Assembly

Due to its compact dimensions, you should assemble the motherboard with the cooler before placing it within the chassis. Lowering more compact coolers through the top is still an option. EVGA was also kind enough to loan us the Z87 Stinger ITX board and a long graphics card to show you how they fit into a case of this size.


Adding 3.5'' drives to the chassis is done in the same was as with most other BitFenix cases. The trays themselves allow for tool-less installation and do a decent job. The only downside are these rubber-ringed pins as they tend to pop out when squeezing in a drive with a little too much force. The pins are put back into place easily enough, but make things a bit more complicated.


Once in place, simply slide the tray in until it snaps into place - no tools or screws are required.


Unlike the Prodigy and Phenom Mini-ITX cases, you can only mount 2.5" drives onto the frame of the case and not the side panel. All mounting possibilities inside the Colossus Mini-ITX take traditional screws to hold their drive in place. This means that you can, not counting the individual hard-drive trays, install up to three 2.5" drives into the chassis.


Remove the cover of that bay to install an optical drive. One has to pull the entire front off to pop the plastic cover out. The plastic's overall quality unfortunately leaves a bit to be desired, and the clips holding the cover in place are extremely fragile. Odds are you will break it off in the process. Plenty of other manufacturers have found ways to offer covers that are easily removable without any of these fragile bits, which allows users to take covers off without taking the chassis apart. BitFenix should really try to do the same.


Installing the PSU is a bit tricky. While preparing everything and routing the cables is easy, the PSU barely fit, and that with some though love on my part. I am happy BitFenix actually offers an extension piece. As mentioned before, the PSU bay's new shape does not really help, actually making things a bit worse for those with a PSU that has permanently affixed cables, as these are now pushing against a solid piece of metal. I had to flip the unit upside down to get it to fit within the Colossus Mini-ITX, while the exact same power supply fits into the Phenom Mini-ITX, for example. Users should really just buy the extension, and BitFenix should include the unit as an extra right out of the box.


With everything in place, the Colossus Mini-ITX makes a really good impression, even though my cable management is pretty basic. Those looking to get the most out of their case should invest in short and possibly even sleeved cables. BitFenix should also include some zip ties, which are sorely missed.

Finished Looks

Once the system is ready to go, nothing gives away the fact that it is up and running as long as the LED is turned off. There is only the blue power light by the I/O. Peeking through the ceiling of the chassis, there is some space behind the optical drive, which may allow you to install a cooling fan into the ceiling if your ODD is short enough.


This case really shines (pun intended) when the LED is turned on. Unlike the original Colossus, which was only capable of two different colors, the Colossus Mini-ITX can switch between blue, green, and red. As you can see, the light is tunneled into the side panels, which has some of that intensity at the front fade away before the side panels are lit up. The pictures don't do it justice. It is not as bad in real life, with the chassis right in front of you. The difference is intensified by the long exposure time it took to snap these images.


The same lighting element looks really sweet at the front of the chassis and could not only serve as a nifty extra, but a useful glow in a dark environment.