Aerocool Quartz Revo RGB Chassis Review

In this review, we will be taking a look at Aerocool Quartz Revo. Quartz Revo is a mid-tower packed with 4x ARGB 120mm fans and 2x tempered glass panels serving as the main selling points of this chassis. The chassis is made of steel, glass, and plastic frame. Let’s get into more detail as we dive into the review.

In the cooling department, there are pre-installed 3x 120mm ARGB fans on the front and 1x 120mm ARGB fan on the rear. Up to 2x 140/120mm fans can be installed on the top. Up to a 360mm radiator can be installed on the front, a 1x 120mm radiator can be installed on the rear, and a 240mm radiator can be installed on the top, which is subjective to the RAM height clearance. The chassis has support for mini-ITX, mATX, and ATX-size motherboards.

The included ARGB fans have a dual-ring design for some stunning visuals. A dedicated lighting controller is included in the box, which allows the user to sync the lighting of these fans with the motherboard’s 5V lighting header. The user can also control the lighting using the Reset switch of the chassis panel, as the provision is there on the controller.

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Key Takeaways

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• 2
• 3

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Specifications

Model	Quartz REVO
Case Type	Mid Tower
Color	Black
Steel Thickness	>0.5mm
Motherboards	ATX/micro ATX/mini-ITX
Case Dimensions (Internal)	200 x 440 x 368.95mm (W x H x D)
Case Dimensions (Overall)	206.1 x 455 x 408mm (W x H x D)
5.25” Drive Bays	0
3.5” Drive Bay	2
2.5” Drive Bay	4
Expansion Slots	7
GPU Clearance	Supports GPU up to 341mm/366mm (without front fan)
CPU Cooler Clearance	Supports CPU up to 152mm
I/O Ports	USB3.0 x 1 | USB2.0 x 2 | HD Audio & Mic
Air Cooling Support	Front: 120mm x 3 (Includes Addressable RGB Fan x 3) Top: 120mm x 2 or 140mm x 2 (Optional) Rear: 120mm x 1 (Includes 120mm Fan)
Liquid Cooling Support	Front: 240/360mm Radiator (Optional) Top: 240mm Radiator (Optional)
Net Weight/Gross Weight	5.9kg (13 lbs.)/6.6kg (14.55 lbs.)
Power Supply	ATX PSU (Including cables, up to 185mm) (Optional)

Packaging and Unboxing

The chassis is shipped inside a standard brown color cardboard box.

 

Aerocool branding is printed on the top section of the packing box. This is where the box is to be opened.

Opening the box will show that the chassis placed inside two white colors Styrofoam pads. The front side with tempered glass is facing up.

Accessories

The Aerocool has provided a user manual to help in an installation inside this chassis and a bag full of various screws, standoffs, a wrench socket for standoffs, zip-ties, a lighting controller and related cables.

Closer Look

The Aerocool Quartz Revo is one such product that comes from its price point and the totality of the features can be one heck of a good deal for the user in the budget market segment. The chassis is made of steel, tempered glass, and plastic.  It has a dimension of 206.1x455x408mm (WxHxD). The internal dimensions are 200x440x368.95mm (WxHxD). Steel thickness is >0.5mm. This chassis can accommodate motherboards of size mini-ITX, micro-ATX, and ATX.

Here is what Aerocool is saying about it, “Masterfully crafted with full tempered glass side and front panels, the Quartz REVO properly showcases all that your rig has to offer. This high-performance mid-tower case allows you to access 16.8 million colors using an Addressable RGB motherboard or control up to 14 preset lighting modes including 7 RGB flow and 7 static color modes via an LED control switch.” It is time to take a closer look at this chassis.

Front Side

Let’s start with the front panel as it is a show of the day. Featuring an ARGB solution in a budget chassis is a good incentive and encouragement for the budget user. The front panel is entirely made of the plastic body and it has a layered design. The tempered glass is provided in the inner frame. There is a gap of approximately 5mm or so on all the four sides of the inner frame. 3x ARGB fans can be seen as well.

