Usage
Once you power your system on your will hear the fans fire up. The fans are a bit louder than some on other cases, but you have to keep in mind they are HUGE. I did not notice it when I was installing our system but the ventilation holes on the side of the case line up perfectly with the fan on our power supply. So it can easily bring in air from the outside, not the hot air in the case.
The top of the case is all see-through mesh so if you have something in your case the lights up people are going to see it. One thing that I did not mention when installing the system was the both 190mm fans have 3-pin power connections not the normal 4-pin Molex connectors. This means you either have to get a 3-pin to 4-pin adapter or hope that your motherboard has a couple extra 3-pin leads. The motherboard I used had 1 extra 3-pin lead so I had to use an adapter for the other fan.
Final Thoughts
I can’t believe we haven’t seen a case like this before! I know so many gamers that wished they could make their system more compact and this is a great solution. Many people (including me) have gone the mATX route in making their system smaller, but this is a way to do it without having to buy a new motherboard. Also many mATX cases will not fit a large CPU cooler; you shouldn’t have a problem with the Panzerbox.
If you are using this system for gaming you shouldn’t have to worry about cooling at all. There is a huge 190mm intake fan matched with a 190mm top exhaust and 120mm back exhaust. All of these fans will really keep your system cool. Also the entire top of the case is ventilated and there are ventilation holes on each side of the case.
While things are a bit cramped with everything installed NZXT made installation easy with the removable motherboard tray and almost everything is secured with thumbscrews. The case really only gets cramped when you install the power supply, but that’s the last thing you will install.
The only real problems with this case were that the 2 190mm fans only have 3-pin connectors so you will need to get adapters if your motherboard does not have extra leads. Also the fans are a bit louder than normal 120mm fans, but they are HUGE fans pushing a lot of air. It would have been nice for NZXT to include a fan controller, but you can easily install one yourself. Also since they are marketing this as a gaming case it would have nice to have a carrying harness with it as the Rogue did.
The Panzerbox sells for around $120 online, which is a great price point for all that this case offers. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a few of these at the next LAN party that I’m at. Overall ThinkComputers gives the NZXT Panzerbox Gaming Case a 9 out of 10 score and our Recommended Award!
Pros:
– Compact design, but can still fit an ATX motherboard and PSU as well as long video cards
– Great cooling
– Removable motherboard tray
– Thumbscrews everywhere
Cons:
– The 190mm fans only have 3-pin connectors
– Fans are a bit loud
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