BitFenix Survivor Case Review

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

Bitfenix, as a new case manufacturer are showing a lot of promise and they clearly have many great ideas from their research and development team. Sadly, we still feel their products need more polish and attention to detail.

The Survivor is a much nicer looking case than the Colossus as it isn't relying so much on lighting and gimmicks. First impressions are positive and we thought we would fall in love with the case. Sadly, once we tried to open it we immediately realised that someone had dropped the ball. Who on earth wants to have to remove four thumbscrews, then four other other screws with a driver which are attached to rubber mounted ‘appearance' blocks? No thanks.

Cooling proficiency is also sadly lacking and even with our relatively modest system, we noticed that the graphics card temperatures would rise by several degrees when compared to the Colossus – which in itself was no cooling powerhouse. The Silverstone Raven 02 by comparison would drop temperatures in specific parts of the system build by a whopping 6-7 c, which is a huge reduction in operating dynamics. Additionally, the Survivor side panels are solid and surely it would have made sense to create fan mounted holes for additional cooling proficiency? Sadly, not.

While Bitfenix have clearly spent a lot of time on the appearance, such as creating a custom PCB for LED fan control, more important glaring oversights have made it into retail. The lack of 120mm exhaust fan causes issues for the motherboard area, as temperatures rise noticeably in the middle and front forward sections of the case.

Sadly, with the Survivor, the negatives outweigh the positives. That said, we feel Bitfenix will have a long future in this industry, but they need to start focusing on the basics, like cooling performance and chassis accessibility, before delving into talking point gimmicks.

KitGuru says: Worth a look, if you want something different, but there are too many issues for recommendation.

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