Watford Aries 6435 system review

Modding, noise, special features

In terms of the mod potential of the case, Watford have really picked a corker with the Centurion. Whilst the body may be steel, the front panel is a combination of mesh and aluminium that really looks ace. For a steel case, it's pretty lightweight, and the amount of expansion room inside is definitely a winner. The side panels are just crying out for a window, with a large expanse of flat metal perfect for attacking with a jigsaw.

We also like the fact that this latest revision of the Centurion has a 120mm exhaust fan. This enables you to keep the noise down or severely up the cool, the choice is yours. Extra points for including thumscrews at the back of the case.

The Akasa fan control system has 3 dials for variable speed fan adjustment. Hooked up to the controller is the CPU fan, the 120mm exhaust fan and the 80mm intake fan at the front of the case. We found that we were easily able to turn all 3 fans down to the minimum level, making for an incredibly quiet system. We didn't have any problems with cooling, even when stressing the components in gaming.

The Hiper PSU is a solid choice, and provided us with reliable power throughout. The unit has a switch on the back to adjust between different fan speeds and, as we found with the rest of the system, we switched this down to minimum with no adverse effect. The PSU has stable rails and was able to accommodate our overclocking without breaking into a sweat.

Build quality

The system was put together exquisitely. The utmost care had clearly been taken to make sure that wires were routed to right places, with molex connectors even being taken behind the motherboard plate for neatness. The power supply cables were sleeved and kept out of the way appropriately, leaving maximum room for heat to dissipate around the case, and making system maintenance an absolute doddle.

As you might expect, all the USB and firewire headers are connected up properly.

The system was also configured well, with the BIOS configured for optimal settings, and a few minor things - like the Vsync setting in Catalyst drivers - had been adjusted prior to sending out. A nice touch.