Final Words & Conclusion
Final Words & Conclusion
The Anidees AI Crystal XL AR at first glance looks like one of the many chassis with tempered glass that appeared on the market recently. It’s very attractive and eye-catching. But for sure one of the points that differentiates it from other offerings is that it’s a full tower case, quite honestly, even an E-ATX motherboard will look small in it. In that sense, it’s not a normal case, it’s an extraordinary one. Airflow is not an issue, the five 120 mm fans deal with it comfortably, without generating too much noise. Inside there’s everything that is needed and/or required. There’s a ton of space for liquid cooling, in the XL a 480 or 420 mm rad will fit in the front or the roof. If you need storage places, you can’t complain, cause even with all spots for LC occupied it will leave space for 8x3.5" drives and 3x2.5". If you prefer an air cooled CPU, you’ll fit a cooler with even 190 mm height (are there even any that tall?).
Aesthetics
Looks are something subjective, but most users should love Anidees for its looks. It's very sleek, combine that with the features that an enthusiast is looking for. Cooling is above average, there are three dust filters and, of course, USB 3.1. Glass side and front panels make it look pretty. Luckily there are no massive logos. And sure, the icing on top of the well-lit cake, RGB LED fans which can be controlled via a small remote control which is included. Isn’t that a nice feature? One thing missing is that none of the grommet holes on the main panel are not rubberized. That’s a bit of a strange move with respect to the price of the chassis.
Features
The internals are very well thought through, E-ATX form factor and even larger motherboards will fit without a problem. Graphics cards, even one 510mm in length. Air cooling can be up to 190 mm. There are massive and plentiful spaces for liquid cooling and storage units. The big motherboard cutout for cooling backplate access is nice and there's enough space left for cable routing through the grommet holes, all in that all-black interior. The PSU cover nicely hides the wires coming out from the power supply.
The Verdict
Anidees released a really nice chassis with the AI-Crystal XL AR. 1 mm steel, 5 mm tempered glass makes it a very solid offering, aimed mainly at liquid cooling enthusiasts. It's all about the features and looks though, you should remember that it’s very big, so you'd better measure the place and space you plan to put it. We'd recommend under the desk, due to the 20 kg of weight, (that's without gear in it). The overall design makes sense, the case is easy to use and maintain. There are plentiful storage options, with reasonable cable routing. Airflow is more than enough for most users, despite the covered/tempered glass front panel. Five installed RGB fans make a pleasant visual effect, and it’s very nice that there’s a remote control to adjust the settings, because not everyone has an Asus Aura/MSI Mystic compatible motherboard (like me, with EVGA). We can recommend the chassis very much, as it does offer an excellent combination of features and performance and comes with really good looks. The price though is as big as the chassis is, carrying an MSRP of $249.90 / €249 / £184.90. You can give Anidees a visit here.
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