Print this article

Aspire X-Cruiser


Date
: 07/31/05 – 07:23:54 PM

Author
:

Category
: Cases

Page 1 : Index

Manufacturer
: Aspire

Price:
$65 (newegg.com)

In 1999 Aspire Int'l Corp. tossed their hat into the computer accessory ring with the motto of "total customer satisfaction". Producing quality cases, fans, power supplies, and other peripherals, Aspire has become a well known name to anyone purchasing such a product. They are in fact so popular that, in June 05, Aspire Int'l Corp. opened up shop in Sweden to better serve their European market.

In the past 3 years , Aspire has expanded their line of cases from the more traditional type to multiple lines, catering to anyone from gamers to those looking for SFF (small form factor) cases. Today we will be looking at the analog gauged,
X-Cruiser
from their gamer line, which also includes the X-Superalien, X-Plorer, and X-Infinity among others. Lets get to some photos of this great looking case and have a look at the packaging that it arrived in…

Page 2 : Package

From California to Ontario, that is the trip that the case made on its way into my hands. UPS provided the ride for its journey. On that journey there was no doubt some bumps and bruises along the way but you couldn't tell by looking at it. When the box arrived I was quite surprised to see just a plain brown box, in good shape I might add.

Upon opening the plain brown box, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the actual case box was inside, kudos to Aspire for the double boxing of the case to ensure a safe arrival. As you can see, the actual box for the case did not manage to escape damage all together, but it was in far better shape than any other large box I have received from a courier.

The large sides of the box are identical and have a photo of the case itself, as well as some other fine merchandise from Aspire. The Aspire logo and case name grace the, somewhat subdued and minimal, design of the box. Definitely nothing fancy here although it is very informative when you begin to look around to the narrow sides which may be considered the front and back.

A full list of everything this case offers is listed here including dimensions, weight, accessories, drive bays, and fans included, among other things. This would come in very handy if you were to come across this box in a retail outlet as you can view exactly what you are getting and what you can add, such as additional fans since the list specifies its ability for additional cooling.

The opposite narrow side is less informative for the buyer and more or less just for the retailer. This includes the international standard images for how the package should be handled and shipping weight.

Once you open the box, you see your standard configuration for most cases. Solid blocks of styrofoam hold the case centered in the box, away from the sides and out of the way of danger should something puncture the box. The case is wrapped in plastic and snuggled between two of these styrofoam blocks, one on each the top and bottom.

All contents are sealed within the case itself and I could hear something freely rolling around inside as I pulled the case out of the box. More on this later once we get inside the case. We get our first good look of the X-Cruiser once we remove the styrofoam blocks and release it from the protective plastic bag it has spent its life in. Obviously a striking case with its own unique touch that you cannot miss, three analog gauges mounted on the front face evenly spaced top to bottom. You will also notice the protective plastic on the large side window to protect it from any damage or scratches. It is a thick plastic that really does its job well in protecting the outside of the panel window.

We begin to see some of the features now that the case is on its own. Most notable is the fresh-air tube for the CPU and slotted vents for the graphics card, both located on the side panel window, but more on those in the interior section of the review. For now, we will move on and have a quick look at the full list of specifications in the next section.

Page 3 : Specifications

The complete list of specifications below was pulled directly form the Aspire USA web site.

and a small excerpt from the Aspire USA site as well…

You might have caught it at the top and you may not have, but Aspire gives the option of adding a 420W power supply or purchasing the case without a power supply. As an enthusiast, I appreciate this option as you can save some money by purchasing the case without a power supply if you already have one or need a larger power supply than the 420W Aspire offers. Not all cases in this class will give you this option and you are usually stuck with a power supply that sits on a shelf, my collection is always growing.

The case I received did not come with a power supply so this review will not have any information about the supplied power supply should you go that route. Now that we have a good idea on what the X-Cruiser offers, lets get started by having a look at the exterior and seeing how Aspire has executed this fine list of features.

Page 4 : Exterior

Aspire was happy to provide me with a black sample, out of the many colors they offer for this case, as I am always partial to the simplicity and elegance of black. Upon removing all the packing material, the first thing about the X-Cruiser that caught my attention was the finish. A very nice, glossy paint was utilized and the black seems very deep and smooth giving the indication that multiple coats were applied. I am a car enthusiast and although this is not an automotive quality finish it is not far off. The only down side to this of course is that my grubby hands leave finger prints everywhere I touch it. That is a not a bad thing and a quick wipe with a soft cloth cleans off any natural oils left behind, another indication of quality in the finish.

