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The OCUK Prodigy Arctic Gaming System arrives in a modest sized box with FRAGILE tape along the top.
OCUK build the system and place it back into the Prodigy case box. They also include the graphics card and motherboard box with all the accessories.
The Prodigy Arctic chassis is a beautiful design, almost like a miniature version of one of the earlier Apple G4/G5 cases. I was surprised that OCUK didn't put their own badge on the front of the case however. For those interested, we have already thoroughly analysed this case in a stand alone review which you can read over here.
Along the top of the case is the optical drive, in this case an LG Blu-Ray Reader / DVD±RW Drive. Everything is colour coordinated.
Bitfenix have cut a vent into the side panel which helps airflow over the confined components inside.
On the right-hand side of the case there are Power On and Reset buttons, as well as 2 x USB3.0 ports, a microphone and headphone socket. There are no vents on this side of the case.
Underneath the case is a filtered air intake position, for the power supply. We noticed some marks on the lower chassis, but we would assume this machine has been circulated and that the surface damage occurred due to rough handling.
The rear of the system, complete with missing screw on one of the side panels. This would verify that this case has been moving around for many weeks before reaching us. A large 120mm fan takes position at the top of the rear of the case.
The motherboard is to be mounted horizontally so the I/O panel is positioned to accommodate this. The BitFenix Prodigy also has 2 PCI slots, potentially allowing for a graphics card and sound card to be fitted.
Removing the side panel is straightforward, exposing the components within. The system build is neat enough, considering the limited physical space.
The motherboard is mounted horizontally, with the liquid cooler and fan positioned at the rear of the case. We noticed this build uses the Coolit Liquid cooler, although the specification list on the OCUK website lists the Antec 920 H20 Cooler. Both are equally matched however. The inclusion of high grade, Corsair gaming memory with white heatspreaders is an added bonus. The white PCB of the KFA2 GTX680 graphics card can be seen from this position.
OCUK are using the ASRock Z77E-ITX motherboard, which is one of our highest scoring MINI ITX motherboards of all time. You can read our standalone review here.
The OCZ Agility 3 240GB SSD & 1TB HDD are stored vertically in a drive bay at the front of the case. A 120mm intake fan is positioned at the front of the case, close to the drive bay.
We would like to add that we received a OCZ Vertex 4 128GB drive with our review sample, which was slightly confusing. You can spot this if you look closely in the pictures above.
The other side panel can be removed easily enough, exposing the three fan cooler of the KFA2 GTX680 LTD OC V2. Underneath is the OCZ ZS 750W power supply.
If this graphics card is too expensive, there are a variety of options available, as shown above.
I love this case and nice system from OCUK too. id opt for a cheaper GFX though.
Nah. not for me. the case is really easy to break, my mate broke his by liftning it!
great idea and looks fab, im interested, but would aim a little lower up the pecking order on GPU side of it.
Warren, what do you mean he broke it by lifting it? did something snap?
@ Zardon – he built a system into the prodigy with a large CPU cooler, lifted it with the front handle a few days later and the handle snapped cleanly in the middle.
He was gutted. id love to know if this happens on a regular basis with ‘heavy’ system builds inside this case.
Detailed review, thanks.
I like the build myself. I can deal with noise, I normally game with headphones on anyway. idle/general noise results look good.
Id rather b uild a system myself, its a lot of the fun!”
DEFINITELY NEEDS CABLE MANAGEMENT!