There is an Aerocool logo badge pasted at the bottom of the glass panel. The panel has a protective sheet on it. Though the whole front portion is not covered as there are cutouts on the border of the inner frame for air-intake the airflow is highly restrictive in this chassis. I will come to this aspect in the testing section.

The front panel can be removed by placing the hand on the underside of the panel where there is a large cutout and pulling the panel out. Let’s take a look at the inner side of the panel. Plastic tabs are obvious here as they are used to tuck the panel to the mainframe of the chassis. The cutouts for the air intake are not clearly visible from this angle. The glass is dark tinted.

Here you can clearly see the cutouts on the inner frame part. These cutouts run along the entire inner frame side.

Let’s take off the panel and see what is underneath. Aerocool has provided not two but three ARGB fans in 120mm size. There are 3x cutouts on the right side of the chassis frame. This is where the fans’ cables are routed through towards the back. There is a large cutout on the top under the front panel section. This is where the front panel’s cables are routed.

Taking the fans off, one gets to see the naked (well almost!) chassis. The cutouts for the fan screws are in rail format. Given the total length of this section, this design is only helpful to adjust two fans’ height. For three fans solution, there is no room for height adjustment. The fan mounting area is a bit fragile particularly the middle-cross sections. The user can install a 120/240/360mm radiator on the front rail. There is no provision for 140mm size mounting.

Back Side

Let’s take a look at the back or rear side of the chassis. As can be seen, there are two screws that are used to secure the left side panel to the chassis frame. There is a large cutout on the top left side to provide for the rear I/O of the motherboard. On the right side, there is a provision for a 120mm fan (ARGB fan pre-installed). The middle section has 7x PCIe slot covers. At the bottom, there is a standard ATX PSU mounting area.

Aerocool was considerate enough to provide the user an option to adjust the height of the 120mm rear fan in 5 positions.

The PCIe slot covers are not reusable which is a thumb down from my side. There is a bracket on the right side that is secured to the mainframe using a screw. The graphics card is secured on the chassis using the screws from the outer side of the chassis hence the PCIe slot area is flat in design as compared to conventional raised design on the inner side.

Bottom Side

Let’s take a look at the bottom section of the chassis.

There are 4 circular-shaped feet with a shiny chrome finish that looks dope in person. The PSU area has a dust filter which is not magnetic and is tucked inside 5 latches. There are 4 screws on the solid part of the frame. These are holding the HDD cage inside the chassis.

There is a large cutout on the front side. This is the primary area where the air intake is provided to the front side. Clearly, this is not enough for proper airflow.

The chrome finish on the feet is quite appealing. It is also highly reflective.

Top Side

Let’s take a look at the top side of the chassis.

The top side has a simple layout. We have the two-tone design here as the front panel has darker shade as compared to the rest of the area. There is a front I/O panel located here. Other than that there is mounting provision for up to two 120/140mm fans.

The fan mounting area has cutouts for venting. There is a rail design for the fan mounting provision. The magnetic dust filter is a plus.

The true compact nature of the design is quite obvious from this angle.

I/O Panel

Let’s take a look at the I/O panel of the chassis.

Following are provided:

• 1x USB 3.0
• 2x USB 2.0
• 1x Microphone Jack
• 1x Headphone Jack
• 1x Power Button
• 1x Reset Button
• LED Indicators

There is a nice and satisfactory press feel on the power button. The reset button can be set to control the lighting effects on the fans as well.

The I/O panel is connected to the mainframe using two screws on the front side. The user can remove the panel by removing these two screws.

There is a total of 4 cables coming out of the front panel. Here we have:

• 1x USB 3.0 cable
• 1x USB 2.0 cable
• 1x HD Audio cable

The 4th cable is the System panel connectors with Power and Reset buttons cables as well as LED indicator cables. These are connected to the System Panel header of the motherboard.

