OcUk Product Page: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-149-BX
Introduction
Today, I’m going to be looking at the younger but more understated sophisticated brother of the BitFenix Prodigy. The Phenom, as it is known, is a more elegant looking version of the prodigy but is also a Mini-ITX Case… Right let’s take a look.
The Phenom comes in rather a plain looking box, but is very well packaged and to be honest, who cares what the packaging looks like, it is what is inside it that counts. As you can see I have opted to use a BitFenix Spectre Pro 200mm as I have been told that it fits just fine.
The Case itself.
As you can see, this is the perfect case for someone that doesn’t want the ‘look at me’ aesthetic of the Prodigy and it’s wealth of colours that you can choose from, the Phenom only comes in two colours and they are black and white (at time of writing). The features listed by BitFenix are as follows:
• Clean and Modern Styling
• Superb Flexibility
• Tremendous Storage Potential
• Easy to Build
• High-Speed USB 3.0 Connectivity
• BitFenix Quality
After removing the packaging, it is clear to see that BitFenix have taken time and effort to redesign the exterior of the Prodigy into a case more understated and one that would not only fit at home but also in the office.
From the back....
I absolutely love the mesh area that I saw that is recessed into the edges, and along the case it has a large total surface area and it should serve to give good ventilation for the components that you put in the case.
The case comes with 2 side USB ports and a mic and headphone sockets.
One little annoyance that I noticed was the lack of slot for any optical drive. I do understand that in today’s environment there is not much need for optical drives but they do come in handy from time to time, but for this build it would not be required anyway.
Installation of parts.
In this build I’m going to create a virtual server for myself to work with as I have needed a small case that is discreet that I need for work to test and program on and the Phenom fits the bill perfectly, as BitFenix itself lists one of the ideal uses of the Phenom is as a NAS and I will need to be fitting a lot of HDDs into this case.
Here are the tech specs of the hardware I’m using:
CPU: Intel i5 3470 (with stock cooler)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77N-WIFI
RAM: 16Gb RAM
Plugin Card: DELL Perc 5i
HDD: 2 x 750Gb, 2 x 1Tb, 1 x Intel SSD
You might expect that the inside of the Phenom is the same as that of the Prodigy and it is exactly the same but why not? Don't fix what is not broken
As you can see, the installation of the BitFenix Spectre Pro is a little snug, but it does fit and is very well secured to the front of the case without any issues.
After that it’s the install of the CPU, motherboard and RAM. I have to apologise for the lack of a decent cooler, but funds are a little tight of late…
In with the Hard drives....
You have to unscrew here to get the HDD cage out to add the 200mm fan and recommend it for putting the hard drives in too!
I'm using the fantastic (and very much modified) DELL Perc 5i enterprise RAID card which is needed for my setup which takes the place of any GPU that I would have put in for a Games machine build and as with the Prodigy this case can take a full length card after you take out a few of the trays.
As you can imagine I have the BitFenix Spectre Pro at the front taking in air from the fantastically designed mesh that I talked about before, then 1 x 120mm at the back and 2 x 120mm in the top both drawing out hot air from the CPU and hard drives.
Temps
I just happen to have a prodigy setup at home with the same hardware as the Phenom that I’m creating for work. I was very surprised that the temps are damn near at idle and under load! I’m a little surprised at the results as the Prodigy does seem to have more meshed surface area compared to the Phenom but the charts to not lie.
Conclusion.
Both have their pros and cons and both are so close to really chose one over the other. No matter what the results at the time of the Prodigy release I saw the case as revolutionary for the Mini-ITX market, people started to really consider Mini-ITX for building gaming rigs.
After using the Phenom, I can really see a space in the market for it next to its older brother and to be honest I do like the look of the Phenom more over that of the Prodigy. I like the understated look of the Phenom, the fact that BitFenix have gone as far to blend the badge into the colour scheme to ensure that they case looks complete just makes it for me.
If there was one thing that I had to point out against the Phenom, it is the fact that it doesn’t come with a 5.25 bay that I could have fitted another 4 Hard drives in and add extra space for my server build, but I do understand why they did it as the Phenom just looks perfect without it
Thanks to OcUK for the case and here is the complete build in its new home...
