Overall and Final Verdict
Like I said at the start, I love community designed products, and the collaboration that has created the BC1 Open Benchtable is amazing. This is another example of a need that just wasn’t getting filled and people going out of their way to create it. In fact, even beyond the Open Benchtable itself, the community has also created 3D printable designs to expand on the original design. Even going as far as to make it harder for Linus to drop things and to allow for a horizontal 350 radiator mount. All of that just expands on the base design which is impressive in its own right. I honestly would have never thought to create a test bench that can be broken down into a flat panel with a handle on it. This is perfect for transportation and especially for storage when an open bench isn’t needed. I can imagine repair businesses having a few tucked away for when things get busy, overclockers as well, and of course reviewers. I know personally, I keep our GPU/storage testbench up all of the time and have another that I swap things out on. Swapping to this can open up more space in the office in between launches.
But even if you use it all of the time. The design is a lot nicer than a lot of the other benches due to its compact design. It isn’t tall, they have the design just slightly taller than a PSU with the exception of the motherboard standoffs which could be shorter. It isn’t much larger than a normal ATX motherboard as well but it does still have the ability to attach fans or a radiator. Even having the PSU mounted isn’t something that every testbench has. Even with the small design, they did still slip in two mounts for an SSD or hard drive. I was also impressed with how heavy duty the open benchtable is as well, most other designs use sheet metal or even plastic and this is a thick AL5052 aluminum and they use proper stainless steel for the standoffs and screws. My only complaint about the design was with the standoffs and that is a very small complaint. The rest of my issues all stemmed from me not reading the instructions on my first use.
The price for the Open Benchtable. Well, it isn’t cheap lol. It will run you $199 for the black or red versions. You can save a little with the silver model which is $189. But overall this isn’t a cheap product. But being made out of AL5052 and being billet, especially at that size is expensive. I still consider it a con but I do understand why the price is that high. One thing is for sure, you aren’t going to break it short of cross-threading something.