Side Panels

It is time to take a look at the side panels and inside out of the chassis.

The side panel of the chassis is made of the tempered glass. It is dark tinted and one would need to install LED strips inside in order to showcase the build. The tempered glass is not fully flushed to the chassis frame. It is secured using 4 thumbscrews. One good point is that it is hooked on to the screw adapters and it will not fall off after removing the screws though I would still caution the user to put one hand on the panel just in case when taking it off.

The 4x screws with the larger heads are used to install the tempered glass panel on the chassis. They have washers on the head of the threaded portion to avoid scratching the glass.

The above picture sums it all on what this chassis can provide you for your build. 4x pre-installed fans are visible. I have moved the front panel cables to the backside before taking this picture. Let’s dig in here.

The motherboard tray is sturdy and has less flex to it which is good. There are only 4x standoffs pre-installed. I always wonder how much of a cost does a company save by not installing the standard ATX size required 9x standoffs! Thankfully, Aerocool has provided a socket to install the rest of the standoffs in the accessories so my complaint is nullified.

The CPU cutout is large but you will be surprised to know that this cutout did not allow me to install the backplate of the Noctua NH-U12S chromax.black cooler. So, my suggestion is to install the backplate of the cooler before installing the motherboard in the chassis. The height clearance for the CPU Cooler is 152mm.

There are two cutouts on the top to pass through the EPS and fan/RGB LED cables as per the requirement. There are 4x cutouts in a set of two on the right side of the tray. These are there to pass through the 24-pin ATX cable/PEG cable and any other cable as per the requirement.

None of these cutouts have rubber grommets which would have been nicer but no complaint, given the price of the chassis. Please, note that when an ATX motherboard is installed inside the chassis, only the far right side cutouts will be available at the user’s disposal. On the far right side, the user has the provision to install up to 2x 2.5” storage drives

The flat nature of the PCIe slot area is evident. The graphics card of length up to 341mm can be installed with the front fans. Without the front fans, the length can be 366mm. There is a displacement of approximately 30mm from the vented area to the top of the motherboard.

Similarly, there is a clearance of approximately 36mm or so clearance for the RAM for the AIO installation. I was not able to install the Aerocool P7 L240 AIO with ADATA XPG Spectrix D41 RGB RAM. The cables from the front panel can be seen coming inside from the top and going towards the backside through the top cutout on the rightmost side.

There is a metallic PSU shroud which runs towards the front side. There are two cutouts on the side closer to the motherboard to help pass through the cables for connectivity on the bottom side of the motherboard. One cutout is in the middle to pass the PEG cable for the graphics card(s).

The shroud is riveted and can’t be removed without removing the rivets. There is an opening on the rightmost side of the shroud. This is done to give room for the thick radiators. The user can install up to 60mm thick radiator on the front side. The HDD cage’s edge can be seen from this angle.

The front-mounted fans are installed using screws from the inner side of the chassis. The user will face inconvenience in removing the bottom fan as the HDD cage will need to be removed as well for that.

It is time to take a look at the other side of the chassis.

This side of the chassis has a solid metallic cover which is screwed using two thumb like screws.

Let’s see what is under this cover. There are 10 cable tie points. There are two 2.5” storage drives brackets on the backside of the motherboard tray. The chassis has 15mm space for cable management on the right side. The left side has inset design giving a bit more room for cable management which is 20mm on this side. The bottom section has a pre-installed HDD cage which is not tool-less unfortunately. The maximum length of the PSU is 185mm with HDD removed.

The 2.5” drive brackets are to be removed for the installation of the drives.

The HDD cage can be adjusted in two predefined positions. In its default position, it gives clearance of up to 60mm or so for the front-mounted radiator.

With HDD cage removed, we have ample space for PSU and the cables. The PSU area has raised tabs on which the unit is placed. There are no anti-vibration pads on these tabs.

The above picture shows the backside with the HDD cage and 2.5” drive brackets removed.

