Aerocool Dead Silence Cube Review

Performance Analysis

Cooling results for the Dead Silence are nothing to write home about, although this is unsurprising given the lack of mesh and the use of two low airflow fans. On the plus side, the fans are certainly very quiet, even when running consistently at full speed, and though the case can't be called silent, the fact that it keeps noise levels so low without any noise absorbing foam is still an achievement.


In its default configuration, the Dead Silence comes out with the highest CPU and GPU delta T results by a fair margin. Due to a recent graphics card death, we only have a couple of cases to accurately compare it to, and they happen to be very good when it comes to cooling, but even so the CPU delta T of 60°C is definitely hotter than we'd like, as it's one of the highest we've observed from a micro-ATX chassis (the CPU we use hasn't changed in a while, only the GPU). The case may be quiet, but this only reinforces our belief that it should ship with faster fans and fan control to give users more flexibility.

Thankfully, replacing the solid roof with the meshed panel improves CPU and GPU temperatures by 4°C and 6°C respectively. This shows just how damaging a sealed environment can be, as the improvements are solely a result of cooler air from the roof being drawn in by the CPU and GPU fans. Even better, the extra noise coming from the case was barely noticeable, so we'd certainly recommend using this panel if you're going to be overclocking – there's little reason not to.

Conclusion

Aerocool has come a long way since the last time we saw one of its products. The Dead Silence is a neat little chassis with a sleek exterior design and a flexible and user friendly interior one. That said, we do think it slips up in too many areas to be worthy of an award. The Fractal Arc Mini R2 is undoubtedly a better case for the money, but it's also large (almost midi-tower dimensions in fact), which can be a big turn off for micro-ATX users. If you're a fan of the case's looks and size and are willing to work with it, there's little that can't be improved upon fairly easily, and if you're happy with a quiet but warm chassis for you micro-ATX build then it could well be the case for you.