The total build time for the 530 was around 30 minutes and give the final result is super slick and tiny I think that is pretty good all round. Cable management is flawless, leaving airflow unobstructed and everything generally looks clean and tidy.
The cooling fans on the H100i and the rear exhaust fan have plenty of breathing room, there are no trailing cables and our GTX 560 Ti has a huge amount of space to take in airflow, certainly more than enough room for a multi GPU system here and there is also definitely room for a larger PSU.
Our Kingston SSD sits nicely in the bottom bay and there is certainly more than enough room for extra storage here, something that will prove popular with fans of hardcore raid configurations. Clearance from the 560Ti and the fan mount isn’t great and the fan would sit right up against our GPU has I installed it, that is no bad thing of course but if you have a longer GPU then you really will have to remove the top drive bay and you would have to either move it further down in the system or loose the fan mount completely to avoid conflicts.
The H100i fits snuggly in the top of the chassis with ease, as too would something like the Kraken X60.
With the side panel in place we get a super clear view of the chassis interior, lucky that the build looks clean then because even a single screw out of place would stand out here.
I have one issue though, that top mesh is super easy to see through and the visible mounting panel breaks away from the clean look. I though I could mount my h100i in this top compartment, it’s certainly big enough for a rad and push-pull fans, but the hose of the cooler conflicted with the chassis no matter where I placed it, meaning this is only really useful for custom loop configurations, or of course you could fill it with 2 x 200mm white NZXT fans to stop it from looking bare. The same goes for the side fan mount, it looks odd with nothing installed and if your buying this chassis, I suggest you invest in the extra fans to fill it out, or risk it looking a little bare.
It’s a super mid sized chassis. I like the fact they’ve lost the USB 2 ports. What still mystifies me is the inclusion of grommeted holes for water tubing on the back, I mean, have you ever seen anyone use them?… but that’s really a non-issue. Hopefully they’ll release the case in a whole host of colours as time passes but I do like the red. I’m so tired of back or white cases that I’m starting to miss the days of the beige box. Lol.
I’ve seen lots of people using those holes. I just don’t understand why anyone would want to. Externally mounted (or unmounted) systems are not very elegant or practical.
i have never seen anyone who does…did you take pictures of the great white buffalo?
Yes, I think this case is a super mid sized chassis too, I’m looking for a true full tower, one that can accommodate a pair of 480 or 420 radiators and a power supply of any length, so far I know of only that could fit the bill, but so far Phanteks has not started selling them yet, latest word on Enthoo Primo is September or October, I can wait, but not forever, if NZXT made a stretched version of the 530 that could fill this requirement and not be made of aluminum or cost more than $250.00(US$), I could see Myself buying 2 cases, otherwise I can wait.
they do…check out the 630 model…it’s below $200 and it is a pretty big case.
According to the specs this case is made of plastic and steel.
No beige boxes! LoL. Never again!
can’t believe the reviewer didn’t point out the differences between this case and the 630.
I love it but I need more than three drive bays in front. Four would be the minimum for me. One DVD, room for a more versatile fan controller and a memory slot reader.
Fan controller is in the case
USB 2.0 ports are so obsolete. Glad they are gone. I’m leaning towards either the Phantom 530 or the Storm Stryker when I build my new PC (after GTX780Ti comes out of course!)
is FZ-200 or FS-200mm will sit perfectly on top of this chassis?