NZXT Phantom Review - PAGE 2

Really, the Phantom is unique in its kind. Many people, including me, would have answered a "no-no" if asked about a white case. This new offering from NZXT is one exception, in my opinion. For those loyal to dark styles, it is also offered in black. The last possibility is red. Its shape is very stylized too, with many angles. Its base measures 22 x 62 cm. That is quite long, even for a full tower case. Its 54 cm height is not too tall for the form factor, however.

On its right panel, one can notice room for two 120mm fans and one large 230mm fan. On the left side, there is a similarly shaped mesh.

Up at the front there is not much happening. There is another mesh, triangular this time, leading to room for a 140mm fan. The drive bays are hidden behind a pivoting door, which is somewhat heavy, giving it noticable inertia when swing upon. Under both round rubber bumpers at each of its corners are two magnets which help keep the door closed.

It gets interesting at the back panel. There is an included 120mm fan, already installed. Cooling upgrade possibilities are accomodated through four water-cooling grommets. The power supply is positioned at the bottom, so it is not going to recycle the hot air previously exhaust by all other components. Lastly, there is a total of seven expansion slots, which is the standard these days.

The mesh at the top is the second largest, and leads to room for two 200mm fans. One of them is included by default. There is quite a lot of unused room in the top part between the mesh and the fans. It's not only unused; it's wasted. Furthermore, the top surface of the case is at an angle, so nothing can rest on it. The shape design is great though, it's just too bad NZXT couldn't find better use for this space. My own suggestion would have been to put a second mesh right on top of the fans, and allow the top one to open up. This would have made a great little storage area for random items. One could put his gaming mouse in there for example, when bringing his rig at a LAN party. 

Moving toward the front, one will find two USB 2.0 ports, one eSATA port and the usual audio connectors. The power button has a corresponding icon on it, whereas the reset button right above it is plain black. On the other side, there are five sliders which are part of the built-in fan controller. Up to seven fans can be controlled, with the top 200mm and side 120mm fans controlled together. More details on that later.

The whole unit rests on large rubber feet. It is not going to slide accidentally, that's for sure. At its back is a removable dust filter protecting the PSU from the dust which can accumulate under the case. The other two meshes lead to the hard drives cages, as will be shown on the next page.