By Meng Vang
Manufacturer: Raijintek Company Ltd.
Product Name: ASTERION PLUS
Model Number: 0R200050
UPC: 849939001203 EAN: 4715109921205
Price As Tested: $169.90 (Newegg)Full Disclosure: The product sample used in this article has been provided by Raijintek.
The Raijintek Asterion Plus allows for custom water cooling setups and complex server builds. It comes with a roomy interior to house large 240/280/360mm radiators at the front and the top. There is also enough room for tall CPU coolers up to 180mm and large graphics cards up to 340mm in length. To top it off, the acrylic side panels open up like doors using the provided door handles on each side. This case does come in a black variant, but Benchmark Reviews will be taking a look at the Asterion Silver Plus for this review. Let’s take a look at its features, specifications, and a quick overview of what this product has to offer.
- Aluminum chassis series for E-ATX/ATX/Micro ATX/Mini ITX
- Slim DVD drive bay at front top
- Aluminum color hair-silk anodized appearance design
- 4×USB 3.0 super speed port
- 3pcs 12025 O-Type LED fan pre-installed
- Whole black coated interior
- Dust-control filters at bottom
- Accommodate an internal 360 mm radiator at the front and top
- Rear tubing holes for water cooling
- Tool-free system for PSU and 3.5″HDDs
- Up to 7 fans and 6 HDDs (3.5″ + 2.5″)
- Supports 180mm height cooler
- Supports VGA card up 340mm
- Acrylic Side-Opening Window Side Panel
| Product Name | ASTERION PLUS |
| Product Number | 0R200049 / 0R200050 |
| Dimension [W×D×H] | 230×491×525 mm |
| Weight | 8.5 kg [N.W.] 10.3 kg [G.W.] |
| Material | Aluminum [Surface]; SPCC 1.0mm [Internal] |
| Color | Black/Silver; Hair-silk Anodized |
| M/B Support | E-ATX/ATX/MICRO ATX/MINI ITX |
| Drive Bay | Internal 3.5″ ×3 or 2.5″ ×3 [Tool-Free, Removeable] Internal 2.5″ ×3 Slim DVD×1 |
| Expansion Slot | PCI Slots ×8 |
| I/O Panel | USB3.0×4, HD Audio×1 |
| Power Supply | PS/2 [Internal Bottom-mount] |
| CoolingSystem | Front Fan: 140mm×2 or 120mm×3 [120mm×2 Pre-installed] or 240/280/360mm Radiator [Option] Rear Fan: 140mm×1 or 120mm×1 [Pre-installed] Top Fan: 140mm×2 or 120mm×3 or 240/280/360mm Radiator [Option] |
| CPU Cooler Height | 180mm [Max.] |
| Graphic Card Length | 340mm [Max.] |
| Side Panel Style | Acrylic Side-Opening Window |
The Raijintek Asterion Plus currently sells online for $169.90 (Newegg). It comes with a user’s manual, two cable zip ties, three additional motherboard standoffs for E-ATX boards, and plenty of screws for the motherboard, storage devices, and power supply.
The front of the case is very simple with a power button at the top, and the company logo at the bottom. Its brushed aluminum appearance gives the case a clean, modernized look and feel. The rear includes a pre-installed 120mm white LED fan. This fan mount will also support a 140mm fan for future upgradeability. Raijintek classifies the Asterion Plus as an Extra Big ATX Tower, so it has eight expansion slots and four tubing holes for water cooling.
On the main side panel, there is a reflective acrylic side panel window to show off the internal components of the system. Towards the front of the case is a door handle to open the side panel and a vertical dust filtered grill for air intake.
The opposite side panel is the same as the main, only reversed.
At the top is a large ventilation area over the top fan mounts. Front I/O ports include four standard USB 3.0 ports (two ports have USB 2.0 adapters) and headphone/microphone jacks. There is also a top load CD/DVD slot if you choose to install a slim disk drive.
Here at the bottom, we can see the four rubberized feet with two dust filters screwed onto the bottom aluminum panel.
Now that we have seen a quick overview of the Asterion Plus, let’s take a look at the features this case has to offer.
With the side panel removed, we can see the internal layout of the Asterion Plus. There is a lot of interior room since the bulky 3.5″ HDD cages normally present towards the front are not there. A power supply chamber covers the power supply unit and its cables from ruining the looks of your build. The chamber does not span all the way to the front of the case, which does allow for a front 360mm radiator. Motherboard standoff screws are already in place for an ATX motherboard as well.
No Velcro straps are present for cable management, but the four main cable cutouts do have rubber to protect cables. The motherboard tray has plenty of cable tie-down points for cable routing. The motherboard tray can support a 2.5″ or 3.5″ drive using the provided screws. Inside the power supply chamber is a hard drive cage for two 3.5″ HDDs or two SSDs.
The Asterion Plus has a total of three pre-installed white 120mm 12025 O-Type LED fans. There are two of these fans at the front for air intake. There is enough room to mount a 240mm, 280mm, or 360mm radiator as the power supply chamber does not extend all the way to the front.
With the top dust filter removed, we can see the large surface area for cooling accessories. The top does support a 360mm and 280mm radiator along with three 120mm and two 140mm fans.
