Chieftec BX-10B-OP Micro-ATX Case Review

How Much Does it Cost?

The Chieftec BX-10B-OP micro-ATX PC case is available now, but the stock doesn’t appear to be available at our usual retailers of choice, at least not at the time of writing. However, you can grab one from Grooves-inc for just £84.41. Not a bargain price, but not overpriced either, given the cool aesthetics and that it has dual tempered glass side panels fitted. I would have liked to see an intake fan pre-installed at this price, and perhaps a better-quality dust filter on the bottom that slides out rather than clips in, but overall, it’s a nice enough case for the money.

Overview

I’ve always liked Chieftec, they’ve always felt a little behind the curve for modern case designs, and while they have caught up with the introduction of more tempered glass and popular features, they’re about one of the last brands to join that party. Somehow, the BX-10B-OP manages to retain its little-bit-old-school aesthetic but still ticks all the right boxes for a modern PC case.

For high-performance systems, this may not be ideal, as there are no intake fans as standard, and the PSU mounts in the front, which means you need a bottom-to-top airflow pattern. Now, you can get 120mm fans in the bottom but are limited by GPU thickness (4 slot cards will equal no room for fans). Plus, 140mm fans will only fit if you’re using a mini-ITX graphics card. A larger PSU will limit the GPU length, and so on, there are lots of little quirks like this. This isn’t a problem though, this is just a consequence of a smaller cube PC case, and if you want a more compact PC case to fit a smaller workspace, floor space, or on your desktop, then you have to work around those dimensions, of course.

The perfect configuration would be a mid-to-high-end GPU that takes up three slots, with 2 x 120mm fans in the bottom, and a potent CPU that can use a 240mm AIO mounted in the top of the case. This would give you high-end performance and a good airflow pattern throughout the case to maintain it. A modular PSU is good too, as the cable routing space is limited.

It’s a nice looking case though, for a gaming PC in the kid’s bedroom, a work PC in the home office, and for those of you who have your main PC in the main living spaces of your home, I think the design is tidy and inoffensive enough to blend in with its surrounds too.

I mean, I can’t say fairer than giving this our editor’s choice award either, as while it’s got its flaws, there are always compromises in PC case design when you’re both trying to keep the price way under £100 and keep the overall form factor as small as possible. But, I’ll be building my daughter’s PC in a BX-10B-OP, as the overall height and footprint of the case are pretty compact, perfect for the smaller gaming space it needs to be placed in!