AZZA Hurrican 2000 Case Review

[nextpage title=”Introduction”]

The AZZA Hurrican 2000 is a nice mid-tower case featuring eight fans, four hot swap bays for hard drives, and several other features. Let’s take an in-depth look at it.

The first thing you need to note is that the name of this case is “Hurrican,” and not “Hurricane” (which, by the way, should be the correct name of this case), and you will find several websites misspelling the name of this case.

The Hurrican 2000 is available in two option of fan colors, blue (a.k.a. CSAZ-2000) or red (a.k.a. CSAZ-2000R). We reviewed the model with blue fans.

The reviewed case has very aggressive looks and tons of features. To start, it has a 120 mm fan (AZZA S12020L) on its right-side panel, a very rare feature. This fan is located in front of the hole on the motherboard tray where the CPU is installed, and, this way, it is used to cool down the bottom part of the CPU. To fit the right side of the case it is thinner than normal 120 mm fans (20 mm vs. 25 mm). It uses a standard peripheral power connector, so you can’t monitor its speed. No technical information about this fan is provided.

Figure 1: AZZA Hurrican 2000 case

The left panel has two huge 230 mm fans (Globe Fan RL4BS2003012L) that glow in blue (or red, depending on the model) when turned on, producing, according to the manufacturer, a 24 dBA noise level each. No air filter is provided, and both use standard peripheral power connectors, so you can’t monitor their speed. No additional technical information about these fans are provided, and they aren’t listed at Globe Fan’s website. This panel also has two small transparent windows.

Figure 2: AZZA Hurrican 2000 case

Figure 3: The left panel

[nextpage title=”The Front Panel”]

The front panel of the AZZA Hurrican 2000 can be seen in Figure 4. This case has four 5.25” bays using meshed covers with air filters. At the bottom part of the front panel there is a door, which is secured to the case using a magnetic latch. Opening this door we have access to the six hard drive bays, which are accessed from outside the case. One good thing about this case is that its buttons and connectors are located on top of the case, and not behind its front door – some cases have their buttons and connectors behind their front door, making you to have to open it every time you want to turn on the computer or use the connectors.

Figure 4: Front panel

Figure 5: Front panel with its door opened

There are two 120 mm fans attached to the front door, see in Figure 6. The case comes with individual washable air filters attached to each fan. They glow blue (or red, depending on the version) when turned on. Even though they use a small three-pin fan connector, the monitoring wire is missing, so you can’t monitor their speed. According to the manufacturer, each fan produces 19 dBA noise level, but no further technical information was provided.

Figure 6: Front fans

[nextpage title=”The Top, Bottom and Rear Panels”]

The top panel of the AZZA Hurrican 2000 can be seen in Figure 7. It has a very cool-looking design, with several openings to allow the air pushed by the top fans to exit the case. The top fans are 230 mm models (Globe Fan RL4ZS2003012L), and each one of them come with a two-speed controller located at the rear panel of the case (a third position of these controllers allow you to turn off the fans). No technical information about these fans was provided, and they aren’t listed at Globe Fan’s website.

Figure 7: Top panel

The Hurrican 2000 comes with two USB 2.0 ports, one USB 3.0 port, and one eSATA port. The USB 3.0 port is installed to a standard USB A connector at the other end of its cable, so you need to route this cable to outside the case and connect it to a USB 3.0 port available at the motherboard rear panel.

Figure 8: Buttons and connectors

The bottom panel has two air filters accessible from outside the case, one for the power supply fan and another the optional bottom fan. One thing we didn’t like about this case was that its feet are screwed from outside the case, and they have rubber pads to protect the screws, and these rubber pads kept coming off.

Figure 9: Bottom panel

The rear panel and the interior of the AZZA Hurrican 2000 are painted black. The power supply is installed on the bottom part of the Hurrican 2000. The case comes with seven expansion slots with meshed covers, and a small ventilation mesh above the area where expansion cards are installed. A small ventilation mesh is also available at the top part of the rear panel. Two holes protected by rubber covers are available for hoses of liquid cooling solutions, and another hole is available at the top part of the rear panel for you to route the USB 3.0 cable. One 120 mm fan (AZZA S12023L) is available at the rear panel (no technical information about this fan is provided, and it uses a standard peripheral power connector).

Figure 10: Rear panel

Let’s now take a look inside the AZZA Hurrican 2000.

