A unique thermal layout, BitFenix SofTouch and SSD compatibility for a groundbreaking price. Is this the perfect recipe for a budget case?
Product on Review: BitFenix Outlaw.
Manufacturer and Sponsor: BitFenix
MSRP: £39.99inc. VAT (GBP)
BitFenix, though a newcomer to the computer case sector are building a solid reputation with their current portfolio of offerings. Lately we have seen a series of entry-level, budget specific cases from them as they try to appeal to the different price-ranges and audiences. Today it falls to us to review one of these new releases named the Outlaw.
The Outlaw is a mid-tower chassis with a difference. It features an inverted motherboard tray and indeed general layout with the option of having up to 7x cooling fans and at a price that everyone can afford. The big question is, at such a low-cost, does it really represent good value for money or should it be tossed to the side? Let’s begin our analysis of BitFenix Outlaw and find out!
BitFenix take on Outlaw
Introducing Outlaw – a new paradigm in value chassis design. With its inverted motherboard tray, Outlaw accepts even the longest graphics cards with ease while enhancing graphics card cooling. Plenty of fan locations keep the rest of your system cool, while a native SSD mount means you can arm your system with a blazingly-fast SSD to give you the edge over the opposition. With plenty of connectivity and our signature BitFenix SofTouch™ Surface treatment, Outlaw is an absolute steal. Who says premium features demand a premium price? Break the rules with BitFenix Outlaw.
Features & Specifications
Unique Thermal Layout
Outlaw turns the chassis world upside down – literally. Its inverted motherboard tray places your graphics card up top, closer to the top fan locations for enhanced VGA cooling. Positioning the graphics card towards the top of the chassis also allows you to install incredibly long graphics cards, which means you can arm your Outlaw with the most advanced firepower available.
Abundant Expansion
Equipped with four 5.25″ and four 3.5″ drive bays, Outlaw can handle a wealth of optical and hard disk drives. It even comes with one 2.5″ mount – perfect for the latest SSDs. Seven PCI slots are also included so you can outfit Outlaw with the hardware you need to stay one step ahead of your adversaries.
Ample Cooling
Life outside the law can be tough, so you need to keep your head cool. Outlaw can be equipped with up to eight 120mm fans, with two of those locations able to accommodate 140mm fans if extra cooling is required
Copious Connectivity
The savvy desperado always has their tools close at hand. With no less than four high-speed USB 2.0 ports, you’ll be able to connect all of your gaming peripherals from the get-go.
Pain-free Installation
Outlaw comes with a plethora of DIY-friendly features, including a large CPU cutout, ample cable management, and even a batch of easy-to-use thumbscrews for you to get your system up and running as quickly as possible.
Unbeatable Value
With a black coated interior, quality black cabling, and signature BitFenix SofTouch™ Surface Treatment at a very affordable price, Outlaw breaks all the rules.
Materials Steel, Plastic
Color (Int/Ext) Black/Black
Dimensions (H x W x D) 438 x 180 x 478 mm (ATX Mid Tower)
Motherboard Sizes Mini-ITX, mATX, ATX
5.25″ Drive Bays x 4
3.5″ Drive Bays x 4
2.5″ Drive Bays x 1
Cooling Front 2 x 120mm (optional)
Cooling Rear 1 x 120mm (included)
Cooling Top 2 x 120mm (optional)
Cooling Bottom 1 x 120mm (optional)
Cooling Side Panel 2 x 120/140mm (optional)
PCI Slots x 7
I/O 4 x USB2.0, Audio
Power Supply PS2 ATX (bottom, multi direction)
Packaging & First Look
BitFenix have opted for an eco-friendly approach to their packaging with Outlaw. As you can see from the below photo, the box is made of recyclable cardboard. The packaging though still retains graphics and technical details can be found on the sides are rear. Inside, the Outlaw is covered in a clear plastic sheet and held in place with 2 polystyrene pillars.
