BitFenix Colossus Review

1. Introduction2. The Colossus Case (External)3. The Colossus Case (Internal)4. Installation5. Testing Methodology and Performance Results6. Acoustic Performance7. Closing Thoughts8. View All Pages

For our testing today we are using a Core i5 760 system which we will overclock to 4.4ghz later.

Chassis: BitFenix Colossus
Processor: Intel Core i5 760
Motherboard: ASRock P55 Extreme 4
Cooler: Corsair H70 Liquid Cooling
Memory: Corsair 4GB DDR3 1600mhz Dominator & AirFlow Pro
Storage: Corsair F40 SSD
Graphics: eVGA GTX460 SC
Power Supply: ThermalTake ToughPower XT775

Windows 7 Ultimate Edition 64bit

Thermal Diodes
Raytek Laser Temp Gun 3i LSRC/MT4 Mini Temp
Digital Sound Level Noise Decibel Meter Style 2

Firstly let us have a look at the chassis design and airflow, as it comes ‘out of the box’.

The Colossus relies on two massive fans to move air from front to back in a traditional design ethic. Cool air is rammed in from the front over the motherboard and components, then the top exhaust fan pulls hot air upwards and out of the case.

Although Corsair recommend the H70 is mounted with the fans pulling cool air in, we have swapped fan positions for this review as we feel it works better in this particular case. We have discussed the Corsair H70 airflow principle before and you can check it out over here.

One 230mm fan at the front acting as intake and one on the top which is used as an exhaust.

We have placed thermal diodes in 5 case positions – 1; top optical drive bay position. 2; hard drive position. 3; top area between CPU and fan exhaust positions. 4; above PSU, graphics card (s) area. 5; motherboard central ‘dead zone’ area. Ambient room temperatures were maintained at 23c throughout.

In our default configuration the CPU was maintained around 43c under load with all the ambient diodes holding the same idle temperatures, when under load. The airflow in this case is massive and flows well from front to top.

We then overclock the CPU to 4.4ghz which is as far as it will go.

The Corsair H70 manages to keep the 4.4ghz overclock around 60-62 degrees under load, without any increase in temperatures when idle. The only diode temperature to increase is Diode 3 which is around the position of the CPU. The airflow in this chassis is one of the best we have seen to date and is close to the Silverstone Raven 02.

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