Asus ROG Strix Helios GX601 Gaming Case

Official Product Specs

Asus Global
Asus SG

Specs

ATX mid-tower - N.W. 18 kg, 250 x 565 x 591 mm (WxDxH)
Bundled 4 x 140mm 0.3A non-LED fans

Online

International
Amazon
Newegg (check out Sean W.'s 5 Eggs feedback for his non-Asus mobo build!)

Local
Ban Leong Online
Amazon.sg
Others

Official Asus Motto

"MADE FOR SHOWCASE BUILDS"

Video

 

Box

Truly recommend opting for an online purchase with doorstep delivery whenever possible cos this case is really solid heavy and the retail box is huge for extra protection.

Photos

Just a selection to highlight the salient points of this case



Front
Clean tempered smoked glass facade brandishing prominent ROG logo with RGB lighting effect, I/O panel most suited for floor standing placement.

Top
2 top handles of rather thick Aluminum  to bear the wright of everything, sturdy velcro strap with more ROG branding. Finely meshed ventilation top panel.

Sides
Thick tempered smoked glass sides (4mm thick) with quick release push button mechanism allowing immediate access to the interior. More ROG branding seen in the form of a small cloth label, note the noise/vibration dampening foam strip for the side panels.

Back
Case factory label with date of manufacture. Single exhaust fan with adjustable moorings. Note the bottom mounted PSU with dampening foam rests.

 

Interior
Expansive spacious interior thanks especially to the depth allowing Big Freaking Giant GPUs of up to 450mm lengths. Good straight forward positive ventilation with front to back stock 3 intake and 1 exhaust 140mm fans. Note the X-Y axis adjustable GPU support mechanism. Interesting ROG wordings on the PSU shroud in multiple languages too.

 

Acrylic swing door panel for hiding the bundled fan hub and cable management, this is anchored by 2 Phillips screws. A missed opportunity to opt for a tool-free mechanism either with a snap on design or maybe thumbscrews.
 

Bottom
Secure case placement with rubberized feet  . Note the oversized removable sliding dust mesh for easy regular maintenance.

Measurements
Test placement of the Asus ROG Crosshair VI Extreme motherboard, eATX sized model. 2cm gap from the bottom, 6cm from the top and way way more than sufficient clearance from the front for fat rads and BFG cards.

Bundle
Rather surprising small bundle leaving out the vertical GPU riser cable for such a high end case.

Initial Impressions

Very strong early effort from Asus for their modern gaming case series, surely more hits than misses. It's been a very long time coming since their functional Elan Vital and teenager Vento case series days of yore.

Clearly, this model is not meant for everybody but is aimed confidently at the well heeled Asus ROG enthusiast instead. The value and worth should perhaps be assessed in this light. Willingness to pay the Asus premium commanded by the exclusive ROG branding is obviously a personal propensity. It is indeed the first and for now, the only official ROG case from Asus itself.

Overall, the GX601 definitely ticks a lot of right boxes with room for improvement in certain areas like better bundling.


Pros
Branding satiation for ROG devotees
Solid build, all 18kg of it
RGB bling with Asus Aura Sync support
Clever seamless material mix of thick brushed Alu, steel, tempered glass, acrylic, ABS..
Fantastic overall looks with tasteful LED lighting, matte finishing (no fingerprints!), tight seams and double riveted joints
Supports both tall air coolers (190mm max) and large water coolers (420 rads)
Supports super long (max 450mm) and heavy GPUs (built-in adjustable GPU rests)
Supports motherboard sizes from mITX to eATX
Supports 4 x 2.5", 2 x 3.5" storage devices (remember gaming case, not storage/server case)
Bundled fan hub
Vertical GPU placement alternative
Caters for cable management, easy dust filter maintenance
Very easy push button access to case interior
I/O panel has great functionaility including LED, fan toggle switches


Cons
Pretty penny SRP (else do consider the well regarded TUF Gaming GT501 too)
Vertical GPU riser cable and 12V ATX extension cable are optional items
Tough to move around,  all 18kg of it
Screwdriver needed for assembly, missed opportunities for more thumbscrews and clip mechanisms

Rating

 

Asus Crosshair VIII Hero WIFI (X570) Motherboard & AMD Ryzen 9 3900X - Killer Combo!

Yes, PCI-e 4.0 is finally here!

Haha, the world's very first PCI-e 4.0 chipset makes it to the consumer desktop, well beating once mighty Intel to the punch. Complacency and bullying tactics can only get you that far... many kudos to AMD again!

PCIe 4.0: Everything you need to know...
Asus X570 motherboard guide

Asus Official Webpage

https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/ROG-Crosshair-VIII-Hero/

Packaging

Sturdy large box in ROG colours.The accessories bundle is adequate but could have been more forward looking by including a drivers USB flashdrive instead of a DVD.

Motherboard

Generous heatsinks for the VRM (with heatpipe) and Southbridge with integrated active cooling, cleverly catering for the M.2  SSDs too. Protective Asus mobo armour and just as generous blessing of 14+2 onboard power phases (IR3555) too.

Motherboard Layout

Busy layout with lots of features and connectors, reinforced RAM and PCI-e slot.

