It has an interesting interior layout, but the Panzerbox can’t match other cases for noise reduction.
Written By
Published on 1 May 2011
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1 / 2
Our rating
Reviewed price £80 inc VAT
It’s not particularly tall, but NZXT’s Panzerbox still manages to squeeze in two huge 190mm cooling fans to keep your components cool without making a racket. A single 120mm fan is also included, but there aren’t any mounts for adding more. Thankfully, the sleek aluminium case has great airflow anyway due to the mesh front and roof panels. It also has two pre-drilled holes for a liquid cooling system. All these holes do let fan noise escape, though.Assembling a PC inside the Panzerbox was incredibly simple, mainly because the motherboard tray is removable. After removing a few thumbscrews, the entire tray slides out the back of the case so almost every component can be installed with ease. Unusually, the power supply mounts vertically, parallel to the motherboard rather than above or below it; there’s still enough space to install full-length expansion cards, but hot air from the PSU could blow directly onto any installed graphics cards. On our review sample, the majority of the interior edges had been smoothed down, but there were still a few sharp edges.There are only three external 5.25in drive bays, dropping to two if you want to install a 3.5in memory card reader or floppy disk drive using the provided adaptor. Four internal 3.5in drive bays provide enough room for several hard disks, even if you plan on installing a full-length graphics card.
The Panzerbox has very limited options for cable management, but can still cool components effectively. Even with the removable motherboard tray, it’s still easier to build a tidy system in a case with a standard layout. We prefer the Fractal Design Define R2.
Written by
Tom Morgan
Tom started writing about technology right after graduating from University, but has been a games and gadget fan for as long as he can remember. Beyond photography, music and home entertainment, he's also the first port of call for all reviews content on Expert Reviews.
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