[section_title title=Closer Look – Installation]Closer Look – Installation
Installation inside of the BitFenix Ronin was as good as it gets in terms of ease. I had no issues with cable management and for a mid-tower chassis, I did actually expect a tedious job of installing my test rig inside the Ronin; something which surprised me.
As previously mentioned, the Ronin has a removable top panel which allows the installation of 2 fans (2 x 120mm or 2 x 140mm) and is perfect for those wanting to water cool. Now here comes my 2 pence worth on what I think could have been done to improve this.
First of all, there is space for a 240mm radiator no problems in either a push/pull configuration but this only applies to radiators on the slim side. My 45mm 240mm radiator was too big to fit with any fans on so take that into consideration when buying the Ronin with the intention of water cooling.
In regards to cable management, the Ronin unlike a lot of cheaper cases comes supplied with cable ties and little hooks to secure cables too. This really makes installation a lot easier and with ample room for cable management, it is nice to see more good design work from BitFenix. One thing I would say though, is if you are using CrossFire/SLI setups, you might have a bit of trouble as there is only around 1.5cm of space behind the motherboard tray so routing cables is a must.
Touching more on the water cooling support, I hit a little snag when trying to install my 240mm radiator in the front. It was a smidge too tall and although it will support a 240mm radiator, you need one on the shorter side so again, take that into consideration when planning your loop. If only there was a little more room, it would have been ideal and to be honest, a modder would have no problems making it fit! (You have to remove both HDD cages to fit it in remember!
With the test system installed, here you can see the clearance between the top of the cooler and the top of the case; not much wiggle room for a radiator but again as previously mentioned, a slim 240mm with 1 set of fans would easily fit in the gap!
At the bottom, we have our Fractal Design power supply installed which certainly isn’t the longest one but isn’t the shortest either and it manages to fit in with no issue; just look at the spare room! Cable management isn’t exactly bad either although I really wish every manufacturer would use rubber grommets; not only do they help but they look far superior to just a hold in the steel.
Here we have the full test system installed inside the BitFenix Ronin and in my opinion, it looks like a thing of beauty. The carbon fibre effect PSU/HDD bay cover looks the absolute mutt’s nuts and I have to applaud BitFenix for the job they have done with the design work implemented here; all other manufacturers should take serious notice of this.
In regards to niggles, rubber grommets would have been nice but not essential, but this case managed to fit a 290x no problems at all with an inch of room to spare so if you have a long graphics card, you have just over 12” of space to play with before you will have to remove the top HDD cage.
Now let’s take a look at how the Ronin performed…
