XPG Battlecruiser II Review: Thermal & Noise Damping/Output Evaluation

Epilogue

The XPG Battlecruiser II is a definite improvement over its predecessor, but is this enough to justify the $180 price tag? In my opinion, the competition is tough at this price point, especially if you also add into account that if you want the Prime Box, you have to get the premium version, which goes for 200 dollars. And believe me, you will need the Prime Box to handle all power and ARGB cables from the fans, or else you will have a very difficult time achieving a decent optical result, which you have to do since the mainboard’s backside is exposed due to the glass panel. I don’t entirely agree with the glass side panel behind the mainboard since it demands top-notch cable management, meaning that you will have to spend quite some time to achieve that. Thankfully, you won’t have to do that frequently. XPG could at least use a tinted window on this side to help you hide the cable mess.

A strong competitor for the Battlecruiser II is a case that I recently reviewed: the be quiet! Shadow Base 800 FX. The latter only costs $20-30 more, depending on the color version that you choose, including high-quality PWM fans and an ARGB/PWM hub. It lacks the number of glass panels that the Battlecruiser II has, which increases cost, but if you don’t need them, especially the one behind the mainboard, you won’t mind. The system installation inside the Battlecruiser II is a bit tougher compared to the Shadow Base 800 because of the lower height of the mainboard’s compartment and the smaller holes on the upper and lower sides. Still, the cable management options that XPG offers are better, and it also has more drive bay slots, although you cannot utilize all available since if you do, you will cover all cable exit holes. I am referring to the drive slots behind the grommets.

The XPG Battlecruiser II supports large AIO cooling solutions, tall air coolers (175mm max height), and long graphics cards, up to 395mm, so it won’t restrict you if you want to use it for building an extra high-end system. The provided graphics card holder will come in handy, especially if you want to install it vertically. The I/O panel features a Type C USB port capable of delivering up to 20Gbps transfer speeds if your motherboard can support it, of course, which is a highly welcome feature. The only thing I don’t like about the I/O panel is that the reset switch is identical to the ARGB one, and both are close to each other, so users can easily mix them and have the system restart instead of changing the lighting. I also don’t fully agree with the glass panel behind the mainboard because it demands perfect cable management in this area, where I usually don’t bother much, but this is just me. I am sure that there are users out there with much more patience for cable management than me!

All in all, the XPG Battlecruiser II is a decent chassis with no price increase over its predecessor, which was among the most popular chassis of this brand. If you are after good looks, ARGB lighting, and you have good cable management skills, you could invest in this product.