Chieftec Rolls Out BX-10B-OP Micro-ATX Mini-Tower Case

[btarunr]

Today CHIEFTEC is glad to introduce the new BX-10B-OP, which is a modern, compact mini tower that combines elegant and subtle design with high functionality and easy-installation for a capable system. Featuring standard ATX PSU compatibility, m-ATX boards and graphics cards up to a maximum length of 380 mm, as well as a total of 6 possible installed fans (1x PWM fan pre-installed), modern configurations should have no trouble being installed into the BX-10B-OP from a space or cooling perspective. Front USB Type-C and Type-A ports complete the package for modern and highly-functional case.



Key Features

• Compact, modern m-ATX tower
• Optimal cooling compatibility
• Support 240 mm radiator
• 1x 120 mm PWM fan pre-installed

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[Chaitanya]

Looks like choked front panel and stupid pci retention mechanisms. Hard pass.

 

[Toothless]

Looks like choked front panel and stupid pci retention mechanisms. Hard pass.

PCI looks normal. The slider has always been optional.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Space for a atx psu looks to small to me no outlet venting space either :/

 

[Toothless]

Hi,
Space for a atx psu looks to small to me no outlet venting space either :/
View attachment 269223

Goes out the top or bottom. There is always a vent for the PSU and if you paid attention to the pictures, you'd see where it sits AND the extension for the power.

 

[Chrispy_]

For a bottom-to-top airflow design, the feet on this are far too small.
It's bad enough that I'd want another 10mm of clearance even on a hard floor, but given that half the population will put this on carpet, it needs more like an extra 20mm.

Hi,
Space for a atx psu looks to small to me no outlet venting space either :/
View attachment 269223

The PSU obviously doesn't go there, and this isn't a new concept - it's been around for 15 years or more.

PSU likely goes at the front, behind the solid front panel with its intake facing into the case and exhuasting out the top. If the front panel is actually vented (it doesn't look like it is) then it could potentially be mounted with its intake facing the front of the case, but realistically these top-to-bottom airflow cases don't have or need vented front fascias.

 

[Chaitanya]

For a bottom-to-top airflow design, the feet on this are far too small.
It's bad enough that I'd want another 10mm of clearance even on a hard floor, but given that half the population will put this on carpet, it needs more like an extra 20mm.


The PSU obviously doesn't go there, and this isn't a new concept - it's been around for 15 years or more.

PSU likely goes at the front, behind the solid front panel with its intake facing into the case and exhuasting out the top. If the front panel is actually vented (it doesn't look like it is) then it could potentially be mounted with its intake facing the front of the case, but realistically these top-to-bottom airflow cases don't have or need vented front fascias.

Bottom:

Top:

 

[Vayra86]

BX-10B-OP... what?! Did they run a contest for a sexy name and only R2D2 and C3PO contributed?

 

[Valantar]

Looks like choked front panel and stupid pci retention mechanisms. Hard pass.

... it's pretty clearly a bottom-to-top airflow layout. Also, what's stupid about that PCIe retention mechanism? They screw in like normal, and there's a sliding clamp for further pressure if you want it. What's wrong with that?

PCI looks normal. The slider has always been optional.

Yep - and if a very basic moving metal piece with a single screw that you'd interact with maybe once a year is annoying enough to comment on, I'd suggest finding more meaningful things to spend energy on.

Hi,
Space for a atx psu looks to small to me no outlet venting space either :/
View attachment 269223

As others here have said, this clearly doesn't mount the PSU on the back - the AC inlet socket for the internal extension is right there! The PSU clearly mounts in the front, behind that large bracket - which is smart for a compact case as it allows for a much more compact layout than stacking everything vertically. The blank space where you've put your X is free vertical space for fan and radiator mounting to the top panel. Airflow is bottom-to-top, so not having tons of rear panel airflow is likely a good thing (that rear fan should ideally be either an intake or blocked off for optimal thermals).

For a bottom-to-top airflow design, the feet on this are far too small.
It's bad enough that I'd want another 10mm of clearance even on a hard floor, but given that half the population will put this on carpet, it needs more like an extra 20mm.

They're small, but not that bad. Looks like ~15mm to me (edit: yep, spec sheet confirms), which is fine for airflow on hard flooring. If you put a bottom-to-top airflow case on carpet, that's PEBKAC, and not a design flaw - especially with a case this small, which would look rather silly sitting on the floor. It's just 325mm tall after all - that's about a foot in Freedom Units™. Put it on your desk or on some shelving and you'll have far less dust ingress too.


My only real complaint here is lack of 280mm radiator support. And maybe the lack of easy access to the bottom filter for cleaning. Other than that this looks like a pretty nice mATX case, hopefully at a reasonable price.

 

[ThrashZone]

For a bottom-to-top airflow design, the feet on this are far too small.
It's bad enough that I'd want another 10mm of clearance even on a hard floor, but given that half the population will put this on carpet, it needs more like an extra 20mm.