Outlaw has been given eco-friendly packaging
With the Outlaw out of its packaging the immediate thing to notice is that the mesh panel is on the alternate side than it would typically be on a computer case. The motherboard tray has been inverted, not only is it on the other side of the case but components will also be upside down – we will take a closer look at this a little later.
The overall design of Outlaw retains the sleek and sophistication that we have come to know with BitFenix Shinobi. It’s this minimalist approach that many will quite happily seek, in opposition to the gaudy gamer style.
A unique layout – components are now on the other side
A sleek and clean look for Outlaw
Let’s take a closer look at the exterior of Outlaw – over the page.
Exterior
The front of Outlaw is very sleek. The only distinguishing features being the thin strips of tight mesh running up either side and 3x 5.25” drive bay covers.
Due to the motherboard being inverted we have a completely different layout round the back of Outlaw. The bottom still remains the place for positioning the PSU but the immediate feature above this area is a 120mm exhaust fan and the I/O section for the motherboard. Above this, on the left we have 2x circular rubber grommets and at the very top 7x PCI expansion brackets, each with ventilation cut-outs. So far – the Outlaw is certainly very different from anything we have encountered before.
The front and back of Outlaw
Moving to the front panel connectivity at the top of the case, we have 4x USB 2.0 ports, microphone/headphone jacks, a large power button and a reset button. Notice the absence of USB 3.0? BitFenix are shipping this case without such an option due to the fact that Outlaw will sit at the very bottom of the market within the budget price-point. Implementing USB 3.0 costs more and BitFenix are trying to keep the costs down.
The front panel controls on Outlaw
The top of the Outlaw features 2x perforated mesh cut-outs for mounting dual 120mm fans. These outlets do not come with air/dust filters.
Dual 120mm fan placements on Outlaw
With the tour of the exterior over, let’s move in for a good look at the inside of Outlaw.
Interior
Removing the side panels we can take a good look inside Outlaw. BitFenix classify Outlaw as having a ‘Unique Layout’ and that it certainly has. Though we are dealing with a mid-tower case there is still a considerable amount of space. The width of the chassis is quite thin though so we may struggle with big CPU coolers – more on this later when we install our kit inside Outlaw.
Around the back there isn’t any space behind the motherboard tray for storing cables – the only space provided is next to the HDD cage but the space here is more than adequate and we should be able to keep things extremely tidy.
The inside of Outlaw
Behind the motherboard tray
Inside Outlaw, at the bottom of the case is section marked out for the PSU. We have soft rubber mounts for anti-vibration and the option to install a 120mm fan beside the PSU. There are no fan/dust filters here.
The PSU area at the bottom
The first thing we come across when moving up is the 120mm rear exhaust fan. This has a 4-pin motherboard fan connector.
Immediately above this are the PCI expansion slot covers. There are 7 in total, each having ventilation holes. You will notice from the picture below there are no thumbscrews securing these covers to the case – this is because the PCI covers here twist off and once removed are disposable. This is a feature that I personally really dislike because you end up with gaps at the back of the case if you happen to take off a PCI cover by accident. Unfortunately this is a trait found on many a budget case to keep costs down. With the PCI covers being at the top of the case, this means that the graphics card will instead of being at the bottom of the case be positioned towards the top – a complete reversal.
The PCI covers inside Outlaw
Over the page we will look at the final elements of the internals.
Interior (Continued)
Lastly, at the front of Outlaw we have the media drive storage. There are no tool-less design mechanisms at all on the HDD cage or optical drive bays (again to keep the costs down) so you will need to use the good old screwdriver and screw to get devices secure. There are 4x slots for 3.5” drives and 4x 5.25” drive bays. At the very bottom of the HDD cage, there are 4x screw holes for mounting a single 2.5” drive such as an SSD.
The HDD cage with 4 slots for 3.5” drives and 2.5” at the very bottom
Optical drive bay storage
Installation
I’ll start by saying that installing kit inside the Outlaw is disorientating!! Being used to installing hardware into many cases that feature the typical layout means that coming to the Outlaw you really have to pause and think. Cable management inside Outlaw is very good, even though we have no space behind the motherboard tray the area beside the HDD cage accommodates all of the cables easily and thanks to the cut-outs on the motherboard tray they feed straight through without a problem.
