Bitfenix Prodigy M sleek, compact gaming chassis revealed

Take one of the world’s most loved ITX chassis and modify it to fit mATX motherboards – that was the directive to Bitfenix by fans who wanted the same Apple desktop-esque design, but couldn’t settle for a limited and cramped ITX motherboard.

Bitfenix will be bringing the Prodigy M to South Africa. Orders for retailers and distributors open up on 30 August and the chassis will go on sale with a recommended price of R1,199. Local retailer Evetech has confirmed to MyGaming that they will be one of the retailers selling the chassis when it’s made available.

The Bitfenix Prodigy M fits motherboards conforming to the mATX and ITX standards and also has five PCI slots, accommodating dual graphics setups quite well.

The M also can swallow up to three 2.5-inch drives and two 3.5-inch drives on the removable storage rack. In addition, there’s another two slots for 3.5-inch drives on the bottom of the chassis and two more 2.5-inch drive bays on a second removable rack. The 5.25-inch drive bay can be removed.

The Prodigy M moves the power supply to the front and mounts it with the fan facing the front panel, drawing air in through vents in the front and exhausting it underneath the chassis. A power cable snakes its way to the back of the chassis and that’s where you plug the chassis into the wall socket.

You can mount a 120mm fan to the rear, another 120mm to the bottom, and two 120mm fans or a 240mm radiator to the top of the chassis.

Push-pull setups are possible, but that would limit you to using a single, shorter GPU. A dual-GPU setup would also require you to remove the 5.25-inch bay.

While the Prodigy M does offer a lot of flexibility, you’ll have to weigh up the compromises on a case-by-case (pun intended!) basis.