BitFenix Outlaw: When Inexpensive Doesn't Mean Cheap
by Dustin Sklavos on December 23, 2011 5:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- mid-tower
- bitfenix
Noise and Thermal Testing, Overclocked
Our stock testing reveals the Outlaw as a case that produces adequate ambient temperatures along with a good CPU temperature and acceptable GPU temperature, and it's able to do all of this while keeping a reasonable noise profile. Overclocked testing is liable to be a lot more strenuous, though, especially with an enclosure this small. Realistically, overclockers are going to want to invest in another fan or two, but even then the Outlaw still winds up being the kind of good deal old school overclockers were interested in in the first place (when overclocking was about maximizing a small budget instead of setting records).
Overclocked thermals are still pretty good. They're not excellent, but they're good enough for a case of this size, and as mentioned before there's certainly room for improvement for the end user willing to modify the cooling a bit.
Unfortunately, while idle noise is good, load noise is still on the high side. That's pretty much to be expected when we start dealing with enclosures that are this cheap, since they're going to be largely devoid of any acoustic management features beyond the merits of their basic designs. The best thing you can do is tweak the cooling—a low-RPM fan or two would go a long way—to reduce overall noise to begin with.
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Sgt. Stinger - Friday, December 23, 2011 - link
BitFenix is definitley an interesting company. They seem to be a very small operation, and thats probably why they get to these amazing price points.BTW, what happened to this review earlier today? Saw it at work, but when i tried to continue to the next page, the review was down... Puzzled me a bit :)
JarredWalton - Friday, December 23, 2011 - link
Someone changed the post time to later in the day, probably to give another article time at the top.Andrew Rockefeller - Friday, December 23, 2011 - link
I'm a fan of the left-handed mount arrangement. TBH, I've thought that everyone has been doing it wrong all these years. The next step is to abandon multiple 5.25" bays in mid-towers.know of fence - Saturday, December 24, 2011 - link
Current case designs may very well be outdated in a year or two.Abandon the ugly, stupid drive bays (in favor of external drives), ditch ALL front interfaces and move USB, audio and the power switch to the top of the desk (like a docking bay). It's a no-brainer.
Andrew Rockefeller - Saturday, December 24, 2011 - link
For my own needs, I couldn't agree more. I do however accept that would make it just a little too niche right now. 2 years, absolutely.Strangely, I actually sketched up an external front panel remote a few years back. Glad to hear that there are others out there thinking along the same lines.
...which makes me think. What if someone designed a case with an external slimline optical enclosure which included the standard front panel functions?? We might finally get rid of gaudy plastic fascias altogether. The external enclosure could even be a standalone product connecting back to a PCI bracket.
StevePeters - Friday, December 23, 2011 - link
Am I seeing the photos correctly - it looks like there is no space at all between the tray and side cover (and none is needed)? I am starting to think that the guys at BitFenix must actually use they cases themselves - they sure look like they know what works!JonnyDough - Friday, December 23, 2011 - link
"BitFenix has opted for a negative pressure design instead of a positive pressure one, with the exhaust fan pulling air out of the back of the case instead of placing a fan in the front and letting the fan in the heatsink do the rest of the work."Preferable. Reason? Noise.
jwcalla - Friday, December 23, 2011 - link
Do people still buy cases this big?colmiak - Saturday, December 24, 2011 - link
this is kind of an unimportant detail but i'll ask anyway.. ;pis the logo seen on the bottom of the case on microcenter's site removable?
i dont see it on your review case and it looks much nicer like that!
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results....
Dustin Sklavos - Saturday, December 24, 2011 - link
It's not removable; it's not affixed to begin with. ;)