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NZXT Phantom Enthusiast Full Tower Case

Author
Logan King
Editor
Aron Schatz
Posted
September 13, 2010
Manufacturer
NZXT
Product Page
Phantom
Views
324517
NZXT Phantom Enthusiast Full Tower Case
The NZXT Phantom has great build quality, a long list of included features, and quite a few little things that show a strong attention to detail, all for a price towards to lower end of the full-tower market. It is also able to pack in a lot of expandability due to an innovative approach to its design. However, that innovation may not be for everyone.
Tags Games Reviews Cases NZXT ATX Enthusiast Phantom

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.
« Previous Page  
Page 1
  • Introduction
  • About NZXT
  • Packaging
Page 2
  • Specifications
  • Marketing Summary
  • Package Contents
Page 3
  • Phantom Exterior
Page 4
  • Phantom Exterior Continued
Page 5
  • Phantom Exterior Continued
Page 6
  • Phantom Interior
Page 7
  • Phantom Interior Continued
Page 8
  • Component Installation
Page 9
  • Fan Installation
  • Wire Management
Page 10
  • Use
  • Conclusion
View As Single Page Print This Page Print Entire Article
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Comments

WhiteEagle Tue Sep 14, 2010 2:28:45 AM #133577
I would consider this case for my Home Server build.
kiya Thu Jan 18, 2018 1:59:09 AM #290488
Thank you for your post, I look for such article along time, today I find it finally. This post gives me lots of advice it is very useful for me.
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images/siteimages/upload/2010/09/05/4142mis.jpg Packaging Front images/siteimages/upload/2010/09/05/4143ms3.jpg Packaging Rear images/siteimages/upload/2010/09/05/4144mux.jpg Packaging Side images/siteimages/upload/2010/09/05/4145mu8.jpg Packaging Interior images/siteimages/upload/2010/09/05/4146mhd.jpg Packaging images/siteimages/upload/2010/09/05/4147mis.jpg Bundled Cords/Adapters images/siteimages/upload/2010/09/05/4148mss.jpg Manual and Box images/siteimages/upload/2010/09/05/4149mds.jpg Box Contents images/siteimages/upload/2010/09/05/4150mux.jpg NZXT Phantom Wrapped images/siteimages/upload/2010/09/05/4152m7d.jpg NZXT Phantom Front images/siteimages/upload/2010/09/05/4153mqn.jpg NZXT Phantom Door Opened images/siteimages/upload/2010/09/05/4154m2d.jpg Size Comparison Front images/siteimages/upload/2010/09/05/4155mis.jpg Size Comparison Rear images/siteimages/upload/2010/09/05/4156mcd.jpg Size Comparison Side images/siteimages/upload/2010/09/05/4157mn3.jpg Fan Controller images/siteimages/upload/2010/09/05/4158mbn.jpg Front Panel Controls images/siteimages/upload/2010/09/05/4159m3s.jpg Top Exhaust Shroud images/siteimages/upload/2010/09/05/4163lou.jpg NZXT Phantom Left Side images/siteimages/upload/2010/09/05/4164lx0.jpg NZXT Phantom Right Side images/siteimages/upload/2010/09/05/4162lfp.jpg NZXT Phantom Rear images/siteimages/upload/2010/09/05/4165mfx.jpg Liquid Cooling Ports images/siteimages/upload/2010/09/05/4166ljf.jpg Fan LED Button images/siteimages/upload/2010/09/05/4167lof.jpg Phantom Interior images/siteimages/upload/2010/09/06/4168lbp.jpg Phantom Interior Wire Management Side images/siteimages/upload/2010/09/06/4169mrd.jpg Phantom Interior Optical Bays images/siteimages/upload/2010/09/06/4170m2d.jpg Phantom Interior Expansion Slots images/siteimages/upload/2010/09/06/4171mi3.jpg Phantom Interior Fans images/siteimages/upload/2010/09/06/4172mds.jpg Phantom Interior PSU Area images/siteimages/upload/2010/09/06/4173m4i.jpg Phantom Interior Drive Bays images/siteimages/upload/2010/09/06/4174ma8.jpg Phantom Interior Drive Vents images/siteimages/upload/2010/09/06/4175lnu.jpg Phantom Interior Optical Installation images/siteimages/upload/2010/09/06/4176mgn.jpg Phantom Interior Compontents Mounted images/siteimages/upload/2010/09/06/4177mvn.jpg Phantom Interior Component Wire Management images/siteimages/upload/2010/09/06/4178mk8.jpg Phantom Interior Top Shroud Removed images/siteimages/upload/2010/09/06/4179mti.jpg Phantom Interior Top Fan images/siteimages/upload/2010/09/06/4180lf0.jpg Phantom Drive Bay images/siteimages/upload/2010/09/06/4181lxk.jpg Phantom Drive Bay 3.5" Installed images/siteimages/upload/2010/09/06/4182lwu.jpg Phantom Drive Bay 2.5" Installed images/siteimages/upload/2010/09/06/4183mns.jpg Phantom Interior Front Shroud Removed images/siteimages/upload/2010/09/06/4184lyk.jpg Drive Clearance Issues

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