Azza Storm 6000 Case Review
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Hardware Installation & Test Configuration
The Storm 6000 installation kit includes a surprising number of standoffs, which makes sense after one figures out that the underlying chassis started its life as an EATX design and was only “downsized” by offsetting a section of motherboard tray to provide additional space for 3.5” drives behind it. The tray even has two of the extra three standoff holes required for 13” motherboards.
In addition to the fan power and RGB LED connectors, the Storm 6000 has an ATA-style power plug to enable its own RGB controller, along with HD-Audio, USB 2.0, USB 3.0, and power switch front panel leads. While the lack of a power LED connector can be attributed to its use of RGB lighting to indicate power-on, its lack of HDD activity LED is a little surprising.
The four RGB fans (top and front panel) are 4-pin PWM, but the rear fan is just a standard black 3-pin part. Our motherboard doesn’t support voltage-based fan control at that header, but the fan is only 1100 RPM at full speed. The RGB fans spin between 1600 and 1800 RPM at full speed.
A 13” board may fit, and a builder could potentially use a rubber spacer instead of the center standoff, but the raised section at the front of the motherboard tray reduces circuit clearance by half. The unsupported front edge of between-sized motherboards is likely to short against it, thus Azza’s ATX-only rating. We called the supported mounting depth 9.6” because that’s where the panel's inward step starts: Some enthusiast-market 10.6” boards might have enough rigidity and clearance not to short against the tray, but we can't make a general recommendation without hands-on fitment of every oversized motherboard made.
While the Storm 6000 is arguably the best-looking white case I’ve tested (and gets even better when synchronized to your other devices using a motherboard’s RGB controller), one caveat is that the side panel glass does not have locator studs. Instead, plastic covers on the side screws protect the glass from the screws, and foam backing on the panel edge protects the panel from the case. The best way to open and close the Storm 6000 is with the case laying on its opposite side: I dropped the side panel several times while shooting photos.
Comparison Cases
The Storm 6000 is yet another hard-to-compare case, due to its mid-market materials and high-end features that push it into premium case territory. The View 71 TG for example has its extra slot brackets and its eight regular slots, but that’s an all-glass-covered model. The Dark Base Pro 900 also has eight slots, but it’s a true full tower packed with drive racks and noise damping materials behind an anodized brushed-aluminum face. The Corsair Carbide 600C and Roitoro Prism CR1280 are closer in size, yet both have plastic side panels. And the other 8-slot cases we’ve tested are cube-shapped.
Test Configuration
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| Drivers & Settings | |
| Chipset | Intel INF 9.4.2.1019 |
| CPU | 4.2GHz (42x 100MHz) @ 1.2V Core |
| Motherboard | Firmware 17.8 (02/10/2015) |
| RAM | XMP CAS 16 Defaults (1.2V) |
| Graphics | Maximum Fan for Thermal Tests | Nvidia GeForce 347.52 |
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Simon Anderson Nice design! Glad to see a different design brief for a piece of gaming equipment other than "put lots of jagged lines and colours and make it look like a space ship". Hexagons. That's all it took people! See how something can still look futuristic and "awesome" without shoving it down peoples throats?Reply -
Verrin I'm not sure how you can claim a beehive is better than angles and lines. Looks are subjective, and in my subjective opinion it looks just as tacky.Reply -
moogleslam That final build looks beautiful. The white really makes it look clean and pure. Might have to consider a white case for my next build.Reply -
10tacle I have always loved the white build theme. However, I knew immediately the functionality of this case would be a fail just based on the restrictive air intake slots with those hexagon slots. For a complete water build, CPU and GPU, I can see it being somewhat functional. However, for an air cooled system, especially with a GPU with fans that blow the air back into the case, there is no way I'd buy this even at $50. And asking $150 is way too much.Reply
If Azza wants to know what a real full tower is, they can start by looking at Cooler Master's Storm Stryker for the same price (https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119260). This is more of an inbetween mid and full. Good luck Azza, you'll need it trying to sell this in big numbers. -
daglesj I just long for the day that the plugs, cables and connectors all move into the 21st century and stop living in the 1960's. Surely we can do better?Reply -
Patrick Tobin This is a basic case for premium cost... yay... I'd rather build into a Fractal Design, Silverstone, or NZXT. Same price or lower, more features. Better looking.Reply -
Patrick Tobin Dagles I fully agree. It'd be nice to see premium quality motherboard connectors. Heck, it'd be REALLY nice if it was just one connector with a billion pins ala laptop connector type.Reply -
ddferrari Reply20362454 said:Nice design! Glad to see a different design brief for a piece of gaming equipment other than "put lots of jagged lines and colours and make it look like a space ship". Hexagons. That's all it took people! See how something can still look futuristic and "awesome" without shoving it down peoples throats?
I guess you didn't read the review. The case sucks at cooling. Its looks don't matter one bit at that point.