You can see by the inset image that the reflection in the finish is excellent and it is easy to distinguish details in the cell phone. The top is smooth and perfectly flat with no imperfections. There is not a single spot anywhere on the case, inside or out, that I could find a paint run or drip. Care was definitely taken in the painting of the case. The top blow hole is a nice touch to aid in venting the hot air out of the case and comes equipped with an 80mm fan and an Aspire fan grill that matches the side CPU vent. Lets take a closer look at the front panel and door as this is where the majority of the X-Cruisers features reside.

I understand that the analog gauges will not appeal to everyone. Most people are looking for fancy LCD displays to transmit information about the case to them. I however, absolutely love the look of the analog gauges. This may be due to my automotive background or possibly just my love for the old school appearance, but whatever the reason, Aspire has done an excellent job with the gauges. Once we get everything installed and running it will be interesting to see how they function as well as look when illuminated.

I figure we'll look at how the door opens before we see what's behind it. The photo above shows one of the two hinges on the door. The hinge is made of plastic with a metal pin held in there by a mushroom head on one end and a removable re-usable circlip on the other. The removable circlip allows for easy removal should you need to take the door off.

On the side of the front door, opposite the hinges, we find the 2 USB 2.0 connections, the firewire connection and audio connections along with the volume and fan speed control dials. We can also see the handle for opening the door in this photo, nice and big, so it is very easy to grab. The placement of the connections on this side is somewhat questionable. Most people I know do not have computers sitting out in the open with access to both sides of the case. There is likely going to be at least one side up against a wall or desk, if not both. With a window on one side of the case and the fresh air intake for the CPU and video card on the same side you will likely leave that side open, thus putting the side, with the connections, up against the wall or desk making them useless. Personally I would prefer to see additional connections on the front or top of the case to eliminate this problem.

A gentle tug on the inset handle and the door releases from the 3 magnets that keep it closed. You can see right away that there is an intake for a 120mm fan but it is just for aesthetics as the front of the case is only configured for 2 80mm fans. The power and reset buttons are also located behind the door to keep them safe from accidentally being pushed.

I thought I would take a minute to point this out. The cables in no way hinder the operation of the door and you really cannot get around the aesthetics of having cables running from the case to the door. A nice sleeving of some sort would really clean this up though, and protect the wires from any damage over the long term. It is minor but just one of those things that keep this case in a semi-pro league instead of making the jump to the majors.

With the front door off, it is easy to tear the whole assembly down to get a good look at what is going on or should any maintenance be required. It is quite tidy and well organized in there with all the connections very solid. Good care was taken in the construction of the various parts and pieces.

If we take a quick look at what would be considered the back-side, you can see there is not much going on with the exception of a few holes punched out to allow hot air from the hard drives to escape. We can also see near the top of the case that there is some slight scuffing of the exterior paint which was caused by the styrofoam block at some point in shipping. I talked with the fine folks at Aspire to get their thoughts and was assured that it was an isolated incident, a quick check of their stock confirmed it. In all likely hood, the case was laid on its side with something piled on top in shipping that caused the rubbing despite the case being wrapped in plastic. A little carnuba wax and a couple minutes of elbow grease buffed it right out. We will now take a look at the opposite side of the case.

With a head-on-view of the window, we start to get a feeling for the interior size of the case. The window is large and allows us to see the majority of the interior. We can also clearly see the air intake tube that extends out over the CPU area and the slots just below that for some fresh air to feed the graphics card and aid in cooling. There is a handy indentation, near the back, to ease in removing this side panel after un-screwing the two thumbscrews that hold it securely in place. The fit of all the panels is superb and there are no gaps or mis-aligned pieces, once again a testament to the quality of the frame and construction.

We'll get our last look of the exterior before taking off panels and examining the interior. The rear of the case is pretty basic. It is comprised of a removable I/O panel and a standard cutout for the power supply. To the right of the I/O panel, you see a spot for a rear exhaust fan. What is different about this design is that the size and mounting holes are arranged to allow the mounting of the included 80mm fan or an optional 92mm or 120mm fan. There are also some holes to the right of the PCI slots to aid in allowing more air to exit the rear of the case.

