set alarm bells ringing, because it's identical. One of two things is true here;

1. Kolink and Aqirys are the same company operating as different names for different regions
2. This style has reached rock bottom, like "gaming chairs" where one garbage-tier factory in China spits out a product and lots of brands all resell it as their own.

Kudos or that post by the way!

All the cases you mention are unique. They put design first in whatever shape or form the brand deems interesting. Unique doesn't mean one-of-a-kind. I would argue that most open frame cases are unique as they simply allow design flexibilities that a traditional box doesn't.

But more interestingly: Kolink and Aqirys: two completely unaffiliated companies. It is not uncommon for brands to walk into a factory and pick the cases they want to sell under their brand. They may pay a premium and get geographical exclusivity (for a whole model or just a specific color for example. The brand can also ask for changes at an extra cost. Like having different IO, special color, or one tooling part changed etc.

So in this case (all the pun intended) the product are identical at first sight, but the Kolink variant seems to omit dust filters, have different fans with proper ARGB connectors, better controller and communicates 3.5" mounts in places I did not even notice in the Procyon as they are not mentioned there (but then ignore the one on the internal mounting plate in return). As you can see, sometimes companies don't even pitch all possible selling points properly themselves.

So short answer is your point 2 - that happens more often than you think and isn't specific to a niche or whole brand but individual products. For example: Xigmatek Pantheon and Corsair Carbide 400R back in the day when Corsair was trying to break into the case market.

 

[Frick]

I wish normal cases could have interesting colours. I'm might bored with the endless black on black or the "stylish" white on black or white on white.

 

[AusWolf]

How exactly do you grab a case like this when you want to move it?

I'm not against unique designs, but when the design defeats practicality, then I sort of am against it. It suits the definition of "over the edge" which doesn't look that nice anyway.

 

[TheoneandonlyMrK]

Filter fit, and HDD location are beyond terrible, and I take issue with the reviewer suggesting spinning disks love to be cool, cool enough yes but too cold can be bad ,as can HDD being in the way of a GPU physically or in air flow terms.

Hard pass from me.

 

[Chrispy_]

So short answer is your point 2 - that happens more often than you think and isn't specific to a niche or whole brand but individual products. For example: Xigmatek Pantheon and Corsair Carbide 400R back in the day when Corsair was trying to break into the case market.

Ah, interesting, so if customers have the ability to ask for changes, simple stuff like PCIe slot covers, a different RGBLED fan package etc are all possible.

I'd hazard a guess that the alloy and glass shell comes from one factory but the fans and accessories bundle are sourced separately by each brand, explaining the difference between the Kolink and the Aquiys here. Perhaps you know for sure?

 

[AnarchoPrimitiv]

I wish normal cases could have interesting colours. I'm might bored with the endless black on black or the "stylish" white on black or white on white.

As long as they're not red and black.....we're so close to that cliche, "gamer" trope color scheme finally going dying and going extinct and we definitely do not need any product to put it on life support and filing an injunction preventing us from pulling the plug. I do not know where or when the secret cabal convened and declared that red & black is the official colorway of pc gaming/enthusiasts and that everyone must find it cool, but I rue the day and am quite happy that it has been steadily dying off in favor of neutral black and white colors that leave the most options open with respect to hardware, accessories, and color schemes.

*cringes*

 

[Frick]

As long as they're not red and black.....we're so close to that cliche, "gamer" trope color scheme finally going dying and going extinct and we definitely do not need any product to put it on life support and filing an injunction preventing us from pulling the plug. I do not know where or when the secret cabal convened and declared that red & black is the official colorway of pc gaming/enthusiasts and that everyone must find it cool, but I rue the day and am quite happy that it has been steadily dying off in favor of neutral black and white colors that leave the most options open with respect to hardware, accessories, and color schemes.

*cringes*
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I meant cases specifically. Personally I don't care what the components looks like. The only good looking piece of hardware I've seen in a very long time is probably those blue AMD Pro GPU's.

 

[Mac the Geek]

I find that some of these oddball cases are fun to gawk at in stores, or play with in PC Building Simulator. But I would never ever ever consider letting one of them into my house.