Aerocool Cruisestar Advance Case Overview

Many manufacturers of budget-friendly PC cases adore expanding their line-up by a banal change of the plastic case kit without dramatic changes in the filling or framing structure of the chassis. The Aerocool Company is also saddening with this approach, although, for the sake of justice, it is worth noting that in recent years this has happened quite rarely. Nevertheless, the subject of today's review – the Cruisestar Advance is just the result of a change in appearance based on the simplest PGS-V series frames. Let’s see what the consequences of this metamorphosis from the point of view of the ordinary buyer are.

Features

Case type: Midi-Tower
Dimensions, mm: 483 (H) x 200 (W) x 441 (D)
Material: ABS plastic, steel
Weight, kg: 3,5
Color: black
Form factor: ATX
Devices 5.25": 1
3.5" external devices: –
3.5"/2.5" internal devices: 3/2
Supported number of expansion slots: 7
Front fans: 1 x 120 mm (installed)
Rear fans: 1 x 80 mm (installed)
Upper fans: 2 x 120 mm (one installed)
Interface sockets: 2 x USB 2.0, 2 x USB 3.0, microphone input and headphone output, SD/MicroSD card reader
Other: toned side window

Packing and Equipment

Packing of the case has nothing special at all. This is an ordinary cardboard box with monochrome polygraphy on the sides and two foam plastic dampers and a plastic bag inside. On its front side there is a picture of the chassis and a laconic enumeration of its main advantages. The reverse side looks the same as the front one. The left has the detailed characteristics of the product printed, and on the right the list of its advantages in 11 languages it is duplicated. There are no carrying handles.

The delivery set includes the following:

• • assembly instruction;
• • PCI slot plug;
• • diagnostic speaker;
• • 3 brass motherboard racks (the other six are already screwed into the pallet);
• • 4 long screws for attaching an additional top fan;
• • 4 casing screws with hexagonal hat;
• • 6 small screws for fixing 3.5" hard drives;
• • 18 small screws for fixing the motherboard, as well as 2.5" and 5.25" drives.

Outlook

The Aerocool Cruisestar Advance outlook is exotic. The front panel is made of mirror glossy plastic, which in itself is a magnet for dust and fingerprints. Pointed and triangular facets located at different angles dominate in its design. The lower half of the front panel is the ventilation grid with the company logo in the corner. The upper half is the door that opens to the left.

Behind the door a single seat for 5.25" devices covered with a solid stub is placed. Above it there are the openings of the card reader for SD- and MicroSD-cards. The door itself is held on an ordinary plastic latch and opens with some effort.

The triangular switch is installed at the top of the front panel. On its rim a combined white-red indicator of the drives activity and the system power is located. All ports are taken out into a separate recess in the front of the top panel. There are two USB 3.0 and two USB 2.0 sockets angled to the sides. Between them there are two 3.5-mm audio inputs for the microphone and headphones and a small round system reboot button. All ports are oriented vertically and tend to accumulate dust quite quickly.

On the left side door there is a 9 mm high stamping which has a built in toned square acrylic window. The door has a handle to facilitate dismantling and is fixed by two screws with a plastic knurled head.

Metal on the door is very thin, but stamping and stiffeners make it resistant to transverse loads on twisting and it does not warp. The window is quite thick and is held in place by eight metal petals.

The right panel is solid, in shape and size completely analogous to the left one. It has stamping, a handle and screws with a knurled plastic head as well. Right door stamping in this case serves not only to harden it, but also to increase the storage space for lay cables behind the pallet.

The top panel is glossy. The ventilation holes in it are located on the sides and are covered with a metal grid.

The Cruisestar has the top location of the power supply which once again emphasizes the budgetary segment of this chassis. The holes for fixing the PS allow it to be oriented solely with the fan downwards. On the exhaust grid, only an 80 mm fan is preinstalled, and there is no possibility to replace it with a larger one. PCI expansion slots are seven, six of them are covered with disposable vented plugs, and the top one has none (a reusable plug for it is included in the delivery kit). The hole for mounting the expansion cards, to the right of the slots, is covered with a decorative plate fixed with two conventional screws.

At the case bottom there is nothing particularly remarkable. Four 21 mm high plastic legs with rubber patches are installed in the corners. Near them, there were atavisms in the form of stamped legs, on which another version of the case would have to be installed. In the center there are four through holes for fixing a 2.5" drive and two more holes of an incomprehensible purpose are located in front.

Internal Organization

The Aerocool Cruisestar Advance chassis supports vertical installation of ATX, MicroATX and Mini-ITX motherboards. The permissible height of the processor cooler declared by the manufacturer is 153 mm. The length of the expansion cards in all slots reaches 350 mm, taking into account the front fan of a standard 25 mm thickness installed. However, taking into account that the front part of the chassis is fenced off by a rack, at the right angle video adapters no longer than 225 mm may be placed here. With all the rest there will be some problems cranking them in different planes to install. An important point to remember about is that the dimensions of the video adapter in width should not protrude more than 30 mm from the bend of the L-shaped fastening bar, otherwise the board will rest against the side stand and it will not be possible to install it.

Under the top panel there are two ventilation holes where two 120-mm fans can be installed between the panel and its plastic overlay. However, there are two strange moments. First, the diameter of these holes is much less than the effective working area of a 120-mm propeller. Secondly, the rear seat is completely blocked by the power unit, so it is senseless to put an additional propeller here.

The power supply is attached to the upper rear part of the case with the downward fan orientation. There are no dampers for the PSU in this case.

