The Beat Fenix Pandora is a unique and ambitious project that started as a mini ITX enclosure but was scrapped completely based on feedback from the community. It was later redeveloped into a Micro ATX form factor without enlarging the frame, showcasing innovative design thinking. The case's compact and thin nature makes it an attractive option for those who want to build a powerful PC in a small space.

The Pandora features a curved aluminum exterior that gives it a sleek and premium look. However, this also presents some challenges during assembly, particularly with side panel installation. According to the author, the side panel was extremely difficult to install, which may be a turnoff for potential buyers. The aluminum edges should be refined to avoid cutting users' fingers during assembly, and drive brackets for easier installation would make more sense in this tight interior.

One of the standout features of the Pandora is its support for GPU's up to 35cm in length, making it possible to add an all-in-one cooler without affecting GPU clearance. The case also features a large opening at the bottom of the motherboard tray that helps route cables, and the author recommends pre-routing the 8-pin CPU cable cutout during assembly.

The Pandora also features a front panel display with a beat Fenix icon that connects via a motherboard USB header. However, this feature is limited to showing JPEG images only and does not support GF or any other type of graphics. The display stays on for as long as the PC is plugged in but does not require it to be on. While the author thinks this feature is unique and screams a digital logo showcase, its value depends on personal taste and preference.

The case has some compromises due to its thin design, including limited cable management room behind the motherboard tray. This can make routing thick 8-pin CPU cables at the rear cause issues with the panel not closing properly. Despite these limitations, the Pandora is an extremely ambitious project that showcases innovative design thinking.

The author concludes by thanking the community for their feedback and involvement in the case's development. They also hope that Beat Fenix takes all of the feedback into account for future projects, as there is definitely potential for small form factor cases moving forward.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enthis video was brought to you by NC great technology selection and service hello everyone this is Dimitri with HCK Knuck and the beat Phenix Pandora project has a somewhat special bond with hardw conck as we were on a feedback committee from the very initial stages of the design process which back then was the Phoenix project so the goal was to create a midtower with compact yet capable internals supports for 120 mm all-in-one cooler long power supply a na drive capacity and a mini ITX form factor with that really cool looking exterior design we returned some feedback with suggestions of making all Drive slots hot swapable that would make total sense for this compact interior suggesting for beat finix to cover all the grounds with regards to dust proofing the enclosure and adequate airf flow given the side panel curved around the main intake plus also incorporate enough Cable Management room then computex rolled around and the Pandora project went through a total internal redesign to allow for a Micro ATX motherboard to fit inside without actually enlarging the case so here we are we finally have the finished product this is the beat Fenix Pandora ready for retail and we're really excited to put this through its spaces to see exactly what type of changes beat Fenix has made and what type of feedback they have uh sort of gathered from the community so beat Fenix is releasing the Pandora in multiple versions ranging from $110 to $40 based on color so black or silver window side panel or solid uh and the inclusion of beat Fenix icon display in front of the case or not I would say for a Micro ATX form factor and this unique form I would call it competitive on the edge the aluminum exterior definitely adds to the premium looks now this isn't exactly lean Lee aluminum quality nor is it comparable to latest fanx aluminum integration with the end to evolve but it does hold its own with the Aesthetics as each panel wraps carefully around the front panel and spans the entire height of the case hiding the lowprofile case feet at the bottom and the easily removable magnetic dust filter for your power supply I wouldn't want to put this on the carpet per se and you definitely want to be careful placing this on hardwood floors to avoid scratching the surface as the aluminum edges aren't refined and this spends the entire perimeter of each panel so beat fix really should put more emphasis on smoothing out the edges as I did get a few Cuts during assembly the panels are attached via this four Bowl head mounts that are really difficult to install you have to almost bang the panel for it to latch it's not pleasant however taking off the panel isn't as difficult with just a pull from the front on the one hand it maintains that clean and uniform exterior but this is by far the worst toolless panel design that we have seen yet taking them off reveals the glossy front intake panel that serves as an interesting contrast from the aluminum It is Well ventilated plus it's curved to allow fans to acquire enough static pressure as you can see the Fenix has accommodated for this by having small gaps between each side panel and the intake vents it is a compromise they were willing to make to achieve this beautiful design behind the panel is the beat Fenix icon display we'll touch on that a bit later there's also the Dual magnetic dust filter and a single 120 M fan including Ed notice the fan sits on Rails instead of fixed holes with an option to install a second