Page 10: Use, Conclusion
Use
The test system in question used various parts of various vintages to get a good assessment of how flexible the Phantom really was as a full-tower case. For example, the CPU and GPU were a Pentium 4 HT 3.2 and a GeForce 7900GS, respectively; and two of the hard drives were IDE drives (one of which being a 7200 RPM drive) to see how usable the wire management system was with wires as cumbersome to use as IDE cables are. Not particularly powerful components in this day and age to be sure, but still power hungry ones that will easily run hot if not properly ventilated.
Over the course of our testing, we only really noticed a few things, the first of which being the USB port deficiency. While the Phantom is on the lower end of the full-tower segment, it still seems a bit odd to be paying so much for a case that only has 2 USB ports built into it. And because of the way the top of the case is designed, you can't really hook up things like external hard drives without worrying about them falling off. This problem is somewhat compounded because the eSATA port is also located on the top of the case and the same basic problem applies to the front panel audio ports as well.
Another problem we noticed had to do with the fan controller. One of the speed sliders (specifically, the one that controls the top fans) would occasionally shut off the LED if the slider was put all the way to its lowest setting, only for it to slowly come back on after a few seconds. We tried reseating all of the wires between the fan and the fan controller with no improvement, so it seems to be a problem with the slider itself (possibly an internal short).
Finally, while our testing didn't present any specific problems, mounting a second fan to the top of the case may present clearance issues if you also use the top optical drive bay. The fan actually sat high enough that it sat above and behind the drive tested, but there wasn't that much clearance, so some drives may not fit.
Conclusion
The NZXT Phantom is, in one word, fantastic. It takes a refreshing new approach to case design for full-tower cases that offers many advantages over the typical way of doing things. The build quality seems outstanding across the board, the integrated fan controller is smoothly integrated into the design and more powerful than most, the removable drive bays are innovative and flexible, and the cases design lends itself quite well to wire management.
While there is room for improvement (particularly regarding the amount of USB 2.0 ports and their placement), overall the case more than overcomes these deficits with its user friendliness and clever design touches. And with a street price of around $140 (Amazon Link, Newegg Link), it represents a pretty good value as far as the full-tower PC case market is concerned. HardwareLogic can give our full recommendation to the NZXT Phantom Enthusiast Full Tower Case. Just make sure you have the space for the abnormally long length.
HardwareLogic would like to thank NZXT for making this review possible.
The test system in question used various parts of various vintages to get a good assessment of how flexible the Phantom really was as a full-tower case. For example, the CPU and GPU were a Pentium 4 HT 3.2 and a GeForce 7900GS, respectively; and two of the hard drives were IDE drives (one of which being a 7200 RPM drive) to see how usable the wire management system was with wires as cumbersome to use as IDE cables are. Not particularly powerful components in this day and age to be sure, but still power hungry ones that will easily run hot if not properly ventilated.
Over the course of our testing, we only really noticed a few things, the first of which being the USB port deficiency. While the Phantom is on the lower end of the full-tower segment, it still seems a bit odd to be paying so much for a case that only has 2 USB ports built into it. And because of the way the top of the case is designed, you can't really hook up things like external hard drives without worrying about them falling off. This problem is somewhat compounded because the eSATA port is also located on the top of the case and the same basic problem applies to the front panel audio ports as well.
Another problem we noticed had to do with the fan controller. One of the speed sliders (specifically, the one that controls the top fans) would occasionally shut off the LED if the slider was put all the way to its lowest setting, only for it to slowly come back on after a few seconds. We tried reseating all of the wires between the fan and the fan controller with no improvement, so it seems to be a problem with the slider itself (possibly an internal short).
Finally, while our testing didn't present any specific problems, mounting a second fan to the top of the case may present clearance issues if you also use the top optical drive bay. The fan actually sat high enough that it sat above and behind the drive tested, but there wasn't that much clearance, so some drives may not fit.
Conclusion
The NZXT Phantom is, in one word, fantastic. It takes a refreshing new approach to case design for full-tower cases that offers many advantages over the typical way of doing things. The build quality seems outstanding across the board, the integrated fan controller is smoothly integrated into the design and more powerful than most, the removable drive bays are innovative and flexible, and the cases design lends itself quite well to wire management.
While there is room for improvement (particularly regarding the amount of USB 2.0 ports and their placement), overall the case more than overcomes these deficits with its user friendliness and clever design touches. And with a street price of around $140 (Amazon Link, Newegg Link), it represents a pretty good value as far as the full-tower PC case market is concerned. HardwareLogic can give our full recommendation to the NZXT Phantom Enthusiast Full Tower Case. Just make sure you have the space for the abnormally long length.
HardwareLogic would like to thank NZXT for making this review possible.