About NZXT

NZXT came around in the year 2004 making there 1st big showing with the Guardian series of cases. This case proved its worth with the gaming crowd, but left most users looking at other manufactures. Over the past few years NZXT have changed there look, starting with the crafted series. This new look has brought NZXT's cases into the spotlight, and the price points are easy on your wallet making them even more appealing.

Package

The product box is in full color and gives the specs of the case. This time however the packaging didn't escape the evil carries and arrived in a "less than pristine" condition. Despite the obvious damage with the top right corner being crushed the case in side was unscathed. Inside you will find the case surrounded by the usual styrofoam shells and the case itself wrapped in a plastic bag to avoid scratches from friction against the styrofoam.

First Impression:

NZXT has become the new word for "sexy". This is my third case I have received from them and each time the styling gets better and better! This particular model is black with blue lighting in the front which makes for a nice contrast. The case is also available with a silver finish for those who are not into black. The front of the case is made of plastic but NZXT gave it the look of brushed aluminum which is very nice. The sides of the case as well as the the chassis are made of a thin, but sturdy steel. Overall the case is fairly lightweight and is easy to move around. The Front Blue led is securely mounted inside the door, and even if you give you case some loving abuse, you don't have to worry about this case falling apart.

Manufactures specs:

A Detailed Look Inside:

First thing you notice when you take the sides off, is the nice sound damping material which covers both sides, front and the top and bottom of the case. It is about 1/8" thick, and is securely attached. It took a bit of effort to pull some of it off, so i don't see a problem in the future of if "just falling off". The only down side to this is if you don't like this kind of material in your case for what ever your reason. for instance, it could be a problem if you wanted to window mod the case.

The next thing that grabs your attention is the 3.5" / 5.25" bays, for better lack of words on each drive slot there is a black "contraption" that holds the drives in place. It's a pretty simple concept, each drive bay has a lever on it that locks the inserted device into place holding it securely with two pegs that go into the drive screw holes. Each of the pegs has a rubber grommet, that will absorb the vibrations from the drive, making them virtually silent. Another nice feature about them is that they can be removed so items with non-standard screw holes can be installed with normal screws!

For cooling this case has two 120mm fans, both branded NZXT. The front fan is clear and and it lit with blue LED's. This fan is also mounted with rubber grommets to help fight vibration. The back fan on the other hand is black with no LED lighting. I had to remove this fan to verify there were rubber grommets, and of course, this fan also had them. The one thing i noticed about both fan locations is that they also included screw holes for both 92mm and 80mm fans. In a case where you are trying to be quiet as possible, larger is better, but it is still nice to have the option.