Bitfenix Prodigy Mini-ITX PC Chassis Review

So there we have it, the Prodigy Mini-ITX chassis from BitFenix, when I first set eyes upon this chassis I fell in love with its style, it really does offer a unique style that really sets it apart in the chassis market at the moment, this is in part thanks to its flexible car-spoiler like stands and carry handles, that give the chassis an edge of style and functionality at the same time, the only issue with these flexible stands is the case does wobble a little when you plug in a USB cable or similar device, nothing major though as this flex also helps to reduce any vibrations in the chassis, so it seems a fair trade off, they also provide the chassis with excellent ground clearance, which is very beneficial to the fact that our power supply is mounted upside down, with it’s fan facing downward.

Upon opening up this chassis I was really impressed with the overall build quality too, while some parts of this chassis bend and flex, or even have a soft touch to them, other components like the side panel are so heavy duty and thick they may as well be bullet proof, adding stability, durability and sound proofing to the actual body of the chassis, all very important factors in both a HTPC or gaming rig build.

Space was initially limited inside this case, on first appearance you would have a hard time thinking that we could fit a water cooled i5 rig inside this chassis, but when it came to the build process this chassis was an absolute joy to work with, the hard drive bays, optical drive bay, top panel, side panels and the power supply back plate are all quickly removed and replace as your needs see fit, once we removed the middle hard drive tray our GTX 560 has loads of room for installation, our power supply had room to spare for hiding cables and after removing the optical drive tray our Antec 920 had more than enough room to breath in the top of the chassis.

It doesn’t take long to find so many amazing builds that have been achieved in this chassis on sites like YouTube, with people fitting extensive water cooled rigs, with eye melting specifications that anyone who takes PC modification and gaming serious would be proud of, yet all within a chassis that can be easily transported, I fully expect to see a number of these at any major LAN gaming event of the coming weeks, months and years.

The same can be said for HTPC builds, with the two stock fans running and our dual fan Antec 920 I had a hard time trying to hear any sound coming from this chassis. When it comes to a HTPC build, a silent build is ever more important, the thick panels and the extensive room for large fans means you can keep those fan RPM low and airflow at a stunning level in this chassis.

I have already started a personal build with a BitFenix Prodigy, stripping out all the hard drive and optical bays, making maximum room for airflow, something I’ll be sure to post up more details about in our forums some time in the near future, which is one of the reasons why I am awarding the Prodigy our Editors Choice award, I personally recommend this chassis to anyone looking for high performance, style and build quality, all within a fantastic price point of around £70. BitFenix have proven that great things can come from the M-ITX form factor, now that we have motherboard manufacturers bringing out boards like the Asus P8Z77-I Deluxe, the M-ITX market has just got exciting again.