Sometimes it seems that PC case design has more in common with the fashion world than anything else. After all, it's easy to look at shiny new rigs posted online by creative types, glance over at your ageing case, and wonder whether you should get with the times and do something different. We've noticed that novel venting is starting to emerge as a trend, and this Asus chassis has me considering an upgrade of my own.
The Asus Prime AP202 is a panoramic mATX chassis with a curved tempered glass panel wrapping around the front and side. That's nothing new, but when combined with a prominent slot vent on the lower half (above a shield covering up the power supply gubbins) I reckon it's a downright tasteful combination of modern case design elements.
And that's more than I can say for many curved window enclosures, that's for sure. Asus says its patented slot vent design provides optimal cooling for the GPU, and comes complete with an integrated ARGB light band controlled by Aura Sync.
Thinking about it, positioning an intake vent below the fans of the graphics card is a really good idea. Pulling cool air from outside of the bottom of the case, running the majority of it straight into the GPU, and letting the rest be pulled upwards into the liquid cooling radiator at the top is a good thermodynamic principle.
A topic of which I know relatively little, but I'm pretty sure heat rises. That's why they call me a hardware expert, you know. Anyway, Jacob Ridley and I spotted a fair few trick venting solutions at Computex 2025, like the Lian Li Vector V200 and its slanted bottom side panel and rear lower vent, so it's a trend to keep an eye on. Here's a few more we found on our travels around the show floor:
Asus says the Prime AP202 supports graphics cards up to 420 mm long, which should mean that even something truly monstrous like the MSI RTX 5090 Suprim SOC will fit inside.
That's quite impressive for a Micro-ATX chassis, and demonstrates just how much internal room can be created by shifting the traditional intakes to the bottom and off to the side, rather than jamming two or three large fans in the front of the case.
I particularly like the black (or white, depending on the model) band around the case window. This is just a personal preference thing, but every time I see a fishbowl-style case I can't help but shake the feeling they look a bit flimsy.
I think this is just a psychological trick, as I'm pretty sure the Asus has simply put some black-film at the edge, but creating a visual barrier makes it look overbuilt and robust rather than fragile and prone to an accidental kick.
And speaking of robustness, it seems Asus has taken particular care with the wraparound glass itself. It apparently undergoes a five-stage manufacturing process that "approaches aerospace standards". I wouldn't throw one out of a window to find out exactly what that means, but point made. It's tough, says Asus. I want one, says I.
Pricing has yet to appear on the Prime AP202 product page, but given its understated-yet-very-modern good looks (never mind all the engineering that's gone into that glass), I doubt it'll be cheap. Still, it's a trend to keep an eye on, all this venting business. If your case is starting to show its age, something very much like this might be in your future at some point soon.
