review BitFenix Shadow Review

[+Nexus18 MVC]

Firstly thanks to OCUK & BitFenix for providing this case! :)

 

BitFenix Homepage

OCUK Product Page

 

Features:

 

Materials - Steel & Plastic

Dimensions - 190 x 440 x 506mm (WxHxD)

Motherboard Sizes - ATX, Micro ATX, Mini ITX

5.25" Drive Bays - x 3

3.5" Drive Bays - x 7

2.5" Drive Bays - x 1

Cooling Front 120mm - x 2 (1 included)

Cooling Bottom 120mm - x 1 (optional)

Cooling Rear 120mm - x 1 (included) or 92mm x 1 (optional) or 80mm x 1 (optional)

PCI Slots - x 7

I/O - USB 3.0 x 2, USB 2.0 x 2, HD Audio

Power Supply - PS2 ATX (bottom, multi direction)

 

Packaging:

 

The shadow comes in a plain brown cardboard box with black images of the case and some of the key features of the Shadow. The case is protected with two pieces of polystyrene on either side and the case itself in a see through plastic bag.

 

 

We also get the usual bag containing screws & an instruction booklet.

 

 

Build Quality:

 

Considering this is a budget orientated case coming in at ?55, compromises must have been made somewhere in the manufacturing process and it is quite clear that the overall build of the case was the first area, just like the Raider, the side panels are flimsy and bend/wobble very easily and the bottom of the case is EVEN thinner!

 

Apart from those few areas, the rest of the case feels very solid including the front door, generally other cases that have a front door feel a bit loose.

 

Unfortunately the case I got has a few problems too; gaps aren't even, corner part of metal bending outwards, the bottom front LEDs don't work

 

 

Now these could just be problems with my case but either way, the QC of BitFenix needs to be improved.

 

If I had bought this case, I am sure that BitFenix or/and OCUK would have got a new one sent out straight away!

 

At the bottom, we have rubber feet screwed on, they feel nice and sturdy:

 

 

Aesthetics:

 

Onto one of the most important areas of a case, the aesthetics. This is a super small attractive looking midi tower case, it is very sleek overall. At the front we have a magnetic operated door (feels just perfect for opening and closing) that provides access to the dust filters, the dust filters can also be removed to provide access to the front fans, which in return allows extremely easy cleaning as well as a way of maximising the cooling performance of your PC, absolute superb design especially when compared to my BitFenix Raider, which was a huge hassle to clean.

 

 

 

The front door is coated with BitFenix's SofTouch treatment, which feels great to touch.

 

 

At the top of the case, we have the I/O panel. The 2 blue LEDs are super bright.

 

 

I am finding that USB devices require quite a bit of force to insert and remove, perhaps they will "loosen" up after a bit of usage....

 

On the bottom of the front door we have small vent holes, I would have liked the vent holes to extend a bit further up the case. There is also a small strip at the very bottom that lights up blue or red (can also be turned of), but as stated above this isn't working on my case.

 

 

Like other BitFenix products, we have an all black theme inside, all the cables are black as well.

 

 

This case supports GPU's up to 320mm and CPU heatsink's up to 165mm.

 

BitFenix supplied two of their Spectre fans (1 at the back and 1 at the front). These fans have fluid dynamic bearings, which essentially means that everything is kept running nice and smoothly and this helps the fans to have a longer lifespan and more silent when running. The fans are made out of thermoplastic crystalline polymer, which is essentially a matte finish, so they are also high quality in terms of looks. According to BitFenix, here are some important figures for the Spectre fans:

 

Noise - 20 dB-A

Speed - 1000?10% RPM

Airflow - 43.5?10% CFM

Air Pressure - 0.62 mmH2O

 

I like how compact this case is, frees up quite a bit of room on my desk.

 

Cable Management Area:

 

One of the worse areas about this case and I honestly wonder why BitFenix even bothered including any cable management at all.....

 

 

Firstly there is VERY little room at the back for cables, literally only a couple of mm's to work with, there is some more space around the hard drive cage area but again very little room.

 

 

There are no cable loops and no rubber grommets either.

 

 

When you have a non-modular PSU and six storage drives, all the above points make for an extremely painful system installation.

 

As you can see from the above photo, we have a big hole for access to the back of the motherboard where the CPU heatsink bracket is located.

