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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.
Never really liked their products, the design is just over the top and doesnt appeal to me. they are overlooking the basics and jumping into new territories before they have the basics covered.
They use some weird looking materials. what is it again? SECC, ABS I think I read.
I like the shape of this one, but id like silverstone to build it. :p
Sorry, ill stick with my Lian Li. but i like the fact they are diong things differentely. Price isn’t too bad, but its still fairly costly, almost 100 quid.
HUGE step up from the Colossus. I think that was one of the most ugly things ive ever seen. I agree with the review, they need to focus on fans, positionings, cooling. and basics. then working ou the cool ideas later.
The review is a little harsh. ok the fan omission and screws at the back is a bad idea, but it looks very different and I think they deserve a little credit for trying to be different in such a populated marketplace.
Its not bad looking, the material doesnt appeal to me, its rather rough looking, like a cheap car part.
Id rather get a silverstone or even an Antec DF85. but as others have said, id like to see them hang around and try more ideas. the third one is normally the killer.
Nah, bad design all round, sorry not for me. read about this elsewhere. some of their thinking makes no sense.
Its a different idea, but that rear mounted panel seems so stupid. why have it screwed in when many people need to get inside? negates the thumbscrews idea.