BitFenix Pandora ATX Case Detailed

[btarunr]

BitFenix unveiled the Pandora ATX at Computex 2015. The case is a re-imagination of the original Pandora ITX case, launched last Computex, for the ATX form-factor. The Pandora ATX is scaled up in almost all ways to the original, and retains its styling. The case offers room for ATX and E-ATX motherboards, with eight expansion slot covers (so you can install a dual-slot graphics card on the bottom-most slot of your motherboard). There's room for CPU coolers as tall as 160 mm, graphics cards as long as 380 mm, and PSUs as long as 220 mm.

Storage spaces include two 3.5-inch, and three 2.5-inch internal drive bays. Cooling system is governed by a 4-channel PWM-based fan-controller, with a 2.8-inch TFT LCD display, giving you fan-speed and temperature readouts. Fan vents are aplenty, with two 140 mm (or three 120 mm) front intakes, two 140 mm (or three 120 mm) top exhausts; and a 120 mm rear exhaust. The front and top vents can each hold on to either a 3x 120 mm, or a 2x 140 mm radiator. Both these big vents have magnetic dust filters.



View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[FreedomEclipse]

Its a trap.

 

[MagnuTron]

Okay great, so now they just need to fix the incredibly bad cooling that this case has.. Kind of impossible with that design though.

 

[j0h NextHardware]

BitFenix unveiled the Pandora ATX at Computex 2015. The case is a re-imagination of the original Pandora ITX case, launched last Computex, for the ATX form-factor.

The first one is a microATX, i don't like it very much because there is no support for radiator with fans on the top and not enough room for big CPU's heatsink

 

[bogami]

I suggest liquid cooling and will no longer be problems with cooling, even clockeng will be very possible.Nice big brother for Pandora.

 

[evulmunk33]

If you guys have some comments and concerns, please let me know and Ill feed it to the PM team!
We are still fine tuning it before it comes out later in Q3, so we can still adjust some parts :]

Its a trap.

you think pandora ATX looks like that case?

Okay great, so now they just need to fix the incredibly bad cooling that this case has.. Kind of impossible with that design though.

What do you mean with incredibly bad cooling?
I built a couple of systems with pandora mATX and havent had any problems...
Its a slim case, its obviously not meant for super highend hardware.
But if you slap an AIO on the VGA, possibly the cpu too, you can actually keep pretty high performance parts in check in there :]

 

[MagnuTron]

you think pandora ATX looks like that case?


What do you mean with incredibly bad cooling?
I built a couple of systems with pandora mATX and havent had any problems...
Its a slim case, its obviously not meant for super highend hardware.
But if you slap an AIO on the VGA, possibly the cpu too, you can actually keep pretty high performance parts in check in there :]

You just said it yourself. The very fact that you need an AIO on the VGA totally ruins it for me.

 

[evulmunk33]

You just said it yourself. The very fact that you need an AIO on the VGA totally ruins it for me.

hah, come on.... you dont need an aio to cool a VGA in pandora mATX...
It depends on the TDP and how the stock cooler does, 770s and 280s are not an issue in an mATX pandora, and for anything more powerful you got the option to put an AIO on there.

But like i said, this isnt a performance case and was never meant to be, its pretty obvious from its dimensions and design... you wouldnt expect a tiny living room PC to let you max out your titanX with a 10core server cpu either, right? ^^

You can install two fans in front that blow air straight onto the VGA, and theres a lot of large vents in the front...
There are a lot of full size ATX cases with worse front intakes

 

[rooivalk]

Its a trap.

hahahaha I want to post this Bitfenix in Tt copycat thread but I forgot.

you think pandora ATX looks like that case?

They're on the same design idea (especially the older ones), coming with silver paint, and especially in this photo has 'Tt LCS' badge. Soo yea.

 

[evulmunk33]

They're on the same design idea (especially the older ones), coming with silver paint, and especially in this photo has 'Tt LCS' badge. Soo yea.

This... looks like the same design to you?

 

[rooivalk]

same design idea, doesn't mean same execution bit by bit.

 

[j0h NextHardware]

hah, come on.... you dont need an aio to cool a VGA in pandora mATX...
It depends on the TDP and how the stock cooler does, 770s and 280s are not an issue in an mATX pandora, and for anything more powerful you got the option to put an AIO on there.

But like i said, this isnt a performance case and was never meant to be, its pretty obvious from its dimensions and design... you wouldnt expect a tiny living room PC to let you max out your titanX with a 10core server cpu either, right? ^^

You can install two fans in front that blow air straight onto the VGA, and theres a lot of large vents in the front...
There are a lot of full size ATX cases with worse front intakes

but in the mATX version you can't install GPU larger than 130mm, so no MSI TF V, ASUS Strix or similar because they are 140mm or more

 

[evulmunk33]

but in the mATX version you can't install GPU larger than 130mm, so no MSI TF V, ASUS Strix or similar because they are 140mm or more

Wide cards dont fit in a slim case, yes

But yeah I hear ya, theres a trend for crazy wide VGAs lately, and people really like the Pandora design and are frustrated, like you guys, that it doesnt support highend parts.
Thats exactly why we came up with the Pandora ATX :]

At computex last week we had A GTX780 TI MOA edition in there, so no worries, wide VGAs fit, and tall CPU coolers as well.
And it supports dual 360s, so really, Im a bit surprised people here complain about the limitations of the mATX pandora, when we just announces the ATX pandora that doesnt have those limitations anymore hahah
I know its fun to hate, but cmon...
Pandora ATX is really a nice case, and im not saying that cause I work for bitfenix...
And its gonna be around 100$... its gonna be pretty nice!

