BitFenix Prodigy - A Case of Exceptional Talents?

Do Good Things Come in Small Packages?

As the saying goes, size doesn't matter, it's how you use it! And so we come to the subject of the mini-ITX motherboard form factor, which was first developed by VIA Technologies in 2001. Initially, these boards were sold to industrial customers with specific needs like integrating compact systems within the manufacturing line. However, they soon caught the eyes of PC enthusiasts who were enamored with their features as these boards/systems were low-powered and didn't require active cooling, resulting in them being able to operate quietly. This made them ideal candidates for building end-consumer home theater PCs (HTPC); however, these systems were usually lower specced systems without the computing prowess of full tower desktop PCs that boasted of high-end components.

In recent years, the tide has turned somewhat for this diminutive motherboard form factor as it is no longer the preserve of low-power motherboards. With technological advancements (such as the CPU now having all key functions of a system integrated within its core, minus the Southbridge functions) as well as manufacturers redefining the boundaries of this form factor, we have witnessed mini-ITX boards with impressive specifications like the ASUS P877-I Deluxe and more from Zotac. Such boards enable rig builders to assemble small PCs without compromising on hardware options, overclocking ability as well as cooling systems for these rigs. As a result of such impetus, chassis manufacturers have tried to keep pace by releasing mini-ITX casings that can meet the requirements of these system builders. We've reviewed a few such from Antec, Cubitek and Sliverstone, but today, we're evaluating a pretty new model from BitFenix:-

The BitFenix Prodigy seems to have a new take on mini-ITX casings as it's built for flexibility and capability, but it has an empty weight of about 6.7 kilograms, making it one of the heaviest such casings we have come across so far. BitFenix states that its Prodigy series casings are able to fit long graphics cards as well as radiators of liquid cooling solutions. We shall take a closer look at it over the next few pages to find out if the Prodigy's spacious build is to it credit or not.

Exterior Design

The first thing we noticed about the BitFenix Prodigy Midnight Black is its pair of large handles. The company says that they are made from BitFenix FyberFlex Composite, which guarantees the handle's strength and flexibility. Hence, the top carrying handle allows the chassis to be moved with relative ease while the bottom handle acts as a stand that is able to absorb shock. Essentially, this mini-ITX chassis is a steel enclosure with two such handles attached to its top and bottom.

The handles appear to be removable but we were rather concerned about the quality of its build and durability. The handle is attached to the steel body of the Midnight Prodigy by six screws whose points are only visible after the removal of the side panels. We discovered some of these attachment points of the FyberFlex handles have visible cracks and we wondered if this was due to its poor make or to the over-tightening of the mounting screws at the assembly line.

With what we have witnessed, we truly question the ability of the handles to withstand the weight of the Midnight Prodigy, especially after it has housed all the PC components. Another trait of the chassis, as a result of the bottom handle, is the ease at which it will rock when it is pushed gently from either of its flanks. The sight of a PC chassis wobbling with a slight push is rather uncomforting for us even though it doesn't danger the components within nor would it topple over. It is also ironic that with all its heft, even before we have installed our test PC components, it couldn't offer stability.

At the top of the chassis, you can see a removable dust cover that has a fastening switch at one end. After removing the dust cover (which isn't as easy as its designers thought it would be), we saw that there are cut-outs for mounting a pair of 120mm cooling fans.

The facade of the Midnight Prodigy features a wire mesh covering for full ventilation. It is unbroken, save for a 5.25-inch bay cover and a polished silver insignia of BitFenix. The front panel is held in place by a total of four fastening tabs; its removable front mesh is held in place by twenty bent mesh tabs. Regular maintenance of the mesh is recommended as it is the front air-intake for the entire chassis; caution is advised as the mesh tabs may be broken with repeated prying.

On one of its side panels, there are power and reset buttons as well as the usual headphones and mic jacks above the two USB 3.0 ports. Oddly, there are no markings for the activity LEDs nor for the audio jacks. We had to remove this side panel to trace the PCB contacts of the LEDs to the ends of their connector wires to determine their functions; the top LED is for HDD activity and the bottom one is for power. The side panels themselves are held in place by four thumbscrews; a pair for each panel.

