BitFenix Aegis Review

Performance Analysis

With just a single fan in the box, there's clearly not much to be expected cooling-wise, especially at minimum fan speed, but the Aegis was certainly able to tame our test system, albeit with a mid-table result. Ramping the fan up to maximum speed didn't do much for the GPU delta T but the CPU delta T fell by two degrees, posting a pretty good result that leapfrogged the Phanteks Enthoo EVOLV. We honestly expected less given there's just a single fan involved but the case is well ventilated and promotes easy airflow compared to many others we've looked at.


BitFenix was kind enough to ship a few extra fans in addition to the case so we installed a single 140mm fan in the front and 120mm fan in the roof. With the fans at maximum speed. This did wonders for the GPU temperature, dropping it by four degrees so it was just two degrees behind the top result. The CPU fell by a further four degrees, although cases such as SilverStone's Sugo SG10 and Corsair's Obsidian 350D still have an edge, courtesy of their great out-of-box cooling.

Conclusion

We like the BitFenix Aegis mainly due to the fact it's the perfect case to grow into. While its out-of-the-box cooling isn't great, there's so much scope for expansion, both in terms of storage and cooling. There's ample room for an extensive water-cooling system, including two large radiators plus a pump and even a tube reservoir, or of course you can use any of the larger all-in-one liquid coolers - as our testing showed, installing a Core H110i GT can be achieved with no modding and just the need to remove the top drive bracket. The fact that you can install two SSDs even if you remove all the drive brackets is a real boon too - with SSD prices falling continually, SSD-only systems are now pretty common.


The finish won't be to everyone's tastes and we suspect the black or white versions will be the most popular. That said, if you're looking to colour-code your system then the vivid colours could work in your favour and our red sample does look pretty racy in the flesh. The inclusion of dust filters and a four-channel fan controller help to justify the price tag too - something that helps it compete against similarly-priced cases such as the Corsair 350D.

To sum up, the Aegis isn't a case you should buy to use straight out of the box with a minimal air-cooled setup. It needs a couple of additional fans to be competitive cooling-wise as the case is built from the ground up be used with radiators and liquid cooling. Here it excels and there are very few cases at this price range that offer the same cooling potential. Of course, BitFenix could have ditched this feature and just added ATX motherboard support. However, in doing that it would have ended up with a far less interesting case.