Anidees A17 ATX Mid-Tower Dual-Chamber Chassis Review
Peter Donnell / 9 years ago
Final Thoughts
Pricing
The Anidees A17 is available from Overclockers UK for a very reasonable £76.99, which given the capabilities of the chassis is certainly impressive and noticeably cheaper than some competitors. The inclusion of five good quality fans, a fan hub, and speed controller, all help to provide even greater value for money here.
Overview
There’s a lot to love about this chassis and while I have to admit, it’s not perfect, you get an awful lot of features and hardware for your money. Let’s get this few minor issues out of the way, then we’ll move on to the good stuff. A few minor improvements could be made to make this chassis even better, but they’re far from deal breakers. The front I/O cables are a bit short, and that makes them difficult to route without trailing through the visible side of the chassis, an easy fix. The fan hub is awesome, but the use of Molex rather than SATA is a bit old school, given then few, if any, components require Molex these days, it’s another modular cable I had to hook into the PSU that I could have done without, but again, not a big deal. Finally, the build quality isn’t amazing, it’s not bad, but the panels are a little thinner, the top panel cover doesn’t sit quite as flush as it should, and the front panel dust filter is a cheap clip-in one that is a little tricky to re-install.
So what about the good stuff? Well, straight away we can see that the price vs features ratio on this chassis is excellent. With room for a huge amount of fans, and the fact that it comes with a very impressive 5 x 120mm fans as standard, as well as a fan hub and fan controller, all of which add exceptional value. Water cooling support is very impressive given the compact size of the chassis too, with multiple mounts for 240mm radiators and some 120mm ones too. There’s room for large graphics cards, ATX motherboard support, removable hard-drive bays, a lot of cable management space, as well as cable grommets, and much more. Overall, you’re going to have a hard time finding another chassis this small that can hold so much.
When it comes to building a compact, high-performance and very well cooled system for home, work or LAN gaming, you’ll be having a hard time to find anything else this comprehensive for equal or less money. The fact that the chassis looks aesthetically pleasing, especially with that bright and clear side panel window and the blue LED lighting, only helps to sweeten the deal.
Pros
- Generally good build quality
- Five 120mm fans pre-installed
- Built in fan hub
- Built in fan controller with fan off function
- Room for long graphics cards
- Good water cooling support
- Dual-chamber design
- Very competitive price
- Removable hard drive bays
- Dust filters
- Compact design
Cons
- Front I/O and fan cables can be tricky to route neatly, could do with being longer
- Top panel cover doesn’t sit flush
- Front panel dust filter isn’t the best quality, but it gets the job done
- Fan hub placement and power connector could be updated
“With a huge range of features, extensive component compatibility, a very impressive stock cooling configuration and a stylish design, the Anidees A17 gives a huge amount in return for a fairly modest price. If you’re looking to get the most out of a chassis that maintains a compact size, you’ll struggle to beat what the A17 has to offer.”