- Joined
- Aug 1, 2002
- Location
- Michigan
Just got this in a few hours ago (after UPS kept playing ping pong with the box in KY for a while, turning a "3 days select" into 7 days actual shipping) 
The box is quite huge and has a convenient carrying handle for easy transport. Most boxes for case I've seen were plain brown with black prints but this one came in a nice looking box.
http://personalpages.tds.net/~wilykat/DSC05054a.JPG
The case overall looks very similar to Antec 900 but it is a bit wider and deeper. The power, reset, sound, 2x USB, and SATA ports are accessed on top near the front so it's a big plus if you normally leave the case on floor or somewhere low but negative if you have the case on top of the desk. The front drive face plates are all meshed with foam backing for dust and sound control: (ignore the hairs on the right side, my cat was curious about the case)
http://personalpages.tds.net/~wilykat/DSC05052a.jpg
3 face plates on top and 3 on bottom are snap on and 3 in middle are screwed in so keep that in mind when you need to take the case apart for 5.25" drives. The front plastic is somewhat brittle, my front panel came in with a couple broken posts. Nothing a little epoxy can fix. The front panel has 2 vertical light bars and a hard drive activity light on the left side near bottom. I may just plug the HD light into mobo power and use the light bar with HD activity just to be different. I will probably need to use a driver transistor since I doubt the motberboard is designed to drive more than 1 LEDs.
The case also came with a single 5.25" to 3.5" drive bay with open face for floppy drive or 3.5" removable drives of any types. It is in black but doesn't feature any matching mesh so it will stick out a bit if you wanted all mesh front. If I need a 3.5" on front, I will need to pester an Antec 900/1200 owner that has a spare not being used.
The side panel has a window (obviously) and it sticks out a bit like a bay window. My case came with a protective plastic sheet covering the window.
Inside of the case:
http://personalpages.tds.net/~wilykat/DSC05053a.jpg
Quite a lot of space with 3x 5.25" drive bay plus 2 hard drive cage holding a total of 8 3.5" drives. The cage can be removed to have 3 more 5.25" bays. The 2 120mm fans (with LEDs) on front are both attached to the case itself so if you need to remove the fan or clean the fan filter screen you will have to pop the front panel off.
There is another 120mm fan on the back (factory mounted as exhaust, can probably flip if needed) and 2x 140mm fans on top so plenty of air flow. The PSU is mounted on the bottom and the mounting frame on the back can be removed so if you have to mount the PSU in certain orientation you can simply unscrew the frame and flip it around. The 4th 120mm is mounted on the window, just above where the PSU would be mounted.
So that's a total of 6 fans already installed. All of the fans can be used with either 4 pin drive or 3 pin mobo connector and all fans have RPM sense line. So all 6 fans could be used with the fan controller without the need of 3 pins <--> 4 pins adapter.
There are 2 oval slots on the side of the mobo plate for wire management. So far I have not found any sharp edges, all of the edges seems to be rolled and the open slots on back seems to be sanded or deburred at factory. No more fingers decorated in band-aids that has red polka dots.
(unlike the last case I got 7 months ago, all razor sharp edges!)
The whole case is made of steel (based on a simple magnet test, aluminum don't attract magnets) The top part is plastic and can be removed for access to fans. The front panel is also plastic but the mesh plates are all steel.
There are 2 holes on the back of the case for water cooling system. With rubber grommet in place, it is just a hair under 0.51 in (13mm) and with the grommet removed , 0.59" (15mm) so WC tube with max O.D. of 1/2 in can be used. Larger tubes will not fit without a little mod.
There are 4 screw holes on top of the case between the 140mm fans for mounting rads. My Danger Den Ultra X 240 fits there but I will need to trim the side of the 140mm fans so I could mount 2 screws:
http://personalpages.tds.net/~wilykat/DSC05056a.jpg
So it's another minor set back for me. Not sure how other radiator mounts but if it's via long bolt, then this mod is probably not needed. Danger Den rad is almost as wide as the shroud, and the shroud is hard welded in place so no through bolt can be used.
No, you cannot use a 3x120mm because it would block the top button/port panel and you would need to either route the cabling another way or give up the top panel completely. It would also mean the top most 5.25" bay couldn't be used unless you get something like front USB/memory card/etc panel or fan bays.
I did notice the 140mm fans on top has holes on the side that is just the right size for a standard 5mm LEDs. So if you want a light up top you can probably install LEDs
Another picture
http://personalpages.tds.net/~wilykat/DSC05049a.JPG
The label for motherboard standoff are conveniently placed on the motherboard back. The "flex ATX" I'm guessing are the "universal" mounting that lets you use any ATX form without needing to change the standoffs. You can also use mATX, ATX, and E-ATX board properly mounted as well if you don't plan to change.
http://personalpages.tds.net/~wilykat/DSC05045a.jpg
Other than broken posts, the side cover came in with 5 major visible scratches. I contacted NZXT about this, they are out of spare part so I will have to see if I can RMA just the panel and not the whole case. The whole case boxed is 28 pounds so shipping the whole thing over one major damage is going to be expensive and dumb.
