NZXT has come a long way in a short time. They started simply, with a flashy entrance into the case market in the form of the Guardian. Now they have a full stable of wonderfully designed cases, and aren’t showing any signs of slowing down. Their latest release, the Tempest, has garnered a lot of attention. We’re going to take a look at it, and see how well it stacks up in the abundant performance case market.
The Tempest is classified as a mid-tower case, and has most of the accoutrements you would expect. There’s a whole host of mounts for hard drives, a few 5.25″ bays, and the PSU is mounted at the bottom to promote good airflow and cooling. In fact, NZXT boldly claims that the Tempest is the “Airflow King”. Taking a quick look at some of the features this case sports, it’s not hard to see how well that claim is backed up. For a full run-down, check out the product home page.
- 2 x 120mm fan intake
- 1 x 120mm fan exhaust
- 1 x 120mm fan side-intake
- 2 x 140mm fan top-mount exhaust
- 3 x External 5.25″ drive bays
- 8 x Internal 3.5″ drive bays
- Steel Construction
- Extended ATX Support
Like I said, it’s got the fan power to make that air flow. But is it King? Let’s keep on reading to find out…
The last two points on that list are of particular interest. Yes this case is made of steel, which may seem silly in this age of plenty for aluminum enclosures. But with that in mind I point out that the chief competitors of the Tempest, like the Antec P182, are also constructed of steel. This keeps costs down, and durability up. It may add weight, but that’s something we’ll have to check into when testing. As for the EATX support, that simply needs to be tested to see if it is indeed true.
When it comes to pricing, I can already give the NZXT Tempest points in this review. The case is of a unique design, with purportedly excellent airflow. On the street, this case comes in at just south of $100 USD. That’s lower than the current pricing of the afore mentioned Antec case. With that in mind, we need to see if you get what you pay for, or if the Tempest is a great price for the performance. But first a quick showcase of what else comes with the NZXT Tempest.
What’s in the Box?
In addition to the case itself, NZXT includes all the required accessories to setup the Tempest in full. First are foremost is the huge collection of screws included, and they come in sets in their own labeled bags. In addition to that there’s a set of 6 mounting rails, which are required for mounting 5.25″ drives in the middle set of front bays. Finally there are a couple adhesive cable ties to aid in cable management, and a PC speaker attachment should your motherboard need one.
Not shown is the manual, and a black plastic 3.5″ to 5.25″ drive bay adapter. The drive adapter is of course if you want to install something like an internal media card reader or *gasp* a floppy drive. As for the manual, it only comes in English. However it’s fairly concise, and manages to cover most aspects of setup within 16 pages.
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