BitFenix Outlaw: When Inexpensive Doesn't Mean Cheap
by Dustin Sklavos on December 23, 2011 5:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- mid-tower
- bitfenix
Noise and Thermal Testing, Overclocked
Our stock testing reveals the Outlaw as a case that produces adequate ambient temperatures along with a good CPU temperature and acceptable GPU temperature, and it's able to do all of this while keeping a reasonable noise profile. Overclocked testing is liable to be a lot more strenuous, though, especially with an enclosure this small. Realistically, overclockers are going to want to invest in another fan or two, but even then the Outlaw still winds up being the kind of good deal old school overclockers were interested in in the first place (when overclocking was about maximizing a small budget instead of setting records).
Overclocked thermals are still pretty good. They're not excellent, but they're good enough for a case of this size, and as mentioned before there's certainly room for improvement for the end user willing to modify the cooling a bit.
Unfortunately, while idle noise is good, load noise is still on the high side. That's pretty much to be expected when we start dealing with enclosures that are this cheap, since they're going to be largely devoid of any acoustic management features beyond the merits of their basic designs. The best thing you can do is tweak the cooling—a low-RPM fan or two would go a long way—to reduce overall noise to begin with.
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wutsurstyle - Wednesday, January 4, 2012 - link
Very good to see a setup where the motherboard is upside-down. Now those massive cooling pipes on video cards are rightside-up and more effective.binqq - Friday, January 6, 2012 - link
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Zebble - Tuesday, January 24, 2012 - link
I wouldn't have even considered this case, but after reading the review I decided to try one. What a very pleasant surprise! Very well-built, and the rubber-like coating on the front face makes for a very impressive high-quality feel.The up-facing USB ports were the clincher for me, as I like to use a USB key off my keychain without having to detach it. Front-mounted USB ports left my keys hanging and pulling down on the USB key which can't be good for the USB key or the USB port! Up-facing USB ports
solve this problem...
I was also surprised at the quality hardware included. Almost all screws were thumbscrews, and even a hex-to-philips adapter was included to make installing the motherboard stand-offs a breeze. Haven't seen this in any other case I've purchased. Nice touch BitFenix!
Cable room/routing was very good. It's the cleanest build I've done because of all the cable room behind the 3.5" drive-bays. Again, nice touch.
Was so happy with the case, I snagged another the next day.