NZXT Crafted Series ATX Full Tower Steel Chassis

The NZXT Phantom is in every way an incredible case. For those of us who like to stick in the most modern devices and intricate cooling devices, the Phantom will make it happen. At first sight, the Phantom looks sleek, it's the lamborghini of computer cases. Everything is built to look stylish and that it is. Opening this bad boy up you'll notice it's not just a bunch of good looks, but has the features and room for any type of set up. 4 holes in the back allow you to fit liquid cooling tubes with ease. Cable management is simple and spacious with how much room you're given in the back to fit things through. 7 brackets included for your storage devices, and 5 slots for your optical drives. Not only do you have the room for these devices, but securing them is easier than ever. No need for screw on brackets, simple attach your drives with the screw free brackets included in the case. Slide said item back in and you're ready to go. With so much available space and such ease of use, even beginners shouldn't have a problem getting everything set up to how they want it. The top of the case includes the power buttons and 2 usb ports, as well as audio and mic jack. As of Jan 2012, one of the USB ports is a USB 3.0 port! A welcome sign to the quickly growing trend of superfast USB 3.0 usage.

Let's move on to one of the greatest features of the NZXT, it's a cooling MONSTER! A built in fan controller up top is pre-configured for your use. Just connect them to a power supply, connect your side fans and everything should get to a whirling start. The case includes 4 pre installed fans, 2 side fans, one rear exhaust and an incredible 200mm top fan. With room for 1 more 200mm side fan, another 200mm top fan, and a smaller fan in the front, this thing almost takes off with the amount of air it gets. The Phantom is in every sense of the word a 'Wind Tunnel'. Some users may be dissapointed in not being able to tell how fast the fans are actually going, as the controller only lets you guess to how fast it goes. Luckily the Phantom fans are very quiet even at full speed. Leaving the case fans at full speed all the time ensures incredible air flow and proper cooling. With so much room, you can even stick a few more fans in the case if properly secured. Can't go wrong when a case is cold to the touch!

With that said, mind your fingers when touching the case. The reflective finish smudges easily, while may also be annoying to some users. The optical bay is covered with a hinge that while sleek may be annoying to some users as it reflects whatever is in front of it. Luckily, it's incredibly easy to remove and attach back on. If looking to attach another 200mm fan you'll have to buy specified NZXT type fans, as others will simply not fit unless modified. With how spacious the unit is, and it is great, it's also large. Be aware that you'll need a good amount of room to have it sitting around.

The price of the case is incredible, with proper searching you can find it for less than 100$, and the quality of the build makes that a steal. Get this case without any doubt, you will love it!

I recently purchased the NZXT Phantom case in black for my first PC build. I liked the look of the case for it unique design and appearance and I wasn't disappointed when it arrived. It's every bit as stylish as the pictures would suggest, not your average beige box.

However, the first thing I noticed when I first opened up the box, was just how huge it is. You will have no problem fitting anything and everything inside this case, and the room inside makes installation of your components far less of a hassle. There is also good cable management features, with plenty of rubber grommets and places for you to put your wires. The case comes with all the necessary nuts bolts and cable ties for you to put this case together, even if you buy all the additional fans that this case can take (as I did).

Build quality is good, everything feels solid, and the magnetic front door for the drive bays is a nice touch. Air flow through the case is great; my case temperature, with all the fans installed and set to medium is only a few degrees above the ambient room temperature. The air coming out of the top exhaust fans even feels a little cold when the computer is idling along.

Only thing I will say against it is that the fan controller doesn't seem to do an awful lot. When I change the speed of the front 140mm fan, I can tell, but the others don't seem to respond (I know they are though, the blue LEDs changes brightness when you adjust the fan speed). Might plug the fans into the mobo's chassis fan controllers, see whether I just have particularly silent fans or if its the case's controls not working properly.

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Exterior Design

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The exterior is very sharp looking and probably one of the best looking game cases in my honest opinion. The design is a glossy black which might make people turn away from this case for 2 reasons and that is because fingerprints will be visible dust. I did not take an flame off the rating because i clean mine every day. Other impressive things of this case are the fan controller and the setup of the power/reset and the input output ports they did a very nice job in designing this case. (5 out of 5)

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Interior Design

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The interior design is another amazing thing about this case. The best parts of this case is that there is a great amount of wire management holes with RUBBER Grommets, there is also a great deal of room for water cooling and modding this case for people looking to have customize water cooling. Two thing that did bother me about this case is when using a tall heatsink for the cpu you will not be able to place the 200mm (193 mm actually) fan on the side because of the restriction. The other problem is that the 200mm (193mm) fans on the side are special made and some 200mm might have trouble fitting because of the size difference. That is why NZXT recommends you get there 200mm fans which i must tell you the retail fans come in 120,140,200 and they have performance and silent series fans which are very good fans and they are sleeved cables. (5 out of 5)

Overall this case is a JMatz must buy if you are looking for a full size, mod friendly and a great overall gaming case.

