The Bitfenix Portal chassis is pretty darn sexy. First and foremost, it is clearly about looks and design. All rounded elements, the window in the ceiling, and the unique stand make it look amazing. While it looks great in all black, the white/black variant should turn even more heads. Bitfenix has done an excellent job in engineering the unique outer shell and has managed to incorporate the necessary I/O nicely into the design as well.

On top of that, the exterior shell is constructed mostly of high-quality aluminum panels, which are bent into shape perfectly and fit seamlessly, with both aspects being the first you weigh against the $139/€129 price tag, beside the design. Considering these three points, the asking price is quite adequate as you not only get a unique and interesting-looking chassis but one of great build quality.

But even with its unique looks, Bitfenix has managed to make the assembly process very painless by allowing you to slide the interior frame out of the chassis. Thanks to the use of SFX PSUs, you have plenty of space for three storage drives, a good selection of compact aftermarket coolers, and a potent GPU of up to 300 mm in length. However, the chassis is primarily intended to be used with a 120 mm AIO liquid cooling unit, but even if you opt for air cooling, the compact Portal has you covered with a 120 mm fan in front and an 80 mm variant in the back. If I have one gripe here, it is the fact that the rear 80 mm fan comes with permanently attached 3-pin and Molex connectors. Instead, Bitfenix could have just gone for a pure 3-pin cable and included a simple 1-to-2 fan header splitter cable. With such a setup, users can power both fans with a single header - a limitation of many mini-ITX boards - and have their speeds adjusted automatically.

One could have an issue with cable management, but quite honestly, the Portal is not meant to look squeaky clean inside as you won't see or care for any of it anyways. But to be on the safe side, it would have been great if Bitfenix could have placed grills on the fans so that no cables could get in the way - especially as you would not even notice them not turning as you cannot see them.

But all of these issues do not take away from the fact that the Bitfenix Portal chassis does not only look good, but is built extremely well. On top of that, it is easy to assemble and comes at an adequate MSRP with odds of street pricing being even slightly lower. And if you like the Portal 1 and Portal 2 games, go for the white/black variant, fire up the game, and grab your portal gun. You have an automated turret standing next to you after all ;).