intake fan so a 240 mm radiator would fit just fine internally the fan is practically touching the frame so radiators only with the same width as the fan are compatible and there's uh 65 mm of clearance between the front and the internal bracket to fit the standard all-in-one coolers but the bracket is also removable if you require that additional clearance now the side panel design is not your standard Square as it does reveal that little portion at the bottom which would be your SSD slot Mount which I think looks excellent and the panel did not scratch easily unlike with our recent experience with the s340 case from NZXT a solid side panel option is also available for a lower price that looks just as clean but you do lose out on that interior showcase coming around to the back we see five PCI expansion slots this is excellent to see for a microatx Shad gassy as the additional slot will guarantee compatibility with dual GPU configurations the thumb screws holding the PCI brackets are not entirely easy to reach that makes securing a graphics card more difficult than it should be as the rear frame is on the way also given the incredibly thin chassis design at only 16 cm toall gpus like the Asus 970 stricks would not fit so keep that in mind the top of the chassis is fully meshed it's nice to see that with dual USB 3 ports audio jacks and these large PR buttons that turned out to be quite wobbly and it's small things like that that detract from an otherwise solid and sturdy construction the filter sits on these push to release mounts where we find another 120 mm fan and a really strange spot for a mechanical drive now on the one hand we do have rubber padding in the base to avoid the vibrations but you have to secure it from the inside that would make swapping really difficult plus deal with all these sat cables exiting from the side facing the fan I would have liked to see a second 120 mm fan spot here for those not needing a mechanical drive and those who would like to take advantage of that extra exhaust power and coming inside one of the first things you notice is the lack of rubber grommets for the side cat outs the only grommets included are in the bottom support bracket that help with routing your GPU cables plus this is where you mount the SSD instead of having to screw in the drive I would prefer a simple bracket any day to simplify assembly and swapping if necessary there's another similar Mount at the rear that's even less convenient as that also requires mounting from the inside and from the power supply there are a few mounting holes for 3 and 1/2 and 2 and 1/2 in drives and this would be the last spot for drives inside the Pandora and the lack of a main Drive cage means potentially difficult wiring situation between all the installed storage and knowing these limitations you can plan your build accordingly but still props to beat finix for squeezing in all these options despite being one of the thinnest cases on the market and also a huge bonus is GPU compatibility with 35 cm of clearance until we hit the front fan meaning you can still add an all in one cooler without affecting GPU clearance and starting with the assembly I would recommend pre- routing your 8 Pin CPU cut out and here's the Pandora fully build it was a heck of a process to get here with all the w iring and cleaning things up but it sure was worth it uh and you can see that rubber grommets on all the cutouts would have made the build even cleaner despite of us using all black cables and the stealthy Hardware the large opening at the bottom of the motherboard helps to Route all the little cables and here's my best attempt at hiding those sat connections for the top 3 and 1/2 in Drive here's the side profile with all the gorgeous components and that side SSD that when with a window on looks excellent again we come back to the compromise that arise with a thin design as there's practically no space behind the motherboard tray for any cables my best attempt to clean things up uh looks like this it's thick power supply cables are not Cooperative behind the motherb tray luckily you can tuck most of them in front and power supply now when it comes to closing the panel I was only partially successful as the large gap the rear is a constant reminder of how thin the case is and the options for me would be to either route the 8pin cable from the inside or have to deal with the panel popping off occasionally and one of the last pieces before we conclude is the beat Phenix icon it is a front panel display that connects via a motherboard USB header it's capable of showing jpeg images only that you drag and drop into the software on your desktop so no GF supported and no app support either so don't think you can show time with the icon display nor in becoming male or anything like that this is strictly for uh simple basic images only it stays on for as long as the PC is plugged in but does not require for the PC to be on and viewing angles were okay and this to me screams a digital logo showcase that we haven't yet seen on a consumer release and I think it's quite unique of course how much you value this addition will depend on your personal taste and preference so let us know how you feel with a comment below and in conclusion I I think the case is beautiful with the curved aluminum pieces and the beat Fenix icon for that extra glare the full dust prooof design is appreciated along with support for a 240 mm allinone cooler the front and practically any GPU on the market will fit plus the consideration for that fifth PCI bracket to allow dual GPU systems is a bonus now onto the bad first the incredibly difficult nature of side panel installation should definitely be addressed by beat finix as this was a huge huge turnoff it was not a good first impression and still lingers in my mind after assembly the aluminum edges