KitGuru KitGuru.net – Tech News | Hardware News | Hardware Reviews | IOS | Mobile | Gaming | Graphics Cards
It is clear from a glance that XFX are trying to differentiate the Type01 Bravo from the competition. Unusually at this price point, the Type01 is finished almost entirely in plastic even though there is a sturdy steel chassis underneath. It would appear that XFX has done this to help them achieve a unique aesthetic design.
The front of the case features a slotted design which helps disguise large vented areas. There are three external 5.25” drive bays in total, although there is an adapter supplied to convert one of these to an external 3.5” bay if required. There is a 200mm fan pre-installed in the front of the case, although this can be replaced with dual 120mm fans if desired.
We find the front panel connections on the top of the case near the front. These consist of two USB 2.0 ports, two USB 3.0 ports and headphone and microphone jacks.
There is a large vent which spans the top of the case and both sides which should help to provide a decent level of ventilation to the components within.
This is accessorised with a large red XFX Type01 badge on either side which infuses some excitement into the design. One of the drawbacks of this vented design is that there isn’t a side panel window in the case. This is likely to put off some enthusiasts and we hope that XFX will release a version of the case with a side panel window in due course.
These vents aren’t dust filtered either, which is disappointing considering the price of the case. Another drawback of this design is that the relatively narrow width of the vent means that XFX’s engineers haven’t been able to find room for dual fan vents in the roof of the case. This is a key feature for cases at this price point due to the popularity of 240 mm water cooling units such as the Corsair H100i.
Moving round to the rear of the case, the layout is traditional in implementation. The power supply mounting points are at the bottom and there is a 140 mm exhaust fan vent alongside eight vented expansion slot covers.
To me the idea of “reasonable” performance from a case priced at £130 is ridiculous. There are a lot of cases on the market for far less than that with far more features and better build quality. The lack of 240mm rad support is something which shouldnt be overlooked nowadays when the CLC watercoolers from Corsair, NZXT and Antec are so commonly used. Even for an air-cooled build it’s easy to find better than this. They’ve priced themselves way out of the market in my opinion.
130 is nothing, lets get real here, High performance parts all drop a price around 100-150 pounds each.
PSU will set you back 100
GPU will set you back 300
CPU = 250
SSD = 130-150
So really why not invest in a High quality case? I am not saying by any means that this case is high quality “Solid and light ABS plastic construction.” I would not pay 130 for a plastic case.. if it was a Brushed Steel/Plastic/CarbonFiber design maybe.
The actual design looks good for airflow and would be more optimal for people using air cooling as a preference over Liquid cooling.
I will end this with a comment on the design, its interesting, different and looks very efficient but doesn’t look finished or polished at all. It will have to be extremely good for the price compared to Corsair/CoolerMaster designs which come out a bit cheaper but are un-interesting and standard looking (Professional style I would call it) nothing wrong with them just some prefer an alien or different type of look to make their pc stand out.
Overprice but still worth buying, a good option for air-cooling despite lack of air filters, flexible drive configuration apart from the fact that it actually isn’t, the list of contradictions here just keep mounting up. The last page just sound like your trying to polish a turd to give it an award it clearly doesn’t deserve.