The mATX motherboard tray comes with eight pre-installed standoffs that help speed up installation. The tray has a large cutout that grants rear access to the motherboard’s CPU socket for easy installation of large aftermarket coolers.
BitFenix has included a few small holes in the motherboard tray for routing cables, there are three in total and they feature rubber grommets which help protect the cables that are routed through them. The storage options within the case are random and rather non-traditional. Still that’s not a bad thing for a modern gaming case and while the storage locations are random there is still plenty of room for terabytes of storage.
There are two 3.5" drive cages and each can support a pair of drives. One is located at the bottom of the case behind the PSU. The position seems strange as it is quite a few inches from the front of the case. However this makes sense as it still allows users to front-mount massive radiators in the Aegis without sacrificing storage. That said, in their current position they do limit the PSU length to just 160mm, so BitFenix has made it possible to slide this drive cage closer to the front of the case, allowing 180mm PSUs to be installed. The Aegis can handle two graphics cards as long as 380mm and this support doesn’t require you to sacrifice any storage. Instead, BitFenix has positioned a 2.5" drive bay vertically so an SSD can sit underneath long graphics cards. The other two 3.5" bays can be found sitting above the primary graphics card position, while there is room for another two 2.5" drives above them. Finally, BitFenix has included a hidden 2.5" slot near the PSU location. When it comes to airflow, the Aegis might only come with a single 120mm exhaust fan but this is far from the limit of its cooling capabilities. The Aegis can accommodate eight 120mm fans or five 140mm fans, which is incredible for a case of its size, especially given there are no side panel fan locations. BitFenix has included a 3-step fan controller that can handle up to four fans as standard, so this is a nice option in this fan focused case.
As mentioned when looking at the external design of the Aegis, there are two large magnetic dust filters included, one at the front and another at the bottom. Additionally, on top you will find the easy click on dust filter/mesh grill. Behind the motherboard tray there are many options for cable routing, though you have to be a bit calculated with the Aegis as it is designed for more serious case modders. The layout and design isn’t that forgiving for novices so you really want to plan out everything first. BitFenix has included two main channels for routing cables and for the cleanest install we suggest you use them. Unfortunately, we didn’t take our own advice and sort of just ran the cables from point to point, which was a mistake. Given enough time I would undo everything and start over. Still, it works well enough and given that I rarely take the right side door off to stare at the cables, it shouldn’t matter much.
