Cougar's Airface ECO was showcased at Computex last year and introduced it officially last month. The Airface ECO is an iteration of the Cougar Airface RGB that looks quite identical from the outside but Cougar did quite several changes in the interior, allowing the ECO variant to bring a distinguished design to the table.
I have been always a big fan of such designs but when it comes to functionality, it can't be compromised no matter how the case looks. Having rebuilt my systems in multiple cases in the last 10 years, transitioning to the Airface ECO RGB has shown me how easily one can achieve a great-looking PC while retaining a decently functional design.
In this review, I will be introducing you to each and every corner of the Airface ECO, showing you the good and the bad. Read it till the end if you really want to know if this is the case you should be buying for your next PC build.
Technical Specifications
| Product Name | Airface ECO RGB / Airface ECO RGB(White) | |
|---|---|---|
| Case Form Factor | Mid Tower | |
| Motherboard Type | Mini ITX / Micro ATX / ATX / CEB / E-ATX | |
| Dimensions (WxHxD) | 240(W) x 509(H) x 480(D) (mm) 9.4(W) x 20(H) x 18.9(D) (in) |
|
| I/O Panel | USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C x 1, USB 3.0 Type-A x 2, 4 Pole Headset Audio Jack x 1, RGB Button | |
| 3.5" Drive Bay | 2 | |
| 2.5" Drive Bay | 2 (2 SSD trays included) | |
| Expansion Slots | 7 (horizontal slots can be converted into vertical slots) | |
| Vertical GPU Support | Yes | |
| Cooling Fan Support | Front | 120mm x 3 / 140mm x 2 / 180mm x 2 |
| Top | 120mm x 3 / 140mm x 2 | |
| Rear | 120mm x 1 / 140mm x 1 | |
| Pre-installed Fans | Front | 180mm ARGB PWM fan x 2 |
| Rear | 120mm ARGB fan x 1 | |
| Speed | 180mm ARGB PWM fan: 300-1200 ± 10% RPM 120mm ARGB fan: 1000 ± 10% RPM |
|
| Connector | 180mm ARGB PWM fan Connector: 5V 3 Pin (ARGB) / 4 Pin PWM (Fan) 120mm ARGB fan Connector: 5V 3 Pin (ARGB) / 3 Pin (Fan) |
|
| Maximum Number of Fans | 7 | |
| Water Cooling Support | Front | 360mm / 280mm / 240 mm / 140 mm / 120mm |
| Top | 360mm / 280mm / 240 mm / 140 mm / 120mm | |
| Rear | 140 mm / 120mm | |
| RGB Hub Sync with M/B | Yes | |
| Max. Graphics Card Length | 390(mm) / 15.4(in) | |
| Max. CPU Cooler Height | 190(mm) / 7.5(in) | |
| Max. PSU Length | 200(mm) / 7.9(in) | |
Taking a Close Look
Cougar's Airface ECO RGB aims to leverage thermodynamic principles and one of the major selling points of the case is the high airflow from the front panel. The front panel is not just unique in looks but also in design, offering coned vents that taper inwards maintaining a wide opening. This results in increased airflow from the front, allowing the fans to draw more cool air all the time.
One of the best things about the case is the build quality. I don't know the exact alloy used for the construction of the case but I haven't seen such a sturdy design in a while. The panels are highly durable and have no flimsiness at all. This is how each and every corner of the case feels, including the front panel.
The case is decently big. I wouldn't say it is huge but it isn't a small mid-tower either. It gets all the jobs done by being around 500mm in both height and length. This creates a spacious room inside, giving you ample clearance for your components. As you can see from the specs table, it's long enough to support up to 390mm GPUs and a good 190mm for tall air coolers. Such a length and width are absolutely essential for modern GPUs and big heatsinks, allowing for an easier building process.
The bracket brings a built-in GPU support bracket, which is a convenient utility for supporting heavy GPUs and preventing sagging. You can adjust the height of the bracket as per your needs. For storage, there are two bays for 3.5" drives and two for 2.5" SSDs in the PSU shroud and at the back of the motherboard tray respectively.
