Bit Fenix Neos Review
First of all I’d like to thank both OcUK and Bit Fenix for providing me with the Bit Fenix Neos in the colour and as a bonus Stulid managed to sort me out with a Windowed Side Panel for the case.
As part of the competition I promised I would cover the case in a Mini-Review and having returned from two weeks in Vegas I have been able to do this for you all.
Introduction
So first things first the Bit Fenix Neos is a budget ATX capable case in various colour options @ £29.99 for the case and an additional £9.59 for windowed side panel and you can see all options available here .
First Impressions/Installation
First impressions are everything and despite the budget price the Neos looks quite the tidy case with the front panel colour adding a nice bit of character to the case. I chose the Red one and quite to my surprise, pleasant I may add, the Red was a lot darker than I was expecting and also wasn't much larger than my Aerocool Dead Silence I had been using recently.
System Build Spec:
Intel i7 3770k @ 4.4Ghz
Corsair H80i Cooling
16GB Corsair DDR3 RAM
MSI GTX 780 OC Gaming Edition
3xSSD's
2xHDD's
The one thing you will notice is that the Neos is really not wide at all and while this compact from is a good thing in some ways it comes at a sacrifice, cable routing. For anyone, like myself, who uses a Non-modular PSU you will find it difficult to keep it tidy. There is literally no room behind the Motherboard try and slight space behind the non-removable HDD/SDD cages. I used the spare cages to feed some of the cables through simply to close the case and managed to keep it tidy surprisingly. With a modular PSU you will see a greater success on this part but will still struggle with some of the thicker cables. What would an extra few centimetres cost? Well I don’t know but it would have been welcome.
In addition to the cable routing issue I found installing my H80i radiator to be extremely tight and was quite awkward but it did fit and is fine when in place.
Installation wise everything apart from the cabling and the H80i radiator was nice and simple as the Neos has various clips and some impressive SSD and HDD cages which work really well. The Windowed Panel which I really like shows off your hardware while covering up the Hard Drive cages. There are only 2x5.25” Bays at the front of the case but for me that isn’t a problem as it again keeps the height down and the general compact size.
The case comes with a standard 120mm fan in the rear which I have removed for this review and have installed an H80i with 2x120mm Corsair Fans in Push/Pull and at the front panel I have installed 2x120mm Corsair fans to help provide plentiful airflow into the case which appears to have worked fairly well so far. Bit Fenix have done a great thing by making a really simply 120mm fan rack for the front of the case which can be assembled separately before being put back into place. Dust Filters are present which from a budget case you won’t normally see. This is coupled with a dust filter on the base of the case for the PSU.
Put together with a Bit Fenix Recon Fan Controller and LED strip in the case and you have what I would call a very attractive package at not a massive cost. The front panel only includes 2xUSB ports 1x2.0 and 1x3.0 which will be enough for most but not for all.
As you can see the cable routing can be a hassle.
Gladly when closed up the Window placing hides the mess from view.
Performance/Temps
Onto performance and due to the solid construction you should find the case really quiet with no rattling from any components and as said earlier this is a well-constructed case. But what about the temperature inside the thing? How does it cope? Well you must bear in mind I've added 4 fans in total and in doing so I'm fairly impressed considering the non-removable HDD/SDD cage at the front and the small size.
I ran a 60mins session of Watch_Dogs this morning on the specs detailed at the beginning of the review.
Idle Temps
CPU: 31-33C
GPU: 27C
Load Temps
CPU: 66-68C
GPU: 74C
From the results I obtained I can’t be anything other than impressed with how the Neos copes despite the small size. Sure I added fans but I feel this is something you will need to consider to get the most out of the case performance wise and it has exceeded my expectations in this department.
Conclusion
So in conclusion I have enjoyed using the Bit Fenix Neos and it will replace my Aero Cool Dead Silence as my day to day household gaming case. It’s a budget case alright but when you look at a well put together build inside one it certainly looks to defy it’s price tag. I would definitely recommend it to any gamer on a budget or someone who needs a splash of colour in their mundane desktop life.
Pro’s
+Superb value @ £29.99 (non-windowed) or £39.58(buying windowed panel separately)
+Well constructed
+Slim profile in both width and height
+Various colour options to suit all tastes
+Innovative design features and inclusion of dust filters
+With additional fans cooling is quite impressive
Con’s
-Only 2x5.25 inch bays at the front
-Lack of space for cable routing
-H80i installation was tight, width of case could cause issues.
