NZXT Phantom - White

I spent most of the morning putting my new build together. I decided to go for the NZXT Phantom white case - so far i am extremely impressed. The case has a vast amount of room in there for cable management, there are some amazing little touches such as quick release drives etc.

Look on youtube - there are stack of video reviews.

So far, highly recommend :) and most important it looks stunning!
 
its a great case, but it has some really bad flaws.

H series coolers wont fit (some people got lucky and it will)

but if your not in a rush there allready re making this case with improvments.
 
Aeleys said:
but if your not in a rush there allready re making this case with improvments.
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How do you know that? I was after one, but found out about the issue with h70 and this put me off. But if they are redesign it, I could wait. Its only depends how long its going to take to release update.
 
the stock photos made it look amazing

unfortunatly it is just the standard NZXT fayre.

cheap plastics
poor hard drive cages
thin cheap metal panels
average paint job
flimsy, unnecessary door
shambolic watercooling support
overpriced
 
rjkoneill said:
the stock photos made it look amazing

unfortunatly it is just the standard NZXT fayre.

cheap plastics
poor hard drive cages
thin cheap metal panels
average paint job
flimsy, unnecessary door
shambolic watercooling support
overpriced
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:eek:
Sorry RJK, but

YOU WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? :p

This is the single most amazing case I have ever worked in!

Cheap plastics? Nope, they are pretty solid, don't flex, haven't had any problems with them AT ALL so far :)

Poor hard drive cages? Couldn't be further from the truth! They are a fantastic toolless idea :)

Thin cheap metal panels? Again, no flex, no problems :)

Average paint job? Where? On mine it's fantastic, no scratches (and I have manhandled it a bit :rolleyes:) :)

Flimsy, unnecessary door? It's so cool! and it certainly isn't flimsy! I think the only way to break it is if you try very hard to :)

Shambolic watercooling support? Not sure, not tried it yet. But it does have predrilled holes for 2 120.2 rads, so not sure where the problem is there :)

Overpriced? In what way? I, along with pretty much every review site that has had one, thinks the cooling, build quality and ease of use make it FANTASTIC value for money! The overclock3d guy off of Youtube (can never remember his name) now uses it as his main rig! :)

Sorry for the essay Rich, but as an end user who has thoroughly enjoyed using this case I think it needed to be said :)
 
Shayper said:
:eek:
Sorry RJK, but

YOU WHAT?!
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the door is flimsy and totally pointless - you dont need a door on a computer case.

plastic on any case looks cheap unless pulled off well. nzxt cases are particularly nasty and arguably the worst offenders for this crime.

the hard drive holders bend in half easily and certainly dont insprire confidence in transport.
i wouldnt want to entrust my data in them :o

the paintjob is the typical nzxt cheapo powedercoat. put it next to a silverstone fortress ft01 or even the panels on an antec 902 and tell me its not bad.

the panels are poor. there really is no argument there, every nzxt case is the same.

the watercooling radiators are supposed to be held on by some sort of silly arm system [these metal brackets which fold easily] with three screws supposed to hold a 240 rad in place. i somehow dont think so.
i wouldnt personally hold a heavy/full 240 radiator over my expensive hardware with these.

it is overpriced.
i would take a coolermaster sniper/dominator or lian li pc50/pcb25 over this case any day of the week
it does nothing better than the dominator which is better built and has a superior layout.

sorry, i understand that you like your case. but i build a lot of computers, and this case is not something i would suggest as an option to anyone.
 
the doors are great on the ones i have seen maybe OCUK got a bad batch??? (3xblack,2xwhite from competitor), but the rest of what you said is true.

thats why there re-doing it sadly.

but it still looks awesome.
 
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rjkoneill said:
the door is flimsy and totally pointless - you dont need a door on a computer case.

plastic on any case looks cheap unless pulled off well. nzxt cases are particularly nasty and arguably the worst offenders for this crime.

the hard drive holders bend in half easily and certainly dont insprire confidence in transport.
i wouldnt want to entrust my data in them :o

the paintjob is the typical nzxt cheapo powedercoat. put it next to a silverstone fortress ft01 or even the panels on an antec 902 and tell me its not bad.

the panels are poor. there really is no argument there, every nzxt case is the same.

the watercooling radiators are supposed to be held on by some sort of silly arm system [these metal brackets which fold easily] with three screws supposed to hold a 240 rad in place. i somehow dont think so.
i wouldnt personally hold a heavy/full 240 radiator over my expensive hardware with these.

it is overpriced.
i would take a coolermaster sniper/dominator or lian li pc50/pcb25 over this case any day of the week
it does nothing better than the dominator which is better built and has a superior layout.

sorry, i understand that you like your case. but i build a lot of computers, and this case is not something i would suggest as an option to anyone.
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I totally agree with you on it's watercooling features, great idea in concept but poorly executed. I feel the same away about the rear 120mm fan, how did they not notice that a H50/70 hit the top 200mm fan?! I also agree that the panels do feel a little flimsy, some of the cheaper Antecs are better built.

But then I have to disagree with you on the paint job and plastic quality, the paint job has a really nice finish compared to a lot of the other ~£100 cases I have seen and the plastics are really well moulded and the door is one of the most sturdy I have seen on a case. I also disagree with you saying that you don't need a door - I personally love having a door on a case to hide the DVD Drive, unless you have a great watercooling setup (then why would you have this case?!) with a bay mounted reservoir to oogle at I'd rather keep the nasty bits hidden away, thanks!

And I'm not just defending my purchase - In fact I could quite easily slate it as I'm miffed that it turned up missing cables but that's apparently in hand.
 