It’s nice to use something that is different, something that is unique – Outlaw is certainly that.
Installation complete – graphics card at the top!
Lots of space near HDD cage for cables
As previously mentioned, installing HDDs and other devices requires plain old screws in order to get them secure. BitFenix have provided thumbscrews to make this process a little bit easier.
Installing HDD via thumbscrews
In terms of GPU Clearance this is unlimited provided there is nothing in the residing optical drive bay. The GPU actually fits inside this bay quite well.
GPU clearance is good – graphics card fitting inside the optical drive bay
It’s to the CPU cooler region that we struggle. Installed within Outlaw is the Noctua NH-U12P with a height of 158mm. With the side panel on, we are literally 1mm from the heatpipes touching. So we really cannot fit anything bigger than 158mm in height here.
Tight CPU cooler clearance
Almost touching the side panel
Finally, though we have no clearance behind the motherboard tray there is a small section beside the HDD cage for storing cables. In this area we have lots of clearance – up to 5cm can be taken advantage of.
Clearance next to the HDD cage for cable management
Thermal Performance Testing
If you haven’t already noticed, the Outlaw has a radically different layout to any other case. Though this could well be an advantage, being a case within the budget price-range means that we have less features and in particular less cooling fans. The only fan we have pre-installed within Outlaw is a single 120mm rear exhaust (though another 7 fans can be optionally installed) this could well hinder our thermal performance, but let’s wait and find out!
To discover the thermal performance of the Outlaw I will record idle temperatures after 20 minutes from a cold boot. I will then stress the system and temperatures will again be monitored after 30 minutes have elapsed.
System Components
CPU AMD Phenom II X6 1055T 2.8GHz
Motherboard ASUS M4A89TD PRO
Graphics ZOTAC NVIDIA GTX 480 AMP
Memory 4GB Mushkin EM3-10666 DDR3
HDD Samsung Spinpoint 500GB SATA-II
PSU Enermax Revolution 85+ 850W
As expected, a single fan configuration isn’t going to offer great air cooling performance compared to some of the more expensive cases on the market that come with multiple case fans pre-installed. There is the option to install up to 7 case fans within Outlaw though, so whilst stock air cooling performance might not be that good – improvements can be made quite easily.
Conclusion
There has been a real focus for budget specific cases from BitFenix over the past few months and their latest addition is a bold (and brave) step into the world of the inverted motherboard tray.
Those who like to be different and like to stand out from the crowd will almost certainly embrace the Outlaw. If not for the advantages of an inverted system configuration a funky approach to system building is ahead of you.
Space isn’t one of Outlaw’s strong points, neither is stock cooling but remember that this is a budget case, currently available for a mere £35 inc. VAT (GBP) and so there are obvious cut-backs such as no tool-less design mechanisms, disposable PCI covers and limited width dimensions.
The Outlaw’s strong points lie in the cable management, its price and visual appearance. Though it doesn’t have any space directly behind the motherboard tray there is over 5cm of clearance in the neighbouring HDD cage gulley. It’s a great value for money buy and looks both sleek and stylish with its minimalist approach to case design.
The bottom line is Outlaw steps out of the ordinary and is an interesting venture into the world of the inverted. It looks great and offers good cable management. For the price, it really is a great value for money mid-tower option for those on a budget.
Video Review on Vortez TV
Pros
+ Subtle and sleek styling
+ Layout that is unique and funky
+ Great value for money
+ Good cable management
Cons
– Cooling performance
– Disposable PCI covers
– Will not accommodate larger CPU coolers
+ Subtle and sleek styling
+ Layout that is unique and funky
+ Great value for money
+ Good cable management
Cons
– Cooling performance
– Disposable PCI covers
– Will not accommodate larger CPU coolers
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