BitFenix Colussus Mini-ITX Review

As far as looks go the Colossus Mini ITX reminds me of Clubber Lang, it just looks mean and ready for business.  The edgy exterior exudes confidence, while its colored accents automatically give it 35% more horsepower.  The prominent BitFenix logo just above the chevron lighting and its soft touch matte black surface gives you the sense that something sinister is inside, waiting to be unleashed.

The front door opens to expose the single 5.25″ drive bay and a filtered intake.  The door, as with its bigger brother, closes by way of sturdy thick plastic hinges and a pair of magnets.  The top of the door is home to plenty of cutouts for intake airflow, and the back of the door ensures that the airflow getting to the right place.

Unfortunately, there is no quick access to the fan filter.  To clean it you have remove the entire front bezel, which means you have to pull both side panels off to clean it.  Luckily, all the plastic points that hold the bezel in place are easily accessible.  If BitFenix would take a page out of Fractals design in the R4, cleaning the front filter would be much easier.

The top of the case features a prominent and large honeycombed and unfiltered finger guard held in place by a sliding latch.  Slide it one way to release it, the other to lock it.  The latch is plastic.

Once removed, dual 120mm fan slots are exposed for fans alone or fans mounted to a radiator.  There is one gotchya here though… if you plan on using a 240mm rad, you will be unable to outfit your system with a 5.25″ drive.  The cage for the drive is easily removed.

Around back is your standard fare… the bottom mounted PSU, dual expansion slots, an I/O back-plate slot, and a 120mm fan.  The rear of the chassis can home either a 120mm or 140mm fan / fan with radiator.

Typically, the sides of a case aren’t really worth any detail, they usually just exist.  The Colossus Mini ITX is different.  The side panel is actually home to the Power button, the reset button, HD audio ports, and two USB 3.0 ports.  Although this may clean up the front a bit, this proposes a huge problem for someone as clumsy as me… my side panel fell over while making the connections to my motherboard exposing a flaw with this design… or… with me.  Nothing a little solder can’t fix, but still…

 

The chassis rests on four stereo style feet.  There is also a removable fan filter for your bottom mounted PSU.