Chieftec cases, anyone?

[ianching]

I am looking for a mid or full tower with decent cooling and enough space to work with, was thinking about purchasing the Lian-Li PC60, but then I came across the Chieftec DX-01WD and I can't decide on which to get now.
The Lian-Li PC60 is available at HK$820 (US$105) while the Chieftec is HK$520 (US$67), both without a power supply bundled.

Which case has better cooling? The newer PC60 has 2 fans in front, 1 at back and another one on top. While the Chieftec has 2 fans on both front and back panel. The PC60 is made of aluminium, is it true that the aluminium helps to dissipate heat better than steel cases?

From what I've read, the Chieftec DX-01WD is a Antec SX-1030 clone, is this true?

Anyone using any of these 3 cases, how're their build qualities? I'm leaning against the Chieftec simply because of its price.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Stallion]

I have 2 chieftecs myself and used 3 others to build units for friend/family. They are very nice units. Good prices as well.. Cheiftec also makes an aluminum version. One my black one I added a 120 in the door. So with 5 fans my chip is at 40c and my mobo is at 26c with my fans on low. With my blue case it came with an extra 80 in the door and then I added a 120 in the top. I just got it runing so no temps yet.

The cases are strong, look good, and are fairly cheap. And have plenty of room. I loved my Addtronics case but I think from now on any PC I build will go in a Cheiftec.

BTW, cheiftec and antec and one other company all make a copy of this case. Maybe more.

 

[alfhead]

I recently bought an aluminum cheiftec with the window mod. i absolutely love it. i haven't really done any sort of mod on it yet, but I definitely plan to. the airflow is wonderful, and the aluminum dissipates more heat than steel can. there's plenty of modding potential, since it's a fairly large case. personally, i think silver cases are pretty boring, and chieftec cases come in all sorts of colors.

 

[Stallion]

Good point alfhead. I forgot all about the many colorsthe Cheiftecs come in.... there is black,silver,yellow,red,blue and green. I think that's it....

 

[SparkyJJO]

I'd say get the Chieftec case. My bro has one and I want to get one now too. It is a really nice case, believe me! sturdy build, great cooling - in fact, I think it has P4 ready side panel - fan slot in the side. Yeah, I think it is a clone of the antec case

Those colors make them look real cool too

 

[Davegod]

odd, everyone always seems to assume its cheiftec copying... actually thyere all cheiftec (aka chenming) chasis. not copied by chieftec, but made by chieftec and modded by the other companies. Makes a lot of sense to have one company R&D plus produce a excellent chasis design then have several other companies add their taste to the exteriors or whatever theyre good at (antec bring psu's). Especially when you make good chasis like cheiftec do but the fugly stuff they came out with before the Dragon/Scorpio (and a lot of people dont even like those either).

IMO the chieftec chasis looked an excellent design so I ordered a coolermaster ATC-710 today, paid quite a lot more than the cheiftec it started out as but imo it looks a lot nicer and i reckon it'll outlive all my other components anyway. If you're looking for a PSU also, check out Antec's Soho "PLUS 1080AMG", basically an adjustment of the cheiftec with Truepower PSU's, worked out (for me) even cheaper than the chieftecs & buying psu's seperately, and i reckon it looks slightly better.

 

[EXman]

I have an Antec (yes the same chemning case) and I love it. I'm 200lbs and well you can stand on it. The thing is solid as a rock. Pretty heavy but heck I never move my case

Great cooling and very roomy. Fun to mod or you can get nice premodded one like these.

Plus if you have kids lock it and walk away.

 

[deerslayer]

Originally posted by: EXman
I have an Antec (yes the same chemning case) and I love it. I'm 200lbs and well you can stand on it. The thing is solid as a rock. Pretty heavy but heck I never move my case

Great cooling and very roomy. Fun to mod or you can get nice premodded one like these.

Plus if you have kids lock it and walk away.

Very solid, I had mine sitting on my couch, which was stupid, but I needed to grab something, and it fell off and landed on a concrete floor. Put a small dent in the top, door popped off, but nothing was damaged and everything that was in it still works great to this day.

I think that's about the stuipidest thing i've ever done related to computers.

Definitely has good cooling and space, I'd go for the chieftec case.

 

[orion7144]

Yes, the Chieftec cases are good. I love my blue one.

 

[Luhny]

I love my chieftec case. It has lots of room for all the good stuff

 

[jarsoffart]

I would say if you had the money to go with Lian-Li. I personally have the Chieftec DX-01BD (black version) and it is very strong and very nicely designed and I love it, but the Lian-Li is much lighter, has a removable motherboard tray, and a very good design as well. The aluminum won't help cooling the overall system very much, at most it would provide a slight decrease in temperature for the hard drives. Both cases have good cooling, but in regards to having "enough space to work with," I suspect the Lian-Li to be easier to work with with it's removable motherboard tray, but not by much because the Chieftec case is huge.

 

[muddocktor]

I presently own an Antec SX1240, a Chieftec version of the SX630 and a Chieftech version of the SX1040( I don't remember the Chieftec model numbers) and they are fine, well built cases with plenty of room in them and good cooling schemes. I've never owned any Lian-Li cases but I can't see the use of spending the extra money for them over the Chieftec design. I especially like the way that Chieftech put 2-80mm exhaust fans on the back panel right around the area that your CPU will sit in the case to get rid of the hot air coming off the hsf. They also have a fan mount in the front of the lower removable 3 1/2 bay to cool your hard drives too.

 

[RWalker2]

Go for the Chieftec!

I love mine... it has so many good features and great airflow i wouldnt trade it for anything - but i also have the aluminum version btw