If you guys have some serious comments and concerns, please let me know and Ill feed it to the PM team.
We are still fine tuning it before it comes out later in Q3, so we can still adjust some parts :]

 

[j0h NextHardware]

Hey don't worry
I've reviewed the mATX of the Pandora for an Italian site and I give it 4.5 stars on 5 despite this limitations.
I don't like some solutions but i liked very much the design, the materials, the thool-less panels an the ICON display, i think is a very good case for a non enthusiast solution

 

[MagnuTron]

hah, come on.... you dont need an aio to cool a VGA in pandora mATX...
It depends on the TDP and how the stock cooler does, 770s and 280s are not an issue in an mATX pandora, and for anything more powerful you got the option to put an AIO on there.

But like i said, this isnt a performance case and was never meant to be, its pretty obvious from its dimensions and design... you wouldnt expect a tiny living room PC to let you max out your titanX with a 10core server cpu either, right? ^^

You can install two fans in front that blow air straight onto the VGA, and theres a lot of large vents in the front...
There are a lot of full size ATX cases with worse front intakes

I tried doing a build with a 980 and a 290, both same outcome. I even added extra fans to the front, I was still hitting throttles pretty easily. I got it to work, but I had to do some pretty drastic and uncool things imo.. fx make the PSU (high quality one though) an exhaust. Either way, I am not content with this cases capabilities.

 

[ensabrenoir]

....oh my goodness!!!!!!!!!! Bitfenix is making cases out of metal and plastic just like______!!!!!!! We gotta stop this thievery!!!!! Seriously though....... I like this one and the original. Aio coolers solves any heat issue.....I see this company as one of the few that's willing to take a chance on case design. They often come up with some nice stuff.

 

[evulmunk33]

I tried doing a build with a 980 and a 290, both same outcome. I even added extra fans to the front, I was still hitting throttles pretty easily. I got it to work, but I had to do some pretty drastic and uncool things imo.. fx make the PSU (high quality one though) an exhaust. Either way, I am not content with this cases capabilities.

I vaguely remember a topic here on TPU... but cant find the link now... was that yours?
Didnt you try SLI/Xfire?
A single 290 is almost 300W, so Im not surprised it didnt work, especially since many 290s dont have a very good cooler...
But FYI, i did build a pandora rig with a 295x2 in it, and it ran fine, even with furmark looped for hours...

but a 980 didnt work? its only 165W... can you PM me more details?

 

[MagnuTron]

I vaguely remember a topic here on TPU... but cant find the link now... was that yours?
Didnt you try SLI/Xfire?
A single 290 is almost 300W, so Im not surprised it didnt work, especially since many 290s dont have a very good cooler...
But FYI, i did build a pandora rig with a 295x2 in it, and it ran fine, even with furmark looped for hours...

but a 980 didnt work? its only 165W... can you PM me more details?

Not sure, I think I did a thread on overclock.net, but not here :O? Maybe.

But dude, having the heatsink significantly increased in volume will surely make a difference - which AIO cooling in a sense does.

Well to be entirely fair, it was a ZOTAC 980 with a somewhat mild OC from what I remember. So give or take, we are probably talking about a 210W instead of the 190W that TPU has been showing in their benchs. But yeah it's still a far way from 320W that a 290 does.

I will PM you now.

 

[dllm]

two 3.5-inch only?? same as the matx version??

 

[evulmunk33]

two 3.5-inch only?? same as the matx version??

Yeah thats something we are still discussing... how many would you like to see?
And where would you like to have them in the case?

 

[dllm]

Yeah thats something we are still discussing... how many would you like to see?
And where would you like to have them in the case?

I personally need at least 4(for RAID5), at anywhere that will not hinder the PSU cables outlet

 

[evulmunk33]

I personally need at least 4(for RAID5), at anywhere that will not hinder the PSU cables outlet

Would you like them hidden or visible through the window?

 

[Zerokx]

I really like the pandora design.
Even though I actually do have a Thermaltake Armor Jr. it didn't really remind me of it because that is a totally different design imo.
Currently I'm pretty satisfied with what I've seen from the new ATX model.
I've got some questions though if you don't mind.

Will there be a more white-ish version of the case again as with the mATX one?
Also in a computex video I saw the display change dynamically, which shouldn't be possible with the current mATX display. Can you tell me some more about the new display you're using?

I just wanted to go with a new build and looked at the pandora mATX but couldn't decide if the trade-offs would be worth the nice design, but then I saw that you guys were working on a new one which would make it worth for me to wait some more
I plan to have it end up looking like this, just because it reminds me so much of it:

or maybe HAL9000

 

[evulmunk33]

Will there be a more white-ish version of the case again as with the mATX one?

For the mATX theres a bare aluminum version (well its coated as well, but its transparent coating)
For the ATX one, i actually suggested the same thing internally, white glossy sidepanels would look VERY nice on the bigger Pandora i think...
Ill forward your feedback to the PM team!

Also in a computex video I saw the display change dynamically, which shouldn't be possible with the current mATX display. Can you tell me some more about the new display you're using?

Pandora ATX will come in a CORE and an ICON version as well, and yes, the ICON version will have a programmable display just like the Pandora mATX ICON

I just wanted to go with a new build and looked at the pandora mATX but couldn't decide if the trade-offs would be worth the nice design, but then I saw that you guys were working on a new one which would make it worth for me to wait some more
I plan to have it end up looking like this, just because it reminds me so much of it:
or maybe HAL9000

nice! if you plan to do a mod like that, send me a private message
And youre the 10th person or so that told me theyd like to have a HAL looking like "eye" on the icon display haha

 

[Jos]

What will be the external dimensions of the case?
Will there be USB 3.1? C-type?

When comes the m-ATX Pandora with USB 3.1?