Bitfenix Shadow Review
Category : Cases
Published by Francesco Daghini on 10.04.14
Bitfenix found its niche in the market for PC cases and one of their most successful cases certainly was the Prodigy. Today we're having another one of BitFenix' cases for review, which is called Shadow. It is basically a mid-range chassis and it comes with a few decent features as well as a sleek design.
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The new Bitfenix Shadow is a mid-tower case, but comes with a lot of neat features that could make it suitable for high-end rigs as well. In the next few pages we will show you every quality and flaw of this new Bitfenix product.
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 5 - Left side |
| Page 2 - Preview | Page 6 - Top / Bottom |
| Page 3 - Front / Back | Page 7 - Conclusion |
| Page 4 - Right side |
[pagebreak]
Preview
Specifications
| Model | Shadow |
| Case Type | Mid tower |
| Dimensions | 190 x 440 x 506 mm(W x H x D) |
| Material | Steel, Plastic |
| Color | Black |
| 5.25'' drive bay | 3 |
| 3.5'' drive bayBaie 3,5" | 7 |
| 2.5'' drive bayBaie 2,5" | 1 |
| Expansion slots | 7 |
| Form factors | ATX, mATX |
| Cooling | 2 x 120 mm Front (included x1) 1 x 120 mm Rear (included) 1 x 120 mm Bottom |
| I/O ports | 2 x USB 3.0 2 x USB 2.0 Audio in / out |
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 5 - Left side |
| Page 2 - Preview | Page 6 - Top / Bottom |
| Page 3 - Front / Back | Page 7 - Conclusion |
| Page 4 - Right side |
[pagebreak]
Front
Overview |
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| The front side of this case has a really clean and neat design. It features a door with the SofTouch finish and a magnetic lock as well as the shiny company logo and eight little airshaft windows which should draw fresh air towards the front side fans. Once we open the cover, we find three 5.25" slots, and through the removable duster filter we can see the slots for two 120mm fans (a single 120mm Spectre fan is included). The magnetic lock of the cover is well done, which can be also said for the hinges that offer a smooth movement. |
Back
Overview |
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| The back side of this case is pretty standard, on the top part we find a fan slot that could fit 120/92/80mm fan (a 120mm Spectre fan is included) and the cut for the motherboard outputs. If we look down a bit, we find two holes for a possible liquid cooling system and seven PCI expansion slots. The bottom part features the cut for our standard ATX PSU. |
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 5 - Left side |
| Page 2 - Preview | Page 6 - Top / Bottom |
| Page 3 - Front / Back | Page 7 - Conclusion |
| Page 4 - Right side |
[pagebreak]
Right Side
Overview |
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| The right panel is plain and simple, painted black and with no cuts for fans or windows, and it is secured to the chassis with two quite practical thumb-screws. Once we remove the panel, we can see the motherboard tray, which has a cut-out behind the CPU socket, making it easier to install aftermarket cooling systems that require an additional backplate. On the bottom part of the motherboard tray, we find another opening, which could be used to orginize the PSU cable behind the motherboard, if you are using an mATX motherboard. Unfortunately, you should be a cable management master to be able to fit cable between the motherboard tray and the right panel, since the space between them is quite scarce. On the left side of the motherboard try, you can see another metal plate with three holes which can also be used for PSU cable arrangement. |
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 5 - Left side |
| Page 2 - Preview | Page 6 - Top / Bottom |
| Page 3 - Front / Back | Page 7 - Conclusion |
| Page 4 - Right side |
[pagebreak]
Left Side
Overview |
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| Same as the right panel, the left panel is also plain and simple, with a black paint and no cut-outs. It is also secured to the chassis with two thumb-screws. Once the panel is removed, you get a full access to the case insides. The right side of the case features three 5.25" slots and seven 3.5" slots. The HDDs can be assembled to the case without using any tools since all slots have a tool-less system. The top right area includes a lot of cables coming in, which must be connected to the motherboard in order to be able to use all the buttons and USB ports on the top panel. The bottom part of the case features a big cut with a removable duster filter allowing the PSU to get fresh air from the outside