The HDD cage is not tool-less and the user will have to secure the 3.5” drives using screws.

The above picture shows the SSD brackets from both sides.

ARGB Lighting and Fans

It is time to take a look at the fans and the bundled lighting controller accessories.

Aerocool has included their REV ARGB version fans in the Quartz Revo. These fans are using Hydraulic bearings and are rated for 60000 MTBF. The fans have a rated speed of 1200 RPM with an airflow of 41.3 CFM at 0.98 mm H2O. Clearly, Aerocool has used fans not suitable for the restricted airflow design. These fans can deliver better performance with airflow restriction removed. We will see this in the testing section.

The fans have 11 semi-translucent curved blades with trail edges on each blade to generate enough air pressure by directing the airflow. The killer aspect of these fans is not the performance but the lighting effects. There are anti-vibration pads on the mounting corners.

There is a 4-arm assembly holding the fan to the frame. There is a sticker pasted on the center with Aerocool branding on it. The blades are removable for easy maintenance.

The REV fans feature dual ring design for vivid and stunning lighting effects. Regardless of which orientation they are installed, you will get the same effect nevertheless.

There are two cables coming out of each fan. One is the 4-pin ARGB connector cable. Probably it is using the +5V DC pin format.

The second cable has two connectors on its end. One is the 3-pin power cable for the fan motor and the other is the Molex connector.

The approach that Aerocool took with this dual connector on a single cable is not helpful at all from the cable management aspect. Also, they did not provide any mechanism to daisy chain these fans and control from a single header or power source. Yes, I know, it is budget chassis but they were doing a good job this far with few caveats. Imagine the user has to use either 4 x Molex connectors from the PSU or try to get 4x headers on the motherboard or the mix of it! Not helpful.

Aerocool has provided a dedicated lighting control box in the accessories. It has 6x 5V lighting headers. The pre-installed 4x fans can be connected to this controller. This will leave room for two more 5V fans following the same pin format. There is also a 2-pin header. This is where the user can connect the Reset button’s cable from the front panel and control the lighting effects using the front panel’s Reset button.

But going this route will lose you the reset functionality. There is a 4-pin header which is used to power the controller. There is a 3-pin header to which motherboard sync cable is connected. This cable connects the controller to the 5V lighting header of the motherboard. The lighting solution is compatible with ASUS AURA SYNC, GIGABYTE RGB FUSION 2, and MSI MYSTIC LIGHTING.

The backside of the controller has a 3M adhesive. The user has to decide upon the location in the chassis and paste the controller there.

The controller is powered by the SATA controller. The 4-pin connector is attached to the controller.

The motherboard sync cable has a 5V lighting connector which is connected to the motherboard.

The other end of the sync cable has two cables. One connector is for the ASUS and MSI motherboards, whereas the connector with IN VDG marking is for the GIGABYTE motherboard.

The above picture shows the assembled controller with both connectivity cables attached to it.

The above picture illustrates how to set up the controller. It is a walk in a park to set it up.

RGB Effects

There are 7 static modes and 7 RGB flow rainbow modes using the bundled controller. The static modes in that order are:

• Red
• Green
• Blue
• White
• Yellow
• Cyan
• Pink

The RGB flow rainbow modes in that order are:

• Static Rainbow
• Rainbow
• RGB Effects
• Comet
• Breathing
• Trailing Colors
• Trailing Colors Left

Test build and Experience

The following components were used for the test build:

• Intel i7 8700k CPU
• Asus ROG Strix Z390-E Gaming Motherboard
• Noctua NH-U12S chromax.black CPU Cooler
• GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1060 6G Gaming Graphics Card
• ADATA XPG D41 Spectrix 32GB @ 2666MHz RAM
• Lexar NM610 250GB NVMe SSD
• Thermaltake TP 750W Gold PSU

My overall build experience was fine in the Aerocool Quarz Revo though there were some issues that I will highlight here. I would suggest removing the PCIe slot covers before installing the motherboard inside the chassis. Since these covers are not reusable, they will not be of any use once removed.

