Raijintek Aeneas Review

Raijintek Aeneas Review

Manufacturer: Raijintek
UK price (as reviewed): £65.99 (inc VAT)
US price (as reviewed): $99.90 (ex Tax)

The Aeneas is the second chassis we've seen from Raijintek, and it's really rather different to the first. Whereas the Metis was a cut-down, minimalist mini-ITX chassis, the Aeneas moves up to micro-ATX, and it's all about performance, with plenty of mesh, airflow and room for hardware.


The plastic front panel is fixed firmly to the chassis. However, removing it reveals that it's thin and rather bendy, and the same is true of the roof panel. A mesh section runs uninterrupted through the middle of these two panels, and it's backed by a soft foam material to help keep dust out. There's also a second filter behind the front panel, but it's just a thin sheet of material that's tricky to replace, so you wouldn't want to be cleaning it too often.

Both side panels are flat; the left one on our sample is fitted with a large tinted window that grants you a great view of the insides, though a windowless one is also available for £3 less. The right panel is empty except for a lower honeycomb mesh section, which is where the PSU draws air through since it is mounted sideways. This mesh has an internal magnetic dust filter, so the Aeneas has the full set of protection against dust. Both side panels do have some flex to them once they're removed, especially the windowed one, but as with the front and roof, they attach very securely to the case itself and thankfully the core steel chassis is much more robust. It stands on four large rubber feet so it has plenty of grip on any surface as well.


From the front we can see the Aeneas supports two external drives; one 5.25in and 3.5in. Meanwhile, from behind we see that it has a full five expansion slots, opening up the possibility of installing a dual-slot expansion card in the bottom motherboard slot in two-way GPU setups – not a lot of micro-ATX cases have this. We also see a pair of holes plugged with grommets for external water-cooling solutions.

Having the I/O connections on the roof makes sense given the size – it's a suitable position whether the Aeneas is placed on a desk or the floor. Dual USB 3 ports are joined by a pair of USB 2 ones and the usual audio jacks on the other side. There's also a power button and a switch to turn the blue LED strips on or off – these strips are visible through the small gaps either side of the mesh sections on the roof and front.


For cooling, the Aeneas is equipped with an impressive four fans out of the box – dual 120mm intakes at the front and two rear 140mm exhausts. There's room for four more as well, with the wide front panel capable of housing four 120mm fans in total if you really want (or a single 200mm one). Unfortunately, the Aeneas is not supplied with any form of fan control, so you'll have to take care of that yourself if you don't want the fans constantly spinning at full speed.

Specifications

• Dimensions (mm) 288 x 380 x 430 (W x D x H)
  
• Material Steel, plastic
  
• Available colours Black, white
  
• Front panel Power, LED toggle, 2 x USB 3, stereo, microphone
  
• Drive bays 1 x external 5.25in, 1 x external 3.5in, 4 x internal 3.5in/2.5in, 5 x internal 2.5in (via optional, separate cage)
  
• Form factor(s) Micro-ATX, mini-ITX
  
• Cooling 1 x 200mm or 4 x 120mm front fan mounts (2 x 120mm fans included), 2 x 140mm/120mm rear fan mount (2 x 140mm fans included), 2 x 140mm/120mm roof fan mounts (fans not included)
  
• CPU cooler clearance 180mm
  
• Maximum graphics card length 310mm
  
• Extras Removable dust filters, front and roof blue LED strips