Chieftec Pro Cube CI-02B-OP

[Darksaber]

The Chieftec Pro Cube CI-02B-OP is an mATX cube with external drive bays, which is a rather unique feature these days. The case also offers a surprisingly easy build experience and has a useful design with lots of attention to detail, all at an excellent price point of just $55.

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[damric]

I like the cube design and horizontal tray. It would be nice to test again with a few fans you have laying around, even if the results are kept separately.

 

[ADB1979]

I like the cube design and horizontal tray. It would be nice to test again with a few fans you have laying around, even if the results are kept separately.

I fully agree. The fact that no case fans are supplied should obviously be noted for any prospective buyer, but also, no prospective buyer who has the slightest clue what they are doing will never use this case without adding case fans.! As it is, this case reviews shockingly badly, which is fair as that is how it ships, but we can only speculate about how good/bad the thermals and noise would be if case fans were installed, which are very clearly needed for almost all uses.

If someone wanted a DIY cheap home server with a small number of drives, this would be worth a look IMHO, but I couldn't possibly recommend it without knowing how good/bad it performs with case fans added.

 

[damric]

I fully agree. The fact that no case fans are supplied should obviously be noted for any prospective buyer, but also, no prospective buyer who has the slightest clue what they are doing will never use this case without adding case fans.! As it is, this case reviews shockingly badly, which is fair as that is how it ships, but we can only speculate about how good/bad the thermals and noise would be if case fans were installed, which are very clearly needed for almost all uses.

If someone wanted a DIY cheap home server with a small number of drives, this would be worth a look IMHO, but I couldn't possibly recommend it without knowing how good/bad it performs with case fans added.

To me it looks like a case that modders could have a lot of fun with. I could see cutting holes in both sides for either air flow or for windows. The top and front fan mounts also look like they could be modified for larger fans.

 

[BSim500]

Nice to see a clean looking window-less case that isn't drowning in tacky RGB lighting. And they even managed to include power & HDD LED's and reset button unlike half the pretentious full sized ATX art-piece greenhouses...

As for the TPU review itself, there's a serious epic fail common sense failure if you genuinely just tested this with no case fans whatsoever simply because the case manufacturer chose to let you use your own. Some cases include PSU's but does that mean you refuse to add one to those that don't? The least you could have done here is tested it with 2x 140mm + 1x 120mm fans it was obviously designed to use and include a note saying "This case comes with no fans but these temps are what you can expect if some were added as it was designed to be used. This may increase the price depending on how many you need to buy". Right now this 'review' is completely useless to anyone as no-one will ever run it with no fans whatsoever. That's like testing a phone that didn't come with a charger by saying "I insisted on using only what came in the box and since the battery was flat and I refused to charge it, it didn't work therefore battery life is 0.0hrs. The End."

 

[Anymal]

Oh, shoot, their Dragon series in early 2000s were serial rebel DIY.

 

[CosmicWanderer]

A truly hideous case. I don't understand why companies continue to make cases that look like they were designed in the 90's. We no longer live in an age where we have to choose between function and form. We can have both, and be affordable too.

 

[Rowsol]

It's a goddamn oven, lol.

 

[Jism]

It's a goddamn oven, lol.

You cant have compact and the lowest temperatures. It's likely to be radial heat heating up the case and components.

 

[ExcuseMeWtf]

Looks cool. Shame about those temps though.

Guess I can't feel too bad about my FD Focus G Mini after all. I'd get Pop instead if I was buying today though.

 

[SN2716057]

My CaseLabs M8 had those pass-through ports too back in 2013. I'm fairly certain that design is from the late 2000's early 2010's.

 

[Chrispy_]

I like the cube design and horizontal tray. It would be nice to test again with a few fans you have laying around, even if the results are kept separately.

I think exceptions should be made for cases that come with zero fans but aren't designed to be used fanless.

IMO many sites test cases incorrectly, by assessing their stock fan configuration. I appreciate this is great when looking solely at people on a budget so strict that a couple of extra fans would break the budget, but for the rest of us, we add fans. It's extremely rare for me to buy a case and not add or replace (so that they match) all the fans.

Arguably one of the valid reasons that manufacturers still provide an incomplete complement of fans is because a healthy proportion (possibly even a majority) of customers will fit dual or triple fan AIOs. The case is SUPPOSED to have active airflow in those empty fan bays, and if you're not using a radiator there you SHOULD fit case fans instead.