Page 5 : Interior

Two thumb-screws secure the side panel to the case and with those removed, we are able to slide the windowed panel from its mount and get inside. My first order of business was to get the loose bag of accessories that was floating around inside the case and see, if any, what kind of damage was done. I also noticed that none of the cables were secured to the structure to prevent them from flailing around inside during transport. As suspected, the acrylic window sustained a couple scuffs on the inside from the loose contents. There was no protective sheet of plastic on the inside as there was on the outside and this is the result.

The remedy to prevent this would be a couple well placed twist ties or elastic bands. The rest of the interior paint shows absolutely no sign of wear, just one more example to the quality of the finish on this case.

The culprit for the damage to the window is this bag of stand-offs and other hardware required to mount devices in the case. The bag also contains the motherboard speaker and the small sheet of paper with the pin assignment diagram for the USB, Audio, and 1394 front panel connections. There really is not a lot of mounting hardware that comes with the case. The lack of any tool-less PCI or hard drive mounts is the reason for this.

You might also be concerned with the lack of instructions but a wonderful PDF manual is available on-line with photos for every step involved in setting up your system.

From left to right, we see the two Aspire fan grills, the one with the extra black grill is for the top of the case and protects the fan from having anything fall in from above. Beside the fan grills is the intake that attaches to the window providing the CPU area with fresh air from outside the case. It has its own dust filter to help keep the air clean inside the case. You will notice the plastic used in these two pieces looks the same as the plastic used for the fans which would indicate it is UV reactive as well.

We now get a good look at the two included 80mm LED fans. The plastic is UV reactive and there is a blue LED at each of the four corners that will light up the case nicely. The fans have a standard 4 pin pass-through molex connector allowing you to daisy-chain them with the fan controller. The only part number on the fans is E157868 but they look exactly like the CF4SL-UBL on the Aspire web site so I think it is safe to assume they are the same. Here are the full specifications of the fans…

The feet are nothing fancy or elaborate but do the job. They pop right into place and provide a stable platform for the case to sit on. They slide across my hardwood floor with ease and do not leave a mark. The only other components inside the case are the cables coming from the front door that connect to various places on the motherboard.

With all the hardware looked at let's get to the good stuff and see what is holding the X-Cruiser together.

With both side panels and motherboard tray removed, we can see the full array of available drive slots along with the support beam that runs the length of the case. The front of the X-Cruiser is your standard setup with no removable drive trays or anything of that nature. There are four 5 1/2 inch bays and 2 floppy bays all with access to the front of the machine behind the door, as well as room for up to 4 hard drives that are nicely spaced apart. I can hardly wait until case designers realize no one uses 2 floppy drives anymore. In fact most people don't even have a use for one floppy drive with the invention of the useful and popular thumb drives. Having the ability to mount 5 hard drives would come in handy for some users, myself included.

The top is removable, which is nice for those of us who like to modify things and it will aid in the painting of the inner frame without having to tape anything off in fear of wrecking the great finish of the exterior. The support bar on the back keeps that side square but with the top panel removed we can see slight bowing of the front side which is really not that bad considering the lack of support. We can also see why the 120mm grill on the door is purely esthetic as the front grill is designed for 2 80mm fans. With the lack of anything under the 80mm cutouts, it won't take much to prepare that area for a single 120mm fan.

Gussets riveted to the frame assist in keeping the front side square and provide extra strength and support, there is another gusset on this side at the door end of the case. I was happy to see such measures taken to strengthen the frame. Clearly this design was preferred over a support bar across the front of the case with the large window being there.

You can see in the photo above that all the holes providing cable access to the front of the case are rolled out and rounded smooth. This provides protection for the cables from sharp edges and helps keep your fingers blood free when running cables through those openings, another nice touch in the construction.

At the rear of the case again, we see basic PCI expansion slots closed off by metal covers that will require to be broken off with the exception of the top slot which is held in place by a single screw. The I/O panel is held in by 2 screws and needs to be removed to get the motherboard tray out.

Speaking of which, the removable motherboard tray locks in place nice and tight. It also remains very rigid when separated from the case and was not willing to bend or twist. You can see that the tray does not have the PCI slots attached to it. Some like it when you pull everything out with the tray as you can install all your hardware outside of the case and run the computer without even sliding the tray in. I personally don't mind either way. That about covers the interior of the case and it looks like its time to begin installing some hardware.

