XFX TYPE01 Bravo Midi-Tower Gaming Chassis Review

Final Thoughts

Price

There is no easy way of saying this. The case is really expensive, especially so for a midi-tower. I understand that XFX have tried to do something different and in many ways they have, but at the same time I’m not so sure it’s worthy of the premium price tag bestowed upon it. In terms of features, capabilities, and build quality you can get a lot more for your money else where. However, in terms of unique style and design, you won’t see anything quite like it and you can’t put a price on that part. With pricing at £130+ for pre-order at Scan.co.uk the XFX  TYPE01 is definitely on the upper-end of the scale.

Overview

Oh boy, where do I start! I’m really torn about the XFX  TYPE01, because I think it’s awesome and I love it, but the reviewer in me is saying that it’s a product that feels underdeveloped. Let’s start with cooling, there are a few fan mounts around the chassis, but not all of them offer sufficient filtering. There are no dust filters on either side panel or in the top panel. Sure there are filters on the front and bottom panels, but on a chassis this size which already features limited fan mounts and lots of ventilation areas, you’re going to have a hard time achieving a positive air pressure. Put simply, this chassis is going to be a dust magnet. Water cooling options are severely limited and in a case of this size, at this price, that is almost unheard of these days. There is a huge amount of space to work with on the TYPE01, with a massive top panel that has two arches of plastic over it, so surely there was room for long vents under there and a minimum of a 240mm radiator space?

There are a few things that you would expect at this price range and chassis size that just aren’t here at all, such as fully removable hard drive bays to allow for front radiators, there are no 2.5″ drive stealth mounts behind the motherboard, no dust filters on side panels, and there isn’t much cable routing space behind the motherboard. Given that this is a midi-tower inside full-tower clothing (see: It’s huge!) you would expect more usable space in general. Then we have the fan mounts behind the motherboard, the right side panel still has room to screw on two 120mm fans, but you can bet there is no purpose, or space to actually do so.

The chassis is needlessly large too, there’s two inch’s of clearance from the ground thanks to the large feet on the base, and the curved top panel serve little or no purpose given that there is no ventilation under them. Then we have the issue of the top I/O panel, if you put your chassis under your desk you may find that you cannot access USB ports, or at least find them a little trickier than they would be on the front or side.

Build quality is for the most part pretty tough, but a few things raise concern. The side aluminium strip with the XFX logo looks great, but it’s only glued on and I could easily pull it off if I wanted… I don’t want to. At this price range, there is a lot of plastic, the top curved panels are handy for lifting and moving the case, but they bend quite a bit and I fear that they will break if you try lifting the case this way too often. The main construction of the chassis, interior components, front panel, etc all feel robust and well put together, but only end up making the weaker parts look weaker.

Sounds like I hate this case doesn’t it? Well you’re wrong, I love it! And that’s why I’m so torn about it. It’s impractical, it’s big, it’s actually kind of stupid, but it just looks so different from anything else on the market that I want one. Despite its drawbacks, I bet that if you’re reading this review because you loved the design, then you hardly care what I’m saying by this point because there will be a fair few of you who still want one regardless. The TYPE01 is the first time XFX have played their hand at the chassis market, it’s far from perfect, but it is a great effort none the less. I really appreciate that XFX have tried to do something a little different from everyone else in terms of design, it’s just a shame that its component compatibility and internal fittings are a few years out of date when compared to the similarly price options from rival brands.

Pros

• Unique design and style
• Lots of high quality cable routing grommets
• Plentiful tool free hard drive bays
• Strong and reliable core construction

Cons

• More air filters would have been nice
• Aluminium strips feel poorly attached
• Limited control over hard drive bay configuration
• Top I/O panel doesn’t seem ideally placed

Neutral

• Right side panel fan mounts need to be removed, it’s obviously a cost saving trick by reusing panels, but at this price range it’s not really what you want to see.
• CPU cooler mounting hole needs to be wider
• Full tower size, despite only being a midi-tower

“I suspect XFX are already well aware of the shortfalls of the TYPE01, but I also bet they sell out of these cases pretty quickly too. It’s a Marmite product, you love it or you hate it and while I may have picked a few faults with it, I love it, I’d just love it even more with a few tweaks to the design. Their first entry to the chassis market is a bold one, beyond adventurous, so let’s hope that they go back to the drawing board and create another eye opener for their next attempt.”

Thank you XFX for providing us with this sample.