Focusing on the rear of the chassis revealed a bundled 120mm rear cooling fan. According to the manual, it accepts an optional 140mm fan in place of the 120mm fan. There are two expansion slots with a removable mesh cover; we are glad that it did not feature those punch-out slot covers. There is an expansion card securing plate that is held in place by two thumbscrews and a lone M3 screw; hence, installation of expansion cards is not a tool-free affair. Further down, there is a removable metal bracket for PSU installation, held in place by four thumbscrews. Besides the bundled rear 120mm cooling fan, there is also one mounted in the front of the chassis. We shall see them in greater detail as we uncover its internal design on the following page.

Interior Design

After removing both side panels of the Midnight Prodigy, our first impression is that the chassis' interior is well-sorted into compartments. There is the PSU cage and its top, with four motherboard standoffs, is the place for the mini-ITX motherboard. BitFenix claims that the PSU cage can take a PS2 ATX PSU, with a depth of up to 160mm. Next to the PSU cage are the drive bays that comprise two removable 3.5-inch HDD cages and a single 5.25-inch drive bay that the manual states is removable as well. With regards to the two 3.5-inch drive cages, the top one is easier to remove. To do so entails a simple action of depressing its top and bottom clips before sliding out the entire cage. The bottom cage will require the use of a screwdriver to remove its mounting screw before its removal. As mentioned previously, there are also two bundled 120mm cooling fans at the front and rear of the case.

We decided to remove both 3.5-inch HDD cages for a better look at the internal design of the chassis. The top cage is easy to remove while its bottom counterpart required us to upend the chassis to reach its mounting screws. After removing those screws, the bottom cage can be lifted off its position from the steel case.

With the drive bay enclosures out of the way, you can now clearly see the front cooling fan while the rear one is readily visible. Both cooling options can support 140mm fans if you would like to increase airflow. That's not all as the front panel can also support the 230mm BitFenix Spectre Pro cooling fan with LED illumination! To check the validity, we swopped out the bundled 120mm front cooling fan for the 230mm cooling option. The BitFenix Spectre Pro draws power from a 2-pin Molex power connector and its LED power connector will draw power from a system fan header on the motherboard. With this much flexibility in this compact case, we guess you won't mind that there's no bottom cooling option for this casing. 

In the manual, it is stated that the facing of the 3.5-inch drive cages can be changed. There is a plastic retainer with rails for the first 3.5-inch HDD cage, attached to the bottom of the 5.25-inch drive bay that has be re-aligned before the two 3.5-inch HDD cages' facing can be changed. We do like the flexibility of this feature to change the orientation of the 3.5-inch drive cages but we wonder if rig builders will truly appreciate such leeway. The retainer's is made from hard plastic but its Achilles' heel is the the form of two tiny plastic stops that allows it to grip onto the bottom of the 5.25-inch drive bay. They are rather fragile and can be broken off easily if the retainer is removed with force (and it's unfortunately really easy to do so).

We proceeded to install our 3.5-inch HDD to determine the ease of this tool-free procedure. In total, the drive cages come with five hard disk trays. We had to bend and flex in order to get our 3.5-inch HDD into one of them.

For 2.5-inch drives, we can fit a pair of them into their compartments on one of the side panels. One of the panels of the PSU cage is also able to accommodate up to two 2.5-inch drives; however, in order to fit these drives, both the 3.5-inch HDD cages have to be removed.

Installing our mini-ITX motherboard was an easy affair, placing the board onto the standoffs and screwing the board into place. For this review of the BitFenix Prodigy, we made use of an AMD Brazos board, the Sapphire Pure Fusion Mini E350. After that, we proceeded to install our PSU.

Interior Design (Part II)

The most difficult part of the installation exercise is upon us. The Midnight Prodigy only allows for a rear installation of a PS2 ATX PSU with a maximum depth of 160mm. Our usual test modular PSU fits the bill, in theory, and we attempted to slide it into place after removing the rear metal PSU faceplate. Unfortunately we were unable to get the PSU into place. We tried to strip away the modular cables until we were down to the last one. Our efforts were to no avail, even with another PS2 ATX PSU that also has a similar set of dimensions. We had to source for a  third, older and smaller PSU before we could slide it into place. Our regular test PSU has a depth of 160mm while the older PSU, which the chassis could accommodate, has a depth of about 138mm. Hence, we are gravely concerned about the BitFenix's claims that the Prodigy is able to accept PS2 ATX PSUs with depths of up to 160mm.

