A Closer Look - Outside

The chassis makes a great first impression. Its black SofTouch surface goes well with the front's gentle curves and minimalistic design. Opting for a flowing design and no external drive bay, BitFenix has also done away with the flexible grips. While the lack of grips looks great, it also means that the target audience for the Phenom Micro-ATX is a more specific one than that of the Prodigy M.


The entire front is solid and the BitFenix logo comes in a black, chrome hue, which fits the concept color well and does not disturb the dark look. Turning the chassis around, it becomes apparent that BitFenix had to think outside of the box to fit a micro-ATX motherboard within a case of this size. Also noteworthy is the fact that there is no visible PSU bay in the back. Both side panels are solid, and BitFenix placed the I/O and power button on the side panel. This works well in keeping the front cover completely clean and has been derived from the Prodigy.


The fan in the rear has been placed on the bottom because of the motherboard tray's upside-down alignment. BitFenix allows for both 120 mm and 140 mm variants to be placed here. A 120 mm fan has been included out of the box to push air out the back of the Phenom Micro-ATX. While its inclusion is certainly a plus, I would have liked them to go all out by installing a 140 mm unit here instead. Above the fan are the five expansion slots for the mATX board and a single thumbscrew holding all of the covers in place. It is good to see one additional slot here as it allows for dual-slot, multi-GPU rigs to be assembled within the chassis irregardless of the motherboard's slot configuration. While BitFenix used separate thumbscrews on the original ITX-equipped Prodigy, this is no longer the case with the Phenom Micro-ATX. All expansion slots come lose as soon as you detach the little plate holding the covers in place, which is somewhat inconvenient.


The I/O has not really changed since the Prodigy. It still consists of two USB 3.0, the usual pair of audio plugs, and the power and reset buttons. You will also find the power and hard-drive activity LEDs here.


The Phenom Micro-ATX comes with the same top cover as the Prodigy. It allows for easy access to fans installed in the ceiling, or the connectors at the top (or bottom edge, as that one faces up within the chassis) of the motherboard.


There is a large plastic cover on the underside; it spans across all the openings of this part of the chassis and is held in place by magnets, which makes its removal easy. While the inclusion of something like this is cool, it does block the floor-mounted fan's airflow.


Once removed, you can clearly see the large vent which may either take two 120 mm fans or your choice of a single 200 or 230 mm unit instead. Alternatively, this location may be used to install up to two 3.5" hard drives or a combination of a single 120 mm fan and a storage unit. The PSU bay in front actually faces downward. This means that the PSU is then installed standing up on the front of the case, with a pre-routed power cable to the power plug in the back.