[nextpage title=”Inside the AZZA Hurrican 2000″]

Both panels of the Hurrican 2000 are fastened to the case using black thumbscrews. In Figure 11, you have an overall look at the inside of the Hurrican 2000. The motherboard tray has a big hole around the area where the CPU is installed, allowing access to the backplate of the CPU cooler, so you can replace the cooler without having to remove the motherboard. Note in Figure 11 the 120 mm that comes attached to the left  panel for cooling down this area. The motherboard tray also has several holes for you to route cables behind it, and several clips for you to fasten cable ties (the product comes already with two). The motherboard tray has an opening behind the hard disk drive cage, making it easy to route and hide the hard drive cables.

Figure 11: Overall look

Figure 12: A view behind the motherboard tray

In Figure 13, you have another overall look inside the case. You can install radiators of certain liquid cooling solutions on the top panel (up to 360 mm). Expansion cards are fastened to the case using black thumbscrews.

Figure 13: Overall look

This case supports video cards up to 13.4” (340 mm) long.

Note that the power supply can be installed with either its bottom fan facing up or facing down, so you can decide if you want the fan of your power supply pulling air from inside the case or from outside of it.

You can install a 120 mm or 140 mm fan at the bottom of the case, and the bottom panel has two washable air filters that accessible from outside the case, one for the power supply fan and the other  the optional fan. In this case, the power supply rests on top of four thick rubber pads.

Figure 14: Power supply compartment

[nextpage title=”The Disk Drive Bays”]The AZZA Hurrican 2000 comes with four external 5.25” bays (one of them can be converted into an external 3.5” bay using the included adapter) and six internal 3.5” bays that are accessible from outside the case, as shown before. All bays feature screwless mechanisms.

Figure 15: Disk drive bays

The top four hard drive bays come with hot swap connectors, allowing you to add and remove drives without the need of installing cables on them, and since they are accessible from outside the case, you don’t even need to open the computer to install or remove hard drives. The case comes with two adapters for installing 2.5” devices such as laptop hard drives and SSDs.

Figure 16: Hot swap connectors

Figure 17: Hard drive bays

Figure 18: One of the drawers and one of the 2.5” adapters

[nextpage title=”Main Specifications”]

The main specs for the AZZA Hurrican 2000 case include:

• Style: Mid-tower
• Application: ATX and smaller form factors derived from this one
• Material: Zinc-coated steel (SECC)
• Power supply: Doesn’t come with the product
• Available colors: Black with blue (CSAZ-2000) or red (CSAZ-2000R) fans
• Side panel: Solid with air intake and two small transparent windows
• Dimensions: 21.6 x 10 x 23.2 inches (549 x 254 x 590 mm) (H x W x D)
• Net weight: 24 lbs (13.2 kg)
• Gross weight: 29 lbs (11 kg)
• Bays: Four external 5.25” bays, one external 3.5” bay (converted from one of the 5.25” bays) and six internal 3.5” bays (with two 2.5” adapters), four of them with hot swap connectors
• Expansion slots: Seven
• Maximum video card length: 13.4” (340 mm)
• Maximum CPU cooler height: NA
• Fans: Two 120 mm fans on the front panel (glowing blue or red), two 230 mm fans on the top panel (with off/low/high switches), one 120 mm fan on the rear panel, two 230 mm fans on the left side (glowing blue or red), and one 120 mm on the right side
• Optional fans: One 120 mm or 140 mm fan on the bottom panel
• Extra features: Support for liquid cooling radiators up to 360 mm
• More Information: https://www.azzatek.com
• Average price in the US*: USD 130.00

* Researched at Newegg.com on the day we published this review.

[nextpage title=”Conclusions”]

The AZZA Hurrican 2000 provides lots of features for its price tag, being a product clearly targeted to the user who wants a case with lots of features but doesn’t want to sell a kidney to buy one.

Strong Points

• Comes with eight fans
• Fan for the CPU backplate
• Speed control for the top fans
• Air filters for the front fans
• Air filter for the power supply fan
• Air filter for the optional bottom fan
• Bay covers are meshed featuring air filters
• eSATA port
• Supports two 2.5” devices
• Screwless mechanisms on all the four 5.25” bays
• Screwless mechanism on all internal 3.5” hard drive bays
• Holes with rubber covers for liquid cooling solutions
• A hole in the motherboard tray for accessing the backplate of the CPU cooler
• Holes for routing cables behind the motherboard tray
• Expansion cards are fastened using black thumbscrews
• Nice overall looks

Weak Points

• No anti-vibration mechanisms for the hard drives
• Rubber pads of the feet keep coming off
• No air filter for the fans of the left and right panels