BitFenix Prodigy Review: The Affordable Performable Mini-ITX
by Dustin Sklavos on June 1, 2012 1:55 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- Mini ITX
- bitfenix
Assembling the BitFenix Prodigy
Putting together a mini-ITX system is almost never easy, necessarily, but the BitFenix Prodigy seems to be designed to simplify the process as much as possible. Part of that is because the Prodigy is admittedly a bit larger than I'm used to seeing mini-ITX cases be, but not by much. Most of it has to do with a smart, modular design.
Being able to easily remove both the top vent and the main drive cage without having to remove any screws made it very easy to get started. The I/O shield for the testbed motherboard fit in snugly, and then the motherboard itself was surprisingly easy to mount into place. Ordinarily with a smaller build like this one I'd connect modular power cables to the motherboard and components first and then slot in the power supply, and it was at this juncture that I first encountered arguably the biggest problem with the Prodigy: power supply clearance.
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Our testbed power supply is 160mm, but the modular connectors make it impossible to actually fit inside the power supply bay, and I suspect even a non-modular 160mm PSU would be a tight fit at best. As a result I wound up re-using the SFX power supply from the SilverStone FT03 Mini with an adapter plate, and the much smaller power supply made cabling worlds easier. I feel like if anything about the Prodigy is going to hang up end users, this will be it, so buyer beware: if you're planning a build in this case, get a 140mm power supply. Honestly even going the route I did and using an SFX power supply with an adaptor wouldn't be a bad idea.
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For the drives, I wound up installing the 2.5" SSD in one of the bays built into the right side panel and the 3.5" Corsair Link in one of the trays in the bottom cage. Installing the optical drive involves removing the front panel (easy enough to do), twisting out the bay cover from the chassis, and then popping the shield out of the panel. From there, BitFenix includes thumbscrews for securing the 5.25" drive in place. I'd gripe about a lack of toolless installation here, but realistically this is a $79 case with an awful lot to offer. I'll take the hit, plus I don't know many mini-ITX builds that get opened up and tinkered with on a regular basis once they're in service.
Installing expansion cards is a little more fraught, though. Due to the height of the case, I couldn't use my comparatively short power screwdriver to loosen the thumbscrews in the expansion slots. You also have to loosen the screw above the slots, which locks a plate into place. It's involved to be sure, but could've been made a lot easier if the screw above the slots wasn't almost perfectly lined up with the screw for the second expansion slot. These are thumbscrews and they mean it; you're not fitting a screwdriver in there. This is something I think BitFenix could probably fix on the next iteration by moving that top screw between the two expansion slot screws. Still, I was able to swap graphics cards in and out of the Prodigy for testing without too much trouble.
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Finally getting everything wired up wound up being a little more difficult, but that was due almost entirely to the drive and I/O being mounted to the right side panel. BitFenix made what allowances they could for routing cabling, but in a case this small you're still fundamentally going to have to just squeeze things in here and there. While I ran into a couple of hiccups putting the Prodigy together, ultimately it was still far easier than Mini-ITX cases typically are.
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ggathagan - Saturday, June 2, 2012 - link
If you don't care about overclocking, go with the H77 based board:http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_1155...
It doesn't have the daughter card.
For an ITX system that cannot do CF or SLI, the only thing you give up with H77 is overclocking support., and I'm not sure if that means no multiplier *and* no BCLK adjustments, or simply no multiplier adjustments.
If you must have Z77, there's the ASRock Z77E-ITX LGA:
http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=Z77E-I...
HardwareDufus - Saturday, June 2, 2012 - link
Really would like to get the Asus P8Z77-I Deluxe.Mini-ITX cases are just either too small or too big.
What would be ideal is simply the following:
Height: 16cm (~6.25")
Width: 24cm (~9.5")
Depth: 24cm (~9.5")
1 x slim CD/DVD (external)
2 x 2.5" HD (internal)
150W internal mini-powersupply w/ external brick.
2 x slim120cm (each side) silent fans.
Front mount the following: LEDs, Switch, USB2/3, mic & headphone jacks, smartcard reader (look how small something like the dynex dx-cr6n1 is..that could be mounted vertically above or below usb ports).
very short/thin cables for slim miniSATA, SATA data/power, ATXpower.
just need a mini-ITX board with 2 case fan headers and a cpu fan header. Asus has that.
Honestly, can't see why Travala won't modify the C138 to be something like this!
The added depth would give a little more space between the case powersupply and memory modules of the mainboard.
The added height would allow for a little taller heatsink...and a bit more space around the 2.5" SSD drives which would mount below the slimBlueRayDVD.
