Bitfenix Prodigy Mini-ITX PC Chassis Review

Now that we have it out of the box you can see we’ve gone for the popular white model of the prodigy, sorry for the rough looking background on some of the photographs, but unlike a lot of chassis this one really didn’t look right when photographed on black, mostly because of the black trim on the outer edges of the front panel. First impressions though are that this thing looks absolutely stunning in white.

Starting at the front we can see that it features a clean front panel with a raised BitFenix logo on the bottom, space for 1 x 5.25″ drive bay and has fins at the top and bottom of the chassis, which act both as the stand on the bottom of the chassis, carry handles via the top fins and generally add to the overall design.

Along the top of the chassis we have a large rectangle air filter, with a quick release clip for easy maintenance, behind which you can mount either 2 x 120mm fans or a water cooling radiator, again keeping with the high contrast black and white theme.

Down the right side of the chassis we can see the usual front panel controllers and sockets, as well as a better view of the ventilated top panel.

Removal of the top panel also allows easy access to your components, very handy for installing RAM and connecting the required cables to your motherboard.

On the front of the right panel we have the power button, reset, headphone and microphone jack plug sockets, HDD and Power LED’s and two USB 3.0 compatible ports.

There are plenty of interesting things going on around the back of this chassis, firstly we can see the black and white theme is continued around the back, with the quick release thumb screws finished in black and allowing for quick and easy access to the chassis, we have a 120mm fan pre-installed, but it is also possible to replace this with a 140mm fan if you wish.

Below that we have our space for the motherboard backplate, which is horizontal as the motherboard lays flat in this chassis, this is what makes the case as wide as it is, leaving the expansion slots in a vertical position, which them selves are accessed via quick release screws and have ventilated covers and held in place by a locking plate. Once removed, the locking plate gives you some tilting room for your graphics card, allowing it to be properly clipped into the PCI-E expansion slot.

Below that we also have space for our power supply, with a removable mounting plate that allows you to install the PSU from the rear of the chassis.

The left side of the chassis is ventilated down its side with this large number of holes allowing loads of extra airflow, which is perfect given that your graphics card is now vertical, meaning any fans on your GPU are now pointing straight at this ventilation panel, which will allow heat to leave your chassis with ease.