Cubitek HPTX ICE Review: How Far Aluminum Can Go

Conclusion: Very Niche, Needs Polish

Writing negative reviews is really only enjoyable when you block out the fact that people worked hard to engineer and create the product. They can be fun to read if the writer decides to go whole hog for the reader and try to make it as entertaining as possible, but that comes at the expense of the representative that contacted the writer in the first place, the company they represent, and honestly, the relationship with all involved.

Reviewing the Cubitek HPTX ICE is difficult because I just can't find a good reason to recommend it. At this price and with the aluminum build, Cubitek is trying to hang with Lian Li's top shelf hardware, but it's just not as solidly built. We reviewed Lian Li's PC-90 back in February; that enclosure was geared towards getting the HPTX form factor in as small a space as possible, and while I wasn't a huge fan of the case, the performance was certainly there. Expansion isn't as good as the HPTX ICE, but the PC-90 is also just a hair over half the price of the HPTX ICE.

All of this ignores the value proposition of cases like Antec's Eleven Hundred, a case that honestly probably shouldn't be competing with the HPTX ICE. But the comparison was made, and it performs better, and it's quieter, and it's lighter, and it costs a third of what the ICE does. HPTX cases are still fairly rarefied, but I'm not convinced Cubitek's entry is the right way to go even if you must have a case that supports that form factor.

Honestly I feel like a lot of this design needs to be revised. The mounting system for the side panels needs to be replaced entirely, and the chassis itself probably needs to be reinforced with steel to avoid the kind of bowing I ran into when trying to mount the video card. 5.25" drive bay mounting needs to be simplified, and more mounting holes for routing cables behind the motherboard tray would be appreciated. The packing materials desperately need to be improved, too.

Probably the biggest revision that needs to happen is the price. A $359 MSRP on an enclosure is a bitter pill to swallow under even the best of circumstances, but here it simply isn't justified, full stop. At half the price it would at least be competitive with Lian Li (not exactly the cheapest of case vendors). Unfortunately I feel like there are just so many changes that should be made here that it would be next to impossible not to throw the baby out with the bathwater.