without sucking in all the dust. The bottom part of the case also features room for two 2.5" drives. Despite the fact that the Bitfenix Shadow is not a big case, we were able to fit a tower cooler in there, and you could also fit an AIO cooler, as long as it features a 120mm radiator. There not much else to see in there, beside the two 120mm Spectre fan (one in the front, and one in back), and the motherboard tray itself. We are not sure of the reason, but it might have something to do with the fact that Bitfenix wanted to lower the cost. Bitfenix also decided to carve the motherboard tray with a few "standoffs holes", so that you can put your motherboard in without using regular standoffs (that's why they only put two of them in the bundle). We think it would have been better if Bitfenix had spent a few words on this matter, since it is not obvious why there are no standoffs in the bundle, and even the included manual does not say anything about it. |
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| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 5 - Left side |
| Page 2 - Preview | Page 6 - Top / Bottom |
| Page 3 - Front / Back | Page 7 - Conclusion |
| Page 4 - Right side |
[pagebreak]
Top
Overview |
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| The top panel is really straight forward, it does not have any cut-outs for additional fans or radiators. A little bit over the front panel, you can find the I/O panel, with two USB 2.0 ports, two USB 3.0 ports, audio jacks for microphone and headset, as well as the Power and Reset button. There are two more buttons that control a feature we have not talked about yet, and that we will describe later on. |
Bottom
Overview |
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| On the bottom side of the case we find the big cut-out which provides fresh and clean air to the PSU, thanks to a big removable dust filter. It also features four rubber feet that lift up the case for more than 1cm, so that the PSU has all the fresh air it needs. If you remember those two buttons on the I/O panel we did not talk about, now is the right time to tell you all about it. The bottom part of the front panel, basically at the corner of the bottom panel, you can find a LED stripe that can features either Blue or Red light, or can be turned off, all with those two buttons on the I/O panel. | |
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 5 - Left side |
| Page 2 - Preview | Page 6 - Top / Bottom |
| Page 3 - Front / Back | Page 7 - Conclusion |
| Page 4 - Right side |
[pagebreak]
Conclusion
| General | + | - | |
| The new Bitfenix Shadow is a good case, with a neat and elegant look. It has a few interesting features, but also a certain number of flaws that could be addressed easily. The bundle is very good and you get two 120mm Spectre fans, with room for two more which can be installed inside the case. | - Included fans | ||
| Manufacturing quality / Ergonomics | + | - | |
The overall manufacturing quality is good and the Bitfenix SofTouch finish is well done as usual, but it is also very easy to spoil and mess up, even when you touch it with fingers. The rest of the case is made out of black painted metal, there are no sharp corners, which is pretty common on this range of cases. The duster filters are very important on a modern case, and the Bitfenix Shadow has two big ones, which should be able to stop the most amount of the dust. |
- Build quality - Dust filters - SofTouch finish | - Space behind the motherboard tray | |
| Design | + | - | |
| The design is simple and well made and the new Bitfenix Shadow could easily fit in any home or even office background, without being out of style. The magnetic door gives it that something special that you will not find on many cases. | - Magnetic door | - Motherboard mounting system not clear - Very concise user manual | |
| Recommendation | + | - | |
| You could easily put a high-end rig into the Bitfenix Shadow, with more than one GPU, tower cooler, even a complete liquid cooling system if you are tidy, and standard ATX PSUs. It might be little, but it will be able to surprise you. It is sold for 60€ on Geizhals and while you can find a few cases for this kind of price that offer you more feature than the Bitfenix Shadow, we think that Bitfenix should consider to lower the price or put in a few more interesting features. | Price | ||
| Rating | |||
| The Bitfenix Shadow gets three out of five stars. | |||
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 5 - Left side |
| Page 2 - Preview | Page 6 - Top / Bottom |
| Page 3 - Front / Back | Page 7 - Conclusion |
| Page 4 - Right side |