Bitfenix Merc Alpha Case Review

The Bottom and Rear Panels

The bottom panel allows the installation of one 120 mm fan, but the case doesn’t come with an air filter for it, as you would expect. The second mesh you see in Figure 6 is for the power supply fan.

Figure 7: Bottom panel

The rear panel and the interior of the Bitfenix Merc Alpha are painted black, which is really nice to see on a USD 40 case.

The power supply is installed on the bottom part of the case.

The Bitfenix Merc Alpha comes with a 120 mm sleeve bearing fan installed on its rear panel (Dongguan Hongcheng A1225L12S). Unfortunately, Bitfenix doesn’t give more information about this fan. You can replace this fan with an 80 mm or a 92 mm model, if you want. This fan uses a three-pin connector, so you can monitor its speed, and it must be connected to the motherboard.

There are seven expansion slots, but only two of them are reusable. The good news is that they are vented. The other five covers are disposable, i.e., you need to break them and throw them away.

This case has two holes for hoses of liquid cooling solutions. If you need to pass hoses more than 12 mm in diameter, you will need to break the available covers, so the holes will support hoses up to 30 mm in diameter.

The rear panel also has a place for you to install a nine-pin D-sub connector, such as the one used by legacy serial ports.

Figure 8: Rear panel

The rear panel has two security features. The first one is a loop for you to install a padlock or warranty seal, preventing unauthorized people from opening your computer. The second feature is a hole for security devices from Kensington, such as a steel cable for preventing people from stealing your whole computer.

Figure 9: Loop for padlock and hole for Kensington lock

Let’s now take a look inside the Bitfenix Merc Alpha.