BitFenix Pandora ATX Review

Performance Analysis

The fans included with the Pandora ATX were exceptionally quiet - so much so that they were inaudible with the side panel fitted. They actually had a very similar layout and function to the Be Quiet! Silent Base 600 we tested recently. The BitFenix case is relatively porous and its single 140mm front fan points straight at our GPU by default, so it wasn't a surprise to see it match the BeQuiet! case here on its medium speed, with a delta T of 53°C.


The CPU was a little warmer in the overall scheme of things with a delta T of 59°C, sandwiched in between the medium speed and maximum speed of the Silent Base 600. Is this a likely setup for the Pandora ATX? Probably not - there's nearly half a dozen fan mounts to spare and oodles of water-cooling support so while the CPU result isn't great, the case clearly has some form of liquid cooling in mind.

Conclusion

The Pandora ATX is interesting to say the least. In fact, we'd go as far as saying we've got a little itch to have a go with some radiators and a custom water-cooling setup. The interior is a much better place than the original case so as well as a considerable amount more support for additional hardware items, there's great potential for a water-cooled PC too, either with custom gear or a hefty roof-mounted all-in-one liquid cooler.

The display is a nice touch but we'd probably opt for the cheaper non-display model to save £13. Installing your hardware is easy too, thanks to the use of thumb screws for most of the mounts but we'd like to have seen tool-free installation, especially on the SSD mounts - as it is they all require screws. Cooling is also lacklustre out of the box but we can't be too harsh here given the scope of what could be achieved.

Overall though, the interior of the case is designed well, is very flexible and has some real potential. The only things we're not massively keen on are slightly iffy radiator mounting holes and those huge curved side panels. They might look good but they can be awkward to fit - ultimately though, the case doesn't really have a Phanteks level of pizazz in terms of looks, but competes well on features. Of course, if you like the styling, you can probably live with the side panels too.