 

[Zareek]

I like that the top flips forward and comes off. I like that it is small and takes ITX or mATX. The pricing seems more than fair, but that about sums up the positives. They put air filters on some surfaces but leave the side mesh completely open??? Filter on top where you will most likely exhaust air? Did someone fall asleep at the wheel designing this? It seems like they started to innovate a bit and got bored with it and left out a bunch of details.

 

[foxhntr]

Literally the Xigmatek Aquila but with worse quality in every single way.

Xigmatek Aquila Review

The Xigmatek Aquila aims to become the compact cube chassis for a mATX board while delivering good quality and timeless looks. Will it manage to float the price / performance boat, or does it end up capsizing by leaning out to far into one direction?

www.techpowerup.com

 

[Frick]

Literally the Xigmatek Aquila but with worse quality in every single way.

Xigmatek Aquila Review

The Xigmatek Aquila aims to become the compact cube chassis for a mATX board while delivering good quality and timeless looks. Will it manage to float the price / performance boat, or does it end up capsizing by leaning out to far into one direction?

www.techpowerup.com

All cube cases look the same, to some extent.

Me I like this case. No nonsense, 5.25" bay (not mentioned in the specs table btw, @Darksaber ) more hard drive slots than some modern fancy ATX cases... It's not exactly good looking, but it's not trying to look like it is. It's a computer box. Perfect for sticking in a corner somewhere.

 

[ADB1979]

Literally the Xigmatek Aquila but with worse quality in every single way.

You are absolutely correct, this is the Aquila that has been rehashed and updated, and thankfully they have lost the worst (IMHO) design elements, namely the weird slant and the massive handles at the top. I am not so sure that the "quality" is worse, but the implementation is IMHO worse, bar the updates and modernisation (drive bays mostly).

 

[Chrispy_]

Literally the Xigmatek Aquila but with worse quality in every single way.

Xigmatek Aquila Review

The Xigmatek Aquila aims to become the compact cube chassis for a mATX board while delivering good quality and timeless looks. Will it manage to float the price / performance boat, or does it end up capsizing by leaning out to far into one direction?

www.techpowerup.com

It doesn't seem like there's any point piling on the hate for this when it has an optical drive bay.

I personally have no interest in optical bays but cases with them are a shrinking niche and this seems to be okay quality at an okay price point that adds another option to the limited number of 'mATX cube case with optical bay'

If you absolutely need an optical bay in this form factor, most of the choices are ugly, dated, low-quality, overpriced, or a combination of those things, so even if I don't like this case, it is at least inoffensive, modern enough, of a reasonable quality, and at a reasonable price. That makes it notable for the shrinking demographic of DIY PC builders still using DVDs and blu-rays.

 

[cbb]

All cube cases look the same, to some extent.

Me I like this case. No nonsense, 5.25" bay (not mentioned in the specs table btw, @Darksaber ) more hard drive slots than some modern fancy ATX cases... It's not exactly good looking, but it's not trying to look like it is. It's a computer box. Perfect for sticking in a corner somewhere.

and it avoids the damn top power button (cattus interruptus FTL!) and up facing ports (dust reservoirs) that are ubiquitous these days. Darn hard to find a modern case w/o a top button. I have to pile heavy objects on my case to keep these silly "features" from causing major problems.

I agree w/ the above thread (enough to register!); this was probably intended to be shipped as "add ur own fan". I can see how, in a time crunch, someone might overapply a standing rule, but it makes no sense in this case IMHO. They saved everyone a few $ by not including fans that are likely to be replaced w/ each owner's pet brand. Shipping it w/ fans to be discarded would be dumb, so the only options were super premium fans (inconsistent w/ price pt) or no fans (what they did).

 

[ADB1979]

I agree w/ the above thread (enough to register!)

Welcome to the Forums

 

[Frankymar]

It’s a nice little case and it’s a good value for its price. It’s solid, small, it has all that is really needed without bells and whistles.
I have recently moved house and I wanted to get something small enough to be shipped easily and use as little space as possible as I travel a lot.

Space is limited and cable management can be slightly annoying, but to me it was a nice experiment.
Yes, you really need to have those case fans at front and rear to avoid thermal issues, but I would expect anybody to put them in.

 

[lexluthermiester]

A few old school features like plastic tool-less 5.25" lock and rear grommet tube penetrations not needed

Have to disagree. The 5.25" bays are a selling point! Unless you're just referring to the toolless hardware.

It's a goddamn oven, lol.

It was tested without any extra hardware. Add a few fans and the temps will change.

 

[AusWolf]

Just the case I need to transform my HTPC 1 (currently under construction) into a mini secondary gaming rig for the living room! I can't wait for it to be available in the UK.