Asus ROG Hyperion GR701 Review

Oct 08, 2023

It's enormous, though it's not the largest case we've tested. It's shockingly expensive at $499.99, though we've seen its street price matched. If you want to be specific, the only things that set the Asus ROG Hyperion (GR701) apart from other PC cases is that it supports not one but two 420mm-class radiators (one front, one top) and that it weighs over 45 pounds.

Everything else represents an Asus designer's view of features that have made other high-end chassis popular: dark tempered-glass side panels with lift-off hinges, accents in black anodized brushed aluminum, a sand-cast textured aluminum cage with integrated feet and carrying handles, plenty of ARGB lighting, a bunch of fans, and a slew of expansion slots. Overall, the Hyperion manages to seem both novel and familiar. It'll appeal to mega-tower buffs with cost-no-object tastes, but it's overkill for anyone else.

The case's angled front panel features power and reset buttons, six USB 3.2 headers (four Type-A and two Type-C, an ARGB mode-selector button, and a headphone/microphone jack. Beneath it is an illuminated ROG logo, while behind it is a dust-filter-equipped removable lid.

Removing the lid is as easy as lifting a tab at its rear edge and sliding it backward about an inch, after which it easily lifts away to expose the top panel's triple 140mm/120mm fan radiator mount.

As the Hyperion is designed for upward air flow, a full-length framed filter that covers the entire bottom panel does a bit more work, as do the twin dust filters mounted behind front-panel vents.

Inside we find enough space for EATX (12-by-10.9-inch) motherboards behind twin graphics-card support brackets, an ROG logo plaque with ARGB lighting, a trio of 140mm intake fans, and various cable passages. A clear window on the power supply cover lets builders show off their RGB power supplies (yes, there are such things), and a smoke-gray plexi panel on the opposite side helps conceal cables without completely blacking them out.

Removing the glass cover on the right exposes the cable openings from the back, along with the mounting points for three 120mm fans that you can fit after removing the ARGB plaque. To the right are two 2.5-inch drive trays. Two more trays that fit both 2.5- and 3.5-inch drives can be found in a cage beneath the side fan mount. There's a fan and ARGB lighting hub in the bottom rear corner.

The power supply cover also has a sliding compartment designed to hide tools and accessories, including a pop-down drawer that could easily conceal a bag of screws. Speaking of screws, one inside the main compartment and one above the drawer, plus a sliding tab on the opposite end, hold this assembly in place.

Getting from the photo above to power supply installation takes three steps. First, you remove the drawer assembly from the power supply cover. Next, the glass cover on the back of the motherboard tray must be removed to access one of the two screws securing the PSU cover to the motherboard tray. Finally, removing those two screws from the back of the motherboard tray allows you to slide the power supply cover forward and out from the case's interior. Underneath all that, we found 12 inches of clearance between the power supply mount and 3.5-inch drive cage.

We also removed the ARGB plaque in the above photo just to show that it really does hide a 3x120mm fan mount. The plaque (pictured below) can hold up to three 2.5-inch drives. Alternative lighting modules are available to take its place, and there are even companies that make liquid-cooling distribution blocks to fit this opening.

The ROG Hyperion GR701 comes with a bag of M3 and a bag of #6/32 screws, two USB-C and four USB-A dust plugs, a bundling block for standard front-panel cables, six standoffs, a Philips head standoff socket, an empty multi-compartment accessories box, a vertical graphics card adapter bracket, two EPS/ATX 12-volt extension cables, a pack of ratcheting cable ties, a multi-language user manual, an ROG souvenir screwdriver, and a printed slip with technical support info for buyers in Mexico.

Cables include two dual-port USB 3.2 Gen 1, two dual-link single-port) USB 3.2 Gen 2x2, an HD Audio cable for the front-panel headphone/microphone jack, a power/reset button/LED group, RGB input for motherboard synchronization, a 4-pin PWM input for motherboard fan control, and three SATA power connectors to address the fans and onboard LEDs. Given the Hyperion's vast number of ports available, only its power inputs seem excessive.

None of the motherboards we use for reviewing cases has enough USB 3.x front-panel headers to fill out the Hyperion's entire front panel, so we connected only half of the case's ports.

We hit a couple of snags when building our ROG Hyperion test machine. First, the upper corner of the I/O area pushed too firmly against our motherboard's I/O shield to slide it fully into position. After confirming that all of the Hyperion's holes were positioned perfectly in reference to each other, we checked the back of the motherboard and confirmed that its I/O shield was also positioned properly (see the positioning pin for proof of positioning).

Rather than remove the locating pin from the motherboard's I/O cover to see if forcing it would get us any closer to filling those top standoffs with screws, we used only the four screws that still fit with the motherboard twisted around 10 seconds clockwise about the lower front standoff. With this tight fit, we're glad we used an Asus ROG motherboard to test this ROG case!

Our other fitment issue—24-pin ATX and 8-pin PCIe cables that were a hair too short—seemed minor by comparison. After all, we did get everything to reach after applying some force, and the ROG Hyperion really looked spectacular when filled out. It turned out that of all the cables that could have been problematic, our FSP Dagger Pro power supply's EPS12V lengths were more than sufficient.

The ROG Hyperion came in just behind the HP Omen 45L case in CPU temperature, despite some of its triple-140mm intake airflow reaching our top-mounted dual 120mm radiator. We'll credit the Omen's isolated radiator enclosure (its so-called "Cryo Chamber") for its lower numbers.

Cooler voltage-regulator (VRM) temperatures are the best reason for us to mount our radiator and its fans above the motherboard's VRM heat sinks. This effect is reflected in the ROG Hyperion's single win in our cooling comparison.

As for GPU temperatures, you can take your pick. There's simply not enough difference in airflow around the graphics cards to declare a winner among the four cases.

How about noise? With its three supersized intake fans, the Hyperion is the second loudest chassis in our quartet, unless you're sitting near the NZXT H9 Elite's intake, in which case the Asus becomes the second quietest. The ROG Hyperion's right-side glass gives it a unique advantage in this chart, though it's not great enough to overcome the Hyte Y40's quieter fan placement.

With its support for absolutely enormous liquid-cooling configurations and double the typical number of USB 3.2 ports, the Asus ROG Hyperion targets the premium builder who wants the most useful possible showpiece system. Its performance numbers are on par with the competing chassis we outlined above, but realistically, this case is in a size class mostly of its own.

Also worth noting: If you are looking at a case of this magnitude, you also may be considering extreme cooling scenarios that would have a somewhat different dynamic than our test configuration. So consume our performance tests with a generous helping of salt. The Hyperion's sheer size is surpassed only by its impact on your wallet, but it fills a niche for bragging rights.

Asus' ROG Hyperion is a massive mega-showcase chassis with enough features and available customizations to please the most demanding PC builders, but it comes at a high price.

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