Introduction
Today, I’m going to be looking at the younger but more understated sophisticated brother of the BitFenix Prodigy. The Phenom, as it is known, is a more elegant looking version of the prodigy but is also a Mini-ITX Case… Right let’s take a look.
The Phenom comes in rather a plain looking box, but is very well packaged and to be honest, who cares what the packaging looks like, it is what is inside it that counts. As you can see I have opted to use a BitFenix Spectre Pro 200mm as I have been told that it fits just fine.
The Case itself.
As you can see, this is the perfect case for someone that doesn’t want the ‘look at me’ aesthetic of the Prodigy and it’s wealth of colours that you can choose from, the Phenom only comes in two colours and they are black and white (at time of writing). The features listed by BitFenix are as follows:
• Clean and Modern Styling
• Superb Flexibility
• Tremendous Storage Potential
• Easy to Build
• High-Speed USB 3.0 Connectivity
• BitFenix Quality
After removing the packaging, it is clear to see that BitFenix have taken time and effort to redesign the exterior of the Prodigy into a case more understated and one that would not only fit at home but also in the office.
From the back....
I absolutely love the mesh area that I saw that is recessed into the edges, and along the case it has a large total surface area and it should serve to give good ventilation for the components that you put in the case.
The case comes with 2 side USB ports and a mic and headphone sockets.
One little annoyance that I noticed was the lack of slot for any optical drive. I do understand that in today’s environment there is not much need for optical drives but they do come in handy from time to time, but for this build it would not be required anyway.
Installation of parts.
In this build I’m going to create a virtual server for myself to work with as I have needed a small case that is discreet that I need for work to test and program on and the Phenom fits the bill perfectly, as BitFenix itself lists one of the ideal uses of the Phenom is as a NAS and I will need to be fitting a lot of HDDs into this case.
Here are the tech specs of the hardware I’m using:
CPU: Intel i5 3470 (with stock cooler)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77N-WIFI
RAM: 16Gb RAM
Plugin Card: DELL Perc 5i
HDD: 2 x 750Gb, 2 x 1Tb, 1 x Intel SSD
You might expect that the inside of the Phenom is the same as that of the Prodigy and it is exactly the same but why not? Don't fix what is not broken
As you can see, the installation of the BitFenix Spectre Pro is a little snug, but it does fit and is very well secured to the front of the case without any issues.
After that it’s the install of the CPU, motherboard and RAM. I have to apologise for the lack of a decent cooler, but funds are a little tight of late…
In with the Hard drives....
You have to unscrew here to get the HDD cage out to add the 200mm fan and recommend it for putting the hard drives in too!
I'm using the fantastic (and very much modified) DELL Perc 5i enterprise RAID card which is needed for my setup which takes the place of any GPU that I would have put in for a Games machine build and as with the Prodigy this case can take a full length card after you take out a few of the trays.
As you can imagine I have the BitFenix Spectre Pro at the front taking in air from the fantastically designed mesh that I talked about before, then 1 x 120mm at the back and 2 x 120mm in the top both drawing out hot air from the CPU and hard drives.
Temps
I just happen to have a prodigy setup at home with the same hardware as the Phenom that I’m creating for work. I was very surprised that the temps are damn near at idle and under load! I’m a little surprised at the results as the Prodigy does seem to have more meshed surface area compared to the Phenom but the charts to not lie.
Conclusion.
Both have their pros and cons and both are so close to really chose one over the other. No matter what the results at the time of the Prodigy release I saw the case as revolutionary for the Mini-ITX market, people started to really consider Mini-ITX for building gaming rigs.
After using the Phenom, I can really see a space in the market for it next to its older brother and to be honest I do like the look of the Phenom more over that of the Prodigy. I like the understated look of the Phenom, the fact that BitFenix have gone as far to blend the badge into the colour scheme to ensure that they case looks complete just makes it for me.
If there was one thing that I had to point out against the Phenom, it is the fact that it doesn’t come with a 5.25 bay that I could have fitted another 4 Hard drives in and add extra space for my server build, but I do understand why they did it as the Phenom just looks perfect without it
Thanks to OcUK for the case and here is the complete build in its new home...