Page 6 : Installation

There is virtually no assembly required except for the feet to get popped in their holes and that was done while we were looking at the interior. The installation of hardware is as basic as it gets with the lack of any tool-less clips for drives or PCI devices. A Philips head screwdriver is required to secure everything with the provided screws. None of the standoffs have been pre-installed so it is all up to you.

I have already taken the motherboard tray out to take the photo on the previous page and to do that, removal of the I/O panel was necessary. With the provided panel out of the way, we must replace it with the I/O panel that came with the motherboard. I will be installing my Asus A8V-E Deluxe motherboard and the I/O panel that came with it pops right into place and fits perfectly.

Screwing in the standoffs that came with the case went without a hitch and I only used about half that came in the package. There were plenty of screws included in that package for securing the various devices one might have. It was very nice of Aspire to add a few extras screws, as they can get lost rather easily should you be blessed with a set of butter fingers like myself. Aspire also provides you with a good quantity of cardboard o-rings to use when securing the motherboard to the tray. This will protect your motherboard as the screws will never touch the board itself. You can see the red ring under the screw head in the inset photo above.

Putting the motherboard back into the case was a nice and smooth process. There is a track at the bottom of the case that the tray sits in and hooks at the top that tighten the fit as you slide the tray toward the rear of the case. Once the tray and motherboard are locked in place, there is one screw hole at the rear of the case to ensure it does not move, although the fit was so good that I really don't think it was necessary.

At this point we can see just how much room there is going to be in the case.

I was just swapping the internals from another case over so I already had my CPU with the stock heat sink and fan attached. I noticed that it might be tight with the RAM installed to get the top hard drive slid into place so I opted to remove the DIMMs just in case. It proved not to be necessary.

With the location of my video card being lower than the standard location, I had to remove the third PCI slot cover. A little push at the bottom with some back and forth wiggling and it pops right out ready for the PCI-E card. The fit is good and the slot lines up perfectly with the card. A single screw is used to lock it in place.

I then installed both of the included LED fans, one in the rear and the other in the top exhaust hole. This is where they were located when I received the case. Since the front was so closed off, I figured Aspire was correct in placing them there and would be the most advantageous spots. Following the downloaded PDF manual, I was easily able to connect the fans to the fan controller at the front of the case. This would allow me full control over fan speeds without additional hardware of software.

Normally I don't have this many bells and whistles in my cases and cables are kept to a minimum. The X-Cruiser proved to be a test for my cable management skills with its gauges and sensor. It is evident that my plan of attack was to keep everything hidden behind the hard drives and it actually worked. That big pile of mess keeps the rest of the case nice and clean.

The temperature sensor is plenty long enough to reach to the CPU, GPU, RAM or any of the hard drive slots. This is one of the few case with a temperature probe, that I have seen, that is actually useable anywhere you wish. Aspire gets a big thumbs up for overcoming one of my pet-peeves and providing a more than useable temperature probe cable length.

This is a final shot of the X-Cruiser after everything has been hooked up and doubled checked. If you haven't already figured out, I am obsessive compulsive when it comes to cable management. The case design and layout allowed for a neat and tidy setup despite all the cables coming from the front of the case. With the computer setup and ready to roll there is only one thing left to cover…system testing.

Page 7 : Performance

For testing the performance of the X-Cruiser, I will install the list of hardware below and run it through a 'virtual torture test'.

The two cases we will be running this hardware in are:

I guess my computer building skills are par for the course as the X-Cruiser posted like it had done it before. All gauges and fans lit up as anticipated and the system booted into Windows XP Pro X64 without a hiccup.

To put the components under stress I will be using Prime95 running the Torture Test in Blend mode along side 3DMark 05 running a continuous loop at the default settings. This I find generates the most work for the CPU and GPU, thus stressing the PSU and RAM, in turn creating the most possible heat inside the case.

The testing for both cases will be conducted as follows. I will run Prime95 and 3DMark 05 for 1 full hour from a stone cold boot. At the completion of this hour temperatures of the PSU, CPU, and MB will be recorded utilizing Speedfan. The GPU temperature will be logged by ATI Tool and the highest temperature will be recorded. To measure the hard drives, I will attach the temperature probe supplied with the X-Cruiser to the bottom hard drive and use the same gauge and probe for both cases. Upon closing Prime95 and 3DMark05 I will let the system idle for 1 hour, recording the same temperature readings at the end of that hour. The exact same software and method will be used for both cases so a direct comparison will be very easy to make. The room temperature will remain a constant 21-22C and all fans will run at their maximum RPM. The video card fan will be controlled by ATI Tool using a temperature based, graduated RPM table that will be the same for both cases.