The box is quite huge and has a convenient carrying handle for easy transport. Most boxes for case I've seen were plain brown with black prints but this one came in a nice looking box.
http://personalpages.tds.net/~wilykat/DSC05054a.JPG
The case overall looks very similar to Antec 900 but it is a bit wider and deeper. The power, reset, sound, 2x USB, and SATA ports are accessed on top near the front so it's a big plus if you normally leave the case on floor or somewhere low but negative if you have the case on top of the desk. The front drive face plates are all meshed with foam backing for dust and sound control: (ignore the hairs on the right side, my cat was curious about the case)
http://personalpages.tds.net/~wilykat/DSC05052a.jpg
3 face plates on top and 3 on bottom are snap on and 3 in middle are screwed in so keep that in mind when you need to take the case apart for 5.25" drives. The front plastic is somewhat brittle, my front panel came in with a couple broken posts. Nothing a little epoxy can fix. The front panel has 2 vertical light bars and a hard drive activity light on the left side near bottom. I may just plug the HD light into mobo power and use the light bar with HD activity just to be different. I will probably need to use a driver transistor since I doubt the motberboard is designed to drive more than 1 LEDs.
The case also came with a single 5.25" to 3.5" drive bay with open face for floppy drive or 3.5" removable drives of any types. It is in black but doesn't feature any matching mesh so it will stick out a bit if you wanted all mesh front. If I need a 3.5" on front, I will need to pester an Antec 900/1200 owner that has a spare not being used.
The side panel has a window (obviously) and it sticks out a bit like a bay window. My case came with a protective plastic sheet covering the window.
Inside of the case:
http://personalpages.tds.net/~wilykat/DSC05053a.jpg
Quite a lot of space with 3x 5.25" drive bay plus 2 hard drive cage holding a total of 8 3.5" drives. The cage can be removed to have 3 more 5.25" bays. The 2 120mm fans (with LEDs) on front are both attached to the case itself so if you need to remove the fan or clean the fan filter screen you will have to pop the front panel off.
There is another 120mm fan on the back (factory mounted as exhaust, can probably flip if needed) and 2x 140mm fans on top so plenty of air flow. The PSU is mounted on the bottom and the mounting frame on the back can be removed so if you have to mount the PSU in certain orientation you can simply unscrew the frame and flip it around. The 4th 120mm is mounted on the window, just above where the PSU would be mounted.
So that's a total of 6 fans already installed. All of the fans can be used with either 4 pin drive or 3 pin mobo connector and all fans have RPM sense line. So all 6 fans could be used with the fan controller without the need of 3 pins <--> 4 pins adapter.
There are 2 oval slots on the side of the mobo plate for wire management. So far I have not found any sharp edges, all of the edges seems to be rolled and the open slots on back seems to be sanded or deburred at factory. No more fingers decorated in band-aids that has red polka dots.
(unlike the last case I got 7 months ago, all razor sharp edges!)The whole case is made of steel (based on a simple magnet test, aluminum don't attract magnets) The top part is plastic and can be removed for access to fans. The front panel is also plastic but the mesh plates are all steel.
There are 2 holes on the back of the case for water cooling system. With rubber grommet in place, it is just a hair under 0.51 in (13mm) and with the grommet removed , 0.59" (15mm) so WC tube with max O.D. of 1/2 in can be used. Larger tubes will not fit without a little mod.
There are 4 screw holes on top of the case between the 140mm fans for mounting rads. My Danger Den Ultra X 240 fits there but I will need to trim the side of the 140mm fans so I could mount 2 screws:
http://personalpages.tds.net/~wilykat/DSC05056a.jpg
So it's another minor set back for me. Not sure how other radiator mounts but if it's via long bolt, then this mod is probably not needed. Danger Den rad is almost as wide as the shroud, and the shroud is hard welded in place so no through bolt can be used.
No, you cannot use a 3x120mm because it would block the top button/port panel and you would need to either route the cabling another way or give up the top panel completely. It would also mean the top most 5.25" bay couldn't be used unless you get something like front USB/memory card/etc panel or fan bays.
I did notice the 140mm fans on top has holes on the side that is just the right size for a standard 5mm LEDs. So if you want a light up top you can probably install LEDs
Another picture
http://personalpages.tds.net/~wilykat/DSC05049a.JPG
The label for motherboard standoff are conveniently placed on the motherboard back. The "flex ATX" I'm guessing are the "universal" mounting that lets you use any ATX form without needing to change the standoffs. You can also use mATX, ATX, and E-ATX board properly mounted as well if you don't plan to change.
http://personalpages.tds.net/~wilykat/DSC05045a.jpg
Other than broken posts, the side cover came in with 5 major visible scratches.
I contacted NZXT about this, they are out of spare part so I will have to see if I can RMA just the panel and not the whole case. The whole case boxed is 28 pounds so shipping the whole thing over one major damage is going to be expensive and dumb.
I am sorry, but my case has only 4 screws holding down the top panel and two on the front, I am not sure why yours had 6+2. It was kind of a pain in the *** to remove but only the back top screw gave me problems with my motherboard installed. I just put in my replacement fan up top and got it all put back together. NZXT did not send a manual on how to replace the fan so I spent a little while trying to find your mysterious 2 extra top screws before I realized that the top was fully disconnected.
