Slightly larger ITX Case? The Prodigy is a monster of an ITX case, I wouldn't even call it SFF, but whatever. As for this case, looks just like a Silver TJ-08E, except doesn't hold nearly enough drives. The TJ-08E (mATX), compared to the ITX Prodigy with handles on, are actually about the same size... hah.
These Prodigy ITX are size of TANKS and MATX is too. Don't understand why anandtech would give them a editor reward for ITX, it doesn't even fit the definition of an ITX case. 36 liters, or even the advertise 27 liters are size for a lot of tower cases. ITX with 1-3 expansion slots starts at 9-10 liters.
It's compatability that dictates whether a case is mini-ITX or not. Size is irrelevant. Many full tower cases are mini-ITX cases, it's just that they also support mATX, ATX, E-ATX etc. The Prodigy is mini-ITX only.
The reason for the large size is for cooling. Very few people need > mini-ITX boards these days, but cooling the systems quitely still requires space.
Don't know why there's no handless version though, that just wasted space without modding.
my classmate's ex-wife makes $78/hour on the laptop. She has been laid off for seven months but last month her payment was $19551 just working on the laptop for a few hours. great post to read http://jobs63.com
No kidding- "slightly larger" is ridiculous, the thing has 5x the volume of many other mini-ITX cases. I couldn't understand its reason for existing at all; if you're getting mini-ITX you accept some compromises in the name of getting something smaller, and having a huge case negates that.
These cases are more Lan Party luggage than anything, I've seen 2 many of them already at shows and parties, the ITX version is nice for watercooling and internal airflow, however this version is really bad at that and will likely suffer on the thermals end, Ill stick with the Bob Slay V2, or H2Go they are better for airflow meeting watercooling needs compared to this case.
I find that OK for ITX it is big, but for mATX with some hard drives, up to 5 x 2.5", and a DVD, it is perfect, with good cooling, so no overclocking problems. I'm using it for a compact virtual and physical home server, and I'm happy i found it. On the other hand, for an mITX, it's not what I'd choose, as my drives, and all the dossiers, will be in this box.
Looks just like a Silver TJ08-E ?????? In what universe? I don't think it could look a whole lot more different than a TJ08-E.
As for the people saying the Prodigy was "too large": it sold in bunches. The market has spoken. Just like the iPhone isn't too small and the Galaxy Note isn't too big. We don't have a planned economy. If a product sells, it's good.
Yeah, you run with one. It sold well because of the price and the fact its huge makes installation so easy anyone can have an ITX build. Coming in multiple colors for the "Hey, check out my case from space" crowd didn't hurt. It also happens to be a good product but not "because it sells."
Seems your definition of "good" is some what subjective, but if others find it easy to use, nice coloured and good price too, what ISN'T good about that? I find it great for what I want for my purposes. Maybe for other purposes, I'd not get this box, but a mATX server is good in this box.
Exactly. I wanted to build a SFF super PC last year, and I found out the mATX Temjin TJ-08E was actually smaller than the ITX Prodigy. This new mATX prodigy looks like its going to have awful airflow. Where is the fan to blow on the GPUs and System Board?
Nice but would have been more impressed if they had kept to the original Prodigy design of horizontal motherboard (fatter case), and a couple of HD trays below motherboard. Maybe they were worried about weight flexing the motherboard in that orientation
So, you want a cube case design? I've had a Lian Li PC-V351B and was thoroughly disappointed. While I rarely have trouble with vertical height (the only limit there is my desktop height which is significant), the footprint of a PC case is much more important in order to save space and increase either the free space on top of my desktop or below it. I'm much more happy with the tower design, it also allows for more versatility in my experience. I'll be looking forward to the review! :)
Footprint is an interesting issue, you can buy a console/HTPC these days if that is your concern. The majority of PC users prefer functionality, these days a processor and GPU card performance are paced to deal more performance per cooling, and in that area a cube case is the best option, BTW if you live in a smaller apartment or have little cubic feet of air movement a cube case offers better cooling than any tower could due to the higher internal air flow that allows the heat sinks to breath and gives a more direct cooling option similar to what corsair tried to do with Air 540, The Prodigy M is a worse option with little to no internal air space thus defeating the purpose. An above post was right a larger cube would have done the trick part of the problem with Lian Li and Silverstone MATX solutions is they mistake SFF cube format for something that should be the size of an ITX cube. This is where cases like Mountain Mods does triumph over prefabbed cases, If you want a SFF Cube form stylized case with proper airflow for the size the H2Go and the BoB Slay V2 are the best options although a little pricey, and beyond them the 540 Air is perfect for an Atx solution case albeit larger.
