BitFenix Pandora Computer Case
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2015-05-07
·
1,679 words · ~8 min read
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no you don't know what's
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inside Corsair gaming RGB keyboards feature Precision cherrymx RGB key
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switches for 16.8 million color per key
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backlighting for virtually unlimited customization click now to learn more
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the bit Phoenix Pandora and I have a LoveHate relationship well it's an
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animate object so I guess I have LoveHate feelings towards the Pandora
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starting with the outside you have on one hand beautifully brushed aluminum
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side panels with a tastefully sized and shaped window depending on if you spring
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for the window model or not on the other hand you have the same side panels but
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they pick up dust like crazy are really hard to clean will show fingerprints
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boldly and permanently if you don't handle them and clean them properly and
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also they happen to wrap around the front of the case which hoses an
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extremely glossy front panel which will yet again pick up fingerprints dust and
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in general just pick up imperfections very easily but also happens to look
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pretty damn cool if you keep it perfectly clean next up we have the
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screen in front of the case called the bit Phoenix icon and no the LoveHate
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doesn't end here installation is easy enough you plug it into a USB header
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extract the application to wherever you want and drag and drop photos with a
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canvas size of 240x 320 on top of it the
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screen supports transparencies and if you have a charging USB header that
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allows power to pass through even when the computer is off the screen will be
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able to illuminate itself so it can use its local memory to display the picture
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that we put on it at all times like we're doing here but it didn't work at
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first it turned out that we had a bad unit inside of our first case and
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swapping it made it work perfectly but troubleshooting was more difficult than
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it needed to be because the application has no goey or error codes and there
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doesn't even seem to be a manual included with the case or posted on
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their website it was pretty frustrating and it doesn't stop there unfortunately
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back to the side panels we have a ball and socket pressure mounting system
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thing yeah you heard that right and just for reference friends don't let friends
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who work at case design companies design cases with ball and socket mounted side
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panels doesn't seem that horrible at first I mean it's no big deal just to
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push the side panel into the case and it stays there right cool right in theory
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yes but in practice the left side panel is a bit challenging to install without
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using gloves or something covering your hands and immediately cleaning it
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afterwards but where things really start to go off the rails is with the right
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side panel which also brings us to our first look inside the case removing this
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side panel is easy enough but the problem is putting it back on due to
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extremely restricted space behind the motherboard tray if you were to do a
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lackluster job of cable management you might not be able to get this panel on
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at all this is the first case in quite a while that I have found the use of Zap
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straps to be an absolute undeniable requirement especially if if you
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actually want to have side panels on your computer while we're back here
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behind the side panel is also an SSD mounting point which while it is a
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little bit hard to plug the S of power into due to available space is actually
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pretty handy spot to mount an SSD shifting our Focus up to the top of the
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case we're greeted by a power and reset button which would probably actuate more
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consistently with stabilizer bars like in the space bar of a keyboard if you
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were to press too far from the middle in any direction the button will move a
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little but not actually go far enough to trigger the switch between these two
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buttons we will find audio jacks and dual USB 3.0 ports the rest of the top
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of the cas is dominated by a large fan filter which is easily removed by
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pressing down on the two clip mounts mine is especially easy to remove as one
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of the clip mounts was damaged out of the box resulting in only needing to
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press down one of the clip mounts yay
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luckily once the broken clip Mount decided to fall out completely the
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filter sat flushed with the case so it was at least not aesthetically
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unpleasing under this fan filter you'll find mounting spots for a 120 mm fan and
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oddly enough a 3 and 1/2 in hard drive the hard drive Mount features nice
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rubber feet as vibration dampeners and is actually pretty nifty spot to mount
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your storage device although I do find it a little Annoying that they didn't
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provide an option to mount it in the other direction as it is currently
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orientated the cables will likely go through the middle of your case unless
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you happen to have very long SATA and very long SATA power cables and that
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power cable needs to only have one SATA power plug on it due to space
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constraints under the hood if they're able to turn the hard drive around then
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the cables could have easily been managed but unfortunately that wasn't
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the case finally we come to the main compartment the SSD mount on the side of
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the cable management box is stylish and easy to install the hard drive Mount
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under the cable management box is easy enough to install although it is a
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little bit weird that you'll have to flip the case either upside down or onto
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its side to access the screw holes which are fixed into the bottom of the case
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said Cable Management box is actually quite effective at providing you enough
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space to hook in modular cables into your power supply while hiding your main
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compartment cable clutter which you will have due to lack of behind motherboard
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Cable Management space it also Sports some rubber grommets at the top which I
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expect mainly to be used for things like expansion card power cables and
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motherboard headers I would have liked to see them Implement these rubber grommets on the motherboard tray as well
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in order to hide some of the rest of that cable clutter in the back the
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expansion card slots are accessible although the tower framing can actually
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get in the way sometimes especially if you have thicker fingers and while I
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appreciate the fact that this piece is removable it honestly seems easier just
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to awkwardly try to install things by working around the framing rather than
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removing it entirely it should be noted though that lonus had an easier time
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with this with his smaller hands up in the front you'll find two 120 mm fan
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mounts with a surprisingly ample supply of fresh air from the ventilation holes
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that are hidden by the curved aluminum where you can easily install a double
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rad by screwing it in by removing the front panel this combined with a top 120
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mm fan gives the case compatibility of housing some surprisingly powerful
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Hardware in conclusion do I hate this
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case honestly no not at all it's flawed
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but it's beautiful and once you manage to get it built and cleaned up you'll
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probably find yourself asking was it worth the effort I think you'll agree
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with lus and I when we say actually yeah it will look fantastic and much any
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environment the front- facing icon screen is pretty damn cool and you can
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do tons with it from displaying your company logo if it's a customer facing
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PC to showing off the icon of your favorite internet group it's Compact and
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thin and while I can gripe about the lack of space behind the motherboard all
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I want when all of said and done I understand the compromise the designers
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made here because the width of the case suits it very well and they went with a
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philosophy that I hope more case designers will adopt they didn't try to
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cram eight hard drive Bays into to a case that obviously didn't need it and
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instead they used what little space they had as efficiently as possible when all
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said and done I feel like a slightly disappointed father the case had so much
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potential but much of it was overshadowed by imperfections lack of
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attention to detail and for our review sample at least several outof the Box
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defects hopefully Pandora 2 will be everything I could have wanted and if
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bit Phoenix addresses the issues I brought up in this video I think it will
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be all right guys thanks for watching let me know what you guys thought about this video in the comments down below
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specifically but a mod 24 commemorative shirt you should be able to also check
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that link in the description below that'll be the T Fury link thanks for
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watching I'll see you guys next time