BitFenix Colossus Mini-ITX Review

BitFenix Colossus Mini-ITX Review - Internals

Popping open the side panels reveals a similar setup to the Prodigy, although unlike both it and the Phenom, there's no side panel mount for SSDs. This is mainly thanks to the lighting gadgetry, which takes up most of the lower half of each side panel by way of an optical strip, fed by lights at the front of the case. It's actually a pretty neat setup and, thankfully, BitFenix has also squeezed every last inch of expansion space out of the Colossus Mini-ITX.


The FlexCage storage caddies are key to the flexibility here. They're removable, just like those in the Prodigy and come in two parts - an upper 3 x 2.5/3.5in caddie and a lower one with two mounts all of which are tool-free. However, even removing all of these will still mean there's the option to install three SSDs and a hard disk.


The former are catered for with a 2.5in mount in the base of the case while two further mount points are located on the front of the PSU cage. The 3.5in mount will admittedly take up the sole 5.25in slot but at least you have options. The PSU mount sports one or two tweaks too. The edge has been cut away providing a recess for you to stuff cables and close the side panel easily. We can vouch for the fact that this was an issue with the Prodigy, so it's good to see some progress.


The front panel is completely removable, revealing dust filters for the 5.25in bay and front fan vent. Something that might appeal to modders out there is that the lack of handles means the side and front sections can be removed and re-fitted with sheet material of your choice without any gaps.


With the FlexCage storage caddies gone, there's a lot of room in the base for water-cooling gubbins too. The Colossus Mini-ITX sports much of the same prowess here as its predecessor does, with that large front fan grill - occupied by a 120mm fan out of the box, supporting single or double 120mm-fan radiators or single 140/180/200mm models.



The top section again offers space for a double 120mm radiator if you're prepared to sacrifice the 5.25in drive bay too, while the only other fan is a 120mm model in the rear fan mount. CPU cooler clearance stands at 175mm - the same as the Prodigy, while GPU length is a rather limited 180mm with all the FlexCage storage caddies in the way. With the adjacent caddy gone, this stretches to a healthier 330mm - enough even for a monstrous graphics card such as the AMD Radeon 7990 6GB.