Yeah same thoughts, the footprint would have been perfect for an ITX, but just seems way to crammed to allow semi decent internal airflow for MATX.Which is what cube FF is all about, I would rather recommend a Xigmatek Gigas, H2go, Bob Slay V2, for the sizes they provide better airflow. This case wont be able to house an Asus Maximus board with the combo card due to the fan placements.
"The Power Supply insert requires a unique cable (provided) to route the PSU to the front of the case" thats my only worry really. more info in review please :)
I'm guessing it's a longer version of the one in my NASes case which has an ATX PSU installed vertically on the back instead of the front; and is only unique in the sense that it's new to Ian. Basically a short extension cord that plugs into the cases wall plug socket on one and and to the PSU's AC in on the other.
Based on experience with my TJ-08E, I can say with complete certainty that the Prodigy M will overheat - there's simply no way you could keep that level of components cool without a front intake fan. A definite pass...
No he is right on top of that you can clearly see the parts will hinder the airflow due to the cramped quarters, Cube cases are superior due to the volume of air they can push in and out of a case, MATX and higher should never see anything less than 2 intake and 2 exhaust 120mm fans with a clear direct flow path to the main board and gpu, otherwise the thermals will rise rapidly causing throttling, the Gigas is better than this.
I never really got the point of the Prodigy ITX. I was actually going to buy one until I saw it in the shops, I was stunned at the size. The case is massive for ITX. And why? So it can hold a bunch of mechanical hard drives? So it can use a standard PSU?
This shows that BitFenix is lagging a year or two behind the times, but so are most case manufacturers. A lot of cases still don't have USB 3.0.
Even for those that want a large ITX case, there are better cases for less money. The Fractal Design Node 304 is one. A great case that's great looking, but still overly large for the ITX specification.
The Prodigy in a mATX configuration seems to make more sense, but I have to wonder as to the ongoing need for lots of mechanical hard drives and standard PSU's. Many if not most non-gaming use cases could be adequately handled by a very tiny ITX case with an SSD and external PSU.
Unfortunately, there are a real lack of high quality "book sized" cases, a size that seems perfectly designed for the ITX spec.
Looking at the gallery, the prodigy M only has room for 2x 3.5" drives (and 3x 2.5); and the space where the 3'4" drives can go can also be used as a pair of fan mounts. All it's costing you is a few cents to drill more holes.
The ITX version's 5 3.5" bays only makes sense as a NAS enclosure; but it's much larger than the Chenbro case I mentioned above (and even that could be made significantly smaller with an SFF PSU and reorienting the drive bays).
As an owner of a Shuttle SZ77R5, which is about as physically compact as an mITX case supporting a full-length GPU with 2x3.5" and 1x5.25" can possibly get (because there's little empty volume remaining inside, even if the mobo is a custom form factor slightly bigger than mITX), the Prodigy seems enormous...
I would like to see a revised mITX prodigy with the following changes: - Remove bottom handles, since they take up space and make the Prodigy unstable (wobble). Replace them with raised feet, since the case still needs to be elevated a bit for airflow - Reduce the number of 3.5" drive bays to one or two; the 2.5" drives can mount randomly around the case as they do now, that's fine for SSDs - Attach the sidepanel ports/buttons to the main chassis (rather than the sidepanel), with a cutout from the sidepanel that fits over or around it - Remove the space used for a few of the fan mounts. Airflow is good, but 4x120mm in an mITX case is excessive. - Revise the top handles. Handles are a great idea (moving around computer cases is always annoying), but they could be a bit lower profile while still allowing easy carrying points.
mITX cases don't have to be as insanely tightly packed as my Shuttle, but the Prodigy could still be made a bunch smaller if less space was wasted on things most people won't need (like extra fans, extra 3.5" drives) or don't want (like bottom handles).
Amusing. So you say the ITX version was for a case that was a "slightly larger mini-ITX case", but when they went to make a mATX version, they didn't have to change the size... at all? That is, a mATX board fit in that case no problem.
And you think the ITX version was only slightly larger? This just highlights my problem with this case all along. It should have been mATX from the get-go and there's no point to ITX in this case. If you're going with this case, then get a mATX motherboard. The ITX version was always irrelevant because it was always too big. Waaaay too big.
The whole point of ITX is to be as small as possible, not big enough to fit mATX and SLI in. If you're going that big, just go mATX instead.
