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NZXT Panzerbox Case Review
Looking towards the front you can see the drive bay assembly. Three 5.25" bays are arranged across the top in a typical layout. Each is held in place by 4 thumb screws included by NZXT. The 3.5" bays are split between two traditionally located bays below the 5.25" bays or in two removable bays located at the bottom right. If airflow is your primary motivator, you can simply remove the two bottom bays and keep the front fan unblocked. Drives that generate any heat at all will benefit from the airflow and any blockage is pretty minimal really.
Not much to see on the bottom but here it is. You can see the bottom bays are padded against vibration by two rubber strips. These same strips are in every drive bay both 3.25" and 5.25". You can also see the bracket designed to hold the power supply away from the card slots if you look close. The Panzerbox is also supported by four large rubber feat to dampen vibration even further.
One of the more notable features of the Panzerbox is the removable motherboard tray shown in this stock photo. The removable tray is a nice feature for installation and changing out components but serves a more important function in this design. Due to the power supply location, changing out cards would require you to pull the power supply if you couldn't simply slide them our from under it with this tray. Installation: For this review I installed my AMD build into the NZXT Panzerbox case. This AMD build is based on the Gigabyte GA-MA790GP-DS4H Motherboard using the 790GX chipset. The build includes an AMD 7850 Black Edition processor cooled by an over size Ultra ChillTec cooler, a VisionTek HD3870 X2 Overclocked Edition video card and a 4 GB kit of Crucial Ballistix PC2-6400 Memory. Storage was provided by a 500 GB Seagate SATA II drive and a Plextor 16x DVD burner all powered by an Ultra X4 850W power supply.
Normally I would suggest starting out with a good power supply like the Ultra X4 seen here. In this case the removable power supply and the actual power supply location lend themselves to setting up the motherboard first. To insure you don't kill your hard earned parts be sure you are properly grounded when working with a removable motherboard tray. I took advantage of the X4's long cables and a rubber mat to keep the motherboard grounded to the power supply during this install. As you can see in the picture above, the power supply is mounted to take advantage of the left side venting. This setup helps isolate the power supply heat from the rest of the case but is hugely dependent on the case fans to keep the heat from larger cards like my 3870 X2 from mixing with the power supply heat and causing issues. Fortunately the Panzerbox moves air just as well as you would expect from three big fans. Despite my 3870 X2 having no external exhaust of it's own, the case temp stayed at about 87 F (~30C)during normal use with the ambient temps around 76 F. Conclusion: The NZXT Panzerbox chassis is a interesting departure from the typical case designs we have seen over the years. Relocating the power supply has some very positive results with minimal design and installation issues. The size and shape of the Panzer box may be a deal breaker for some but I found the case design grew on me quickly. The all aluminum construction does make up for the size and reinforces NZXT's LAN Ready claims. I would have no problem bringing this case around for a weekend's play. NZXT is known for their quality and this case is no exception. The finish is even and beautiful, the edges smooth. Nearly every design decision seems to be based around airflow and ease of use. As always, buying a new case for your latest build is a highly personal decision. I feel the Panzerbox delivers on so many levels while staying in an attractive price point just over $100. The wide shape is a fair trade for the oversize fans and only time will tell if the new power supply location catches on but the setup does work. The Panzerbox does come water cooling ready via the brackets and hints at more exotic potential just waiting to be unlocked. I would definitely recommend the Panzerbox for your next supercooling project or traveling build.
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