should be refined to avoid cutting the users during assembly and drive brackets for easier installation would make more sense for this tight interior and lastly the lack of any cable management room directly behind the motherboard means routing any thick 8 Pin CPU cables at the rear may cause that panel to not even close but regardless of all that the beat Fenix Pandora is with without a doubt an extremely ambitious project one that started as a mini ITX enclosure scrapped completely based on feedb and turned into Micro ATX form factor without enlarging the frame and that to us is innovative especially given the Compact and thin nature of the layout but what do you guys think of the Pandora befix sure has shown us their involvement with Community when it comes to design and while it's not perfect it is a case that's made to stand out which is we just hope it Phenix takes all of our feedback into account for the next iteration as there's definitely potential for such small form factor moving forward and well that concludes our review of the beat Phoenix Pandora as always thanks for watching don't forget to subscribe for more similar content and we'll see you in the next onethis video was brought to you by NC great technology selection and service hello everyone this is Dimitri with HCK Knuck and the beat Phenix Pandora project has a somewhat special bond with hardw conck as we were on a feedback committee from the very initial stages of the design process which back then was the Phoenix project so the goal was to create a midtower with compact yet capable internals supports for 120 mm all-in-one cooler long power supply a na drive capacity and a mini ITX form factor with that really cool looking exterior design we returned some feedback with suggestions of making all Drive slots hot swapable that would make total sense for this compact interior suggesting for beat finix to cover all the grounds with regards to dust proofing the enclosure and adequate airf flow given the side panel curved around the main intake plus also incorporate enough Cable Management room then computex rolled around and the Pandora project went through a total internal redesign to allow for a Micro ATX motherboard to fit inside without actually enlarging the case so here we are we finally have the finished product this is the beat Fenix Pandora ready for retail and we're really excited to put this through its spaces to see exactly what type of changes beat Fenix has made and what type of feedback they have uh sort of gathered from the community so beat Fenix is releasing the Pandora in multiple versions ranging from $110 to $40 based on color so black or silver window side panel or solid uh and the inclusion of beat Fenix icon display in front of the case or not I would say for a Micro ATX form factor and this unique form I would call it competitive on the edge the aluminum exterior definitely adds to the premium looks now this isn't exactly lean Lee aluminum quality nor is it comparable to latest fanx aluminum integration with the end to evolve but it does hold its own with the Aesthetics as each panel wraps carefully around the front panel and spans the entire height of the case hiding the lowprofile case feet at the bottom and the easily removable magnetic dust filter for your power supply I wouldn't want to put this on the carpet per se and you definitely want to be careful placing this on hardwood floors to avoid scratching the surface as the aluminum edges aren't refined and this spends the entire perimeter of each panel so beat fix really should put more emphasis on smoothing out the edges as I did get a few Cuts during assembly the panels are attached via this four Bowl head mounts that are really difficult to install you have to almost bang the panel for it to latch it's not pleasant however taking off the panel isn't as difficult with just a pull from the front on the one hand it maintains that clean and uniform exterior but this is by far the worst toolless panel design that we have seen yet taking them off reveals the glossy front intake panel that serves as an interesting contrast from the aluminum It is Well ventilated plus it's curved to allow fans to acquire enough static pressure as you can see the Fenix has accommodated for this by having small gaps between each side panel and the intake vents it is a compromise they were willing to make to achieve this beautiful design behind the panel is the beat Fenix icon display we'll touch on that a bit later there's also the Dual magnetic dust filter and a single 120 M fan including Ed notice the fan sits on Rails instead of fixed holes with an option to install a second intake fan so a 240 mm radiator would fit just fine internally the fan is practically touching the frame so radiators only with the same width as the fan are compatible and there's uh 65 mm of clearance between the front and the internal bracket to fit the standard all-in-one coolers but the bracket is also removable if you require that additional clearance now the side panel design is not your standard Square as it does reveal that little portion at the bottom which would be your SSD slot Mount which I think looks excellent and the panel did not scratch easily unlike with our recent experience with the s340 case from NZXT a solid side panel option is also available for a lower price that looks just as clean but you do lose out on that interior showcase coming around to the back we see five PCI expansion slots this is excellent to see for a microatx Shad gassy as the additional slot will guarantee compatibility with dual GPU configurations the thumb screws holding the PCI brackets are not entirely easy to reach that makes securing a graphics card more difficult than it should be as the rear frame is on the way also given the incredibly thin chassis design at only 16 cm toall gpus