The PSU obviously doesn't go there, and this isn't a new concept - it's been around for 15 years or more.

PSU likely goes at the front, behind the solid front panel with its intake facing into the case and exhuasting out the top. If the front panel is actually vented (it doesn't look like it is) then it could potentially be mounted with its intake facing the front of the case, but realistically these top-to-bottom airflow cases don't have or need vented front fascias.

Hi,
Only thing obvious is this case is not going to fit a typical atx psu
Image I posted shows the psu plug sideways so it has to be in the back buddy

 

[Valantar]

Hi,
Only thing obvious is this case is not going to fit a typical atx psu
Image I posted shows the psu plug sideways so it has to be in the back buddy

View attachment 269228

... what? No. That's the inlet for an internal extension cord. There is literally no ATX PSU cutout in the back panel, how could you possibly think it would mount there? It would have nowhere to exhaust its hot air. No case manufacturer is so incompetent as to design a case with the PSU exhaust against a solid panel. It literally wouldn't be ATX compliant. The PSU is mounted in the front. Also: that spec sheet snip you posted literally says the opposte of what you're saying: that it does fit "a typical ATX PSU" (which is well below 180mm long), but also very long ones with a < 300mm GPU.

Edit: from the manual:

The PSU mounts behind the front panel, with its exhaust pointing upwards and the intake fan inwards.

 

[Chrispy_]

They're small, but not that bad. Looks like ~15mm to me (edit: yep, spec sheet confirms), which is fine for airflow on hard flooring.

If it was little round 15mm feet I'd agree with you but this is a full front and rear air-dam which wraps around the corners, so there's zero airflow from underneath at the front or rear.

What you now have, given those incredibly obtrusive feet and entirely solid front panel is two 15mm x ~300mm slits for the combined total intake of absolutely everything in the whole case. If you do the math that's around the same area as the vent hole for a 92mm fan.

Do you want a modern PC entirely cooled by the inlet airflow of a single 92mm fan?

 

[Valantar]

If it was little round 15mm feet I'd agree with you but this is a full front and rear air-dam which wraps around the corners, so there's zero airflow from underneath at the front or rear.

What you now have, given those incredibly obtrusive feet and entirely solid front panel is two 15mm x ~300mm slits for the combined total intake of absolutely everything in the whole case. If you do the math that's actually less area than an 80mm circle.

Do you want a modern case entirely cooled by the airflow of a single 80mm fan?

No, because that opening will have the negative pressure of a number of 120/140mm fans behind it, rather than a single 80mm fan. And fan blades and the pressure differentials they create are what matters the most for airflow, not the opening itself. To create the same level of pressure, that 80mm fan would have to be running at 10000+ rpm. Sure, a bigger opening is less restrictive, but this isn't restrictive enough to be really problematic, especially if you use the rear fan as an additional intake for the top radiator and VRM cooling (which, in a point of criticism against Chieftec, should have been the stock orientation of that fan). Also, even while the front/rear dams are a bit annoying, opening them up would represent, what, half of one side opening of additional area, when accounting for the area covered by the legs anyway?

Edit: that sketch of yours is ... well, rather misleading. It'd still need legs that fit the design of the case. So, what would you realistically be able to open up? Something like this:

That really isn't a lot of area.

 

[Chrispy_]

I was saying add 10mm, and keep the design. Many other cases have much taller feet than this without looking weird.
ALL of the bottom-intake cases have much taller feet than this.

It's also worth pointing out that most case fans operate poorly when asked to pull air, since their design is typically optimised for push. Plenty of examples of this exist around the web, either testing push vs pull on radiators and heatsinks (which isn't quite apples-to-apples because of exhaust turbulence) or less commonly using airspeed ammeters to measure CFM in various configs.

Like you say, it's not as bad as a single 92mm fan doing all the work, but it genuinely is that small an area to intake ALL the air.

 

[Valantar]

I was saying add 10mm, and keep the design. Many other cases have much taller feet than this without looking weird.
ALL of the bottom-intake cases have much taller feet than this.

Another 10mm of feet would make the feet nearly 10% of the case height though - that would start looking disproportional pretty quick.

A relatively cheap and easy workaround would be for them to include add-on plastic extension feet that screw into the bottom of the existing ones. Best of both worlds!

 

[Chrispy_]

Another 10mm of feet would make the feet nearly 10% of the case height though - that would start looking disproportional pretty quick.

A valid opinion, but 25mm feet are very common on some of the most popular cases sold today - LianLi 011D (even the mini), almost everything NZXT makes, Fractal Torrent - to name just a few.

 

[Chaitanya]

... it's pretty clearly a bottom-to-top airflow layout. Also, what's stupid about that PCIe retention mechanism? They screw in like normal, and there's a sliding clamp for further pressure if you want it. What's wrong with that?

