NZXT Phantom 630 Case Review: The Relentless Pursuit of Perfection
by Dustin Sklavos on January 20, 2013 12:01 AM ESTNoise and Thermal Testing, Stock
It's a cold winter here in northern California, and the NZXT Phantom 630's efficient cooling design doesn't really help much. Keeping with current testing methodology, I tested the 630's fans at each of their three settings. I also removed any drive cages that weren't needed (as I have with other cases with removable cages), and I mounted the system SSD to the rear of the motherboard tray instead of using a standard drive sled. Any SSD in front of the intake fan is going to be particularly frosty; we need to see just how bad the thermals might get behind a loaded motherboard.
I'm keen to point out that this configuration isn't particularly far from what a modern high end system should be able to achieve. Most people will probably need around two drive trays, only slightly obscuring the front intake more than our single drive tray does.
Ambient temperature during testing hovered around 21C.
Stock testing starts off with a bang. Even at the lowest fan setting, the Phantom 630 runs the CPU cooler than the other cases tested, and even the GPU thermals are competitive. The SSD runs hotter than the other systems, but keep in mind we're still well south of 40C; the hottest I ever saw the SSD hit during any testing was 34C. Take note how the less expensive Phantom 630 at worst ties the 820; this is going to be a repeating pattern. The 820 is using its lowest fan setting, but the highest one only improves temperatures by about 4C; in other words, not enough to beat the 630.
Fan speeds continue to show a healthy amount of headroom. The stock testbed doesn't stress the 630 at all.
You can see the medium fan setting produces a nice balance between thermals and acoustics. Noise remains relatively low, while temperatures are at least competitive if not outright victories. At the high fan setting, performance is tremendous, but not really worth the noise.
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sna1970 - Sunday, January 20, 2013 - link
I wonder why people cant design REAL good looking cases ...if the Japanese can ...
hey Anand ... take a look at Abee PC cases for a change ...
http://abee.co.jp/Product/index.html#case
awg1031 - Sunday, January 20, 2013 - link
wow, i hope anand can hold of abee's product..even look at the i-phone case..nice~
meefer - Sunday, January 20, 2013 - link
They look like clean designs but they aren't terribly interesting- all crisp but cold right angles. I'd like to find a nice balance between the old beige box look (like Abee Smart) and the ridiculous 1990s Mega Bass boombox look (like the CoolerMaster HAF).It doesn't look like Abee have distributors in the US, too bad. Their phone and tablet cases look awesome.
3ogdy - Sunday, January 20, 2013 - link
The right angle design and sharp edge design is back for some - they think that if they add a nice shiny painting they can pretend to be the latest craze and well, "simple, yet awesome design" -which they're not. Those look like those second hand PC cases people throw away for $30. But hey, I was against Alienware's case redesign (their cases were by far some of the best looking one on the market), yet they went on and came up with something that looks a lot worse than their previous design...it seems taking steps backwards is the new fashion now.meefer - Sunday, January 20, 2013 - link
Good point. For what it's worth, I think the bland right-angle design works much better in the small form factor cases from Abee. Example:http://abee.co.jp/Product/nuc/index.html
3ogdy - Sunday, January 20, 2013 - link
I really don't get it:Do you really mean those UGLY cases from the link you posted look better than the NZXT design?
Wow!
I understand it's a matter of taste but hey, the Abee cases have absolutely no design at all - they're simply a bunch of unpolished Pentium 3-style cases.
So why did you use them as an example against the NZXT Phantom, which OBVIOUSLY and DEFINITELY looks a ton better. Even if the NZXT Phantom cost twice as much as those cases, I'd still get the Phantom. It looks better and it is functional-enough.
Bob Todd - Sunday, January 20, 2013 - link
I bet you thought the MSI GT660 looked better than a MacBook Pro too...kyuu - Sunday, January 20, 2013 - link
30gdy is right. How exactly are *those* cases good-looking? They look like the towers from the P4 era and back. If you really loved your old beige-box, great. But I think most people agree those are far from aesthetically pleasing.I'm not a huge fan of NZXT's aesthetic design either, but at least it *has* a design.
kyuu - Sunday, January 20, 2013 - link
Their iPad/iPhone cases on the other hand, now *those* look nice.JPForums - Tuesday, January 22, 2013 - link
These are most certainly not unpolished Pentium 3-style cases. Take a look at the list Ugly posted below for a valid point of comparison. The looks are definitely understated, but the combination of brushed aluminum exterior and what appears to be a well constructed and modern internal design (looking at the X3) counts as polish in my book. There is a market for designs such as these, especially in a business oriented setting.
That said, the understated look isn't for everyone. I'd expect cases like these to appeal more to fans of the classic Lian Li enclosures than fans of Coolermaster's HAF series or NZXT chassis in general. I probably wouldn't use one of these for my gaming build, but I could see myself building a workhorse for the office in one of these if the performance keeps up. I'd like to see Dustin review one of these if he gets the chance.