Here are the results of this testing…

I choose to compare these two cases as they were similar in size and cooling features. The Antec case has a cooling tube for the CPU area like the X-Cruiser and comes with 2 80mm fans as well. There is no blow hole in the Antec case so the second 80mm fan is placed at the front of the case under the hard drives, this proved to be the deciding factor in the testing. The one area that stands out is the motherboard temperature. The lack of a front fan hurts the X-Cruiser in this test as I am running a passive cooler on the Northbridge chip and the higher temps relay the message that there is not much for airflow through the case, front to back. Had there still been the stock active cooling HSF on the northbridge, then I imagine those numbers would come inline like the rest of the results. It is a slight margin of victory but a decided one as the Antec proved cooler in every category. The X-Cruiser is no heavy weight when it comes to air cooling with the stock components but shows potential with a few additions and subtractions.

After the idle test was complete, I took the time to test all functions of the front panel and get some photos of the great looking X-Cruiser.

All gauges work as they should and by the temperature readings seen in the above charts, the temperature probe seems to be very accurate. The volume controller at the front of the case does not control the actual volume, rather the sensitivity of the VU gauge needle. I found the needle to be very accurate in 'twitching' with the beat of the music playing through the onboard sound. This gauge is not very useful but adds a nice touch. The headphone jack at the front of the case was a disappointment as a constant hum echoes in both ears. I tested both USB 2.0 plugs and they seem to be functioning fine at USB 2.0 speeds. I unfortunately do not have any Firewire devices so I was unable to confirm that to be working.

The noise of the case was more than acceptable with just the two fans running. Having only 80mm fans, some noise is expected and that is exactly what you hear with the controller turned up to 100%. When turned down to 50%, using the fan controller dial, the case becomes calm and quiet. So quiet in fact, that the HSF is the only thing you hear. This setting would be perfect at night when the computer is sitting idle as the temps only go up 2-3C on each of the CPU and MB. The hard drive noise of the WD Raptors was better in the X-Cruiser than the Antec case but could still be heard when working hard. That is accepted as the Raptors tend to be on the loud side.

If Aspire was to supply a 120mm fan in the rear the noise would be cut down while increasing the cases ability to remove heat from the interior. My one issue with the rear fan is the amount of air the rear grill allows to go through. Compared to the top blow hole, the rear exhaust fan was pushing a noticeably less amount of air. Opening up the size of the grill holes is an immediate option as there is a lot of metal still there that could be removed.

I will now be wrapping this review up with my final thoughts on the next page.

Page 8 : Conclusion

The X-Cruiser impressed the heck out of me one minute then disappointed me the next. It went like this throughout the review. The frame is extremely well built and is a very solid platform for a case. The exterior is beautiful, well finished, and those analog gauges just keep me looking back at the case every time I leave the room. Small things that disappointed are just that, small. They all can easily be cancelled out by just as many small things that made me smile when looking at the case. With a fine set of features and enough flash to grab most peoples attention, the X-Cruiser would make a wonderful case for the average consumer with components that are not stressed. The lack of tool-less components and hardware allow Aspire to price this case well below similar cases with gauges and LED lights throughout. The option for purchasing the X-Cruiser without a power supply further enhances its potential value.

For myself, an enthusiast and overclocker, the lack of cooling is the big setback. With only a dual 80mm fan capacity for the front mount and lack of airflow out the exhaust vent, the case just cannot cool a stressed set of components without some modification. If you are looking for a case that looks amazing and has features you normally find in a higher end case but only have limited funds, the X-Cruiser is your answer. The appearance commands attention and people will notice it when they walk into your computer room.

If you are an enthusiast looking for a stunning case that will handle your multiple hard drive, overclocked, heat generating list of components while keeping your budget low, the X-Cruiser is not going to be your cubic zirconia that passes off as a diamond. With some hard work and an ability to modify, however, you might be able to turn the X-Cruiser into a champion.

Advantages:

• Rock solid frame
• Beautiful finish on all panels
• Analog Gauges
• Removable motherboard tray

  Disadvantages:

• Thermal performance is lacking
• No tool-less device mounting
• Placement of front connections

  Overclockers Online would like to thank Aspire for making this review possible.