The added width would make the side mounted intake and exhaust fans (blow across the whole system...so that heat from power supply and system board never run into each other...rather it's a laminar air flow. And if you wanted a monster video card i lieu of one of the fans, you'd have space for that..
randinspace - Saturday, June 2, 2012 - link
Anybody else wondering what Anand would've chosen to stick in one of these for his home theater if it had been on the market? Personally, I've been extremely tempted to gut a cheap HP I bought last year and stick its innards into one of these babies ever since they launched. The only thing that's held me back is indecision regarding what mini-itx board to buy for it... Either way, great review, as usual.... Ah looks like other people were indeed asking themselves "what would Anand do?" if Twitter is any indication.
nashville - Saturday, June 2, 2012 - link
im liking this very much!zlandar - Saturday, June 2, 2012 - link
This case has a height of 16". I use a Silverstone GD6 which has a height of 6". Measuring my entertainment console (Z-line with two lower shelves below the TV) the clearance is 9-10".Too bad because the biggest drawbacks of the Silverstone are the poor height clearance for cpu coolers and pain in the ass assembly. All the desktop-style HTPC cases seem to suffer from the cpu cooler height limitation.
HardwareDufus - Saturday, June 2, 2012 - link
Mini-ITX cases are just either too small or too big.What would be ideal is simply the following:
Height: 16cm (~6.25")
Width: 24cm (~9.5")
Depth: 24cm (~9.5")
1 x slim CD/DVD (external)
2 x 2.5" HD (internal)
150W internal mini-powersupply w/ external brick.
2 x slim120cm (each side) silent fans.
Front mount the following: LEDs, Switch, USB2/3, mic & headphone jacks, smartcard reader (look how small something like the dynex dx-cr6n1 is..that could be mounted vertically above or below usb ports).
very short/thin cables for slim miniSATA, SATA data/power, ATXpower.
just need a mini-ITX board with 2 case fan headers and a cpu fan header. Asus has that.
Honestly, can't see why Travala won't modify the C138 to be something like this!
The added depth would give a little more space between the case powersupply and memory modules of the mainboard.
The added height would allow for a little taller heatsink...and a bit more space around the 2.5" SSD drives which would mount below the slimBlueRayDVD.
The added width would make the side mounted intake and exhaust fans (blow across the whole system...so that heat from power supply and system board never run into each other...rather it's a laminar air flow. And if you wanted a monster video card i lieu of one of the fans, you'd have space for that..
Really would like to get the Asus P8Z77-I Deluxe. so a case with these parameters would help me accomodate the odd daughter board and not have fan clearance issue (I would have that with my present setup).
HardwareDufus - Saturday, June 2, 2012 - link
Actually, i wouldnt even mind a slight stretch of the height to 20cm... (~7.75") then you could fit a SilverStone SFX ST45SF 450 watt Power Supply Review in the bottom of the case below the motherboard and move the SSDs under the motherboard as well.This would remove some hot stuff from the front of the case and give you a more standard power supply.
Thinking I need to do a drawing eventually...
So, I'd take:
Height: 20cm (~7.75")
Width: 24cm (~9.5")
Depth: 24cm (~9.5")
Not allot of wasted space when you consider the cross airflow objectives. And in this design..surely there is room if someone wanted an additional couple of spaces for additonal 2.5" drives...but I think anyone wanting more than 2 harddrives is not the audience for this style/shape of mini-ITX anyway..
Laststop311 - Sunday, June 3, 2012 - link
Getting ready to build an awesome lan party mini itx box. Asus has a really special mini itx board out for Z77 chipset. Since there isn't enough room for a large phase cpu power supply a board for the power phases actually plugs into the itx board, giving you equal overclocking abilities as the large atx board. Asus basically eliminated the one negative plaguing every other itx board.I'll be removing the drive cage to fit a full size GTX 690 GPU. Have to go dual card gpu since only 2 expansion slots on the case and I need to run 2560x1440.
2x4GB 1866Mhz Cas 9 Ram seems to be the sweet spot for price performance ratio. Ram above 1866Mhz is just a rip off price
256GB Crucial m4's are just a steal now and will make a nice sized boot/app/game install drive installed on right side panel
Won't have room for a soundcard, I hope the integrated sound is ok.
14x Blu Ray RW combo drive
3TB WD AV-GP on bottom
Corsair H80 rad in push pull attatched to exhause area
i7-3770k OC'd to 4.3Ghz
Seasonic X650 Gold PSU hybrid fan
upgraded 230mm front fan
upgraded 140mm exhaust fan
2x high static pressure noctua 120mm fans in push pull to replace default corsair fans
psu installed upside down for fresh supply of cold air direct to psu
indigo extreme thermal interface.
What I love about this build is the fact it will be a nice tiny easy to carry light lan gaming box but the great part is it will totally smoke anything my friends got, even full atx towers it will leave in the dust. I think this is the dawning of new champion in the desktop space. Mini ITX is the future of most desktops. I guarantee the system will run faster than most peoples full size rigs here
Guges - Monday, September 3, 2012 - link
Any chance you could post a picture of your set up...curious to see how everything fits in there...considering building something similar...not sure if we really need the radiator...I think the 4 upgraded fans would be good.wiz329 - Wednesday, June 19, 2013 - link
I'm new to computer building, and i'm thinking of building this case. Did you put the 2x nocturna fans on the ceiling of the case, or how do you have those configured?