NZXT Tempest
Jun 29th, 2008 | By Overclockers Online
NZXT Tempest
Date
: 06/29/08 – 07:03:30 PM
Author
:
Category
: Cases
Page 1 : Index
Manufacturer:
NZXT
NZXT is a new face here at Overclockers Online, but has been around for a few years designing and producing cases and power supplies targeted at gamers and enthusiasts. This is very evident in their case designs: acrylic side panels, LED lit fans, and very aggressive outer styling.
Today, they present a mid-tower chassis, the Tempest. With a design that resembles the Antec 900, NZXT was aiming for a professional yet powerful style with full black steel casing and LED-lined front.
A computer chassis is the first thing one sees when looking at a computer. It serves a very important purpose as the computer's structural exoskeleton. Computer cases should be built strong, tough, and user friendly. Nobody enjoys working with a case that is hard to work with; features such as motherboard trays and hard drive racks make life easier. The case also serves an important part in cooling because it determines the amount of fan mounts and airflow schematics in the case. NZXT has dubbed the Tempest (synonym for 'violent storm') the ‘Airflow King’, with its total of six fans.
Page 2 : Package
It is very evident that NZXT is passionate about packaging the case safely.
The box was so massive that I needed assistance to move it into my home. I've put a cellphone on top for size comparison.
Inside the box was a large foam guard and lots of 'packing peanuts' to give the Tempest a smooth ride over.
The front of the box clearly advertises the Tempest as the 'Airflow King'.
On the side are the specifications of the case.
On the back of the box are the features.
On the top of the case is a carrying handle, which is a very nice touch.
There is a box full of goodies that come along with the case. Inside are various screws (all in individual ziplock bags, and they are also labeled!), drive mounts, speaker, wire clasps, and manual.
And before we take the case out, let's have a look at the specifications.
Page 3 : Specifications
As on the NZXT website, these are the specifications:
The features listed are:
One thing that is really interesting is the water-cooling compatibility. The Tempest has mounts at the top of the case for two 120mm radiators, and even has rubber lined holes at the rear of the case for tubing. The Tempest also has a total of six fans: two 140mm exhaust, and three 120mm intake, two mounted on the front and one on the side and a 120mm in the rear for exhaust. The two fans on the front are great for keeping hard drives cool, and with 8 available spots for hard drives, can anyone say RAID?
With a bottom mounted PSU, all the heat from within the case won't be sucked up by the PSU (as heat rises). Instead, all the rising hot air would be blown out via two 140mm exhaust fans and rear 120mm fan, which is one big advantage of a bottom mounted PSU. But there may be some compatibility issues with power supplies with shorter cables, as the motherboard power connection is now located much further from the PSU.
Now that we have covered specifications, let's move on to seeing the case.
Page 4 : Exterior
NZXT wrapped up the case in a large amount of plastic wrap, and topped it off with two foam guards.
The case is styled very passively, with very little accents.
The front of the case is drive bay covers all the way to the bottom, which is made of an aluminum mesh.
The acrylic side panel extrudes out of the case, which looks very professionally done and really makes this case stand out.
The front panel connections as well as power switches are located at the top of the case. It also includes eSATA but no IEEE1394.
The top exhaust fans are covered with a metal mesh, and look quite large as 140mm fans.
The rear of the case reveals the bottom mounted PSU, but otherwise very standard.
The bottom of the case has rubber feet to prevent sliding. Safety first (especially when it comes to your computer). You can also see that the bottom of the case is also fully painted, which is a nice touch compared to many others on the market.
Now that the outside has been examined, let's take a closer look inside.
Page 5 : Interior
Removing the side panel only requires you to remove two thumbscrews (which are very high quality due to rubber grips).
The side panels are door hinge type, think of a car door.
All wires in the case are nicely bundled together in a bag.
There are a lot of wires for the front panel fans, LEDs as well as front connectors.
The PCI slots are standard, with no tool-less features.
The PSU mounts are nothing out of the ordinary.
All fans in the case can be powered by through-Molex or 3-pin to allow motherboard control.
There are 8 available slots for hard drives, and the drive cages are aligned sideways. The cages are also removeable, in case there is not enough room inside. The railings are all tool-less.
The Tempest comes ready to hold two 5.25′ drives, and one external 3.5′. All mounts here are also tool-less.
Now that the full interior has been explored, let's see how the installation process is like.
Page 6 : Installation
The installation process starts off with the motherboard.
The brass standoffs went in without a problem, and securing the motherboard was finished.
The power supply mounted on the bottom quite easily.
The installation of video cards and PCI cards required a screwdriver, but it's nothing out of the ordinary.
The hard drive rails were easy to put on, and slid right into the cage with no issues.
To install an optical drive, you need to first take off the front panel, which requires some force. You then need to remove the cover from the panel. Attaching the rails and inserting the drive is easy as it is a tool-less process.
Then wiring up everything is the last step.
When turned on, the blue aura looks really neat, making it a very nice gallery case.
The installation of the system is completed with wiring, so now that the system is up and running, let's see how it performs.
Page 7 : Testing and Performance
The testing is set up to test thermal cooling performance of the case. The specifications of the system are:
- DFI LanParty Ultra-Df
- AMD Opteron 148 s939 @ 2.5GHz
- OCZ EL Plat. Rev.2 (TCCD) 2x512MB @ 2-2-2-5, 200MHz
- OCZ ModStream 450W
- Sapphire Radeon X800GTO2 flashed to X850XT
- Zalman VF700-Cu
- Thermaltake Big Typhoon
The system will be put under load by Prime95 for three hours, and temperatures for CPU, PWMIC, and the chipset will be recorded from MBM5. The system will then be on idle for three hours with minimal processes running. Temperatures will then be recorded in the same manner. This process will be first used in the Cooler Master 531 (no fans), then the system is removed and put on a table top without a case and the testing process will repeat. The system will then be placed in the final case, the NZXT Tempest, and the testing process will be used a final time.
The ambient temperature remained at a toasty 35 degrees throughout testing (no A/C during summer). Here are the results:
The Tempest topped out an open air system by a few degrees on both idle and load. This is quite impressive, but considering the use of six fans, it is also expected. All fans were connected to the motherboard and set to medium RPM, but if set to high, there should be even better cooling performance. The noise level was average, due to the use of 120mm and 140mm fans instead of smaller variants. Overall the Tempest performed great in cooling.
Page 8 : Conclusion
With the Tempest being NZXT's debut here on Overclockers Online, I expect it to be a rising name in the industry. The build quality on all parts of the case is excellent, and with a superior packaging method, it is very evident NZXT aims for the design and production of quality products.
With great cooling performance, many enthusiasts will be glad they purchased this case. With mounts for dual radiators and pre-drilled tubing holes, the Tempest will appeal to water cooling enthusiasts as well. The only problem I encountered is the power supply compatibility issues as the PSU is bottom mounted. Otherwise, with a high quality build, stylish exterior, tool-less drive bays, and six included fans, I would recommend the Tempest to anyone.
Advantages
- Great cooling performance
- Eight HDD bays
- Very high build quality
Disadvantages
- Expensive (at time of review)
- Power supply cable length issues for some
Overclockers Online would like to thank NZXT for making this review possible.