Cougar QBX Mini-ITX Gaming Chassis Review

Complete System

Installing our test components in the QBX looks like it was going to be a tricky affair, but it really wasn’t as there’s quite a lot of room in there. The top panel unscrews to give you access to the PSU mount and pass-through cable, so that’s easy enough. The only issue I had with the PSU is that our be quiet! 850W unit was too long, but it’s not like I didn’t have a few extra PSUs to pick from, so I’ve used our shorter design Fractal Design unit instead.

There’s a good amount of space in the front for a bit of cable management, but keep in mind that this space will be limited by the size of your graphics card, the size of the power supply and your choice of modular or none modular cables.

There’s a good amount of space for a powerful GPU and good clearance underneath it for airflow from those bottom air vents.

Cable routing is a little tricky, but certainly possible with the use of a few well-placed cable ties. This will help keep airflow free around the CPU cooler and exhaust fan. It’s also nice to see that while we’ve used a low-profile cooler, there’s certainly room for something a little bigger.

All panels back in place, you can still see the main components through that side panel mesh. Fortunately, we’ve got reasonably quiet test components in here, so my concerns about noise were quickly washed away, but again, you may not want to put 2500RPM fans and blower-type graphics cards in here, as there’s little or no protection against noise pollution in this chassis; there is an upside, there’s lots of air flow.