The above picture shows the covers after removal from the chassis. One would need to apply some force to take them off. It would be better if they are removed before the installation. The standoffs will need to be installed for a micro-ATX and ATX motherboard.

Only 4x standoffs are pre-installed. Use the provided socket in the accessories to install the standoffs. I started with the standoffs and then installed the motherboard. The I/O cover on the Asus ROG Strix Z390-E Gaming motherboard is bit bulky and the cables of the pre-installed rear fan were obstructing the motherboard. I had to remove that fan first to install the motherboard. I have used Noctua NH-U12S chromax.black in this test build.

Surprisingly, the CPU Cutout did not allow me to pass the backplate of the cooler from the backside of the chassis as the left corners of the backplate were touching the edges of the cutout. Look at the picture above and you will notice that the backplate’s left edges are actually inside the motherboard’s tray sheet.

I did not feel any inconvenience for cables passing through as there are ample cutouts provided in the chassis for this purpose. The bottom two cutouts on the PSU shroud serve the purpose very well. As I have mentioned in the Closer Look section, the pre-installed fans have dual connectors on a single cable to power the fans.

The user can either connect the fans to the header on the motherboard or use the Molex connector to power them directly from the PSU. There is no 3-way splitter cable provided in the accessories which could have been a nice addition.

I could not install the Aerocool P7 L240 AIO cooler on the top as there was not enough clearance from the ADATA XPG Spectrix D41 RGB RAM. The total height of the cooler (radiator and fans) is approximately 52mm. The ADATA XPG Spectrix D41 RGB kit has an approximate height of 45.4mm or so.

Keep in mind that the diffusers on the top of these kits have sloped angles on both sides which aided the cooler but it was still a no go. Low profile RAM would allow the user to install AIO on the top. Alternatively, the AIO can be installed on the front. 280mm radiator is not supported in this chassis.

Here are some pictures of the test build.

Thermal Testing

Now coming to the testing of the chassis, two tests were run to check the thermal performance and airflow impact of the chassis. Each test was run two times; one with the front panel removed and second with the front panel on. This will tell the tale of how restrictive the airflow is on this chassis as the front side is very restrictive in its design. The CPU was set on stock and auto settings with a turbo boost of 4.7GHz.

The fan on the Noctua NH-U12s chromax.black was set to run at PWM regulation. The pre-installed REV fans were running at their 100% speed. To present the worst-case scenario, a synthetic load was put on the CPU using AIDA64 Extreme version 6.0.0 and at the same time the graphics card was put under stress test using MSI Kombuster. Each test run was done for 30 minutes followed by a minimum of 15 minutes idling time.

The second test was run to give the user a real-life result. A session of 30 minutes was made using Witcher 3 at Ultra Preset on 1080p resolution. This test would have been much better if a more powerful graphics card was used but I had only GTX 1060 available with me at that time and it did not really challenge the Intel i7 8700k. Still, it will give the idea of graphics card temperatures. Let’s take a look at the results.

A massive difference of 10°C is observed between using the front panel and taking it off. Any difference above 3-4°C shows the relative restrictive airflow design and this chassis is clearly showing that airflow is highly restricted on the front panel.

Again, a similar result is observed.

Acoustics

With an ambient sound level of 37 dB(A), the overall sound level of the Aerocool Quartz Revo was approximately 49-50 dB(A) under load which is impressive.

Conclusion

The Aerocool Quartz Revo is a mid-tower chassis packed with addressable RGB fans and two Tempered Glass panels for a flaunting build. The chassis is made of steel, plastic, and tempered glass with a thickness of the steel at > 0.5mm. It has a dimension of 206.1x455x408mm (WxHxD). The internal dimensions are 200x440x368.95mm (WxHxD). The Quartz Revo comes with 4x 120mm ARGB fans. 

