The LAN party. These gatherings of gamers and geeks can be big or small, but one thing is always a constant, and that is the need to portage you computer from its permanent resting place at your home to some house or hall in your vicinity. The few LAN parties I’ve attended have demonstrated to me the importance of having a small, portable computer that can house a large collection of high performance hardware. NZXT also recognized this as a benefit, and their latest case may just fit those requirements.

The Panzerbox manages to combine three features that are are usually mutually exclusive into a unique design. This includes the ability to install a large amount of hardware, well managed temperatures, and portability. This is all packed into a tidy little package.

Features and Specifications

Due to its unique layout the NZXT Panzerbox looks like it can easily contain a fully spec’d out gaming rig, complete with dual video cards, big HSF, and fast CPU. Although there are a lot of features on the product home page here are a few that we thought warranted further investigation:

• 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

All this is compacted into a box that isn’t more then 18″ tall, making it a fair degree smaller and lighter then most cases you might see at your local LAN. Looks like this could be a contender for the ultimate LAN party case. Guess we’ll have to dig deeper to find out.

Putting the Parts Before the Case

Before we take a close look at the innards of the NZXT Panzerbox, it’s important to take a peak at the accessories that comes with the case. I had mentioned that NZXT used thumbscrews throughout the case, and for the most part that’s true. The accessories included are basically just the extra screws you’ll need, plus the brackets for an optional dual radiator if you intend to install a water cooling system. The drives, side panels, and motherboard tray are also held in place by thumbscrews.

NZXT went one step further in maintaining the aesthetics of the Panzerbox by including matte finish screws specifically labelled for the power supply, as opposed to silver which obviously clash. As for documentation, NZXT has included a detailed and concise manual to help you through setting up a system in this unique case.