AeroCool has come up with their own innovative method of mounting hard drives and optical drives. The hard drives use two plastic rails that simply pop into the screw holes you would find on the sides of a hard drive. The drive is then inserted into the hard drive bay and the rails firmly snap into place. Easy and very effective.

Plastic hard drive rails. 2 are used per hard drive.

Installed hard drive using the plastic mounting rails.

     Here we have AeroCool's optical drive retainers. Instead of rails or clips, these retainers mount on the outside of the optical drive rack and lock into place.

     These retainers are all plastic which concerns me a little, but they use 4 tabs instead of just 2 like some cheaper made retainers we've seen.

     The plastic tabs on the retainers line up with the screw holes in the side of the optical drive. You simply press the retainer into the screw holes and turn the lock. It's quick, easy and it works surprisingly well. One of these retainers are needed on each side of the drive rack.

     AeroCool provides 10 of these handy retainers, just enough to mount 5 optical drives or other devices.

     As you may have noticed from some of the photos, there are no 3.5" mounts in the front of the case. The entire front drive rack is 5.25", therefore you will need 2 of these adapters if you mount a 3.5" device such as a floppy drive. Not exactly quick and easy, but I don't think I've seen a computer with a floppy or zip drive in years.

Conclusion

     The AeroCool Zero° is a good looking, good quality case with a solid build that will last the test of time. It has plenty of storage ability and excellent cooling. Features such as the giant cooling fan and window mod make this case stand out, but the strange placement of the 120mm LED cooling fan is a bit puzzling. However, AeroCool has pointed out that with the 120mm fan in the front of the case, a water cooling kit can be easily installed and be virtually concealed in the 5.25" drive rack. If the 120mm fan does get in the way, it can be easily relocated to the rear of the case to help vent out hot air.

     Overall, the case has some very nice features that work very well compared to many cases I've seen. As for price, this case has just hit the market and is listing around $130. Not a bad price for a well built case. Within a few weeks the Zero° should be more widely available and price go down slightly.