Cooling Performance and the ICON Display

Installing a micro-ATX system in the Pandora had its share of frustrations, but that’s to be expected for this form factor. There aren’t that many slim cases on the market, and certainly none that can fit the amount of enthusiast hardware you can install in the Pandora.

Even though some components might be a tight fit (it is a slim micro-ATX case after all) it’s still pretty impressive what you can cram into the Pandora. Two double-thick 120mm AIO coolers would be possible – while the G10 bracket isn’t compatible with the CoolIT style of AIO coolers, there’s still enough room to fit two H80i coolers in the front panel (or, obviously, a 240mm AIO like the H100i, H220 etc.). You’ll need to make use of the fan slot spacing to keep the hoses clear of the other radiator and remove the lower SSD bracket but it’s a surprisingly comfortable arrangement for such close quarters. It isn’t really worth discussing temperatures with the above configuration – even with the i5-3570K overclocked to 4.6 GHz and the R9 290 to 1000 MHz (core), temps rarely went above 60C for the CPU and 55~58C for the Radeon. Again, that’s impressive for a slim case but more due to the aftermarket liquid cooling than the case itself.

What is impressive is the Pandora’s efficiency with what amounts to three 120mm intakes (well, two intake / one exhaust). Even CrossFireX configurations weren’t as hot as I thought they would be in the Pandora. With the help of some BitFenix Spectre Pro series 120mm fans for intake and exhaust (each adds about 10 CFM of additional airflow over the stock Spectre fans), the Pandora managed to keep two XFX 270Xs at acceptable temperature levels. After a warm-up stress test to heat up the interior a few runs of 3DMark Firestrike were in order. With an ambient temperature of approximately 17C, the top 270X reached 62C and the bottom card didn’t make it past 53C. I would assume these temperatures would increase slightly with an air-cooled CPU instead of the H80i, but overall that’s a pretty good result for a small, slim case. As a worst-case scenario I also used AIDA64’s GPU stress test, boosting temperatures to 78C (top) and 65C (bottom). Frankly, I don’t have any complaints – these are better results than I would have expected, although I suppose it helps that the two intake fans are positioned directly in front of the components needing to be cooled (SilverStone uses a similar design in many of their cases to great effect).

While the cooling performance of the Pandora was surprisingly good there’s one more thing to cover: the ICON display. Viewed from an ideal angle, the LCD display actually looks pretty good. Full color images can be uploaded to the display, but I’d recommend sticking to a black background if possible as that will help the image blend in to the rest of the panel.

Unfortunately, since most users don’t sit directly in front of their computer cases, the primary way you’ll see the display is from an angle. While the photo above is a bit cropped/zoomed in, it does a decent job of displaying the poor viewing angles of the 2.4″ TFT LCD. It doesn’t take much for any image to lose its contrast when viewed from any angle other than straight-on. It’s a bit of a disappointment considering how unique of an approach this is; adding a display to a case and all. It sounds like the unique aspect was a bit of a factor in choosing the display. As the first manufacturer to really put a full color LCD in a case, the display was a bit of a compromise from BitFenix since they weren’t sure how popular the ICON version of the Pandora would be (and they were already moving pretty quickly away from the price point they wanted to hit). They wanted a display with better viewing angles and deeper blacks, but weren’t sure how much people would be willing to pay. Since the ICON chassis ships for about $30 more (depending on window/color), the current display alone accounts for almost 30% of the price.

It’s really too bad as the Pandora is, overall, a very attractive case. If I wouldn’t have been so stubborn and insisted on displaying an SSD through the window, I probably would have had an easier time working inside the slim internals. The finished product is worth the effort though, especially if you like the look of the Pandora in the first place. There really isn’t anything else like it right now – if nothing else, kudos to BitFenix for bringing such a beautiful, slim case to the market.