First of all I’d like to thank both OcUK and Bit Fenix for providing me with the Bit Fenix Neos in the colour and as a bonus Stulid managed to sort me out with a Windowed Side Panel for the case.
As part of the competition I promised I would cover the case in a Mini-Review and having returned from two weeks in Vegas I have been able to do this for you all.
Introduction
So first things first the Bit Fenix Neos is a budget ATX capable case in various colour options @ £29.99 for the case and an additional £9.59 for windowed side panel and you can see all options available here .
First Impressions/Installation
First impressions are everything and despite the budget price the Neos looks quite the tidy case with the front panel colour adding a nice bit of character to the case. I chose the Red one and quite to my surprise, pleasant I may add, the Red was a lot darker than I was expecting and also wasn't much larger than my Aerocool Dead Silence I had been using recently.
System Build Spec:
Intel i7 3770k @ 4.4Ghz
Corsair H80i Cooling
16GB Corsair DDR3 RAM
MSI GTX 780 OC Gaming Edition
3xSSD's
2xHDD's
The one thing you will notice is that the Neos is really not wide at all and while this compact from is a good thing in some ways it comes at a sacrifice, cable routing. For anyone, like myself, who uses a Non-modular PSU you will find it difficult to keep it tidy. There is literally no room behind the Motherboard try and slight space behind the non-removable HDD/SDD cages. I used the spare cages to feed some of the cables through simply to close the case and managed to keep it tidy surprisingly. With a modular PSU you will see a greater success on this part but will still struggle with some of the thicker cables. What would an extra few centimetres cost? Well I don’t know but it would have been welcome.
In addition to the cable routing issue I found installing my H80i radiator to be extremely tight and was quite awkward but it did fit and is fine when in place.
Installation wise everything apart from the cabling and the H80i radiator was nice and simple as the Neos has various clips and some impressive SSD and HDD cages which work really well. The Windowed Panel which I really like shows off your hardware while covering up the Hard Drive cages. There are only 2x5.25” Bays at the front of the case but for me that isn’t a problem as it again keeps the height down and the general compact size.
The case comes with a standard 120mm fan in the rear which I have removed for this review and have installed an H80i with 2x120mm Corsair Fans in Push/Pull and at the front panel I have installed 2x120mm Corsair fans to help provide plentiful airflow into the case which appears to have worked fairly well so far. Bit Fenix have done a great thing by making a really simply 120mm fan rack for the front of the case which can be assembled separately before being put back into place. Dust Filters are present which from a budget case you won’t normally see. This is coupled with a dust filter on the base of the case for the PSU.
Put together with a Bit Fenix Recon Fan Controller and LED strip in the case and you have what I would call a very attractive package at not a massive cost. The front panel only includes 2xUSB ports 1x2.0 and 1x3.0 which will be enough for most but not for all.
As you can see the cable routing can be a hassle.
Gladly when closed up the Window placing hides the mess from view.
Performance/Temps
Onto performance and due to the solid construction you should find the case really quiet with no rattling from any components and as said earlier this is a well-constructed case. But what about the temperature inside the thing? How does it cope? Well you must bear in mind I've added 4 fans in total and in doing so I'm fairly impressed considering the non-removable HDD/SDD cage at the front and the small size.
I ran a 60mins session of Watch_Dogs this morning on the specs detailed at the beginning of the review.
Idle Temps
CPU: 31-33C
GPU: 27C
Load Temps
CPU: 66-68C
GPU: 74C
From the results I obtained I can’t be anything other than impressed with how the Neos copes despite the small size. Sure I added fans but I feel this is something you will need to consider to get the most out of the case performance wise and it has exceeded my expectations in this department.
Conclusion
So in conclusion I have enjoyed using the Bit Fenix Neos and it will replace my Aero Cool Dead Silence as my day to day household gaming case. It’s a budget case alright but when you look at a well put together build inside one it certainly looks to defy it’s price tag. I would definitely recommend it to any gamer on a budget or someone who needs a splash of colour in their mundane desktop life.
Pro’s
+Superb value @ £29.99 (non-windowed) or £39.58(buying windowed panel separately)
+Well constructed
+Slim profile in both width and height
+Various colour options to suit all tastes
+Innovative design features and inclusion of dust filters
+With additional fans cooling is quite impressive
Con’s
-Only 2x5.25 inch bays at the front
-Lack of space for cable routing
-H80i installation was tight, width of case could cause issues.
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Had the right name in my sig of all things 