NZXT Phantom 410: The Boutique Favorite Goes On a Diet
by Dustin Sklavos on December 2, 2011 11:15 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- mid-tower
- NZXT
Noise and Thermal Testing, Overclocked
NZXT's Phantom 410 wound up putting in a remarkably strong showing in our stock testing, but the overclocked settings tend to be a make or break sort of situation. It's not at all uncommon to see core temperatures creep uncomfortably into the 90s, and the overall ambient temperature of the case tends to take a nasty turn with both chipset and memory thermals on the high side.
So there's good news and bad news. The good news is that if you're willing to jack up the fan speed, the Phantom 410 is able to make use of the increased airflow and put in a strong showing. Low fan speed keeps it at the middle of the pack, but the high speed makes a noticeable difference.
The bad news is that idle fan noise goes through the roof and the Phantom 410 winds up being one of the loudest cases we have on hand. If you're willing to manually switch the fans, or if your motherboard has good fan control, this may wind up not being a huge issue as load acoustics aren't actually that bad.
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Tigashark - Sunday, December 4, 2011 - link
I tend to agree here... I just built a system in an Antec 300 illusion.. thats only a ~$70 case , comes with 4 variable speed fans.. AND had the standoffs fitted in the more common locations for a full size ATX board..Its just a nice touch for the manufacturer to at least have the more common standoffs pre-fitted its not make or break but it IS a nice touch...
Belard - Tuesday, December 6, 2011 - link
Also... with some motherboards - you'd only end up taking OFF some of the stand-offs if there isn't a mounting hole in the motherboard.This is a non issue. Out of the hundreds of computers I've built - only a few times do I have to deal with screw up loose stand-offs, usually caused by someone else not tightening them up correctly.
buzznut - Sunday, December 4, 2011 - link
Hello,As a phantom owner and enthusiast (yes that means I am voiding my warranty like crazy) I have found the phantom to be everything I wanted in a case--almost. It seems the wise folks at NZXT have listened to their fans and really updated the chassis.
The window has been requested so much that the full tower Phantom has a side panel that owners can now purchase at NZXT.com to add their own. The newer phantoms being sold now have USB 3.0 available.
The one thing I find lacking is they have no considerations for folks that have 3 1/2 inch bay devices. Of course I don't mean a floppy drive, but things like card readers. One can certainly buy a bay converter but it likely won't match the color or quality of the rest of the case. Cheap plastic being what I am primarily able to find, unless I want to pay $20.
I think NZXT has a winner here that could potentially outsell the original. Most folks don't want or need a full tower, and the mid tower is extremely popular.
HStanford1 - Wednesday, December 7, 2011 - link
Why don't you want a cheap plastic 3 1/2 bay converter?Half of your case is made of it.
atragorn - Monday, November 26, 2012 - link
I just bought this case (Good deal at Microcenter the only place to shop ) and I agree with some of what you said about this case but the standoffs ? Yes they do not come pre-installed, you also failed to mention they include a tool to make installing them easier(Not everyone has the proper nut drivers laying around) which I for one appreciated since I misplaced my nut driver a while ago.There are lots of tie down spots on the back, yes the wires for the fans are a bit of a pain but I just moved them to the side till I was done everything else then I hooked them up to the fans and I like to be able to turn all my fans down when I am just doing web stuff (So not wearing headphones) or watching a movie,
Nothing useful is completely painless in my experience.
Most people looking for a midsize case are going to be fine with this case, I have two ssds, 3 hdd , a xfx 6850 1gb card, asus m5a97 LE R2.0 (don't buy it no usb 3 internal headers!) and a FX6100 running off a Thermaltake tr2 rx 850 (modular 80+ cant go wrong).
No trouble building it up,
It definitely gets noticed when people come over though :/