Compared to cases that have mounting on inside of case, these slider based ones are far more hassle to work with(difficulty with screwdrivers due to tight space and sliding clamp not working with different screw heads as users are forced to source their own screws to fix pci cards in place) and most cases that use this design(case makers who are trying to cheap out on materials) dont include screws for pci brackets which will work with clamp.

 

[Valantar]

Compared to cases that have mounting on inside of case, these slider based ones are far more hassle to work with(difficulty with screwdrivers due to tight space and sliding clamp not working with different screw heads as users are forced to source their own screws to fix pci cards in place) and most cases that use this design(case makers who are trying to cheap out on materials) dont include screws for pci brackets which will work with clamp.

I disagree. In my experience, internal PCIe screws are almost always obstructed by overhanging case frame elements, requiring an angled screw driver with sub-par grip to access (some cases have cutouts above the screws to alleviate this, which brings with it its own set of issues using thicker multi-bit drivers). They can work fine, or they can be a hassle - just like external ones. Unless your screw driver is very short (which would be equally problematic in either case), there's no tight space to speak of on these external ones - clearance from the side panel is literally identical to an internal bracket, just on the opposite side, and in the other directions you have clearance to however far away other stuff in the room might be. Also, in my experience this design is not used by case makers trying to cheap out - those tend to reuse old tooling with internal flanges, as tooling is what is truly expensive, not materials - but rather those wanting to maximize internal space for a given case size, removing the internal offset of the motherboard and PCIe devices. Also, the clamps have cutouts for screw clearance - they're meant to clamp down on the bracket, not the screw. You can clearly see the screws protruding out through the clamp in the product photos.

The only real drawback of designs like this is that you need to slot the PCIe I/O bracket through a relatively slim opening (where the sliding clamp goes) rather than just putting it in however you please with the internal style of mounting. IMO that's a more than worthwhile tradeoff for the increased internal volume this mounting style allows for.

To me - someone with quite a bit of experience using both types of case design - this looks like an easily accessible, space efficient and reasonably well executed design.

A valid opinion, but 25mm feet are very common on some of the most popular cases sold today - LianLi 011D (even the mini), almost everything NZXT makes, Fractal Torrent - to name just a few.

True, but even the O11D Mini is notably taller than this (~5cm taller), which alleviates the visual imbalance of taller feet. They might have gotten away with 20mm, but 25mm would likely have started looking precarious and unbalanced.

 

[bug]

BX-10B-OP... what?! Did they run a contest for a sexy name and only R2D2 and C3PO contributed?

They always had AX, BX, CX, DX series. Followed by two digits (series) and a letter (color). It's probably one of the more consistent naming schemes in the market.

I will give them points for adding a USB-C port, but deduct those points for placing those ports towards the bottom of a case that will end up on the floor in most cases (pun).

 

[goldman]

so, another jonsbo d30 clone? (we already have the gammemax spark)
at least it has a different look, hoping this one reaches argentina so i can finally go matx. Or at the very least i hope this one doesn't have a glass panel in both sides so it's cheaper to import

 

[Valantar]

so, another jonsbo d30 clone? (we already have the gammemax spark)
at least it has a different look, hoping this one reaches argentina so i can finally go matx. Or at the very least i hope this one doesn't have a glass panel in both sides so it's cheaper to import

Irs similar, but I wouldn't call it a clone - none of the similarities are unique to the d30. The front SSD bracket/PSU shroud has been done plenty of times before. Bottom-to-top airflow is pretty much the standard in SFF cases. The patterned top panel is a premium SFF mainstay in recent years. Other than that they're just mATX boxes with radiator clearance at the top, and with sufficiently different aesthetics that calling it a clone would be a real stretch. The same can't be said for that Gamemax though, which does seem to really want to copy the Jobsbo's look.

 

[AsRock]

If it was little round 15mm feet I'd agree with you but this is a full front and rear air-dam which wraps around the corners, so there's zero airflow from underneath at the front or rear.

View attachment 269232

What you now have, given those incredibly obtrusive feet and entirely solid front panel is two 15mm x ~300mm slits for the combined total intake of absolutely everything in the whole case. If you do the math that's around the same area as the vent hole for a 92mm fan.

Do you want a modern PC entirely cooled by the inlet airflow of a single 92mm fan?

And most of the filter area is blocked to boot.

 

[ThrashZone]

And most of the filter area is blocked to boot.

Hi,
Cost of micro-atx and still having room for slim 280mm rad.

 

[Vario]

I like this case.

The target market for these cases are office workstations, not gamers, it isn't going to have high performance cooling like a gamer case.

 

[goldman]

I like this case.

The target market for these cases are office workstations, not gamers, it isn't going to have high performance cooling like a gamer case.

you sure? i think there's too much AIO support for an office workstation