NZXT Phantom 820 review

Final words and conclusion

The all new Phantom 820 is a smack-down home run in terms of design and cooling. I truly adore this chassis as from A to Z this simply is a very well thought through chassis with all the features and space you'll need for a long time -- and that's next to all the new features and bling. I mean even E-ATX form factor  motherboards will fit easily. Then there's the white / dark looks inside and out, the overall style, grommet holes, cable management options, fan controllers with pre-installed fans... well, the entire tasty enchilada really.

On the topic of colors, that's a preference you can choose from, white, black or gunmetal grey are the alternatives for you.

Nitpicking

Okay so perhaps one more HDD bays could have been created though, and some sort of removable 3.5 or 2.5" HDD/SSD functionality would have been very nice as well. But that really is all that I can think of that is negative. Well, negative is not the right word there, 'room for improvement' should be it. Oh and some might find the lacking eSATA connector a small quirck.

Final Words

So other then than that it's all good. I really like the  looks, and enjoy the fact how stunning a chassis can really be. By the way, make no mistake... the chassis does make a tiny bit of noise, but at very normal to low levels. You have four  fans in there, that's always producing some noise, set the fan RPM to low we recommend and you'll hardly notice the chassis -- hey you get a fancy fan controller for free already built in my man.

Next to aesthetics, functionality and space to work with, a key feature here is of course that fan controller. I've been asking chassis designers for years now to implement this feature. And finally somebody did it right, not a measly single fan controller, nope... four headers all digitally controlled (independently) with LED responsiveness.

Connectivity wise you won't have anything to complain. You get six USB ports for which two are USB 3.0. The Phantom 820 is a feature rich case, if anything the inclusion of the LED coloring system, Fan controller and SD card reader proofs that. A huge plus for me is that configurable LED color preset option. You choose the colors to match the rest of the system. As simple as that is, I like it so very much.

Anyway, we can go on and on in this conclusion, but when a product is good it's just simply that and that's all there is and needed to be said. The NZXT Phantom 820 chassis comes very much recommended, if it's to your liking of course. Style is a very personal and tricky thing to comment on, but will always be the decisive factor in purchasing a chassis. As such, the job of a chassis designer is one tricky and difficult thing alright.

The NZXT Phantom 820 definitely is one of the best PC cases we have tested this year and ranks up there with the stature of say, a Cooler Master HAF-X, Thermaltake, Level 10 GT, Corsair, Obsidian 800D, and SilverStone FT02, but perhaps better looking depending on your taste. The one caveat will be pricing though, 15kg of pure style and fun will set you back 249 USD. That's rather steep, but you certainly understand where the money went into once you have the chassis in your hands.

NZXT -- well done and very much recommended. Great stuff and a top pick award seems well deserved.

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