Three of these fans are installed on the front, and one is installed at the rear. It is nice to see that Aerocool has provided an ARGB fan on the rear as well. These fans use hydraulic bearings and are rated for 60000 hrs MTBF. Their rated speed is 1200 RPM with an airflow rating of 41.3 CFM at 0.98 mm H2O. The user can install a 120/240/360mm radiator on the front rail.

There is no provision for a 140mm size fan/radiator. There is a tempered glass panel on the front to showcase the ARGB lighting on these fans. The airflow is restricted on the front panel as the main source of air intake is the cutout on the bottom side and small vents on the inner frame of the front panel.

The side panel of the chassis is made of tempered glass. It is secured using 4 screws. The glass is dark-tinted. The Aerocool Quartz Revo has 7 PCIe slots. The chassis has support for mini-ITX, micro-ATX, and standard ATX-size motherboards. This is a dual-chamber design as there is a PSU shroud that runs on the entire length of the chassis, separating the top section from the PSU and HDD cage area. The shroud is fixed.

The rear fan’s height can be adjusted in 5 positions which gives flexibility to the user. In terms of the storage department, the Aerocool Quartz Revo has a provision for up to 4x 2.5” drives and up to 2x 3.5” drives. There is an HDD cage that is not toolless. It can be adjusted in two predefined positions. In its default position, it gives the flexibility to install a thick radiator up to 60mm on the front but at the cost of less space for the PSU and the cables.

In its second position, there is more space for the PSU and the cables but less space for the radiator on the front. The user can install up to 2x 2.5” storage drives on the inner side on the right of the motherboard or on the back tray where dedicated brackets are provided. The HDD can be completely removed as well. There is no 5.25” drive bay.

The Aerocool Quartz Revo has clearance for a CPU cooler having a maximum height of 152mm. The maximum clearance for the graphics card length is 366mm without front fans. With the front fans, this clearance is 341mm. The maximum length of the PSU supported in this chassis is 185mm. The user can install a 240mm radiator on the top side, which has a magnetic dust filter though AIO support is best possible with the low-profile RAM.

The user can install up to 2x 120mm or 140mm fans on the top. The Aerocool has provided a dedicated lighting controller which allows the user to connect a total of 6 ARGB fans having pin format +5V DC. The controller is powered by the SATA connector. It connects with the +5V lighting headers of the motherboard giving the user flexibility to color coordinate their builds.

The user can also connect the controller to the Reset button on the chassis front panel and control the lighting effect using the Reset switch though going this route will lose the Reset functionality of the chassis/PC. This controller is compatible with the ASUS AURA SYNC, GIGABYTE RGB FUSION 2.0, and MSI MYSTIC LIGHTING. The ARGB fans have 7 RGB dynamic modes and 7 static modes. The ARGB lighting is brilliant on this chassis, and coupled with the tempered glass, it gives one heck of a good show. Show on the budget!

My overall build experience was fine though it was surprising to know that I was not able to mount the Noctua SecuFirm-II backplate after the motherboard was installed in the chassis, as the edges of the backplate were hindered by the edges of the cutout area. I am not sure if this goes the same for the other coolers, but this is something Aerocool needs to look into.

The PCIe slot covers are not reusable. I would suggest the users remove the required covers before the installation of the motherboard. Handling 4x Molex connectors of the pre-installed fans is cumbersome else, and the user is left to figure out to find a splitter cable or 4x fan headers on the motherboard.

This chassis is aimed at budget users who still want to experience the glimmer of the RGB lighting and the dashing looks of tempered glass. The airflow is restricted. We tested the chassis with the front panel removed and said tests were repeated with the front panel on, and there was an approximate difference of 10°C and above, which is on the higher side.

The local market in this price segment has increased competition with some good offers, and Quartz Revo is a nice addition to this segment. This chassis would have given a tough time to the competitors had there been a meshed panel on the front.

We are thankful to Texon-Ware for giving us the opportunity to review the Aerocool Quartz Revo.