like the Asus 970 stricks would not fit so keep that in mind the top of the chassis is fully meshed it's nice to see that with dual USB 3 ports audio jacks and these large PR buttons that turned out to be quite wobbly and it's small things like that that detract from an otherwise solid and sturdy construction the filter sits on these push to release mounts where we find another 120 mm fan and a really strange spot for a mechanical drive now on the one hand we do have rubber padding in the base to avoid the vibrations but you have to secure it from the inside that would make swapping really difficult plus deal with all these sat cables exiting from the side facing the fan I would have liked to see a second 120 mm fan spot here for those not needing a mechanical drive and those who would like to take advantage of that extra exhaust power and coming inside one of the first things you notice is the lack of rubber grommets for the side cat outs the only grommets included are in the bottom support bracket that help with routing your GPU cables plus this is where you mount the SSD instead of having to screw in the drive I would prefer a simple bracket any day to simplify assembly and swapping if necessary there's another similar Mount at the rear that's even less convenient as that also requires mounting from the inside and from the power supply there are a few mounting holes for 3 and 1/2 and 2 and 1/2 in drives and this would be the last spot for drives inside the Pandora and the lack of a main Drive cage means potentially difficult wiring situation between all the installed storage and knowing these limitations you can plan your build accordingly but still props to beat finix for squeezing in all these options despite being one of the thinnest cases on the market and also a huge bonus is GPU compatibility with 35 cm of clearance until we hit the front fan meaning you can still add an all in one cooler without affecting GPU clearance and starting with the assembly I would recommend pre- routing your 8 Pin CPU cut out and here's the Pandora fully build it was a heck of a process to get here with all the w iring and cleaning things up but it sure was worth it uh and you can see that rubber grommets on all the cutouts would have made the build even cleaner despite of us using all black cables and the stealthy Hardware the large opening at the bottom of the motherboard helps to Route all the little cables and here's my best attempt at hiding those sat connections for the top 3 and 1/2 in Drive here's the side profile with all the gorgeous components and that side SSD that when with a window on looks excellent again we come back to the compromise that arise with a thin design as there's practically no space behind the motherboard tray for any cables my best attempt to clean things up uh looks like this it's thick power supply cables are not Cooperative behind the motherb tray luckily you can tuck most of them in front and power supply now when it comes to closing the panel I was only partially successful as the large gap the rear is a constant reminder of how thin the case is and the options for me would be to either route the 8pin cable from the inside or have to deal with the panel popping off occasionally and one of the last pieces before we conclude is the beat Phenix icon it is a front panel display that connects via a motherboard USB header it's capable of showing jpeg images only that you drag and drop into the software on your desktop so no GF supported and no app support either so don't think you can show time with the icon display nor in becoming male or anything like that this is strictly for uh simple basic images only it stays on for as long as the PC is plugged in but does not require for the PC to be on and viewing angles were okay and this to me screams a digital logo showcase that we haven't yet seen on a consumer release and I think it's quite unique of course how much you value this addition will depend on your personal taste and preference so let us know how you feel with a comment below and in conclusion I I think the case is beautiful with the curved aluminum pieces and the beat Fenix icon for that extra glare the full dust prooof design is appreciated along with support for a 240 mm allinone cooler the front and practically any GPU on the market will fit plus the consideration for that fifth PCI bracket to allow dual GPU systems is a bonus now onto the bad first the incredibly difficult nature of side panel installation should definitely be addressed by beat finix as this was a huge huge turnoff it was not a good first impression and still lingers in my mind after assembly the aluminum edges should be refined to avoid cutting the users during assembly and drive brackets for easier installation would make more sense for this tight interior and lastly the lack of any cable management room directly behind the motherboard means routing any thick 8 Pin CPU cables at the rear may cause that panel to not even close but regardless of all that the beat Fenix Pandora is with without a doubt an extremely ambitious project one that started as a mini ITX enclosure scrapped completely based on feedb and turned into Micro ATX form factor without enlarging the frame and that to us is innovative especially given the Compact and thin nature of the layout but what do you guys think of the Pandora befix sure has shown us their involvement with Community when it comes to design and while it's not perfect it is a case that's made to stand out which is we just hope it Phenix takes all of our feedback into account for the next iteration as there's definitely potential for such small form factor moving forward and well that concludes our review of the beat Phoenix Pandora as always thanks for watching don't forget to subscribe for more similar content and we'll see you in the next one\n"