Internals
Once you have gained access to the Chieftec via the lockable side panel, you are greeted with a vast range of innovative features that are carried out throughout the Chieftec range. Chieftec cases always have quick release features. Within the BX we have quick install 5¼ inch drive bays, removable hard drive racks, a screwless card locker and easy install fan holders.
On one of the main supporting bars within the case there are 16 screws. These are to be removed and installed onto your 5¼ inch devices such as CD drives. These screws are designed in such as way that they glide on a runner within the case and click into place to secure the CD drive. To remove the CD drive from the case it’s just a matter of pulling the release lever and sliding the drive out of the case. I love this idea as it’s quick and simple to use. I mentioned earlier about owning a Vasco full tower case. This case had drive runners and worked in a similar way to the Chieftec BX design. Although Chieftec have used the actual screws as drive runners which works very well.
I have one problem with the drive runner’s idea. Some people decide to install additional bezels to there CD drives in order for them to match the case colour. Bezels such as the Cooler Master CD Bezel requires the CD drive to be set back a few millimetres to allow the CD drive to be flush with the front of the case. Unfortunately since the drive clicks into position using the drive runners it’s impossible to slide the drive back those extra few millimetres. Luckily it is still possible to close the door since when the door is closed it has around 4mm clearance. Since there is only 4mm clearance this means you are limited if you wish to install a fan controller. Most fan control dials stick out around 10mm.
Below the 5¼ inch drive bays are 2 removable hard drive racks. Each rack can hold 3 hard drives. It’s possible to swap around these hard drive racks in order to quickly rearrange the layout of the devices within the case. This isn’t possible if using any visible 3½ inch drives, since they are set forward those extra few millimetres to be flush with the front panel of the case. One hard drive rack has a fan holder at the front. This is an ideal way to cool those expensive hard drives.
The case has 4 spaces for 80mm fans. Each one has a screwless fan holder that allows an 80mm case fan to be installed in seconds. These are a great design but I do have a few issues with them. They are purple in colour which I highly doubt will suit everybody’s taste and some 80mm fans can’t be securely installed. Take for example an 80mm Akasa LED fan. These fans have LEDs positioned around them and a rubber band around the outside of the fan to protect the electrical components and wiring. The rubber band prevents the fan holder from being able to hold the fans securely. Apart from that they are superb, since you can install and remove a fan in a very short time. The screwless fan holder can also eliminate noise since they reduce fan vibrations.
Underneath the rear exhaust fan holders are the PCI expansion slots. We’ve seen on Cooler Master cases an array of thumbscrews which hold in the expansion cards and blanking plates. Well on the Chieftec BX we see a very interesting quick screwless method. It’s a bar that clicks over the end of the cards and clips into place. Yet again this is a quick and simple method that doesn’t require any tools to install or remove cards on or from the motherboard. The case also features a card holder for full length expansion cards. I’d imagine 99% of people reading this review have never used a full length card, which leads me to think why they needed to include it within the case. I suppose we can’t argue about additional extras. I did notice that something was missing from inside the case, the internal speaker. Not everybody uses them as most new motherboards have them built on, but if you were to install an old system into one of these cases it would have been nice to have the option to use an internal speaker. I feel like I’m nitpicking now but I do like to try and cover every aspect of the case.
