Chieftec BX-10B-OP Micro-ATX Case Review
Peter Donnell / 4 months ago
Complete System
Building inside this case was pretty easy, I mean, the design looks great, but the core features are all pretty basic, so it’s a simple enough process to put everything together. The fact the SSD tray is removable on the side helps too, as it makes installation of your motherboard, longer graphics cards, and the PSU, a heck of a lot easier. Plus, when it’s installed, it acts like a PSU shroud, hiding all the cable gore that is inevitably building up behind it.
The cable routing is basic but sufficient. There’s a cable routing hole everywhere that needs one, and with there generally being less hardware in mATX builds vs ATX, the limited cable space seems to be coping just fine.
I’m glad to see my Noctua NH-U12A fits just fine too, it’s a high-end cooler but has plenty of clearance on all sides. That being said, if you did want an AIO radiator, there’s clearly enough room in the top here for a 240mm unit.
There are four expansion slots on a micro-ATX case, so thicker graphics cards shouldn’t be an issue. The only major concern would be width or length, but short of the flagship RTX 4090s or some of the largest Radeon cards, you can get a decently powerful GPU in here easily enough.
The PSU does mount up in the front, so generally, the air is being pulled in from the bottom of this case. If you can, I’d suggest sticking a fan at the bottom of the case, assuming your GPU allows for it.
Heat will passively vent out of the top easily enough, and there is that rear 120mm fan too. If you’re on a tight budget and you don’t have hardware that’s notoriously hot running, I’d just take the rear fan and place it in the bottom of the case as an intake.
I did find it easier to tidy most cables in the front of the case, but the thicker cables were easily routed around the back and held down with the included cable ties.
With all the panels back in place, the build looks pretty slick. Keep in mind, this case has no trippy RGB or anything, so it really doesn’t look much different than when I took it out of the box. The tinted glass shows off the brighter bits of hardware such as the CPU cooler sitting behind it.
