A Closer Look - Outside

The blue chassis looks quite simple at first, and its surface is similar to that of some BitFenix enclosures as it uses a soft but fingerprint-resistant finish.


Although its entire front is solid, there are air vents that run along the sides of each colored piece, which allows air to enter the case while encapsulating noise well. In the rear is a fully ATX-sized PSU bay, and the chassis can hold upward of a mATX board. As you can see, the chassis is wide enough to swallow such a motherboard horizontally instead of vertically, which should make installation a bit simpler.


Aerocool ships the DS Cube with a side window, which has been sized to only show the top compartment for your motherboard and graphics card. This particular setup allows you to hide your cable mess inside the area below, out of sight of any onlookers. Turn the enclosure 180° and another completely solid panel will greet you.


A small Aerocool logo has been placed on the front. It has for some reason been inlaid into a recessed square instead of a flat surface. Above it are two external drive bays of which one is for 3.5" and the other for 5.25" drives.


A dust filter underneath the PSU bay will keep any dirt and grime out of the power supply. It is easily removed and can be cleaned well. The PSU bay itself features two sets of mounting holes, which allows you to install the unit with the fan facing either up- or downward. Due to the way this case is build, I would strongly suggest you install your PSU with the fan facing downward. In the top are the four motherboard-expansion slots, each held in place by a single locking mechanism, Aerocool also includes a 120 mm fan to push hot air out of the chassis. You may upgrade this fan to a 140 mm variant as the DS Cube also features mounting holes for such a fan.


The I/O has been placed into the top of the chassis, with the Audio I/O and power and reset buttons to the left and the USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 plugs to the right.


While the entire top ships with the solid panel pre-installed, you can easily remove it by sliding over the plastic lock and pulling it off the DS Cube's top frame. While the lock does hold, it is made completely out of plastic, which makes a somewhat fragile impression. You also have to take the lock and insert it into the metal mesh top if you want to use the mesh cover instead.


Tipping the chassis on its side, it becomes apparent that Aerocool has also applied a plastic cover to the bottom to ensure their overall design looks as good as possible. Having such a belly out of plastic instead of simple feet is a nice touch.