Final Words & Conclusion

Final Words & Conclusion

The dark interior and cables will complement your components and the LED RGB activated front is done right. It's not tacky, no, you choose an animation mode (or static) and a color (sequence if you want to) and then your system color schema lines up with the PC. You can also hook the RGB segment to an ASUS Aura SYNC connector on your ASUS motherboard and sync everything up. It's a sizable chassis, you can house anything starting at E-ATX motherboard wise, anything smaller will fit in there but anything of a larger form factor would be an issue (XL-ATX, which is rare these days). The airflow is done right, space (up-to E-ATX form factor) offers plenty of options and choice in motherboards, features like the SSD/HDD space, ease of use and USB 3.1 Gen 1 and 2 ports are all available as well. We like the integrated fan controller but do wish it had one more modus operandus, totally silent. 

Aesthetics

For me it is simple, it easily is one of the better-looking chassis that I have ever seen and tested. The build quality is good overall, however, the HDD trays are flimsy plastic and build quality wise, in this price class, I have seen better. Also ASUS did not include four trays for SSDs, which is weird. The design is intricate with the tempered glass left, front and right side panels. You do need to be a ROG aficionado though with that ROG logo staring you in the face all the time. The included fans are not the most silent, but they do offer proper airflow. You could reroute them to the motherboard PWM, lower RPM a bit more and get it silent though. 

Features

The internals are pretty decent as well, good sized E-ATX form factor motherboards will fit, the more lengthy graphics card will fit as well. There's also good space for liquid cooling on the front side and top side, the drive bay has sufficient space for two HDDs and four SSDs. The chassis has nice motherboard cut-outs and there's mucho enough space left for cable routing through the grommet holes, all in that all-black interior. The nice touch is the ability to hide cables behind the cover at the back side in that separate compartment and a lovely feature is that VGA card stabilizer.

The Verdict

The ROG Helios is a super looking product and a decent enough chassis. You are buying into a well-dressed marketing logo though. For the die-hard ASUS fans, this is golden, for others that would like a more normalized non-ROG screaming design, an issue. We need to talk pricing though. Currently, you need to put down a staggering 260 EUR/USD for this chassis, and that's just not a price-level I am comfortable with. Regardless, ASUS will still sell them like hot-cakes to the true fans. So in that respect, you are looking at a 'you like or you don't' kind of pc case. Enough said there though. Overall the chassis is easy to use and fairly maintenance free, with the easy to clean dust-filters. You have decent storage options alongside seriously proper cable routing and management options. The airflow is honestly plenty enough for any build, the air intakes and exhausts are to be found throughout the body and edges. The biggest radiators for liquid cooling will fit in the front, as well as a 360 mm rad at the top.

The ROG Helios, however, does not come cheap and you do need to be a true ROG fan to be able to appreciate it. Seen from any angle, this is a very decent chassis that will serve a very specific demographic. The price, however, is restraining me from assigning an award as I do have reservations about that compared to competing products.

• Sign up to receive a notification when we publish a new article
• Or go back to Guru3D's front page