BitFenix Raider Case Review: All These Little Things
by Dustin Sklavos on February 28, 2013 12:01 PM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- bitfenix
- ATX
Noise and Thermal Testing
Honestly, by the time I was done assembling the BitFenix Raider, I wasn't sure how to feel about the case itself, let alone have any expectations as to how it might perform. As it turns out, there's a reasonably potent enclosure design hiding out here if you're willing to extract it.
Ambient temperature during testing was around 22C. The Raider was tested with the middle drive cage's panel removed, and with the analog fan controller at both its lowest and highest settings.
The Raider's low fan setting doesn't move a heck of a lot of air and the case puts in a mediocre showing as a result, but running the fans at full bore produces pretty competitive thermal results.
Despite all the hemming and hawing I do about fan controllers, the BitFenix Raider runs into the same "issue" Nanoxia's cases do: the fans included are so quiet and efficient on their own that cutting their speed is pointless. The Raider's Spectre fans are almost inaudible at their highest setting and produce far superior airflow, so there's no real reason to turn them down.
The Raider was able to produce competitive if not spectacular performance with our stock testbed, so naturally I was a little more curious to see how it would handle the increased thermal load of our overclocked bed.
The Raider's not great, but it's still competitive if you ignore the low fan setting.
Once again, the "quieter" fan setting turns out to have the opposite effect, while the higher one produces noise results that are competitive without being exceptional.
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kukujin21 - Friday, March 1, 2013 - link
I think 14 months ago you gave a better review of the internals although you still had the same complaints?. anything look familiar Dustin?http://www.anandtech.com/show/5157/nzxt-phantom-41...
Dustin Sklavos - Friday, March 1, 2013 - link
That's a good catch. I have them side by side right now, though, and they're similar but by no means identical.Of course, fourteen months ago would've been ~42 cases ago, and I may have become slightly more cantankerous in the interim. ;)
killerclick - Friday, March 1, 2013 - link
Bought it 4 months ago. What I don't like about it:Dust filters don't stop as much dust as you'd like, except when they get clogged with dust themselves. That's why I don't vacuum them anymore (airflow is still pretty good).
Why does it have a mesh on top? Dust FALLS IN THE CASE, despite the positive air pressure inside (I never turn my computer off). I had to put filters on the holes on top of the case to stop dust from falling inside.
You can't completely remove the top mesh to clean the top of the case - it's connected by wires so you can only lift it and move it so much until the cables snag.
After 3 months, the fan controller lever started crapping out and now it's impossible to set it to the slowest speed. I didn't even use this lever that much, it's just really flimsy.
Finally, when I put a 7200RPM (Samsung Spinpoint F3) disk in, it's very loud even at idle because of vibrations. I had to make a sling out of elastic in one of the 5.25" bays and stick the disk in it, and now it's quiet (no vibrations).
killerclick - Friday, March 1, 2013 - link
Yeah, I also didn't connect the power LED because it's way too bright.lmcd - Friday, March 1, 2013 - link
Last time you had to install feet on a $100 case was the SG09, I believe.prodigy23 - Wednesday, November 5, 2014 - link
Just bought and assembled it. The soft touch material on the from and top is really nice. The cables for the USB 3.0 ports are 20 pin only, but one cable adapter to 2.0 is provided . As someone mentioned in a previous comment, the rubber feet are now screwed. I struggle a little bit to pass the 24-pin power connector through the routing holes, but it was not something to make someone cry or trash the case. The part that is really really bad is the dust filter for the power supply, it is curved when it should be just plain. My biggest problem was that the cables of my power supply (XFX TS 550W) are on the short side for a midi-case with a mini-ITX MB (gigabyte z97n-gaming 5). Moreover I installed a Club3D R9 280 royalking and it just barely fit without removing the HDD case's wall. Overall, good value for the money, I paid €75.