BitFenix Shinobi cont.
Considering the Shinobi is a budget-orientated case, BitFenix hasn't focused on tool-free components. You'll just have to screw the 5.25" and 3.5" drives in the old fashioned way, though the seven expansion slots have thumbscrews, making it a little easier to install add-in cards.
Although the Shinobi is missing many features found on pricier cases, we were pleased to see that BitFenix included a CPU cutout in the motherboard tray. It also provides excellent cable management for a mid-tower, with plenty of room for excess wires behind the motherboard tray.
Folks hoping to install a water-cooling kit will be happy to hear that the Shinobi has a pair of rear-mounted holes for half-inch hoses.
When it came time to outfit the Shinobi with our hardware, the procedure reminded me in many ways of cases we used to work with years ago. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, as BitFenix's budget offering was very easy to work with, it just has somewhat of an old-school feature set.
Although standard ATX motherboards are a bit of a tight fit, this is common for mid-tower cases and the Shinobi is surprisingly roomy when it comes to installing large components. For example, it can accept heatsinks as tall as 158mm.
It can also hold mammoth graphics cards such as the Radeon HD 6990, though you'll lose access to the 3.5" bays adjacent to the card. This isn't an issue when using single-GPU flagships such as the GeForce GTX 580 or Radeon HD 6970.
As with the Colossus, the Shinobi has a bottom-mounted power supply bracket and it will support all oversized ATX power supplies.