We do feel that there may be a design flaw with the BitFenix Prodigy chassis that has hindered its ability to accommodate both of our regular PS2 ATX PSUs. If there were power cable cut-outs near the areas of the side of the PSU cage marked in our photo below, it is highly possible our rejected PSUs will fit just snugly into the PSU cage. However, the potential tradeoff is that with these cut-outs, it may not be possible to mount any 2.5-inch drives over them, thereby, limiting the position of such drives to the side panel with 2.5-inch drive bay mounts. Hence, we do recommend purchasing a smaller PSU, albeit with a lower power output of about 600W or lower, with a depth of up to 140mm. This is to ensure your PSU will fit into the chassis, as well as be able to meet your system's power requirements.

We proceeded to install our mini-ITX motherboard and our usual 10.5-inch (267mm) graphics card. The installation of the motherboard was easy; however, the installation of our graphics card required us to remove the center 3.5-inch HDD cage. To secure the graphics card to the chassis, we had to unscrew this cumbersome metal plate that is used to secure expansion cards; we rather BitFenix implement all thumbscrews for this securing metal plate, rather than its present odd mix of a pair of thumbscrews and a M3 screw. On a side note, we were glad that the chassis came with removable expansion slot covers, instead of those cheaper covers that had to be bashed out.

Conclusion

Our initial impression of the BitFenix Prodigy Midnight Black casing was rather good; however, its earlier gained brownie points were slowly diminished as we proceeded to actually try using the casing. The chassis was a little wobbly to the touch, due to the presence of the bottom-mounted Fyberflex handle that is supposedly able to handle shock absorption. We truly wonder if the chassis, together with its installed PC components, need to be put in any practical situation that requires shock absorption. Certain pundits may argue that it can be helpful for rigged transportation, but we feel the usefulness is limited even in off-road terrains because of the amount of wobbling the case has to endure due to its design. Already we've noticed cracked mounting points for its Fyberflex handles; excessive wobbling just creates more stress at these points till the handles give way eventually. About the only fragile component in the PC is the storage drive and there have been various other implementations to cater to vibration protection in other casings. Having said that, we noted that in spite of its empty weight that tipped the scales at 6.7kg, it was unstable on its bottom handle. This issue would have been quickly resolved with four external rubber standoffs as replacements.

The most misleading claim by BitFenix is that the case is able to take in a PS2 ATX PSU, with depths up to 160mm. Unfortunately, we managed to disapprove this as we could only manage to mount a shorter depth PSU of 138mm. We did point out that this could be avoided if the chassis had additional power cable cut-outs on one of the sides of its PSU cage.

It isn't all doom and gloom with the Prodigy as the casing does have some features that we fancy. Its front panel has a full wire mesh for maximum air-intake and there are options for front cooling fans from 120mm to 230mm ones. We also like the roomy interior of the casing that felt organized and compartmentalized; this is due to the presence of the PSU cage as well as the removable 3.5-inch HDD cages. There are options to install 2.5-inch drives that were cleverly built into its side panel that also houses the I/O ports. Even one of the panels has options for mounting these drives (after removing all the options for installing 3.5-inch HDDs).

However, the size and weigh of the chassis makes it an oxymoron to the mini-ITX proposition in the first place. In fact, had BitFenix made the case just a tad larger, you could also mount microATX motherboards, thus making the case far more versatile than just pure mini-ITX boards and with much more choice. You could say that the extra size of the case better allows for flexible expansion possibilities, including a full sized graphics card, but at what cost and target market? It could have been so much more had there been more thought put into the purpose of the case and taking care of the minor details which would have been apparent had the chassis been put into more usability tests.

In short, the BitFenix Prodigy has the potential to be an exceptional small form factor PC chassis, but fell short of that. However, to do justice to the company's veritable efforts to make an excellent mini-ITX chassis with excellent cooling options and roomy interior for easy installation, we reiterate our pleas for a much-needed revisit of the drawing board to remove those nagging kinks and make the case more usable and applicable for a wider audience.

Our articles may contain affiliate links. If you buy through these links, we may earn a small commission.