On the rear wall an 80-mm fan is pre-installed on blowing-out. PCI expansion slots are covered with disposable plugs and do not have fast-mount systems. All the cards will have to be fixed in the old-fashioned way – with screws.

The 80 mm propeller has an impeller with seven standard-shaped blades. The bearing is a sliding sleeve. The MTBF is declared at 25,000 hours. The range of available speeds is from 700 to 1500 rpm. The fan can start from 6 V, up to 10 V and 1200 rpm it remains quite quiet – only 38 dB (A). At maximum speed, the noise level reaches 44 dB (A) and the fan operation is accompanied by a parasitic sound in the form of a quiet buzz. Connection to power is provided by means of a three-pin connector or a Molex.

Seats for the disk subsystem are accumulated in the front lower part of the chassis fenced off by the side rack. At the bottom one 2.5" drive can be fixed with screws.

Another 2.5" disk can be hung from the back of the rack and also fastened with screws. At the same place a 3.5" drive can be installed according to the instructions. However, it actually does not work, because the disc rests against a pre-installed 120 mm fan in front. The propeller can of course be dismantled, but this is clearly not the best way to affect the ventilation of the case as a whole.

Two more 3.5" disks can be fixed above and below the cross bar in front. There are no problems with their installation; they will not interfere with other components. In particular, the lower drive does not fall into the plane of the first PCI slot.

As a legacy from other case models built on this frame, the Cruisestar Advance received four 5.25" compartments in the upper front of the chassis. However, only one of them has the external output, therefore, more than one 5.25" device cannot be put here. The remaining compartments can be used to lay excess cables. Or a couple more drives can be placed in them if there are appropriate adapters at hand.

On the reverse side of the motherboard pallet there is a really big cutout for the amplification plate of the CPU cooler. There are, of course, a couple more cable-laying holes and cable tie eyelets, and even a 22 mm space reserve between the pallet and the right side door. However, this will most likely not be used, since the standard ATX motherboard will cover all these holes. And the wires will have to be stacked on the outside of the pallet. In the front lower part of the pallet there is another large opening giving access to the fan and greatly simplifying the connection of wires to the motherboard.

The front panel is easy to dismantle; it only needs to be pulled. But care should be taken not to break off the wires attached to it. There are no dust filters behind the grid.

On the front panel there is the only one seat, where the default120-mm fan with red illumination is screwed. Its speed range is from 500 to 1,100 rpm, the starting voltage is 5 V, and the bearing is a sliding sleeve. From the engine comes a parasitic sound in the form of crackling. The propeller keeps relatively silent up to 9 V, 900 rpm and 39 dB (A). At maximum speed, the noise level does not exceed 43 dB (A). Connection to power is provided by means of a three-pin connector or a Molex.

The upper panel is removed after removing the front panel. It also needs to be pulled gently enough, because there are wires attached to it.

In the middle of the upper panel a 120 mm fan is pre-installed on the blow-out (fixed with long screws). It is completely analogous to the front fan. The location of the second 120 mm fan is empty, and it’s useless to put the propeller here as the hole will be closed by the power supply.

The cable set includes a USB 3.0 and a USB 2.0 connectors, a cable for the card reader, an HD-Audio connector, a start and reset wires, as well as a drive activity indicator and a system power wires. All the cables are multi-colored and have enough length for a normal connection.

Assembly

Strange as it may seem, the Aerocool Cruisestar Advance case is quite convenient in the assembly process. Before starting the installation process, it is necessary to remove the front and top panels, thus obtaining full access to all the components. The power supply is of course to be the very first to install here, then the motherboard, drives, and, last but not least, the video card. All the wires can be placed without any problems in 5.25" compartments, so it is not necessary to remove them from the pallet. The cut-out under the amplifying plate of the processor cooler is suitable for any location of the socket, and this is a great advantage as well.

The only conflict that arising during the installation process is that the hard drive on top of the cross bar prevents the USB 3.0 socket from being placed. In addition, the start button of the system for some reason has a tendency to fall down after pressing. I hope this is a feature of the particular case, but not of the whole series.

The side window is strongly toned, so it is not possible to see the insides in details without using a bright LED backlighting.

The backlighting in the case created by the diodes of the two fans is weak enough. The red and white indicators on the start button are not too bright as well.

Conclusions

Aerocool Cruisestar Advance is a case not for a common use. It clearly shows the predominance of the form over the content, since the conditionally beautiful plastic outfit is dressed in a rather old chassis made of thin metal. Someone may like it for its appearance or relatively low cost, but the buyer should take into account that this chassis cannot cope with the cooling of a powerful overclocked system and has a number of limitations on the dimensions of the permissible components. Fans here, of course, are fully equipped, they are quite quiet and two of them even have red lighting, but they are ineffective.

Hard drives have no protection against vibrations, and their work will be transmitted by resonance to the frame of the case. Of the bright advantages over its competitors in the budgetary segment the following should be noted: a rich set of external ports and sockets, as well as a very simple process of assembling a system which even a novice can easily handle.

Thus, Aerocool Cruisestar Advance can be recommended to those who want to build up a catchy at its outlook, but cool in nature system for little money. As far as video adapters are concerned, here it is necessary to delineate the average range of power and thermal efficiency, and as far as the processor is concerned, it’s better to immediately abandon the overclocked models with thermal pack exceeding 90 watts. In addition, in this chassis it is better not to use power supplies with semi-passive and passive cooling, since it is their propeller that will play a significant role in the local ventilation system.