The Silverstone Lucid LD03 continues the brand's pursuit to offer compact cases for all types of users. The Lucid series tends to utilize plenty of glass, as was already apparent with our review of the Lucid LD01 from before. From a design perspective, the LD03 is quite a bit more elaborate, so purists in favor of a clean, understated design may not like it as much. Instead, I would dare say the LD03 is much more in line with enthusiasts, which takes away from the overall focus of the Lucid family.

That said, it looks pretty cool. Silverstone has done an excellent job in designing a compact enclosure that can still hold big, powerful hardware. Already great, considering how easy it is to assemble in on top of that makes it impressive. When you look at how simple the interior is, the LD03 is a true testament of function with its two fans pushing cool air up through the CPU cooler and the GPU easily being slid in through the opening in the floor during assembly. On the flip side, the solid glass panel does mean the graphics card has to use the air used by the whole system, so expect temperatures to be a few degrees higher.

With its dust filters, dual storage option, and the nice addition of a fan splitter cable, one has to acknowledge that the Lucid LD03 is a pretty fun case to assemble in and look at when finished.

But after all that, there is the price. When I inquired about the pricing, naturally the 25% tariff within the US was mentioned, which I agree does add to it overall, unfortunately. But I can't provide you with a cohesive story as to why the chassis has been retailing for essentially U$89 pre-tax in Germany since launch and at least US$160 pre-tax in the USA. My guess is that an additional player in the supply chain is adding an additional margin.

That said, if you live in the EU, the Lucid LD03 is a great choice for an air-cooled ITX system that also looks spiffy. In the USA, that money can essentially buy you a slew of alternative cases, which does make the LD03 much harder to recommend.