NZXT PHANTOM 530 Review
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Up Close:Â Stripped
Still fighting the urge to call this section In the nip” let’s take a look at the 350 once all the trimmings have been stripped away. The plastic panels that identify the 530 clearly as part of the Phantom range are easily removed by a firm tug. Although plastic, they are rigid and do not give the impression they are going to break or warp any time soon. The image below left shows the front panel with the mesh fan filter in place, so should you want to clean this filter you’re going to have to take the front off. But let’s face it, who cleans their filters?
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The front of the case has a large cut out for the 5.25″ bays, below which we find the front fan intake area. Supplied as it is with a 200mm NZXT fan, the area is also able to accept 2x120mm or 2x140mm units
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We’ve already talked about the importance of fittings being screwed as opposed to riveted when it comes to case modding, and it’s nice to see that NZXT have carried this through to the plastic fittings supporting the various front I/O and lighting mounts.
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Looking down onto the roof gives us a good idea of how much space there is up here. although no fans are fitted as standard, it’s possible to get 2x200mm up here. So if air cooling’s your thing just think of the effect of 2 almost silently spinning low RPM 200mms will have on your cooling. Other options include 3x140mm and 3x120mm fans. If you’re planning to water-cool then you have the option of a 360mm or 280mm rad up here, and with slotted screw spacing you’re no going to have to worry about compatibility. There’s also 43mm of clearance so although you’re not going to be fitting a massively thick rad you should have plenty of room for units such as the XSPC RS, EX and AX series as well as the Alphacool NexXxos ST30 and Hardware labs Black ice GT Stealth. Pretty much any of the ever growing crop of AIOs which tend to have thinner rads such as the Corsair H100i and H110 will fit up here no problem at all, as will NZXTs own mighty Kraken X60
