[BitFenix] Support and Discussion Thread!

Would love to have a play with one, they look good and I'm getting closer and closer to justifying a new build :p hehe

My current case is an Antec 900 I upgrade to from an Antec 300, thought I'd gain more room lol.
 
Hi, any news on the Black BitFenix Shinobi USB3.0? I got it on pre-order along with rest of components for my build and getting a little desperate now :)

Many thanks
 
I rather discus it here if you please xbournex :)
As the Bitfenix Rep can you tell us if the case will have a fan grill built in the window?

Personally, and IMHO, I think the fan grills on the window takes away the whole point of having a window and make the finished case look rather messy and cheap, especially with a fan mounted on it, also not sure about that protruding stud-look fixing around the window, it be nice to have it smoother looking .

I do think it's a good idea to have both options has people have different tastes and requirements and I think a good solution would be to have the option for both(plain window/fan mounted window). Would make good business sense as well (BitFenix listens and caters for what there customers like, increase sales/profits by way of a new accessory option.

Many thanks


PS, any news on the delivery of the BitFenix Shinobi USB3.0 Gaming Cases in Black that OCUK and myself are waiting for?
 
As soon as old stock is gone, new stock comes in.

RE Window:
As a consumer, one's mentality would be "How hard is it to fix up a window with no grills?"
Theoretically, not very hard.

Putting it into actions, to be perfectly honest, it would take 2-3 months. No joke.
We announced this case in the end of January. First 1-2 weeks, we good good feedback that 98% of the people wanted no fan grills. 98% of the people still want no fan grills to this day.

I'll agree with Tom. We did promise no fan grill in the end. However, we chose not to publicly announce it yet as it was not finalized. Tom, had just went ahead and said it. (Luckily, I was eating my black forest cake at the moment and found time to sit through his 25 minute video...)

So, as I was saying, it (the factory) had initially said it was OK to just skip the fan grill in the process. A week later, they pulled our legs and said that they could skip the grill, but the mounts will still be there. :(

Had we had 3 months, it would have been done. For now, fan grills are finalized. As for future revisions, we'll see. As a bad move or not, the Colossus has the same window. No complaints. I don't see how this is any different.

"About time they start listening" - I could open up a lot of cans of worms on this, but to keep it simple, we did, and there was nothing we could do about it given the time we had.

It's bad enough that we couldn't offer grill less windows, but If you look at it from a manufacturing side, rather from "you didn't listen to the public" side, it's quite impossible.
 
Thanks for quick reply.
Not sure I understand what you mean regarding the old stock new stock xbournex, do I have to wait until the old stock of BitFenix Shinobi USB2.0 Black Gaming Cases (as opposed to the newer USB 3 one's) are sold for me to receive my pre-order (which by the way originally had a ETA for the 24th Feb here at OCUK)

RE:Window
Ok so for now the windows will all have fan mounting holes in them and you might see about not having them in future revisions. Thx
 
If you had pre-ordered the USB 3.0 stock, you'll get the USB 3.0 stock.
As far as I'm concerned, shipments will arrive sometime this week, and probably be shipping out by early next week. Your best bet would be to email OCUK to get a more up to date ETA.

Like I said about the windows, I'm opened for discussion, but this is my explanation.
 
Rgr m8 thanks for info and explanation.

I guess if Bitfenix window manufacturers could make both fan and non-fan screens, which I presume would/could be standard fitting on all the cases with window option and there where enough of a market for them, it might be viable solution/business proposition. ALso if they are Pop riveted, perhaps have an option to have them fixed by counter-sunk screws or some other method so to give the customer the flexibility to chose/change windows. Just some ideas off the bat.

I think Bitfenix have hit on a great case design which includes many aspects of what home builders need and look for. Keep up the good work.

Going to go for a run to try straighten my back and get some blood flowing through veins and arteries...:D

Cheers
 
xbournex said:
As soon as old stock is gone, new stock comes in.

RE Window:
As a consumer, one's mentality would be "How hard is it to fix up a window with no grills?"
Theoretically, not very hard.

Putting it into actions, to be perfectly honest, it would take 2-3 months. No joke.
We announced this case in the end of January. First 1-2 weeks, we good good feedback that 98% of the people wanted no fan grills. 98% of the people still want no fan grills to this day.

I'll agree with Tom. We did promise no fan grill in the end. However, we chose not to publicly announce it yet as it was not finalized. Tom, had just went ahead and said it. (Luckily, I was eating my black forest cake at the moment and found time to sit through his 25 minute video...)

So, as I was saying, it (the factory) had initially said it was OK to just skip the fan grill in the process. A week later, they pulled our legs and said that they could skip the grill, but the mounts will still be there. :(

Had we had 3 months, it would have been done. For now, fan grills are finalized. As for future revisions, we'll see. As a bad move or not, the Colossus has the same window. No complaints. I don't see how this is any different.

