Element Gaming Atomic ITX Aluminium Chassis Review

Peter Donnell / 9 years ago

Final Thoughts

Pricing

This chassis isn’t particularly cheap or expensive. At £59.99 it’s comparable with a lot of mini-ITX chassis and of course, the price reflects the use of expensive materials such as aluminium and those windowed side panels. The Atomic is available in the UK from eBuyer.

Overview

This is the first Element Gaming chassis I’ve ever seen, let alone reviewed, so in that sense I don’t have much to compare it with. However, if this is just a taste of what is to come from this brand, then colour me interested, because the Atomic is a fantastic little chassis.

I will admit, this isn’t the most user-friendly chassis to build in, if you’re a first-time system builder, this may not be the best product for you, as it requires nimble fingers and a little knowledge to cram the required hardware into its tiny form factor. Of course, the effort is worth it, as the end result is a versatile and portable system that would look great on your desktop as a compact gaming rig, it’s small enough to take to LAN gaming events and it wouldn’t look far out-of-place as a HTPC-style system either.

The build quality is very good, mostly due to the extensive use of aluminium. The side panel windows and their glossy wrap-around design certainly adds a little magic to the design too and overall, this is a well made and great looking product.

A chassis of this size doesn’t have a lot of options in terms of hardware, but as you’ve seen today, it is possible to get some decent gaming hardware into a tiny chassis and still have a great looking build. Just keep in mind that airflow isn’t perfect, so hot-running hardware should be avoided where possible. I’m still happy to award this chassis our Editors Choice award, as I’ll quite happy take my money and order one of these; if you’re looking for a smart-looking box for your home or office, this is one of the best looking products available.

Pros

Compact design
Reasonable price
ATX PSU support
Removable top-storage bay
Wrap-around window design
Nice aesthetics
pre-installed 120mm LED fan

Cons

Tricky to install system
Not a lot of airflow

“The Element Gaming Atomic is small, stylish and beautifully made. From a compact gaming system for home or LAN, a unique looking HTPC or even a nice system for your office, the Atomic is a tempting option.”