With the same concept as having ATX cases large enough to fit XL or EATX boards, the ITX version has more compatibility with watercooling - there's no rule to tell anyone how big a ITX case should be. While mATX does fit, you reduce your ability to place such components so our ITX is indeed slightly larger to have more flexibility.
I doubt this case will be very popular. They compromised the cooling abilities, the room for hdd's, the space for the psu, the odd. They should not of forced the matx into the same exact size as the mitx version. The m-itx version will continue to sell like hotcakes though.
I've built a couple of the mITX machines. They are in high demand stylistically for Hackintoshes. I found them a joy to work with. Prodigy does a nice job of innovating on space constraints with mounting the HDD's elsewhere, wherever that could be. These are great for small servers too, though I would like a non handle variant with big thick feet to substitute for that very option. They support a decent number of drives on the mITX case.
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EnzoFX - Wednesday, August 14, 2013 - link
Slightly larger ITX Case? The Prodigy is a monster of an ITX case, I wouldn't even call it SFF, but whatever. As for this case, looks just like a Silver TJ-08E, except doesn't hold nearly enough drives. The TJ-08E (mATX), compared to the ITX Prodigy with handles on, are actually about the same size... hah.Death666Angel - Wednesday, August 14, 2013 - link
The height BitFenix saves compared to the TJ-08E by having the PSU not on top of below the mainboard is eaten up by the stupid handles. Oh well.rqle - Thursday, August 15, 2013 - link
These Prodigy ITX are size of TANKS and MATX is too. Don't understand why anandtech would give them a editor reward for ITX, it doesn't even fit the definition of an ITX case. 36 liters, or even the advertise 27 liters are size for a lot of tower cases. ITX with 1-3 expansion slots starts at 9-10 liters.Peanutsrevenge - Thursday, August 15, 2013 - link
It's compatability that dictates whether a case is mini-ITX or not. Size is irrelevant. Many full tower cases are mini-ITX cases, it's just that they also support mATX, ATX, E-ATX etc. The Prodigy is mini-ITX only.The reason for the large size is for cooling. Very few people need > mini-ITX boards these days, but cooling the systems quitely still requires space.
Don't know why there's no handless version though, that just wasted space without modding.
Theremings759 - Thursday, August 29, 2013 - link
my classmate's ex-wife makes $78/hour on the laptop. She has been laid off for seven months but last month her payment was $19551 just working on the laptop for a few hours. great post to read http://jobs63.comHrel - Wednesday, August 21, 2013 - link
Handles ftw.xbournex - Wednesday, August 14, 2013 - link
Should look at the Phenom if height is an issue. Prodigy MATX is the same size as the ITX case.jensend - Wednesday, August 14, 2013 - link
No kidding- "slightly larger" is ridiculous, the thing has 5x the volume of many other mini-ITX cases. I couldn't understand its reason for existing at all; if you're getting mini-ITX you accept some compromises in the name of getting something smaller, and having a huge case negates that.This case seems considerably less ridiculous.
1Angelreloaded - Wednesday, August 14, 2013 - link
These cases are more Lan Party luggage than anything, I've seen 2 many of them already at shows and parties, the ITX version is nice for watercooling and internal airflow, however this version is really bad at that and will likely suffer on the thermals end, Ill stick with the Bob Slay V2, or H2Go they are better for airflow meeting watercooling needs compared to this case.starlyte - Sunday, March 22, 2015 - link
I find that OK for ITX it is big, but for mATX with some hard drives, up to 5 x 2.5", and a DVD, it is perfect, with good cooling, so no overclocking problems. I'm using it for a compact virtual and physical home server, and I'm happy i found it. On the other hand, for an mITX, it's not what I'd choose, as my drives, and all the dossiers, will be in this box.1Angelreloaded - Wednesday, August 14, 2013 - link
Would have rathered they ditched the handles and expanded the internal space of the case itself internal airflow is more a concern.tim851 - Wednesday, August 14, 2013 - link
Looks just like a Silver TJ08-E ?????? In what universe? I don't think it could look a whole lot more different than a TJ08-E.As for the people saying the Prodigy was "too large": it sold in bunches. The market has spoken. Just like the iPhone isn't too small and the Galaxy Note isn't too big. We don't have a planned economy. If a product sells, it's good.
jensend - Wednesday, August 14, 2013 - link
Big Mouth Billy Bass sold considerably better than the Prodigy. Your definition of "good" is bogus.tim851 - Wednesday, August 14, 2013 - link
A Boeing 747 is considerably bigger than the Prodigy. Your definition of "big" is bogus.SithSolo1 - Wednesday, August 14, 2013 - link
"If a product sells, it's good."Yeah, you run with one. It sold well because of the price and the fact its huge makes installation so easy anyone can have an ITX build. Coming in multiple colors for the "Hey, check out my case from space" crowd didn't hurt. It also happens to be a good product but not "because it sells."