"About time they start listening" - I could open up a lot of cans of worms on this, but to keep it simple, we did, and there was nothing we could do about it given the time we had.

It's bad enough that we couldn't offer grill less windows, but If you look at it from a manufacturing side, rather from "you didn't listen to the public" side, it's quite impossible.
Click to expand...

I really find this.... shocking...

How can the factory suddenly say 'oh no it still has to have the holes'.... Surely you just don't cut the holes in the cutting process... Does this mean that they'll be a later revision without a fan grill?

Tom's already said that he reckon's he'll drop it an award just because of the lack of fan grill. Now whilst sometimes I don't agree with his retentiveness, and attention to detail, this still means that as a company you may end up with a Silver instead of a Gold... Which considering how much he's raved about the standard Shinobi, and how well that's reflected upon your sales you must be able to appreciate is a bad thing. Not to mention that in terms of OC3D, the case will probably end up with a Silver, putting it on par with the Shinobi XL's main competitor, the Xigmatek Elysium, which ironically also suffers from an awful choice of Window.

I still don't get why you guys even put window fan grills on your cases in the first place.... Very few people actually use side fan grills, because they completely detract from the aesthetics, and ultimately nobody really uses them because putting a side fan into a case spoils air flow in a lot of instances. This is something I really don't understand, because surely in the review process you think the engineers scratch their heads and realise it doesn't make sense... Not to mention the fact that side windows grills are just another way for dust to get into your case, as I'm doubting these have dust filters on.

Also, I don't really see why you bothered making this huge release about the Shinobi XL, almost two months prior to the actual release date, if you couldn't actually change stuff if people gave feedback. You created a large amount of hype, and now you're slowly feeding us disappointing news ready for somewhat of a possible anti-climax... You say it would take 2-3 months to implement this. But you've had two months. The case was announced on 19th Jan, and with your release date rather than Kul1's, we're not going to get it to mid-march - two months later...

To address your original point though, I just completely fail to understand how it's so hard to cancel... Especially if you're saying you can take out the grill but not the mounting holes... That really does sound stupid...
For me, I can either buy a windowed version, drill the rivets out of the window, and just stick in my own piece of acrylic - 10 minute job. Or buy the non-windowed one and cut out my own window altogether - half hour job. It just seems crazy, that I can basically switch the window in 10 minutes with a bit of acrylic, whereas you guys can't change something like that with a good few months warning... In all honesty I'd rather you came back and said, oh the delay is going to be another two weeks so we can get the window sorted, which translates to us as 'we're listening to you, we're making a change, but it's going to delay release a couple of weeks' than 'we're not listening to you, we're just going to include it anyway, screw you guys', which I know isn't what you're trying to say, but it's what it comes across as you saying.

Whilst I still quite want the case, I'm being swiftly dissuaded by the amount of mess ups prior to release about this. I realise that my scathing comments above probably quite discourage you guys from sending me one out for End-User Review, but frankly, I'd rather I said it, and pointed out how frustrated I was by this and risk losing that opportunity than just say, oh it's all ok... I'm really hoping it manages to prove me wrong about this and the aesthetics. but somehow I'm not so sure...

kd
 
Last edited:
It's actually been just a month and a half. As suggestions came through, it actually took about a week and a half to see what could possibly be changed, and even then it was a slim chance, and again, we tried.

It's the procedure that the factory does, beyond our control. If that were to change, a whole deal of money to go into that would have to occur. A whole deal of time would also be needed and even a whole new factory might be used instead - up to 3 months [not weeks (we tried though)].

If feedback is given after a chassis is announced, it's used in later chassis. Prototypes on the other hand, are different. Things can be changed.

I do agree this was a mess. I could say a lot of people dropped the ball on this one. Being only 2 years old, and this chassis being the biggest to be released, we have yet lots to learn. In the future, it definitely won't be like this.

As for suggesting to delay even longer to get just fan holes, that's a lot of contracts being broken...
 
Last edited:
Sorry, I meant delay slightly longer to remove the fan holes as well, as I presumed you could remove grill in this time period.

Also, yeah, do you see a later revision perhaps without the windowed grill?

Again, apologies for such a harsh comment, but I'd rather be honest about it.

kd
 
I don't mind the harsh comments. If they're valid, then it's worth discussing.

As the window was previously also usable on the Colossus chassis, removing the grill was impossible. (already there). What needed to have happened was either:

-rework the windows 2 weeks into the announcement of the XL, putting even more money into it and delay it even further (By the time retailers get it, May)
-Find out if factory can just not stamp (We'll have a grill and nongrill version. Initially got a yes, then they pulled our legs. Took about a months time which is where we are now)
 
Also, I'd like to point out that at no where in any given time, did Kul1 or I announce that the window would be grilled or not grilled. I don't know if it can be said any nicer, but Tom ran his mouth when he wasn't supposed to. It wasn't finalized.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom