Building in the BitFenix Pandora

Now that we have a decent idea of what to expect, let’s see if we encounter any pitfalls by placing some components in the Pandora. While I’ve built systems in BitFenix’s cases before, this is my first experience with one of their slim cases – well, it’s everyone’s first experience with one of their slim cases, since it’s the first one they’ve made!

The Cooler Master V700 shown here is a 170mm modular power supply. It’s a bit overkill for most mATX builds, but it wasn’t difficult to get it into place in the Pandora. Still, if I were purchasing a new PSU specifically for the Pandora, I’d probably look for a slightly shorter model to make plugging in the modular cables a little easier. Again, one could easily remove the SSD bracket and install it later…

…as long the power supply used isn’t too long. The bracket will need to slide back a few millimeters to be removed (and installed), and you can see how that might be an issue with the modular connectors of certain PSUs. Ultimately, it’s a small and easily-avoidable issue, but something to be aware of nonetheless.

One 3.5″ drive mount is located along the top rail right behind the power/reset buttons and USB 3.0 ports. The SATA power and data connections will face the front of the chassis, and those cables will have to fold back over the frame to be routed back into the main portion of the Pandora. I would have really liked to see another 120mm fan mount here as an option instead of a 3.5″ drive; I would even be okay with forgoing the semi-tool-less mount to do so (only two screws are required to secure a drive up here, as the other side is again held in place with two rubber nubs). There’s another 3.5″ drive mount in the base of the Pandora anyway… oh well, we still have to find out if that extra fan mount would even be necessary I suppose. Besides, it’s nothing a quick mod couldn’t fix…

While it wouldn’t be a problem to fit a hard drive in the top *or* bottom of the Pandora, I think I’ll stick with just an SSD for this build. At least the motherboard, CPU and RAM installs were free from any issues – well, except for one (you’d think I’d LEARN by now!!!). We’ll get to that in a bit, but if you look closely you can probably see where I messed up in the photo above… Anyway, there is a CPU cooler cutout in the motherboard tray to access backplates if necessary, making CPU cooler installation possible after the motherboard is installed.

Mounting the H80i fans and radiator revealed a potential (although minor) issue. I shouldn’t have used the washers that came with the H80i bolts, since they caused the bolt head to stick up past the recessed fan mounts. Since the magnetic dust filter covers these mounting holes, any protruding screws could prevent the filter from making full contact with the chassis. As shown in the picture the magnets were still strong enough to keep the filter in place, but a small bump would have been enough to dislodge it. Again, a relatively minor issue that can be avoided without much trouble – it’s certainly not a fault of the Pandora – but it’s something to be aware of.

Speaking of something to be aware of… Yep, here’s what I forgot to do before installing the motherboard. With most cases, one could just route this 8-pin CPU cable through a cutout after the motherboard is installed – not so in the Pandora. While a bit more space would have been nice, I wanted to make sure to mention this as a potential pitfall (there’s nothing more enjoyable than having to remove a motherboard right after you install it for ONE connector!). Again, a PSU with flat cables would be highly recommended, as you can probably see.

A plastic cover clips over the PCI slot thumbscrews. You won’t be able to access these with the aluminum exterior in place – you could remove the aluminum that wraps around the rear of the Pandora with a few screws, but it won’t be necessary if you use the tool provided with the case by BitFenix (a simple hex wrench). You’ll need it to loosen these thumbscrews initially; it’ll be much faster just to use your fingers once you break them loose, even if it is a bit cramped.

You’ll need to choose your SATA cables carefully – with the H55 radiator installed underneath the H80i, you can barely clip in a SATA data connector to an SSD mounted here. I stubbornly refused to move the SSD from this location to one of the other two mounting points throughout the chassis (there’s a window for a reason!), although if I had to do it again I’d probably just use the SSD mount on the back of the motherboard tray.

The Pandora is a slim case which doesn’t leave a lot of room behind the motherboard tray for cable management. While there are enough tie-down points to help organize cables back here I wouldn’t suggest the Pandora for someone’s first build. You’ll definitely get a lesson in cable management if this is your first case… The secondary 2.5″ drive mounting location in the upper left corner is offset enough to route the thicker cables without an issue, but that troublesome 8-pin EPS connector on top is going to be interesting if you aren’t using a PSU with flat cables. Out of habit, I just tied down the main 24-pin cable directly behind the motherboard – of course forgetting this is a slim case…

It’s a little easier to see from the perspective above – there just isn’t much room for those thicker cables. I quickly realized my mistake and was easily able to shift the main bundle of cables over to the recessed portion of the motherboard tray (where the 2.5″ drive mount is located). With the cables positioned as shown above, I didn’t have any problems getting the side panel back on. There are enough tie-down points back here to keep almost any system in check, but it’ll take a little dedication to get it right.

The final product displays nicely through the clear window. Graphics cards with side-facing power connectors may experience a bit of squeeze (or rather, the power cables will) – there’s just enough room for the PCI-E power connectors themselves, you’ll have to tuck those wires out of the way using a pretty extreme bend. Any card having a heatsink that extends past the PCI slot thumbscrews will probably have a bad time in the Pandora…unless its power connections are in line with the card instead of perpendicular.