Back I/O & Beyond

This is the WIFI enabled model with the gold plated DIN connectors. Dual LAN ports - Intel GLAN and Realtek 2.5GLAN plus a forward looking USB-C port.

8+4 ATX12V connectors for the crazy overclockers, note the broad silvery heatpipe peeking out between the heatsinks.

All the clockers' dream bits and pieces are seen here - onboard debug display, plentiful PWM fan headers, power/reset buttons. Also shown are the voltage measuring points in front of the main ATX power connector.

Plentiful SATA ports, flat lying USB3 headers - yay!

Even more PWM fan and RGB headers in this corner, the M2 heatsink is also seen.

Isolated S1220 audio subsystem, more RGB headers and clockers' buttons.

Long gone are the AM3 mounting holes of earlier models, by now you had better be well prepared cos  AM4 has been around for more than 2 years already.

AMD Ryzen 9 3900X

https://www.amd.com/en/products/cpu/amd-ryzen-9-3900x


Monster juggernaut of a desktop processor comprising 12 cores and 24 threads modern 7nm process yet at a price similar to the 8 cores 16 threads ancient 14nm process Core i7-9900K. And it is yet bundled with a quality heatpipe Wraith Prism with RGB fan heatsink.

Comparing the 2 CPUs side by side based on similar pricing but is this anywhere going to be a level ground competition in the first place? Already on paper, AMD with its modern design and process seems to hold all the aces in its hands.

Test Setup

Asus ROG Crosshair VIII Hero WIFI | AMD Ryzen 9 3900X | Corsair DDR4-3466XMP@3600 16GB Kit | WD Black nvme 500GB SSD | Scythe Kabuto3 | Win 10 x64 1903

12 cores and 24 threads of Ryzen2 goodness, take that all you current Intel mainstream 4 core wimps!

CPU-Z Bench
Stomped all over the similarly priced Core i7-9900K in multithread (39.4% faster) and slightly edged out in the single thread bench (7.5% slower).

7-Zip Bench

Nice big numbers!

Cinebench R20
Killing even its own big brother,  its dual channel 12C24T is faster than the quad channel 16C32T Threadripper 1950X, plenty of ouch!

Geekbench4

https://browser.geekbench.com/v4/cpu/13869108

hwinfo64 Monitoring

As expected, its 12C24T run on the hotter side of things but it still runs stable in our local ambient air.

Running cool and fuss free in the background is the Asus Crosshair VIII Hero motherboard, it has been rock solid and dependable so far. Its industry leading UEFI BIOS is easy to configure, feature filled and consistent.

Initial Impressions

This is one of the rare OMG moment in consumer desktop computing - AMD has thrown down the gauntlet and solidly empowered the rest of us with incredible yet affordable processing beyond the wildest imagination of everybody especially the complacent sleeping giant called Intel.

Things are not quite perfect yet with the early BIOS and driver issues but... please wake up to reality, was anyone ever perfect especially Intel with its countless CPU bugfixes steadily eating into its so called performance lead which has by now almost vaporised into thin air?

Run or better fly, just don't walk or dawdle... quickly grab this amazing Ryzen2 bundle cos they are flying off the shelves as we (and Intel) sleep. One also can't help but wonder how the incoming 16C/32T R9 3950 may upset the equilibrium again in short time.

Overall score - a solid 9.9/10 (cos nobody's perfect) and let's encourage both Asus and AMD to keep on creating great stuff for the rest of us.

Bonus Screenshot

For those of you who read all the way to the end... yes, it is indeed possible to do so.

Team Group T-Force RGB - DDR4-3000 16GB Night Hawk Kit & Delta S 250GB SSD

Team Group T-Force RGB 

In line with the PC industry movement for the enthusiasts over recent years, component manufacturers have also been endlessly rushing heads over heels into the retail market with RGB offerings.


Team Product Page
https://www.teamgroupinc.com/en/product/night-hawk-rgb-night-hawk-ddr4
https://www.teamgroupinc.com/en/product/delta-s-rgb-ssd


As can be seen from the product pages, the received samples are each the most entry level models from the Night Hawk and Delta S range respectively. There are clearly more capacious and speedier models out there.

Present owners would note that these are currently among the most affordable RGB components from a well known memory/storage manufacturer.

Unboxing

Compact flat boxes with minimal stuffing.

Lights, Camera, Action!

Probably the main claim to fame for these two products other than the pricing, the RGB light show galore. Kindly pardon the camera shake as the morning coffee hasn't properly kicked in yet.

For a little more completeness sake, perhaps some screenshots and stress tests. Of course, longer stress testing allows for more accurate and thorough results so pamper yourself as you deem fit.

CPU-Z

hwinfo64

Reveals these to be Micron based sticks. Interesting these matched pair has serial numbers which are rather far apart.

TPU MemTest64

You can run this till your power bills break the bank... so just a short sample here.

HyperPi 32M

The ol' fave quickie for RAM and mem controller stability

Initial Impressions

After crazy prices the past few years, RAM and SSD prices are finally falling this year end holiday season (hurray!!!) so RGB bling bling at reasonable pricing like these Team Group offerings is yet another good reason to jump in and enjoy yourself. Better don't miss it this time around.