BitFenix has announced the Portal, which is one of the more interesting-looking chassis designs to hit the market in recent memory. Available in both black and white, and with or without a top-mounted window to show off your GPU (thanks to the inverted motherboard layout), the Portal is a sleek mini-ITX enclosure with a smooth, rounded aluminum exterior that is certainly a departure from typical case designs.
One of the design concepts made possible by SFX power supplies is a slimming down of the standard tower concept, which leaving component layout identical. In the case of this mini-ITX mini tower case from BitFenix, you might at first think you are looking at a larger case, but that PSU opening is in fact SFX, and the case is just wide enough to accommodate a standard PCIe graphics card.
A smaller mini-ITX case is often more challenging to work in, but here BitFenix has a clever solution with their dual-frame design:
"Designed for ITX Motherboards, the striking key component of the interior is the Dual Frame Design for easy access and quick installation. The inner chamber, equipped with enough space for high-end components, slides into the housing via a ball bearing runner design."
The external housing slimply slides off to reveal a standard chassis frame, allowing for easy component installation. Beyond the requirements of mini-ITX motherboard and SFX power supply, the Portal allows for CPU coolers of up to 125 mm, and full size graphics cards up to 300 mm long.
Specifications:
- Chassis Type: ITX Chassis
- Colors: Black | White
- Materials: Aluminum | SECC Steel | ABS | Transparent acrylic
- Motherboard: Mini-ITX
- CPU Cooler: Up to 125mm height
- Graphic Card Length: Up to 300mm
- Power Supply: SFX Form Factor
- Storage Capacity: 3.5" HDD x2, 2.5" HDD 1+2
- Cooling Capacity: Front 120mm x1 (included), rear 80mm x1 (included)
- Radiator Capacity: (Front) Up to 120mm x1
- Front I/O ports: USB 3.0 x2 | HD Audio Mic & Headphone
- Dimensions (with stand): (WxHxD) 247 x 395 x 411 mm (9.72 x 15.55 x 16.18 inches)
- Weight: 5.81 kg (12.81 lbs)
Cooling is another area that has received BitFenix's attention, as they have implemented what they call their "intelligent cooling solution" with the Portal:
"To cool the built-in hardware, the portal is equipped with air inlets at all four corners and the bottom of the housing. The air-permeable inner chamber is further equipped with included 120mm intake and 80mm exhaust fan, for a stable airflow for basic Office and Home Theater PCs."
The BitFenix Portal is available now for $139.99 with your choice of color and window option (product pages already up on Newegg.com).
It looks SOOOOOOOOOOOOO
It looks SOOOOOOOOOOOOO amazing. Put a GPU with RGB lighting and this thing will look spectacular.
The only problem I see is with only one intake fan in the front/middle, how is the gpu in the top gonna get airflow with an aftermarket cooler?.
Haha, a bit late to the
Haha, a bit late to the party, but pretty cool. The Newegg link provided in the article shows better explanation for cooling and airflow
Added a paragraph on cooling
Added a paragraph on cooling implementation, which looks to be promising for this small enclosure.
The Newegg site says it has
The Newegg site says it has one rear 80mm fan(which it does), but makes no mention of the second empty fan spot just under that. It doesn’t look quite big enough for another 80mm, but surely something could go there?
Would be better if they
Would be better if they worked a window into the right-hand side to show the CPU and memory. Don’t see the point of putting lighting inside if the video card is just going to block the view from the window at the top. My biggest grip with the Bitfenix Prodigy was the lack of a right-hand window as well. Not everyone wants to stare at their video card.
Insane RGBFanboy peckerwoods
Insane RGBFanboy peckerwoods and their RGB envy! Look at me! I gots me a bigger wanker of RGB light going on in ma rig, ain’t I somebody big in dis here world!
Brandine you is ma sister and my wife! And Ma yongins got ’em some webbed hands and feets fer some of dat good swimmin down at da cement pond!
Those bend rod feet make the
Those bend rod feet make the desk footprint huge for a case that small.
Not impressed.
I wonder how the acoustics
I wonder how the acoustics are.
These kinda resemble robits
These kinda resemble robits from a video game I’ve played, I just can’t seem to remember the name of it for some reason…
Team Fortress 2?
Team Fortress 2?
Yeah, that sounds about
Yeah, that sounds about right.
https://youtu.be/qdpvj_iVAFk
https://youtu.be/qdpvj_iVAFk
Do you even game on a supercomputer dude?
Another gigantic mini-ITX
Another gigantic mini-ITX case.
Dimensions (with stand):
Dimensions (with stand): (WxHxD) 247 x 395 x 411 mm (9.72 x 15.55 x 16.18 inches)
Why bother going ITX with a case this big? This is uATX territory.
It is cool looking though, I’ll give them that.
But the 80mm fan(s) made me cringe a little.
Would be cool if they made a
Would be cool if they made a real Portal Turret with real guns. My front door needs a little more than the security cameras it currently has.