Spring Case Madness: 24 Of The Best

Chenming ATX-301K, Continued

ATX301K is a very sturdy case, with no bend or twist in the case. The construction is good, but not exceptional. The edges of the case are covered with metal, but not rounded as well as we have seen in other models. Still, we did find areas that were blunted, but not necessarily sharp here and there throughout the case.

The case itself is pretty much a no frills proposition with two front mounted USB ports, but no support for front mounted audio/1394 Firewire. The front bezel itself is nice and provides an ample grill in the front for air intake.

Although the front grill is able to move a lot of air through the case, the ATX301K does have some problems getting the airflow out of the case due to the single fan located in the back of the case itself. While we didn’t have any problems with the cooling in this system, it would not be recommended to extreme over clockers who want to have more than two fans in the case.

A look at the front mounted USB ports, switches, and lights on the front of the ATX-301K.

We were puzzled by Chenming’s choice of not providing us the higher end version of the case that offered both the aluminum design and the window found in the Antec Lanboy. Still, this is a pretty good case that offers an average design that might be a little bit too retro for some. However, it still is pretty close to the design of the Lanboy with a price tag that is somewhat better than many other cases. Building in this case isn’t an issue, but still there are other options that are in the same price range that you might want to consider first.