Friday, October 12, 2012

Chieftec Libra Gaming Midtower PC Case

Chieftec Libra Midtower PC Enclosure user opinion

(LF-01B-OP)

*Disclosure 

 This is a personal opinion about the product - Chieftec LF-01B-OP. I am NOT a professional reviewer or any any way affiliate with this. I get no financial or any other kind of compensation for putting this information online. I decided to do it in order to help others seeking information about this product that sorely lacks. At this time (Oct. 12 2012) there is only 1 video in polish and no other independent opinion about this PC case/enclosure. 
Everything below is a personal opinion based on my experience. Yours may be different...
If you spot any error just let me know. If needed I will revise this article - I have also some minor modifications in mind so I will continue with this once I get through them if there's any interest.

I apologize for image quality, I don't own a decent camera at this  time...

Here we go :

Chieftec Libra Mid Tower ATX Gaming Case Overview


First of all, here are some info of the case directly from Chieftec :


You should note that this case is part of a case family dubbed by Chieftec "Libra Series - Performance Gaming edition". I consider this one to be the best amongst them but if your needs are different you should check the link.

At the time of writing the case is selling in EU between 60-100 €. (50-80 £). On a quick search it doesn't seem to be available in US, let me know if different.

Chieftec Libra Mid Tower ATX Gaming Case is classified on many shopping sites as a budget gaming chassis and it cannot compete with the high-end cases out there/ That said id certainly not a cheap one. I had specific needs when I started to look out for  a new PC case
  • It had to be roomier than my previous enclosure - a 4 year old Raidmax
  • Reasonably priced
  • Lower mount PSU
  • Good cooling/airflow - extras welcome
  • External HDD docking 
  • As silent as possible
  • USB 3
  • Preferably not too bad looking, no gimmicks
Those were the key aspects I was interested in and the Chieftec LF-01B-OP covers them all, some better and some good enough. I had looked into many options, including Cooler Master, NOX, Enermax or Thermaltake Dokker but overall this one had stroke the best balance between features and price.

Chieftec LF-01B-OP was available in my area for about €80 including transport. It certainly isn't cheap but if you factor the included HDD dock and 5 120mm fans with 2 fan controllers that can easily count for half of it\s price it appears a very good value.