BitFenix Shinobi Window XL Full-Tower Chassis Review

Peter Donnell / 10 years ago

Final Thoughts

Price

The Shinobi XL can be purchased from Overclockers UK for £104.99, while the window edition I reviewed today is £129.95. This is obviously expensive, but when you consider the grade of system it is designed to house, it’s likely going to be one of the cheaper components of your build. It’s priced alongside the CM HAF 932, NZXT Switch 810 and Thermaltake T81, to name but a few, all of which are similar spec and size full-towers, so it really boils down to which best suits your own taste.

Overview

The Shinobi Window XL is an incredible chassis, designed for extreme performance systems that have no room for compromise. If you’re planning on building an ultra high-end gaming rig or workstation, you’ll find this chassis be well suited to the task. It’s capable of housing a high-end water cooling setup, with radiators in the top, front, back and bottom of the chassis. Air cooled builds will certainly benefit from the high-quality pre-installed fans and there’s certainly room for even more fans if you needed extra airflow. The chassis is equipped with dust filters on all major intakes and the thick panels will go a long way to reducing any excess noise and vibration from your build.

It’s a great looking chassis, not only in terms of general design, but also thanks to the stunning SofTouch finish on the front and top panels. Even for a huge chassis, the black panels manage to give it a somewhat understated look, although only about as understated as a tank would look if you painted it midnight black.

Chassis modders will love what’s on offer here, as the storage bays are full removable and there’s a huge bank of 5.25″ drive bays, no doubt well suited to front panel water cooling reservoirs and fan control devices. The side panel window can be popped out, allowing for easy modification and there’s more room behind the motherboard than you’ll typical find on most chassis.

Pros

Huge amount of space on the interior
Room for multiple high-end graphics cards
Extensive radiator and fan mounts
Three high-quality fans pre-installed
Capable of holding vast amounts of storage devices
Spacious cable management space behind motherboard
Dust filters on all major intakes
Removable side-panel window
SofTouch finish on top and front panel
Rock solid build quality
2.5A charging port
Dual USB 3.0 headers (4 x USB 3.0 on front panel)

Cons

None

“The BitFenix Shinobi Window XL may be big and expensive, but it’s certainly impressive. If you’re planning on building an enthusiast grade system with no compromises, then you’ll be very happy with how capable this chassis is.”