NZXT Phantom 630 Review
Up Close: Interior Overview Base, Roof and Rear
Published: 4th February 2013 | Source: NZXT | Price: £155.99 |
Up Close: Interior Overview Base, Roof and Rear
The interior of the 630 is pretty cavernous. able to accept XL ATX boards with room to spare, you get the feeling there's nothing you can't fit in here. A large angular CPU cut out will make for easy cooler or waterblock mount changing and a good selection of large grommeted cut outs provide the foundation for good cable management.
The grommets themselves in fact are of such good quality that we feel they're worthy of a few close ups. of course pictures can't hope to convey their suppleness or the strength with which they resist being dislodged by our big hammy hands when feeding cables through. Hats off to the grommets. What does baffle us just a little bit though is why NZXT have chosen not to grommet all the cable management holes. Down at the base of the case, around the PSU area, and indeed up by the 5.25" bays we find quite a few holes "moin le grommet" as it were. ok it's nice to have all these extra holes, but it would be even nicer to have them all tidy.
Un grommeted holes aside, the base of the case provides a more than sturdy mound for even the longest PSUs on the market, with a second set of isolation mounts providing dampening for the longer units. As discussed on the exterior, the intake area for the PSU has a removable mesh filter.
The rear of the case is home to a single 140mm fan with mounts available should you wish to downsize. Up in the roof we find a single 200mm unit, with mounts and filters for a second or should you choose, up to 3x120m or 2x140mm fans. As detailed in the Technical Specification, there's also room up her for a thick 140.2 or a slimline 120.3 radiator. We'll look more closely at sizes and tolerances when we come to the build.
Flipping the 630 round it's time to have a look at the rear. We've seen in the past that NZXT are past masters when it comes to cable management, and the 630 doesn't disappoint. No less than 20 well distributed cable tie points, coupled with a working depth of 35mm in the area immediately behind the PSU, and 25mm for the rest of the rear means even the numptiest noob out there should have no problem achieving a wondrously tidy loom.
Those of you that followed Staff Project NZXSPC will remember that we modded the rear of the motherboard area to accept a 2.5" SSD. No such need with the 630 as twin mounts are already provided (we assume our royalty cheque is in the post). To the left of the SSD mounts we find a fan power distribution hub. For those of us who find it abhorrent to power our fans from the Motherboard, and who don't want to sully the clean looks of a case with a fan controller the Hub is a godsend. Linked into the speed controller it's able to supply power for up to 10 fans.
Although we're not big fans of side panel ventilation here at OC3D it has to be said that the 630 does at least do the job well. No pointless little mounts for 120mm fans here. Instead we get a fully fledged 200m fan set behind a removable filter panel and snugged up under an hexagonal exterior mesh panel. Can't help thinking though we'd rather have a big window and the fan mounted up in the roof, but each to their own we guess.
Most Recent Comments
Just cant find any in my country yet...
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Originally Posted by EPiiKK
This might be EXACTLY what i'm looking for my first wc build in the future.
Just cant find any in my country yet... |
Just wasn't available when I was buying, and the side panel put me off a bit.
NZXT really needs to get a replacement parts store up, so clean side panels, or windowed options can be bought - or at least replacements so if you mess it up, you aren't completely in the dark!
I was wondering about how the bottom was looking in terms of radiators, I didn't see any measurements in the review. I will probably keep the 3 hdd bay (I'm a bit of a digital pack rat) hooked in it's default position and get rid of all the rest of the bays and put the thickest 240mm rad in the bottom in push/pull that it will allow. It looks like a ton of space, so I'm guessing I could fit at least a 45mm rad in push/pull.
I'm going to probably end up getting this case, it has pretty much everything I need in terms of looks and watercooling potential. That side fan/mesh area on the side panel has a date with a jigsaw though, only thing I don't like about the case. Thanks again for the review, now I can now start ordering parts.
I'd take the switch over this just because I prefer the cleaner look to it.
Wish it had a full window instead of this window/mesh mix!
Seems to have great features for watercooling but i still too expensive for this size of a case.
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