Removing the front panel requires the removal of four screws, two on both sides of the case. Use caution when removing the front panel as excessive force can damage the ribbon cable to the power button.
On the power supply chamber, there are mounts for mounting two additional 2.5″ SSDs, or one 3.5″ HDD.
Let’s take a look at the build in the next section.
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Motherboard: ASRock Fatal1ty 990FX Killer
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System Memory: 2x4GB 1600MHz DDR3
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Processor: AMD Phenom II X4 945 @ 3GHz
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Audio: Onboard RealTek HD Audio
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Video: Gigabyte R9 270X 2GB GDDR5 Windforce Edition
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Disk Drive 1: Toshiba Q Series 128GB SSD
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Enclosure: Raijintek Asterion Silver Plus
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PSU: Thermaltake 430W TR2
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Monitor: HP 23bw 23″ IPS display
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Operating System: Windows 10 Professional 64-Bit
During the build, I had no major problems installing a standard ATX motherboard and a large graphics card. The large interior layout of the Asterion Plus allowed for an E-ATX motherboard. There was plenty of room above the motherboard and at the front of the case for additional radiators. I really would have liked to see rubber grommets on the three cable cutouts underneath the motherboard. A computer case at this price range should have at least included some.
I scratched my head a bit as the Asterion Plus came with no Velcro straps for cable management. Luckily I had a roll of Velcro laying around and used it to help me route the cables. Again, something I would have liked to see in a case at this price range.
With the system powered on, the white 120mm 12025 O-Type LED fans looked great overall. Because the exterior panels were aluminum, magnetic LED strips would require adhesive tape to stick onto the aluminum surface. I took an alternative route by placing my white LED strip towards the steel portion at the front of the case.
The system did not make too much noise with both side panels closed off. Air flow at the front seemed a bit restrictive, but the internal components remained cool enough from overheating. The three 12025 O-Type LED fans did produce some noticeable noise at their top speed of 1400 RPM and provided a decent amount of air flow the interior components.
This door mechanism is not something we see too often on computer cases, but it does make showing off the interior easier. My unit had trouble with the opposite side panel not wanting to slide off its hinges. I had to wiggle the side panel back and forth multiple times just to get it off the case. Eventually, I may have to throw on some white lithium grease to help lubricate the hinges so they will work properly.
For air cooling, the Asterion Plus does have 180mm of clearance from the motherboard tray to the side panel for tall CPU coolers. This means it can support large CPU coolers, like the Noctua NH-D15 and the Phanteks PH-TC14PE. Of course, you may also opt for a water cooled setup.
In the next section, we will finish this review with my final thoughts and conclusion.
The Asterion Plus computer case works great as a gaming computer or a server thanks to its E-ATX motherboard support. There is plenty of room for multiple graphics card configurations, large 360mm radiators, or tall CPU coolers. It looks great with it simple and elegant brushed aluminum finish, which is something Raijintek has been implementing onto their computer cases for several years now. But because of the aluminum construction, the case is lighter weight, but magnetic LED strips naturally will not stick to it. The doors do add some style to build, making it one of the best looking computer cases despite the acrylic windows.
In terms of air flow and performance, it feels a lot like the Enthoo Evolv ATX from Phanteks. Air flow is decent as there is some restriction at the front, but there is still plenty of room for larger fans and radiators. The included 120mm fans are an extra bonus making the Asterion Plus ready to go out from the box.
The case looks great with its brushed aluminum finish. With the acrylic side panels, the doors are lighter weight, but they attract dust like a fly to a freshly laid turd. Acrylic does scratch very easily even with a microfiber cloth. If you can live without the fancy door panels, Raijintek does offer the Asterion Classic with dual tempered glass side panels.
In terms of construction, the case feels very sturdy throughout. With a steel internal frame structure, the case does not wobble back and forth since steel is a stronger metal than aluminum. The only downside to the aluminum panels is magnetic LED strips naturally will not stick onto them. If you want to deck out your build with LED strips, you may want to look at some double sided tape.
The Asterion Plus will make a great water cooled or sever build. I liked how roomy the interior is for large radiators and graphics cards, but the bottom dust filters are somewhat problematic. I am not sure why they had to screw the dust filters into the case, but I was expecting the traditional sliding method on a case in this price range. Also, the lack of Velcro cable ties took me by surprise.
As of October 2017, the Raijintek Asterion Plus sells online for $169.90 (Newegg). At this price range, I would have liked to see included Velcro cable ties and rubber grommets on the three cable cutouts below the motherboard. Tempered glass is the current trend at the time of this review, and Raijintek offers that with their Asterion Classic versions if acrylic is not your cup of tea. If you are in the market for a larger and stylish computer case, the Asterion Plus is a good case to look at.
+ Lots of interior room
+ Supports E-ATX motherboards
+ Acrylic Side-Opening Window Side Panel
+ Supports large 280mm and 360mm radiators
– No Velcro cable ties for cable management
– Bottom dust filters are screwed onto the bottom panel
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Performance: 8.75
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Appearance: 9.25
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Construction: 8.75
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Functionality: 8.00
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Value: 8.25
