BitFenix Shinobi XL review

Performance Analysis

With two large 230mm fans and a 120mm exhaust, we were expecting decent results from the Shinobi XL. It did reasonably well when it came to CPU cooling, reaching a highly respectable delta T of 49°C and placing it above the middle of our current crop of reviewed cases. However, GPU cooling was a very different story.

Our graphics card hit a toasty 70°C, producing a high GPU delta T of 51°C. This made the Shinobi XL the worst performing case we’ve seen when it comes to graphics card, air cooling performance. We were so surprised by this that we dug a little deeper to find where the problem lay, before re-running our tests.


The culprit is the solid front panel, which severely restricts airflow to the 230mm front intake. Despite having an active area of 391cm2 with which to draw in air, the fan only has 57cm2 of potential intake with the front panel in place. This reduction is almost a factor of seven, greatly impacting its cooling abilities. Removing the front panel completely saw GPU temperatures drop by around 5°C degrees, but doing so completely ruins the aesthetic of the case.

Despite the poor GPU temperatures, the two 230mm cooling fans and rear exhuast were very quiet during our testing, with our graphics card easily the loudest thing in the case, but the poor cooling means you’ll almost definitely want to add more fans anyway.

Conclusion

We had high hopes for the Shinobi XL, but ultimately it fell down quite dramatically in our testing. Exterior build quality is reasonable, and there’s lots of room inside in which to build a system, but poor HDD fittings inside the case spoil the show. While its CPU cooling is solid, the GPU cooling performance was particularly poor as well, in small part thanks to the poorly designed front panel which obstructs airflow, and the 230mm fan which can’t pull enough air into the case.

This is compounded even further when you look at the price – at £130, there are far better cases available for the same money. Antec’s 1200, Silverstone’s Raven RV03 and the Cooler Master HAF X all offer superior cooling and build quality. The XL’s one saving grace is its ability to fit a full thickness triple 120mm fan radiator without any modifications, although this alone certainly won’t win it a recommendation. In this regard, it is notably cheaper than the other recent case to offer similar capabilities, the £135 NZXT Switch 810. However, the 810 offers much better cooling as standard; well worth the extra £25, although the 810 itself isn't without faults.

BitFenix liked the original Shinobi’s design so much it scaled it up to a bigger size, but there was definitely something lost in translation – as it is the Shinobi XL struggles in the light of much better competing cases.