The Chieftec Stallion 3 with its price tag of 135€ including taxes seems quite alright for a larger E-ATX with four ARGB fans, built-in lighting and controller options. However upon closer inspection there are too many compromising elements to justify the price tag. These have their origin mostly in the fact that the chassis utilizes an older body and the fact that Chieftec chose to apply cost cutting measures that simply cut too deeply.

While you are able to build a very clean system - even an E-ATX and massive GPU equipped one, with the ability to include up to eight 2.5" drives and some useful tool-less elements, that is not enough in the end. On the opposite side of that, there is a notable list of elements which are simply not up to date such as the USB 2.0 ports or limited AIO support. Considering that the proprietary Chieftec Tornado fans inside the Stallion 3 launched all the way back in 2019 is just one aspect that makes the enclosure feel old - too old in fact to keep up with the standards set forth by other enclosures out there today.

Add to that the fact that some aspects of the case fall short on pure design decisions - from the large plastic thumb screws, to the deeply tinted, protruding glass panel or the use of plastic in places it should not be. In the end the Chieftec Stallion 3 feels like a chassis that is having a mid-life crisis trying to keep up with the Gen Z or Gen A crowd.