NZXT Phantom 820 Full Tower Case Review

[Apoptosis]

NZXT Phantom 820 Full Tower Case Review

NZXT come out with the Phantom mid-tower case to much praise and then released the very popular Switch 810 full tower. What do you do next after these two fantastic case releases? Why make a full tower version of the Phantom that uses the best of both cases and call it a Phantom 820 of course. Legit sniffs around the latest from NZXT to see if it really is the best of the best.

The new trend of filling cases with features any enthusiast would enjoy is a great one and NZXT pushed the feature boundaries with the Phantom 820. This case is big, really big, and solid with great fit and finish and nice visual details without getting to far off mainstream looks. We loved the room inside the case and all the cable management options make it hard to have an ugly build in the Phantom 820.

Article Title: NZXT Phantom 820 Full Tower Case Review
Article URL: http://www.legitreviews.com/article/2057/1/
Pricing At Time of Print: $195 Shipped

[LiquidXiron]

This one is awesome, nice review as usual!

[Bhench]

Thanks, glad you liked it. The price point is a bit high but seeing how it has the fan controller and all the LED bling included, I felt it justified.

[Apoptosis]

that at the $195 shipped special right now at Frys is nice, but I just noticed that is for the white version only.

Newegg wants $270 shipped for the same case in all three colors (black, gunmetal, white)!

[DJ Tucker]

very steep price over here in the uk as well. £200 but you get all the bells and whistles needed on a case.

[NAiLs]

I finally got around to reading this review! I've been searching high and low for a decent case that supports a 120.3 top mount radiator with ease and no modifications. This case has darn near everything I could want!! It's almost perfect, that I can say!

I like the powerful fan controller that's built-in, though I do have one of my own that displays temperatures. I'm curious if the door would get in the way of the knob that my controller has? I know on my current Cooler Master case, I had to remove the door because it wouldn't close.

As far as your two cable dilemma, one could purchase a $1 Molex to SATA adapter from Monoprice to help that situation out. I figured I would throw that in.

My only other question is, the tie down points for cable management, would they be large enough to put a Velcro strap to hold the wires down, or is it only zip tie worthy? I don't care to hold my wires down with zip ties, which is why I ask.

Nice review, and I may have found my future case thanks to LR and the review! Hopefully when I'm ready to build again, the price will have come down some.

[Bhench]

I just so happens I had a Scythe six channel fan controller laying around and stuck it in the top slot. Same issue, the knobs on the right hit the hinge so the door doesn't close.

I think you could get around this issue by simply sliding the controller back into the case the distance of the knobs and then do an easy case mod of drilling a hole on the right rail for the new screw position. Or you can get a touch screen version like the Bitfenix Recon or the Aerocool Touch 2100 that should work perfectly behind the door. Or, if you want the ultimate control you can fit a Aquacomputer Aquaero 5 PRO behind the door (or get the LT version and just mount it internally without a external display). I control my daily rig with this bad boy running dual MCP-35x pumps, 10 fans, and LEDs all controlled through the awesome software that just went off beta.

I agree with the SATA power adaptor, but after dropping $250 on a case, the last thing I want to do is to have to grab a converter when it seems like such an easy design change to make them both SATA since you need to power your HDDs that will be in close proximity. On the tie downs, they are fairly wide and *may* accommodate Velcro straps if you fold them over (depending on how wide they are). The appear to be made for zip ties so I wouldn't count on that working without modding. One idea I had was to zip tie the Velcro to the tide down, and then you get the best of both worlds.

[Bhench]

Just saw this today too over at performance-pcs. Says the knobs are retractable so that may work.

[NAiLs]

I really like that software that you use. I'll have to look into that. Now in terms of the other fan controller, that one looks pretty sweet!! I'm going to have to look into that more. I did buy an Aerocool X-Vision controller to watch temps around my case and help me control the RPM's of the fans on my radiator. I like it a lot thanks to its digital display.

Thanks for the heads up on the size of the tie downs. I've just got a bunch of velcro straps from Monoprice, but I don't mind having to cut them down.

[Bhench]

No Problem!

The software is free from Aqua Computers but you need an Aquaero 5 system to run it such as the PRO. We reviewed the top of the line XT model here



You can find it here: http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/ ... s_id=30623