The shadow is a sleek looking casing that comes in only one color but don’t be fooled by the simplistic casing, it has something rather interesting up its sleeves.
The casing’s front panel is of BitFenix’s SofTouch material, giving it a classy touch. The front is also a door that opens for one to access drive bays. It’s awkward that the door is opening towards the left instead of the right, after all if one were to add a side-window on the panel, then a door opening to the right would make accessibility easier.
Buttons, USB 3.0 ports and I/O ports are all on the top – many casings use this design but I find upward facing ports are just dust collection points.
Nothing out of the ordinary when it comes to the rear BUT it still does have that annoying clamp on the PCI-E slots…….. fortunately this time, there’s an opening that allows you to tighten your PCI-E components with screws. Phew ……… that’s a relief.
What I dislike about this part is that no matter how you intend to secure your PCI-E components, that piece of clamp has to be there. Sure, I could remove it and make it easier for PCI-E component accessibility but that means you leave an opening on all slots. I think BitFenix should just forget all these clamps and go with the basic screw-tighten methods for PCI-E component securing.
Besides securing PCI-E components, the clamp also provides an option for one to padlock the casing cover to it.
On the photo below, you’ll see that the casing is sufficient to house almost anything but there’s no opening on top so your only exhaust is the rear fan. The casing is light weight in nature so it’s best to not apply too much pressure on the parts, like say the motherboard tray.
Tool-less drive bays.
Openings at the bottom for the PSU air intake, and a spot to place an additional fan.
