NZXT Panzerbox Case Review

NZXT is back with the latest in their Aluminum Chassis series, the Panzerbox.  The Panzerbox features a unique interior layout designed to maximize airflow and accommodate massive aftermarket air and water cooling solutions.  All aluminum and maximum airflow sounds like a recipe for success to me!  Lets see how well they pull it off in today's build.

The packaging for the Panzerbox arrived a little worse for wear as you can see here.  Fortunately NZXT packs their products with plenty of padding and enough wiggle room that none of the damage made it to the case.  Our box is a new style for NZXT featuring bold contrasts and minimal supporting text on the front.  The product pictures are left to speak for them selves with the supporting tag line "LAN Ready". 

The back and sides of the box fill in the blanks nicely by detailing the product features and showing a little more of the case design.  Both sides of the box are devoted to listing the specs in multiple languages.  The inclusion is nice for regional support but many of the cases outstanding cooling features are left to guesswork. 

The Panzerbox is only available in a glossy black finish.  Measuring in at 244 X 455 X 455 mm (about 9.5 x 18 x 18 inches) the Panzer box is wider than a typical ATX case and about the same height and depth.  I am curious about the claim found on the box that this is "Compact Size." The light, all aluminum construction and the wider stance to give the case a smaller feel in person but the size is pretty comparable on average to other cases in the lab.  As beautiful as they are in person, these finishes are notoriously hard to photograph so wish me luck.

"Panzerbox features the best airflow in its class, boasting two 190mm and one 120mm fans that churn out a combined 300 CFM. The Panzerbox's pure aluminum design makes it a light and luxurious option for travel and LAN parties and the welded chassis enhances strength and support. Dual radiator support and full expandability with room for high performance 10.5" cards, 4 hard drives, 3 5.25" drive bays, and oversized heatsinks offer gamers and enthusiasts even more options to increase performance while a removable motherboard tray makes upgrades easy and painless."  ~NZXT

Features:

• Mid Sized, Extreme Performance : Fitted with dual high performance 150CFM controllable 190cm fans and a dual radiator bracket to provide the best performance, the Panzerbox offers high performance for a mid sized case due to its unique layout.
• Removable Motherboard Tray: A removable motherboard tray makes upgrading easy and painless.
• Pure Aluminum: Build in all aluminum, the Panzerbox is light and luxurious, perfect for traveling and showing off at LAN parties. Compared to similar products with high airflow and ATX expandability, the Panzerbox is almost 25% smaller and 50% lighter.
• Full Expandability: Room for high performance 10.5" cards, over sized heatsinks, even larger dual radiator solutions.
• Top mounted USB/Audio/ESATA Ports

Specifications:

MODEL	Panzerbox SERIES
CASE TYPE	MID TOWER Welded Aluminum
FRONT PANEL MATERIAL	ALUMINUM
DIMENSIONS (W x H x D)	244 X 455 X 455 mm
COOLING SYSTEM	FRONT, 1 X 190mm fan@1100RPM, 150CFM (included) REAR, 1 X 120mm, TOP, 1 x 190mm fan@1100RPM,150CFM (included)
DRIVE BAYS	7 DRIVE BAYS 3 EXTERNAL 5.25" DRIVE BAYS 4 INTERNAL 3.5" DRIVE BAYS
MATERIAL(S)	Aluminum Construction
EXPANSION SLOTS	7
POWER SUPPLY	500 WATT PS2 ATX 12V 2.0 ( OPTIONAL )
WEIGHT	6.3 KGS (W/O Power)
MOTHERBOARD SUPPORT	MOTHERBOARDS: ATX, MICRO-ATX, BABY AT

The Panzerbox ships with everything you would expect from a good case included, Besides all the usual screws and cables, the Panzerbox also ships with brackets to convert the top exhaust fan to a double radiator system.  Nice touch!

The front of the Panzerbox is dominated by the front 190mm fan.  Housed in a large mesh surface this fan can move a lot of air.  As you can see here, the Panzerbox has no external 3.5" drive bays.  Some early web posts mention a driver converted is included with the case but our sample did not come with one. 

The power and reset buttons are located on the left side.   If you look closely you can see the LED light right at the bottom of the picture.  The LED will never be hard to find again as it puts out an amazing amount of light once the system is powered up!  The design of the sides and the mesh both continue along the sides and top providing a nice high-end feel to the case.