The side panel is fully transparent using a tempered glass panel and it brings an innovative design of holding the panel via a single screw at the back. However, it's not a conventional one that you have to put in place by sliding the small metals inside the body but the panel actually snaps at the top via small metal parts and you don't need to use both hands to secure it back. This is exactly how the rear panel is closed as well.
Coming to the main area, it has a huge motherboard tray that supports up to E-ATX form factor motherboards and has a dedicated cable bracket that hides the big ATX connector and other motherboard cables properly. The cable bracket can be adjusted by a cm or so and can be helpful in cable connection on E-ATX motherboards.
There are a lot of routing holes, including the top and the PSU shroud. All of them are covered via rubber grommets, making a cleaner look. The good thing is that the PSU shroud also has a routing hole near the glass panel from where you can route the PCI-E cables to your GPU.
The PSU shroud ends a few cm before the front panel, giving you ample space to install either fans or radiators. The case already comes with 2x 180mm ARGB fans pre-installed (and one 120mm ARGB fan at the rear) and there is still quite enough space clearance to install a thick radiator. The PSU shroud can also be used for adding a reservoir in case you want to do custom loops and stuff.
Thankfully, all the panels have dust filters and you can easily remove them even without having to remove the panel. The top and bottom filters are the top layers but at the front panel, the dust filter sits between the panel and the frame where the fans are installed. Here, Cougar introduced an interesting design by giving you a small rubber pull tab that allows removing the dust filter while the front panel is still in place. Once you clean it, you can push that back into its place. An interesting design, isn't it?
Finally, connectivity includes two USB 3.0 Type A and USB 3.2 Type C ports on the top of the front panel, plus an Audio jack and a RGB button to control the lighting on the fans.
The Building Process
The assembly process usually exposes all the goods of the case as well as the flaws. However, with different configurations, everyone's experience will be different. I own conventional components, including a dual-fan GTX 1080 Ti, a simple single tower air cooler, an ATX motherboard, and basic parts like DDR4 RAM sticks, an NVMe SSD, a 2.5" SSD, and a 3.5" HDD for storage. This configuration is quite sufficient to check how the Airface ECO stands up against other mid-towers such as Thermaltake's Tower 600, which I reviewed a few months ago.
Starting with the motherboard, everything went as usual and I had no trouble in installing the core components. Installing the storage drives was straightforward, particularly the HDD installation as the complete drive bay can be removed from the PSU shroud. After connecting all the cables, I tied them together using the velcro straps at the back and put back the cable bracket at the front.
It was a bit challenging at first since it was putting too much pressure on the custom 24-pin cable but a few tweaks did the job. Connecting the front panel USB 3.0 header was somewhat of a hassle. My motherboard has the header at the bottom, just adjacent to the routing hole and that made wiring difficult. Other than that, nothing was difficult and the PC was built in less than an hour.
Now even though I totally skipped installing my 120mm fans at the top panel this time, I could clearly see that the top area had enough clearance to not just install the fans but also a radiator. Lastly, I installed my GPU, which I usually put back after wiring and stuff but my GPU hardly reached the GPU bracket. I wish the GPU support was a bit wider to give my GPU proper support from the bottom but it was still fine. It's more useful for triple-fan GPUs, particularly the heavier ones.
Once everything was done, you could see the illuminating ARGB lighting inside the case and a beautiful and clean build that I think is the best-ever version I had with my configuration.
The Verdict
This is one of the most if not the most appealing mid-tower I have used in my life. Surely, there are plenty of cases I have yet to try out but I think it's the perfect one, made for modern gaming PCs. It has got everything right whether it is the design, component support, clearance, cable management, aesthetics, or durability.
It was hard to find a flaw in the case and seriously there are none. I usually come up with at least 4-5 flaws but there are hardly one or two in the Airface ECO RGB and those are mostly minor. One of those was how the rear panel could open by the pressure of thick cables at the back. This only happened once but since in my case I had a lot of connectors and extensions going on, I couldn't make a thin bundle.
The Cougar Airface ECO RGB is definitely an exceptional mid-tower chassis that you should definitely buy regardless of what configuration you own. The airflow is incredible, the design is highly functional and practical, and the durability is top-notch.
