NZXT Phantom Case Review

The PC modding scene had grown stale for a while.  In the early 2000s there were lots of interesting and cool mods, but looked kind of ghetto unless you had access to a machine shop.  Then manufacturers got the crazy idea that they could make pre-fabricated cases that had interesting and cool designs and make a fortune!

Unfortunately many of these “pre-modded” cases were either crap, cheaply made, or the design didn’t market well.   NZXT is one of the few players in the business that makes great PC cases that many modders are proud to have.

The Phantom case is one of their more popular models, and is available in many different colors to suit your taste.  The cases are available in white, black, red, and even pink for the grrl gamers (and some boy gamers: you know who you are!).

• High Performance Cooling Advantages – Phantom’s extensive cooling capabilities include 7 fan cooling options with dual 200mm, single side 230/200mm (NZXT only guarantees fitment with NZXT’s FN-200), triple 120mm, and front 140mm fans. For enhanced control and expandability, NZXT includes dual radiator support, quad watercooling cutouts, and an integrated fan controller with up to five 20W channels.
• Simple Installation – Phantom celebrates an array of innovative features designed to enhance every stage of the build. Meticulous wire management is easily attainable with large spacing behind the motherboard. The innovative all-new 5.25” screwless rails make installing and swapping HDDs an effortless process. Rubber grommets dampens vibration during operation.
  
      
• Additional Advanced Features – Further distinct features include an LED on/off button to control fan lighting, rubber PSU and case feet to reduce vibration, easily removable front and top panels, and top mounted USB, Audio/Mic, and E-SATA ports.
• Extensive Compatibility and Expandability – Features support for larger heat sinks, graphics cards, and E-ATX motherboards enabling enthusiasts to include any of today’s hottest components. Vast space within the enclosure allows for 7 hard drives with SDD support and up to five 5.25” bays.

Enthusiast Steel Full Tower
NZXT presents the cutting edge Phantom Full Tower Chassis. Designed with sleek, pristine contours, the Phantom radiates personality and quality. As with all NZXT products, we strive to set apart our customers from the rest with unique, original designs – we run the extra mile so you won’t have to settle with the typical rectangular box.

 The Phantom delivers high performance cooling advantages with 7 fan cooling options, dual radiator support, quad watercooling cutouts, and five 20W per channel fan controls. An innovative 5.25” screwless system, vast space to encompass 7 hard drives, and five 5.25” bays enable smooth customization. Establish your power, your presence.

MODEL	Phantom Series
CASE TYPE	Full Tower Steel
FRONT PANEL MATERIAL	Plastic/Steel
DIMENSIONS (W x H x D)	222 x 540 X 623 mm
VGA Clearance Maximum	350mm
COOLING SYSTEM	FRONT, 1 X 140mm REAR, 1 X 120mm (included) SIDE, 2 x 120mm, 1 x 200/230 (2 x 120mm included) TOP, 2 X 200mm (1 x LED 200mm included)
DRIVE BAYS	5 EXTERNAL 5.25″ DRIVE BAYS 7 INTERNAL 3.5″/2.5″ Slots Screwless Rail Design
MATERIAL(S)	Steel with black finish
EXPANSION SLOTS	7
WEIGHT	11 kg
MOTHERBOARD SUPPORT	E-ATX, ATX, MICRO-ATX, BABY AT

On the next page we look under the covers of this Phantom…

The case has a very shiny look to it, thanks to a coat of auto-quality paint.  The bright white is contrasted with black modders mesh, which allows airflow into the case.    The front of the case has a swinging molded plastic door, which conceals any 5.25″ peripherals such as a blu-ray drive.  If you have a lot of fan controllers or other displays, then you might not want to conceal them, but honestly I don’t know many people who use up any bays other than their optical drive.

The top of the case has a very interesting angular shape to it, and has a few little goodies.  Not only are there two 120mm exhaust fans, but it also has headphone and microphone jacks (thankfully without those horrid pink and puke-green color rings to indicate which port is which), two USB 2.0 ports, an eSATA port, hard drive activity and power LEDs, and a power button.   One of the best features of the case is a built-in fanbus, which has an interesting shape and uses icons to indicate the fan position in the case.

 The side panel has three air intake holes.  Two of them are a “smaller” 120mm fans, while a much larger 230mm fan takes up the rest of the space.

The back of the case has a typical 120mm exhaust fan, which includes a white NZXT fan.  There are four grommeted holes that you can use for various intake-output cables or tubes, such as water-cooling tubes or USB cables that need access to the rear of the case.  The I/O panel has the typical 7 card slots and standard motherboard cutout.

  

There is also a standard area to accept most major computer power supplies, and the bottom has rubber standoffs to keep your PSU from scratching the case.  Many power supplies utilize a large 140mm intake fan to push air through the unit, and since many cases now place the PSU on the bottom, it’s great that NZXT has created some space between the case and the power supply.

The inside of the NZXT Phantom has lots of spaces and holes that make it much easier to make a clean PC build.  Not only are there ample holes, but many of them are grommeted with black rubber to prevent wires from becoming frayed on the case’s metal edges.  There is also a cutout for the underside of your motherboard’s CPU area, so you don’t have to remove your motherboard if you decide to switch heatsinks.

The drive panel has been given a few features to make installation rather tool-less.  The five 5.25″ externally facing drive bays have been given plastic tension mechanisms so that all you have to do is pull them pack, insert your drive, and return the tension mechanism back down.

 While this is a quick and easy method, I have never been a fan of this shortcut.  The drives feel a bit wobbly, and are never as secure as using screws.  If you do use screws ( which I totally recommend), then I would use rubber or vinyl grommets between the screw and the case.  Not only does this help prevent vibration, but will prevent the nice paint job from getting marred or otherwise scratched.

The five internal 3.5″ drive bays have been given black plastic screwless trays to rest in.  The trays come with rubber and metal pegs to secure the drive.  You first place the drive in the tray and then visually line up the drive’s screw holes through the tray’s “window”.  You then insert the rubber plugs into the tray and then shift the drive up to lock the plugs into place.  This is actually a nice design, as the drive is floating on rubber and has natural vibration resistance.

   The case also comes with a small 2.5″ drive bay for securing any SSDs (or laptop drives) you may have.  The installation method is the same as the internal 3.5-inch bays.

All of the extra holes made it very easy to route cables in a stealthy way, and many of the fanbus’s cables were already bunched together and routed in the hidden area on the back side of the case.

It was also very easy to install a motherboard with a large heatsink, and we had no fear of switching out heatsinks thanks to the cutout area underneath the motherboard.  Many large heatsinks today require screws or other tension mechanisms to be pushed through some holes in the motherboard, which require access to the bottom.  Traditionally you had to remove the mainboard just to do a simple upgrade like this.

 

While there is space for seven hard drives (five 3.5″ and two SSDs), it can get rather cramped once you start placing cables everywhere.  A case of this size is not meant to be crammed full of devices, like a server, but will work very well with a modest amount of equipment, say two or three drives and a few optical drives or other externally-facing devices.

There are so many cooling options on this case that it really is hard to get your PC to overheat.  While there have been measures to reduce noise, this isn’t the quiestest case in the world, especially with all of the fans running at full blast.  The built-in fanbus has a great level of granularity and  can make things much quieter, but gives you the ability to push it to full throttle when you’re at a LAN party.

There are a few gripes about this case, however.  The paint isn’t powder-coated, so it can be easily nicked, especially if you use screws to mount your drives.  While the cabling is good, there are a few places where there isn’t enough slack, and a typical PSU’s power connector for the motherboard doesn’t quite fit in the cutout of the motherboard tray.