Azza Aero 480 Review: Too Much Airflow?
When you think of Azza, the first thing that comes to mind is a geometric case like the company’s. Cube When pyramid line. It’s fair to say that Azza primarily caters to a niche case market, at least in the US. However, the new Aero 480, while less adventurous in terms of design, is still exciting thanks to a ton of me and his four PWM ARGB fans at its $110 asking price.
With a budget-friendly price and a deceptively generous feature set, the Aero 480 is best pc case list? As always, we’ll need to run the test suite to see how it performs, but first, here’s a case spec provided directly by Azza.
Azza Aero 480 specs
type | ATX Mid Tower |
motherboard | mini-ITX, micro-ATX, ATX |
support | |
Dimensions (HxWxD) | 19 x 8.67 x 17.3 inches |
GPU max length | 15.7 inch |
CPU cooler height | 6.69 inches |
external bay | X |
internal bay | 3x 2.5 inch, 1x 3.5 inch, or 4x 2.5 inch drives |
expansion slot | 7 |
Front I/O | Power, RGB control, USB 3.0 x 2, Audio x 1, Mic jack x 1. |
other | mesh side panels |
front fan | 3x 120mm fans |
rear fan | 120mm fan x 1 |
top fan | none |
bottom fan | none |
weight | 13.5 lbs (6.12 kg) |
guarantee | 1 year |
Features of the Azza Aero 480
The Azza Aero 480 is an airflow-focused mid-tower chassis that ignores the tempered glass side panels and uses mesh panels instead. I initially thought the mesh side panels had incredible thermal performance.
Despite the lack of glass, the Aero 480 follows the trends of the most popular cases in mid-2022 with a mesh front and 120mm RGB fans. Azza was very generous with the included fans, as the fans are all 4-pin and RGB addressable.
However, where we see the cost savings is in the PCIe slot covers. Installing the device requires breaking the cover, and the metal is so thin that the bracket warps. Azza: This is his 2022, not his 2002. Don’t design your PCIe cover like this, especially if it’s over $100.
The Aero 480’s IO is nothing special, as it only has two USB 3.0 Type-A ports, an RGB controller, audio and headphone jacks, and a power button. Personally, I mostly use the motherboard instead, so I don’t suffer from low IO. But the addition of a USB-C port here would be nice.
internal layout
The Azza Aero 480 measures like most mid-tower chassis at 19 x 8.67 x 17.3 inches (HWD). The internal design of the case is a bit dark. There are no cable grommets or routing cutouts behind the motherboard tray. There’s plenty of room behind the motherboard area to fit the amount of cables you need, but some guides can help, especially if you’re building for the first time.
There aren’t that many storage devices that fit on the Aero 480. You can mount a total of four 2.5″ drives or two 2.5er and two 3.5″ mechanical drives. Given that most motherboards now have multiple M.2 slots, this is more than enough for most people, but the case clearly has room for more storage.
Azza Aero 480 cooling options
The Azza Aero 480 was the first ATX case I used with full mesh side panels. So I was interested in its cooling capabilities. On the front of the Aero 480 you can mount up to a 360mm radiator or up to four of his 120mm fans. On paper, that’s a fair amount, especially for the mid-towers. The top of the case is more traditional and can accommodate three 120 or two 140mm fans, or up to a 360mm radiator. The back only supports one 120mm fan/radiator which is pretty standard.
The maximum GPU length is 400m (15.7 inches), so the new Geforce RTX 4090 Founders Edition fits in this case. Also, the new AMD Ryzen 7950X can be cooled by Noctua NH-D15. This is because the maximum height of the CPU cooler is 170 mm (6.69 inches). In short, you shouldn’t run into GPU or CPU cooling clearance issues here unless something else. Something very extreme is going on with your system.
Hardware test
Our test hardware uses Intel’s 12th Generation “Alder Lake” platform. I have a Core i7-12700KF cooled by a Noctua U12s air cooler. Our graphics card is the Gigabyte RTX 3070 Ti Gaming OC. Our motherboard is MSI Pro Z690-A WIFI.
Azza Aero 480 Acoustic Results
Our acoustic tests consist of three scenarios. Run the CPU at full load, run the CPU and GPU at full load, and run in optimized mode. The CPU full load test runs the CPU and case fans at maximum speed. For the full CPU and GPU load acoustic test, we also put a load on the Gigabyte RTX 3070 Ti Gaming OC and set the fans to 75% speed. This is because in games, the fan never runs at his 100% and is too loud when it does.
Optimized mode runs the GPU fan speed at 30% and the CPU and accompanying case fans at their lowest spinning speed.
Unsurprisingly, given the extremely porous nature of the case, the Aero 480 performed poorly in our acoustic tests. But honestly, the Aero 480’s loudness isn’t all that bad considering this chassis has more airflow than most.
Azza Aero 480 Thermal Results
All case and CPU fan speeds are set to 100% for thermal testing. The Core i7-12700K is set to his 4.7GHz clock of 1.3v across all performance cores to ensure consistent power consumption across test scenarios. Having the GPU running at 75% fan speed allows us to maintain a power target while maintaining one set reasonable fan speed, so temperature becomes the only variable.
When I got my hands on the Azza Aero 480, I was intrigued by the mesh side panels. Before testing, I assumed thermals would be great as mesh meant more airflow. But solid materials like glass and metal cause air to move from the front of the case to the back and over the heat-producing components. . The Azza Aero 480 delivered an unexpected thermal test score, hitting the upper end of the comparison case rather than the lower end of the CPU and average temperatures.
If you’re using a top-mounted AIO radiator, these temperatures may be less of an issue. But at least this proves that more meshes are not always optimal.
Conclusion
Overall, the Azza Aero 480 is a pretty solid case for its $110 price tag. His four pre-installed PWM ARGB fans are surprisingly included given the price, but the mesh side panels are a bit deceptive, and the design, especially in the rear expansion slot area, feels cheap and bendy is.
The Azza Aero 480’s mesh side panels are interesting (if the performance isn’t as good as you’d like it to be) and the four ARGB fans are much appreciated, but that’s the only thing that’s unique and impressive here. Again, Azza has created another niche case, which is not a bad thing. However, skip this case unless you’re specifically looking for mesh side panels and lots of light-up fans.At this price there are many better options such as Fantech Eclipse G360Ahas better performance and feel, costs less, and also comes with a lot of RGB.