BitFenix Portal Mini-ITX Chassis Review

Final Thoughts

Price

Unfortunately unique and adventurous doesn’t come cheap. There’s no easy way to say it, but the BitFenix Portal is £120-150 dependant on which model you choose. That’s not cheap, and while I firmly believe it’s worth that money (more on that in a moment), it may put off a fair few potential buyers.

Overview

BitFenix has created a lot of the coolest Mini-ITX chassis in recent years, especially their insanely popular Prodigy. The Prodigy is a tough act to follow, and BitFenix has rehashed that design a dozen times since to mixed reception. However, they’ve finally had a creative spark that’s paid off big time. The Portal is one of the coolest chassis I’ve ever seen. Is it practical? Not really, is it affordable? Not really, do I need it at all? Nope. Yet it remains cool, and that means a lot, it’s just something I want on my desktop, to hell with why.

Value for Money

If all you see is a £120-150 price tag and think “that’s a lot of money for a mini-ITX chassis”, then this really isn’t the chassis for you. However, when you dive into the details, the price soon adds up. For starters, this isn’t some bendy-plastic stamped-out piece of novelty chassis. The Portal is crafted from thick and strong aluminium panels. It’s been delicately painted with a soft textured white finish that gives is a sleek and professional appearance. The curved panels alone must be a nightmare to engineer and construct so flawlessly. The slide out mounting dual chassis in a chassis design is simple to use, but still some fancy engineering overall. There’s the curved top panel window, the durable metal mounting rails, the nicely integrated I/O and power button. These little details add up in value, and you’re paying for quality design and execution.

Flawed but Still Great

Cable routing is none existent, and this had me worried at first. With a little cable to strap down excess, you’re not going to see the interior of the chassis anyway. However, some clever routed channels for some cables couldn’t hurt. There are two 80mm fan mounts in the rear, at this price, I’d like to see both of them populated with fans, as it can be a pain trying to find one that matches the stock one, or having to by two to replace the stock one. Overall though, they’re hardly big issues, and the Portal otherwise gets a clean pass from me.

Should I Buy One

You’ve read the review, you know how I feel about it. Answer a couple of simple questions. Do you want something that looks this cool on your desktop, and are you willing to pay up for it? If it’s yes to both, go for it. The Portal is going to make a great mini-ITX gaming system for your home office, or for LAN gaming events.

Pros

• Aluminium exterior panels
• Curved panel design
• Cool top window to show off GPU
• Slide-out internal chassis
• Room for 120mm AIO
• Unique aesthetics
• Durable metal rail stand/feet

Cons

• None

Neutral

• Quite expensive, but you do get a lot of quality for your investment