 

Installation:

 

The following system was installed into the Shadow.

• Intel i5 750 (OC to 3.6GHz)

• Gigabyte GA-P55-UD3

• 2x4GB Corsair XMS 3

• MSI 7850 2GB twin FRZR OC

• Antec EarthWatts 500W PSU

• Four Hard drives; two are WD Green, 1 Samsung and 1 WD Red

• 2 SSD's

• Gelid Tranquillo Rev.2 Heat sink

 

 

Installing all of the above into the Shadow was extremely difficult, the size and some design decisions made it feel like an obstacle course trying to get everything installed and connected. In the end I didn't bother mounting one of my SSD's into the required place (at the very bottom of the case below the other hard drives) due to how awkwardly placed it was, I had to leave them in the 5.25" drive area. As you can see, I give up with the cable management, with my rig and this case, it was impossible to do anything.

 

Even accessing the PCI brackets was made more difficult than what it should have been, you have an extra PCI bracket on top of the current individual brackets (which are hooked in and required a fair bit of force to remove).

 

I strongly advise against this case if you have lots of drives or/and a non-modular PSU.

 

All of the thumb screws were difficult to "screw" in/out, I had to use a screw driver for them.

 

One 120mm fan at the front wasn't going to be enough so I added another 120mm Spectre fan:

 

 

It was an easy and quick process installing the hard drives using the "tool-less" brackets, unfortunately you have to remove any long PCI cards before removing/adding hard drives though. It would have been better if BitFenix kept the same design as the Raider hard drive cage i.e. have them facing side ways so no need to remove the GPU(s) first to add/remove a hard drive and the hard drive SATA cables could have been hidden at the back as well.

 

 

My same concern with the BitFenix Raider and hard drive cage still remains with the Shadow, there is virtually no gap between the hard drives when they are placed directly above/below one another, even with the fans right beside the hard drives, the temperatures will be much higher than when they are separated. Not only does it affect hard drive temperatures but it impacts the airflow i.e. blocking the intake fan(s) thus affecting the other components temperatures.

 

 

Noise Levels:

 

I am happy to report that this case is SUPER quiet with three BitFenix 120mm Spectre fans installed, it is definitely quieter than the BitFenix Raider (to be expected though considering the Shadow is more of a closed design)

 

Also, surprisingly, there are no rattles/vibrations at all! I was expecting there to be some rattle/vibration noise considering the flimsy panels but nope, nothing! 

 

When you open the front door, the noise level gets a tiny bit higher but still very good.

 

Cooling Performance:

 

So far, there doesn't seem to be much difference in cooling compared to my Raider, which is quite surprising since it has a more open design as well as a CoolerMaster MegaFlow 200mm fan at the top.

 

Temperatures of the Raider:

 

 

Temperatures of the Shadow:

 

 

As stated earlier on, there is always the possibility of improving the airflow even further thus decreasing temperatures by simply opening the door and if that isn't enough, you can remove the dust filter.

 

Conclusion:

 

Despite the sleek looks, low noise levels, great design at the front with the door, fans + dust filters and decent cooling, this case is let down by the terrible cable management, poor design decisions and the price. 

 

Setting up a new rig should be enjoyable and a straight forward easy process but with my kind of setup and this case, it was a nightmare. I can't help but feel that this case should be quite a bit cheaper too as when you look at other cases i.e. the BitFenix Raider, you get a FAR better case "overall" for the sake of another ?17 and currently the Raider is on sale at ?69....... Even Corsair have better cases "overall" for cheaper.

 

BitFenix should have either given us more room at the back for cables or not bothered with any cable management "features".

 

So to summarise, I would only recommend this case if you have a couple of hard drives and a full modular PSU.

 

Pros:

• Very nice looking sleek case

• Quiet with no rattles/vibrations

• Easy access to the front dust filters and fan(s), great for cleaning and maximising cooling performance

Cons:

• Price, needs to be a bit cheaper

• Awful cable management

• Poor Hard drive cage orientation

• Long and frustrating process putting together a system with a non-modular PSU and 6 hard drives

 

[Chasethebase Veteran]

Great review, in depth and detailed.

 

The product itself looks fantastic, love the sleek, simple look and having the ability to customise the detail lighting is great.