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rjkoneill said:
the door is flimsy and totally pointless - you dont need a door on a computer case.

plastic on any case looks cheap unless pulled off well. nzxt cases are particularly nasty and arguably the worst offenders for this crime.

the hard drive holders bend in half easily and certainly dont insprire confidence in transport.
i wouldnt want to entrust my data in them :o

the paintjob is the typical nzxt cheapo powedercoat. put it next to a silverstone fortress ft01 or even the panels on an antec 902 and tell me its not bad.

the panels are poor. there really is no argument there, every nzxt case is the same.

the watercooling radiators are supposed to be held on by some sort of silly arm system [these metal brackets which fold easily] with three screws supposed to hold a 240 rad in place. i somehow dont think so.
i wouldnt personally hold a heavy/full 240 radiator over my expensive hardware with these.

it is overpriced.
i would take a coolermaster sniper/dominator or lian li pc50/pcb25 over this case any day of the week
it does nothing better than the dominator which is better built and has a superior layout.

sorry, i understand that you like your case. but i build a lot of computers, and this case is not something i would suggest as an option to anyone.
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I couldnt disagree more, although I couldnt comment about the watercooling aspect, I think its an excellent case. And this is coming from a akasa eclipse.
 
My Apologies.

The NZXT Phantom is the best case on the market.

The NZXT Phantom is well made

The NZXT Phantom is fantastic value for money

The NZXT Phantom has lots of relavent and useful features

The NZXT Phantom is superior to every other case in terms of build quality

The NZXT Phantom is presented really well and the plastics are incredible

The NZXT Phantom only presents the end user with the highest quality materials

The NZXT Phantom is easier to build in than any other case



i can see that my critique of this case hasn't gone down well in a thread full of people who purchased it [and thus wish to defend this decision] but i build computers for a living.

i have built in nearly every case you could care to list.

therfore i feel that my opinion could hold some value to the OPs question.

at the end of the day, I work for OcUK, i should be trying to sell you stuff.
i could just say that it is fantastic and wonderful and building in it is like frollocking in a bed of daffodils. but its not.

all im doing is giving an honest and unbiased critique as possibly the only poster in this thread who has built in this case but does not have any ownership bias
 
rjkoneill said:
at the end of the day, I work for OcUK, i should be trying to sell you stuff.
i could just say that it is fantastic and wonderful and building in it is like frollocking in a bed of daffodils. but its not.
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rofl this brought tears to my eyes... come on peeps trust the guy! he should be pushing every crap product down your throat for a nice hefty bonus. His response is not to show how much of a forum crusader he is:D
 
I kind of agree about case doors... My P182 looks sleek and stealth-like but the door is really annoying - especially as I have to keep it locked with the kids around (this is a good feature however)
 
rjkoneill said:
all im doing is giving an honest and unbiased critique as possibly the only poster in this thread who has built in this case but does not have any ownership bias
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I'm sorry if you feel I am biased; you are probably right.

However, I have owned several other cases - Storm Sniper, Antec 300 and Antec 900 - and have found them to be brilliant individually, however each has had flaws.

The Sniper was cramped to build in: however the temperatures were fantastic and it did look brilliant. Unfortunately I had to sell it, so I then bought the 300 after reading reviews, and that case is now the reason that I don't go on reviews alone anymore.

Yes, the cooling options are AMAZING for a case of that price, but the looks are so bland, and cable management is horrible for any mid-high range graphics card.

So I purchased a 900 from the bay, and while cable management, size, and (imho) looks were much better, it still wasn't the complete package I was looking for. So, after reading quite a few reviews on the Phantom (had to admit I was rather sceptical about the door myself, and also I was a little worried about the complete FAIL that was the Hades) I decided to purchase it, and if I didn't like it, would put it on the bay or suchlike.

However, I am glad I made the purchase. Yes, the door is unecessary and I still don't see the point, however I have found it does mute the sound of my noisy Blu-Ray drive by quite a bit. The Cable management is MUCH better than any other case I have used, however the grommets would have been better if they were more firmly secured to the case.

As far as cooling goes - at stock nothing special. However when you add the extra fans (front Xigmatek Crystal 140mm and top and side 200mm NZXT fans - be warned: megaflow fans WILL NOT fit) the temps are fantastic compared to the other cases I have used. And pretty damn quiet to boot (this is the first case that I could have decent temps while still managing to hear my hard drive over the fan noise).

So as far as MY personal experiences go, this is the best case I have ever used. In other peoples' experiences, there are probably better cases out there, and when I use one of those, I will probably agree. But, as the saying goes, each to their own. (/walloftext)

Thanks for your unbiased opinion RJK, it is always valued. But, by human nature everyone is biased by their personal experiences - this does not detract from the reliability of your opinion however, as system builders are probably the most reliable sources of information on such matters. This was by no means a rant, or a personal attack - this is just one end user passing on his experiences to others. Again, many thanks to everyone on these forums, they have helped me no end, as have the moderators!
:)
 
no offense taken ;)

edit -

i just had one of these come into my department.

perhaps in hindsight, I have been overly critical. not everyone wants to spend £250+ on a case and this case isnt as bad as i previously made out.

the watercooling and the drive cages do need improving. whilst the panels probably arent as bad as i suggested. i guess they do well considering the cost of the unit.

ill stand corrected. but i would still personally consider other options such as the lancool dragonlords, Hafs and Fractals. even the bitfenix collosus is only a few £ more and that has a lot of wow factor that the phantom has.

then consider that the corsair 600T is due soon at such a close price too.

the quality of the corsair case is hard to argue with
 
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