More details here:
http://www.bit-tech.net/news/hardwar...ini-itx-matx/1
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More details here:
http://www.bit-tech.net/news/hardwar...ini-itx-matx/1
Phemom M looks good, the big handly bits on the prodigy added quite a bit of volume to it.
The whole mATX in a super small case is nice, very limited as it's only 1 ssd and 1 hdd mount, but considering most people don't use more that's fine, it just loses a bit of flexibility, look like an optical drive would block off one of the top fans, why they have to top fans in the middle and not back a bit is odd.
One other minor flaw I can see is it look like psu goes in the front venting out of the bottom, but at the same time the main air intake is also on the bottom so you could well suck in warm psu air, it's only minor as psu's don't make much heat now.
Love the looks on that "angled M-ATX" prototype, but the "angled bit seems to be an utterly pointless gimmick, all it seems to be is larger front feet, the styling and layout looks good.
the M project seriously needs some alteration with the motherboard location. But having said that its good to see that they are working on an m-atx version!
?? where and how?
With the layout and space how else could they do it?
If they put the motherboard in the right way up then the graphics card would form a shelf blocking air flow to the cpu cooler, ram and VRM.
They cannot go for a traditional front to back air flow layout as the PSU position blocks off half the front intake.
Only way to do it would be to move the psu some where else, which would mean a larger case eg the way corsair have put the psu behind the motherboard in the carbide 450 making the case far wider but a bit shorter.
Quite like the Phenom and the angled one, wouldn't touch the toaster though.
i came very close buying the bitfenix prodigy however i wanted mt first build to be atx. i will look forward to using one these cases in a future build
I don't really get why ATX exists for H77 and similar. I mean what do people put in all those PCI slots?
I hate the matx prodigy they have ruined it rather then make it slightly wider so the board fits horizontally they have made the layout really weird and stupid IMO but the Colossus M does look really good.
Can you be a bit more specific? they made it a bit wider over the normal prodigy (250mm), but to put a mATX horizontally they would have to make it a lot wider (around 320mm) and to then do a more "normal" layout they would also have to make it ether taller or longer.
You do realise that the Prodgy-M and Colossus-M are the same on the inside? it's only the outer styling that's different.
Hang on, since when has it been weird to mount a board vertically?
Is it the PSU location? That's hardly unique either.
Well it is uncommon to mount the motherboard upside down like that (although as I said before given this layout it makes sense to mount it this way round)
Standing the psu, in the front, on it's rear with the intake vent facing forward, while I don't think it's unique (sure I've seen that before) it is very very uncommon.
Yes it is a very uncommon layout, but one that's obviously been designed to minimise the overall size while still packing in a wide range of hardware options.
I just don't see why very uncommon is a bad thing, the current case layout is far from ideal, it's taken years for the lower psu tower layout to become more common than than psu above tower layout even though it offers far better cooling options, just because psu above was the norm.
There is people who have put an matx board in the prodigy only by adding a few cms to the width it is possible and are you sure the colossus m is the same inside? it looks wider and there is no pictures of the inside that I've found yet to say its the same as the matx prodigy.
It looks wider because it doesn't have the handles adding height to it.
I don't know why but when I saw the Colossus M I immediately thought Soundwave from the G1 Transformers cartoon.
I was patiently waiting for the Silverstone SG10 but that is now scrapped! I will patiently wait for Prodigy M and Colossus M for a new Haswell build.
http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/...-matx-chassis/ you can just make it out here that they are all around 250mm wide and roughly the same in height and length (the small variations can be accounted for by the different bezels) so while not 100% confirmed it more than probable, also makes sense as it's a lot cheaper to make one internal frame and just produce different panels & bezels for it.
Although saying that this http://translate.google.co.uk/transl...6safe%3Dactive seems to show that they are actually mini-ITX cases based on the normal prodigy frame not mATX
If by fitting a mATX into a normal prodigy you mean this mod http://www.tonymacx86.com/retail-cas...-itx-case.html then no, while it is possible to mod it, space there is amazingly tight.
He's had to cut down the IO shield and sections of the back and the side panel rear lips which will greatly weaken the structure also no space for cable routing.
Also note that the official mATX is specifications are 244mm x 244mm, the MSI Z77MA-G45 motherboard he's using is actually a bit smaller at 224mm x 224mm
These are all things you can get away with in a mod but not in a production case.
Although I do take you point that by just widening the frame by 40-50mm (so my original numbers where a bit off 280-290mm wide) the layout could be kept. the motherboard tray would also have to be lengthened because you cannot have the motherboard overhanging like that in a production case.
It's probably down to cost, as it often is, by keeping roughly the same dimensions they only have too make minor changes to the existing metal presses to be able to make them greatly reducing the time and cost.