Customer Reviews

NZXT PANZERBOX Classic Series Welded All Aluminum ATX Chassis - No Power (Black)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It runs quiet and cool, looks interesting, is very light.

The one issue I have with it is the location of the power supply. If you get into your case often you will be greatly annoyed by the location, it sits over the top of your video card(s) and blocks access. However, it does also help cool them as you can have your PSU fan positioned to pull heat off of them. Tall cards may be an issue, but I was able to fit two HD5870's under it no problem.

It comes with a FULL set of thumb screws - very handy.

I was looking for something a bit different in a new case but, also something that really does a good job with overall cooling. This case met my ideas/demands very well. Never having been a fan of flashy boxes with tacky neon fans and windows this case is about as opposite as you can get. I'm also a fan of quiet PCs though Ive owned several that were anything but, the Panzerbox is actually very quiet in fact I have an older IDE HDD in it that has louder spindle noise than the fans in the case.

Coming from an older Antec ATX case with a Core2 Duo 8200 @ 3.4ghz cooled with a Corsair HD50 on a Gigabyte EP45-UD3P the cooling gains were huge, something in the neighborhood of 10-15c less and its still quiet. Power supply placement wasn't an issue for me and I would say its placement is superior cooling wise than most cases since it has its own dedicated air intake means no hot air passing through it. Power supply fan exhausting directly from the case as in a standard design is definitely not needed here and wont be missed as the internal airflow is easily some of the best Ive ever seen in any case Ive looked at. It can get a bit tight inside but cable management can be achieved fairly well if you take your time and bundle everything up.

One downside is with the HD50 if you opt to install it on the rear 120mm intake the mobo tray wont clear the case since one side of the radiator protrudes out about a half inch or so than will fit through the case opening, not a deal breaker bye any means but some may not like it as it makes the mobo tray pretty useless.
You could always mount the HD50 to the top of the case but I don't see where having warm case air flow through it would make up for the loss of the top 190mm fans superior airflow.

Another downside is that the proximity of the memory and main 24pin PSU mobo plug are extremely close to the external drive bays so wires can end up pushing against memory if you aren't careful during assembly. 90 degree SATA cables help a lot in this situation.

This is a great case for anyone who wants great airflow and something a bit different looking or non flashy but still cool, paired with an NZXT fan Bus you can have a touch of flash and decent fan control as well, though noise wise I don't see the need for a fan bus [ mobo fan control could be used as well ] This case a safe buy if you like the design and want a nice aluminum case complete with any and every screw you will need to build that new rig. Pretty hard to beat for about $100.00.

Overall this case has cooled my computer excellently keeping each component cooler than 40C. It is also on the smaller side with plenty of room for an aftermarket cpu cooler. The only cons are than you can't add a large aftermarket gpu cooler and you need to dust it more than an ordinary case since it has non-filtered mesh all over it. Other than those two cons however, this has been an excellent case with top quality.

The Panzer case is awesome so far. It made my system run about 10c cooler than before, and it's a great alternative to the cheesy lit cases. If you want to flash it up a little bit, feel free to throw in some 120mm led fans.

Pros: sleek black case, plenty of room, all aluminium case makes it sturdy, pre-installed fans galore, liquid cooling ready (I don't do that), and removable motherboard tray.

Cons: awkward power supply placement over gpu and other pci slots and the case a little bit larger than I anticipated (this also factors in the improved cooling so it's not a bad con), and the grated front and top if you tend to have troublesome pets and friends.

Conclusion: This is a great case for those past the cheesy lighting effects and such, but still a nice case for people who still want to do that kind of thing as well. I think some 120 mm led fans shining out of the grated front and top would look pretty awesome. This is also a great alternative to make you're own liquid cooled case if you don't have the budget for a thermalake case. I was low on extra wires, but I made very little adjustments while adding my current rig to the case. Very easy assembly and it won't require anything extra to build if you're transferring cases. I do recommend getting a nice power supply for it though because the one I put in had shorter cables, but it wasn't that big of a deal.

motherboard tray does not slide easily and fans are very loud...minus one star. The size is great for my desk. It is shorter and wider. Some video cards will not work with slide out motherboard tray. There is no access to motherboard once power supply is installed..minus one star for this.