tim851 - Saturday, August 17, 2013 - link
Aha, so a fair price, easy installation and choice of colors don't make a case good? Pray tell, what does? Enlighten me with some objective truth!starlyte - Sunday, March 22, 2015 - link
Seems your definition of "good" is some what subjective, but if others find it easy to use, nice coloured and good price too, what ISN'T good about that? I find it great for what I want for my purposes. Maybe for other purposes, I'd not get this box, but a mATX server is good in this box.Piano Man - Wednesday, August 14, 2013 - link
Exactly. I wanted to build a SFF super PC last year, and I found out the mATX Temjin TJ-08E was actually smaller than the ITX Prodigy. This new mATX prodigy looks like its going to have awful airflow. Where is the fan to blow on the GPUs and System Board?tim851 - Saturday, August 17, 2013 - link
>Where is the fan to blow on the GPUs and System Board?2x 120mm on top, 2x 120mm/1x 200mm at the bottom. Yeah, that thing has terrible airflow...
cjs150 - Wednesday, August 14, 2013 - link
Nice but would have been more impressed if they had kept to the original Prodigy design of horizontal motherboard (fatter case), and a couple of HD trays below motherboard. Maybe they were worried about weight flexing the motherboard in that orientationDeath666Angel - Wednesday, August 14, 2013 - link
So, you want a cube case design? I've had a Lian Li PC-V351B and was thoroughly disappointed. While I rarely have trouble with vertical height (the only limit there is my desktop height which is significant), the footprint of a PC case is much more important in order to save space and increase either the free space on top of my desktop or below it. I'm much more happy with the tower design, it also allows for more versatility in my experience.I'll be looking forward to the review! :)
1Angelreloaded - Wednesday, August 14, 2013 - link
Footprint is an interesting issue, you can buy a console/HTPC these days if that is your concern. The majority of PC users prefer functionality, these days a processor and GPU card performance are paced to deal more performance per cooling, and in that area a cube case is the best option, BTW if you live in a smaller apartment or have little cubic feet of air movement a cube case offers better cooling than any tower could due to the higher internal air flow that allows the heat sinks to breath and gives a more direct cooling option similar to what corsair tried to do with Air 540, The Prodigy M is a worse option with little to no internal air space thus defeating the purpose. An above post was right a larger cube would have done the trick part of the problem with Lian Li and Silverstone MATX solutions is they mistake SFF cube format for something that should be the size of an ITX cube. This is where cases like Mountain Mods does triumph over prefabbed cases, If you want a SFF Cube form stylized case with proper airflow for the size the H2Go and the BoB Slay V2 are the best options although a little pricey, and beyond them the 540 Air is perfect for an Atx solution case albeit larger.1Angelreloaded - Wednesday, August 14, 2013 - link
Yeah same thoughts, the footprint would have been perfect for an ITX, but just seems way to crammed to allow semi decent internal airflow for MATX.Which is what cube FF is all about, I would rather recommend a Xigmatek Gigas, H2go, Bob Slay V2, for the sizes they provide better airflow. This case wont be able to house an Asus Maximus board with the combo card due to the fan placements.mikepegg - Wednesday, August 14, 2013 - link
"The Power Supply insert requires a unique cable (provided) to route the PSU to the front of the case" thats my only worry really. more info in review please :)DanNeely - Wednesday, August 14, 2013 - link
I'm guessing it's a longer version of the one in my NASes case which has an ATX PSU installed vertically on the back instead of the front; and is only unique in the sense that it's new to Ian. Basically a short extension cord that plugs into the cases wall plug socket on one and and to the PSU's AC in on the other.http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...
Termie - Wednesday, August 14, 2013 - link
Based on experience with my TJ-08E, I can say with complete certainty that the Prodigy M will overheat - there's simply no way you could keep that level of components cool without a front intake fan. A definite pass...InterClaw - Wednesday, August 14, 2013 - link
You can put 3 x 120mm or 1 x 200mm or 1 x 230mm at the bottom of the cage (or drives I guess).1Angelreloaded - Wednesday, August 14, 2013 - link
No he is right on top of that you can clearly see the parts will hinder the airflow due to the cramped quarters, Cube cases are superior due to the volume of air they can push in and out of a case, MATX and higher should never see anything less than 2 intake and 2 exhaust 120mm fans with a clear direct flow path to the main board and gpu, otherwise the thermals will rise rapidly causing throttling, the Gigas is better than this.voodoobunny - Wednesday, August 14, 2013 - link
oooOOOOOOOoooooo :)Dentons - Wednesday, August 14, 2013 - link
I never really got the point of the Prodigy ITX. I was actually going to buy one until I saw it in the shops, I was stunned at the size. The case is massive for ITX. And why? So it can hold a bunch of mechanical hard drives? So it can use a standard PSU?This shows that BitFenix is lagging a year or two behind the times, but so are most case manufacturers. A lot of cases still don't have USB 3.0.
