NZXT Tempest Evo Case Review

Taking the case out of the box was a bit like birthing a newborn baby.  It’s a tight squeeze, and there’s a lot of afterbirth.  And by that, I mean foam padding and a plastic cover.  Probably a little more info than you folks wanted, but at least you’ll never get bored while opening the box of a new case again.

After wriggling the behemoth out of the box and getting the plastic bag off of it, I can set it up and observe.  It seems that the farther along we get with computer technology, the smaller the hardware is getting, yet the cases just get bigger and bigger.  The Tempest Evo is most certainly not an exception to the rule.  But we’re not here to judge the weight and size; we’re here to judge the looks and functionality.  First off, the aesthetics of this work of art.

To start off, the black paint job is a beautiful thing.  I will never stop loving the flat black paint job.  And it’s even more awesome now that the interiors of the cases are getting a coat or two.  I don’t care what you have, paint it black and it doubles in awesomeness instantly.  The smoked window is also a nice touch, and they didn’t stick with the tradition squared off window, but instead narrowed it at the end closer to the front of the case to match the gradual slope at the top.  A single 120mm 9-blade fan sits in the mid-left of the window

NZXT has pretty much pioneered the cool factor when it comes to the blank slot grills.  They cover every spare section of the case that is allowed by design.  Two large grills on top protect delicate fingers from the dual 120mm fans, there are eight on the front (not counting the CD/DVD Drive), and six on the back for the expansion card slots.  The entire front is pretty much covered by these grills, the lower half of them protecting the dual 120mm fans that serve as the case’s airflow intake.  Each one of these fans also has a removable dust screen that slides in over it if you take the front of the case off.

The rear top and lower front of the case have sleek grooves cut into them, for aesthetics more than anything, I’m quite sure.  However, each of the top grooves on the front of the case has a clear acrylic sliver in it backlit by an LED that serves as the power light and the HDD light.  Much nicer than the standard LED on the front of most cases right under the power button.  And the final outside touch is the port panel on top.  This raised panel, not much more than an inch high, consists of two USB 2.0 ports, headphone/mic ports, a single eSata port, a chrome power button and a chrome reset button.