Chieftec Aegis CX-05B-B

Verdict: Solid and well built, but not quite as good value as the Antec Nine Hundred.

If there's one case manufacturer that consistently produces some of the toughest cases we've ever seen, it has to be Chieftec. They're usually massive boxes hewn from steel, and if we were to test cases by dropping them from great heights, Chieftec's models would undoubtedly score highly. With a name like Aegis (the name of Zeus' shield in the 'Iliad') Chieftec may have been trying to make the CX-05B-B indestructible.

In many ways the Aegis is a classic Chieftec steel case. It's big and bulky, with pull-out feet providing extra support. The plain black exterior and the large mesh section in the side panel give it a solid but plain look. The inside isn't any more exciting, and the grey steel is a far cry from the sleek black anodised interior of the Antec Twelve Hundred. The four external 5.25in bays and single external 3.5in bay are hidden behind the upper latched door, which has a mesh section in the middle.

The front panel splits the upper front door from the lower, and is equipped with microphone and headphone sockets, two USB 2 ports and an eSATA port. A second door beneath this houses a spindle for storing up to ten CDs and DVDs. This is useful for storing game discs, and the lack of a front intake fan isn't too detrimental, as Chieftec has used a stack of three 92mm intake fans on the right-hand side of the case to cool your hard disks.

The 5.25in drives are mounted using smart screws, which guide the devices along rails until they click into place. A steel brace inside the case has numerous threaded holes in which to store these screws for safekeeping. The screws are an important inclusion, as you can't install 5.25in devices without them.

The external 3.5in bay has an internal/external bay beneath it, and there's a six-disk caddy below that. Installing hard disks is quick and easy: guide rails snap onto your hard disk, and you can then slide your disks into the perpendicularly mounted caddy. As mentioned earlier, the far end of the hard disk caddy houses a stack of 92mm intake fans, so your hard disks receive plenty of cooling. To prevent cables snagging in these fans, however, your hard disks have to be installed head first, which means the power and data cables are left on view.

The seven PCI backplates have a removable bracket for securing add-in cards quickly. We found that this was incompatible with dual-slot graphics cards, so we removed it and screwed in our expansion cards instead. The PSU mount is at the top of the case, and there's a 2in gap between this and the roof, into which you can tidy cables. The 120mm roof exhaust fan doesn't clash with a PSU, and there's 350mm of clearance between the mount and the 5.25in bays for a large PSU.

The Aegis is compatible with E-ATX motherboards, so you could squeeze a monster system inside it. You could also fit a single 120mm radiator to the roof fan mount for water cooling, or a dual 120mm radiator if you left the top 5.25in drive bay free and performed a spot of modding.

A single 120mm exhaust fan on the rear rounds off the Aegis' cooling. The 120mm rear and roof fans are very quiet but shift a good amount of air, while the three 92mm fans near the hard disk caddy are noticeably louder. The hard disk fans suck air across the case from the meshed side panel, while the rear and roof fans suck air across your system reasonably well.

Conclusion

The Chieftec Aegis CX-05B-B has one major problem: at £64.77, it's only a few quid shy of the Antec Nine Hundred. The Antec is quieter, better-looking and was one of the few cases to pass our demanding case Labs test thanks to its superb cooling.

In contrast, the Aegis has a slightly odd cooling arrangement with three fans sucking air across the front of the case and two 120mm fans trying to suck air through the case. Granted, the Aegis can accommodate a simple water-cooling system and an E-ATX motherboard, while the Antec Nine Hundred can't, but we'd still opt for the Nine Hundred.