Even for those that want a large ITX case, there are better cases for less money. The Fractal Design Node 304 is one. A great case that's great looking, but still overly large for the ITX specification.
The Prodigy in a mATX configuration seems to make more sense, but I have to wonder as to the ongoing need for lots of mechanical hard drives and standard PSU's. Many if not most non-gaming use cases could be adequately handled by a very tiny ITX case with an SSD and external PSU.
Unfortunately, there are a real lack of high quality "book sized" cases, a size that seems perfectly designed for the ITX spec.
DanNeely - Wednesday, August 14, 2013 - link
Looking at the gallery, the prodigy M only has room for 2x 3.5" drives (and 3x 2.5); and the space where the 3'4" drives can go can also be used as a pair of fan mounts. All it's costing you is a few cents to drill more holes.The ITX version's 5 3.5" bays only makes sense as a NAS enclosure; but it's much larger than the Chenbro case I mentioned above (and even that could be made significantly smaller with an SFF PSU and reorienting the drive bays).
Guspaz - Wednesday, August 14, 2013 - link
As an owner of a Shuttle SZ77R5, which is about as physically compact as an mITX case supporting a full-length GPU with 2x3.5" and 1x5.25" can possibly get (because there's little empty volume remaining inside, even if the mobo is a custom form factor slightly bigger than mITX), the Prodigy seems enormous...I would like to see a revised mITX prodigy with the following changes:
- Remove bottom handles, since they take up space and make the Prodigy unstable (wobble). Replace them with raised feet, since the case still needs to be elevated a bit for airflow
- Reduce the number of 3.5" drive bays to one or two; the 2.5" drives can mount randomly around the case as they do now, that's fine for SSDs
- Attach the sidepanel ports/buttons to the main chassis (rather than the sidepanel), with a cutout from the sidepanel that fits over or around it
- Remove the space used for a few of the fan mounts. Airflow is good, but 4x120mm in an mITX case is excessive.
- Revise the top handles. Handles are a great idea (moving around computer cases is always annoying), but they could be a bit lower profile while still allowing easy carrying points.
mITX cases don't have to be as insanely tightly packed as my Shuttle, but the Prodigy could still be made a bunch smaller if less space was wasted on things most people won't need (like extra fans, extra 3.5" drives) or don't want (like bottom handles).
HisDivineOrder - Wednesday, August 14, 2013 - link
Amusing. So you say the ITX version was for a case that was a "slightly larger mini-ITX case", but when they went to make a mATX version, they didn't have to change the size... at all? That is, a mATX board fit in that case no problem.And you think the ITX version was only slightly larger? This just highlights my problem with this case all along. It should have been mATX from the get-go and there's no point to ITX in this case. If you're going with this case, then get a mATX motherboard. The ITX version was always irrelevant because it was always too big. Waaaay too big.
The whole point of ITX is to be as small as possible, not big enough to fit mATX and SLI in. If you're going that big, just go mATX instead.
xbournex - Wednesday, August 14, 2013 - link
With the same concept as having ATX cases large enough to fit XL or EATX boards, the ITX version has more compatibility with watercooling - there's no rule to tell anyone how big a ITX case should be. While mATX does fit, you reduce your ability to place such components so our ITX is indeed slightly larger to have more flexibility.Laststop311 - Thursday, August 15, 2013 - link
I doubt this case will be very popular. They compromised the cooling abilities, the room for hdd's, the space for the psu, the odd. They should not of forced the matx into the same exact size as the mitx version. The m-itx version will continue to sell like hotcakes though.Rupan3 - Friday, August 16, 2013 - link
I've built a couple of the mITX machines. They are in high demand stylistically for Hackintoshes. I found them a joy to work with. Prodigy does a nice job of innovating on space constraints with mounting the HDD's elsewhere, wherever that could be.These are great for small servers too, though I would like a non handle variant with big thick feet to substitute for that very option. They support a decent number of drives on the mITX case.