NZXT Phantom 530 Case Review
by Dustin Sklavos on July 18, 2013 12:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- NZXT
- ATX
Testing Methodology
For testing full ATX cases, we use the following standardized testbed in stock and overclocked configurations to get a feel for how well the case handles heat and noise.
| ATX Test Configuration | |
| CPU |
Intel Core i7-2700K (95W TDP, tested at stock speed and overclocked to 4.3GHz @ 1.38V) |
| Motherboard | Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD4H |
| Graphics Card |
ASUS GeForce GTX 560 Ti DCII TOP (tested at stock speed and overclocked to 1GHz/overvolted to 1.13V) 2x NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 in SLI (full fat testing only) |
| Memory | 2x2GB Crucial Ballistix Smart Tracer DDR3-1600 |
| Drives |
Kingston SSDNow V+ 100 64GB SSD Samsung 5.25" BD-ROM/DVDRW Drive 3x HGST DeskStar 3TB 7200-RPM HDD |
| CPU Cooler | Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo with Cooler Master ThermalFusion 400 |
| Power Supply | SilverStone Strider Plus 1000W 80 Plus Silver |
Each case is tested in a stock configuration and an overclocked configuration that generates substantially more heat (and thus may produce more noise). The system is powered on and left idle for fifteen minutes, the thermal and acoustic results recorded, and then stressed by running seven threads in Prime95 (in-place large FFTs) on the CPU and OC Scanner (maximum load) on the GPU. At the end of fiteen minutes, thermal and acoustic results are recorded. This is done for the stock settings and for the overclock, and if the enclosure has a fan controller, these tests are repeated for each setting. Ambient temperature is also measured after the fifteen idle minutes but before the stress test and used to calculate the final reported results.
For the "full fat" testbed, the GTX 560 Ti is swapped out for a pair of GTX 580s, and three hard disks are added to fill out the case.
Thank You!
Before moving on, we'd like to thank the following vendors for providing us with the hardware used in our testbed.
- Thank you to Puget Systems for providing us with the Intel Core i7-2700K.
- Thank you to Gigabyte for providing us with the GA-Z77X-UD4H motherboard.
- Thank you to Crucial for providing us with the Ballistix Smart Tracer memory.
- Thank you to Cooler Master for providing us with the Hyper 212 Evo heatsink and fan unit.
- Thank you to Kingston for providing us with the SSDNow V+ 100 SSD.
- Thank you to CyberPower for providing us with the Samsung BD-ROM/DVD+/-RW drive.
- Thank you to HGST for providing us with the trio of hard drives.
- And thank you to SilverStone for providing us with the power supply.
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xbaronjagerx - Sunday, November 24, 2013 - link
Mounted on the TOP... not front.Ammohunt - Friday, July 19, 2013 - link
$129 is a pretty steep price point for me personally i feel that $50 is the sweet spot between chintzy and useful features. Of course a case for me houses my components under my desk not into fashion statements.Peroxyde - Saturday, July 20, 2013 - link
I thought that too ... until I got a Fractal Design R4 on sale for $80. Now I can say I will never buy low end case. You can't imagine what you miss trying to save $30 / $50 on a case. In my opinion, the Fractal Design R4 beats by far Corsair & Antec cases of comparable price. Wait until you get a sale and get one good case. You will not regret it.Death666Angel - Friday, July 19, 2013 - link
AT needs a "report spam" button.versesuvius - Saturday, July 20, 2013 - link
What an ugly case.fluxtatic - Sunday, July 21, 2013 - link
Holy crap - can we get some mods up on these comments?MustarDude - Sunday, July 21, 2013 - link
Hey. I would love to get this case. It's an absolute beauty with ten-million features, but I need to know the exact dimensions. It says, here and at NewEgg, "235mm x 572mm x 543mm", but I can't tell from the pictures whether it goes w x h x d or w x d x h (i'm almost certain its the first), and if that is measured with the plastic coverings at it's widest point. I know 3 cm might not matter to many, but for me it's a matter of "will it fit in my desk or not?" (and I know it's a great injustice to put this in a desk, but I have no choice). If you can help me out at all, it'd be greatly appreciated!Hawx - Friday, January 24, 2014 - link
Hi All,Greetings !!
Just wondering ,
Do I need to place any type of screws or pins before mounting a MOBO onto it.
Also is it better to install CPU and FAN and then put them in the case or fix the MOBO and then install the cpu and aftermarket cooler FAN.
Please suggest
molex problem - Thursday, March 20, 2014 - link
Guys I need helpI am making a new build and I have completed building it but when connecting the molex connector to power supply I found out that out of 4 pins , 1 pin is missing.
My case nzxt phantom 530
What should I do without the molex connector in built fans don't work
I have water cooling h100i.
So what should I do ?
palixander - Thursday, July 21, 2016 - link
I was wondering if anybody here had installed an LED strip into this case before? I bought an asus maximus viii formula MB, and was just wondering if LED strips lit up well with this case.