BitFenix Prodigy review

BitFenix Prodigy Review - Internals

The internals are very much laid out with a mini-ITX system in mind. A small, horizontal motherboard tray resides at the rear of the case above a decent-sized PSU cage that can handle PSUs up to 160mm in length. With the motherboard tray situated so low in the case, there's room for pretty much anything in the way of CPU coolers so long as they're no more than 160mm high - probably the real wow-factor with the Prodigy. The front of the case is dominated by a stack of drive cases.

The bottom can house two 3.5mm hard disks, while a separate cage above it can house a further three, with a 5.25in cage above that. All are screwed to the case and to each other, so are easily removable. The 3.5in cages both have tool-free fittings; there's no hot-swap connectors at the rear, but then this is a £65 case with easily removable drive cages.

As standard, the Prodigy is limited to graphics cards up to 180mm in length due to the middle drive cage. Thankfully, the drive cage is recessed enough to mean than if the top shroud of your graphics card extends a little beyond this, for instance with the Zotac GeForce GTX 660 Ti 2GB, the shroud will clear, but will overlap the drive cage, meaning you'll need to remove your graphics card to remove the cage. Removing the cage nets you a maximum of 320mm for graphics cards - not a bad compromise considering you'll still have room for a hard disk, SSD and a free 5.25in bay.


Removing the cages reveals a somewhat frightening workspace when it comes to hiding cables. Thankfully the PSU cage does provide some room for tucking unwanted lengths out of the way, especially if your PSU is shorter than the maximum length the Prodigy can support. The bare shell also reveals a fantastic array of opportunities when it comes to water-cooling. The front area could house anything from a single or dual 120mm-fan radiator, all the way up to a single 200mm-fan radiator. The space between the motherboard tray and front fascia is also the perfect home for pumps.


The roof is a little more complicated - as we've already mentioned, the two 120mm fan mounts are just begging for a single or dual 120mm-fan radiator, but the latter will mean sacrificing the 5.25in bay, and you'll need to remove the bay entirely with most 240mm options. But options are here in abundance - incredible for such a small case, and we look forward to seeing what all you modders and water-cooling enthusiasts come up with.


Building an air-cooled system in the Prodigy is remarkably easy - much more so than the tiny mini-ITX cube-style cases we've come across. Having easy-access to the motherboard is probably the reason for this. It sits there, proud on its little pedestal, as the prominent feature in the case, instead of tucked away in a dark corner somewhere.