If you are interested about this case you can check out the official Phantom club on our forums or Visit NZXT.com

Specifications:
Motherboard Support - E-ATX, ATX, Micro ATX, ITX
Dimensions - 222mm (W) x 541.34mm (H) x 623.81mm (D)
Weight - 11kg
Materials - Steel, Plastic, Mesh
I/O Ports - x1 HD Audio/Mic, x2 USB 2.0, x1 eSATA
External 5.25" - 5
Internal 3.5" - 7
Expansion Slots - 7
Fans - x1 140mm or x1 120mm (Front), x2 200mm (Top) x1 included, x1 120mm (Rear) x1 included, x1 200 or 230mm (Side) and x2 120mm (Side) x2 included.

Features
- Supports 7 fans
- Dual radiator support
- 20W 5 channel fan controller
- Tool less drive bay design
- Rubber PSU holders to reduce vibration

Pros (Detailed)

Built in Fan Controller
The built in fan controller is a very nice feature that you don't see in other cases. The fan controller itself is a simple one, but it does its intended job with a sliding lever. While it can not control the percentage speed of the fan it works for someone like me who either has it on high or low. The fan controller while only having five fan controller adjusters supports all seven fans you can hook up into this machine with x2 120mm side fans and the x2 200mm top fans on the same controller. I should also note that the fan controller supports up to 20W per channel.

Supports 7 Hard Drives
There is a ton of room for raid configuration or storage drives in this case. The drives bays themselves are able to hot swap which can be a very useful feature. The only thing I don't like about the about this feature is that the seven drive bays are separated into different places with the main drive bay holding four drives and the secondary drive bay holding two drives as you can see below in the bottom right corner of the picture.



Great Air Flow
The airflow in this case is great because it does support seven fans including x3 200mm fans. The included dust filters also compliment the case with the only bad thing being that you will have to buy a dust filter for the front fan and extra fans for ones that aren't included.

Cons (Detailed)

Build Quality Issues
When I first got this case I had nothing but issues with things breaking. The list of things that broke include both spring loaded easy access thumb screws for the back of the case. both 120mm side fans and one of the 200mm top fans.

The first issue that arose that was the easy access thumb screws was caused because the part holding the thumb screws in place was made out of plastic which is not a durable material. You may be thinking now I guess he was just being to rough with the case and I can say that was not the issue it just broke from regular use within the first week. Also should also add that I sent in a RMA for a replacement part and received a week later free of charge, but it was the wrong so I didn't even bother replacing them because the thumb screws themselves still work.

Secondly I had to replace both of the 120mm side fans and the stock 200mm top fan because the fans started to make very loud grinding noises which happened to be a ball bearing issue in the fans. The RMA process for the fans was quick and simple they sent me new fans and told me to keep the old fans all for free. Lastly they sent a wrong fan (140mm front fan) at first, but I was able to keep it out of the kindness of the company.

Despite these cons and the mix ups on the RMA process I would say NZXT customer support is top notch just because there are a lot of companies out there who wouldn't go the extra mile like they do.

200mm Side Fan
The biggest issue for some may be that this fan is really a 192mm fan and not a 200mm fan like stated by NZXT. This means it will not work with most other 200mm fans. (expect a modded Xigmatek 200mm fan which is talked about below)

Another issue some may have is that the 200mm side fan along with the dust filter really leaves no room for a tall heat sink. The clearance in the case without a side fan is 180mm, but when you add in a side fan and dust filter the room you have for a heat sink shrinks to around 157mm because you have to account 20mm for the fan and 3mm for the dust filter

3rd party fan linked here is the best for the job because it is only 20mm tall while NZXT's fan is 30mm tall. FYI this fan requires a small amount of modding to get it to fit. Just drill holes into the optional screw hole slots to make it fit with the NZXT Phantom. You need a drill, 5/32" Drill bit, and four 6-32 screws to do this mod or you can do it another way which does not require drilling which is explained here. As you can see with this second way to do the mod a large heat sink like the NH-D14 will fit in this case with this fan, but this is only without the fan filter.

Because of the clearance issues, I had to spend $90 on a new high performance low profile heat sink to replace my Hyper 212+ which can be a major con depending on how strict your budget is. ( Hyper 212+ was replaced by a Noctua NH-C14 which preforms about the same as a Hyper 212+, but costs $60 more).

Overview
While are some clear cons with this cases I still find it one of my favorite cases on the market for its price range. Even if you have issues related to the build quality NZXT will take care of them in a timely manor.

Another thing a potential buyer should take into account is that this case does not include all the fans that this case can fit so you will have to spend an additional $50-60 on additional fans and an extra $5 for a front fan filter if you want the maximum air cooling performance this case can dish out.

While I cannot commented on this case for water cooling, I have read from other users that modification had to be made to fit the Corsair water cooling series heat sinks and also for large water radiators.

So in all if you have a larger budget I would recommend searching for a different case with better build quality and more features because this case may not be for you, but if this case falls within the price range you are looking to spend I would say go for it because you won't find a better case for $120.

Link to NZXT website with photos and other reviews.