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NCXT has come so far. The original

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Phantom was an okay plastic case. Its

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successor, the Phantom 530, is still made of plastic and still has that kind

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of retro Alienwareesque look, but it is so much more than okay.

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With its factory tuning and data center DNA, an Intel 730 series SSD is an

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amazing choice for gamers and performance enthusiasts, which doesn't

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make it immune to criticism. I'm aware of the cost benefits of using hard

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packing foam, but this is how my case arrived. Hard foam is good for one solid

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impact, then will be destroyed by a subsequent one. Fortunately, this one

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only got hit once, so the case arrived in perfect condition. At least that hard

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foam is nice and thick. The manual is pretty good and has an extremely

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detailed list of all the parts included with the case and their purposes. This

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is something a lot of manufacturers miss and it helps out novice builders a lot.

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And I also noticed when going through the included items that it comes with a

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ton of zip ties. With most manufacturers, it feels like they

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include them just to make sure they can tick off the marketing bullet point.

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NZXT seems to actually intend for you to cable manage your system with them.

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Kudos there. External features of this case are pretty straightforward.

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Aesthetically, they've updated the lines and curves in a way that I find more

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pleasing. And they've added a shaped side panel window that I appreciate as

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well. Functionality-wise, they've added an eighth PCI slot, and implemented

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their signature rear LED illumination to make plugging things into the back much

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easier. On the top, we find a 30 W fan controller, front audio, and front USB 3

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ports. Then tucked away behind the solid feeling front door, we've got three five

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and a quarter inch bays that use a pretty clever release lever system and a

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reset switch that's both easy to get to and impossible to hit by accident.

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Moving inside, sort of. Let's talk liquid cooling options. The Phantom 530

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has strong water cooling support. Triple 120 or dual 140 in the top, dual 120 in

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the front, dual 120 in the bottom. So, of course, I used an AIO liquid cooler

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for my test build. First impressions of the rad mounting in the top were strong.

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The very open mesh up here is great for air flow and an opportunity for accent

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lighting with LED fans, or you can just put black in there to not draw attention

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to them. Then things got a little bit rougher. The fans or the radiator need

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to go in the hump up here at the top of the case to avoid clearance issues with

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the motherboard, but the top bezel to access the top fans is very difficult to

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remove. After some persistence and force, I got my first look at the

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extremely flexible fan mounting points on the top though, and it kind of made

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it worthwhile. I actually don't remember who started this trend, but using slits

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instead of holes is a great inclusion for water cooling efficiados. And this

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system saved my bacon here because I hate moving optical drives below the top

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mounting position. So, I needed my RAD in the very, very back position at the

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back of the case. Managing the radiator fan connectors down to the integrated

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fan controller is a treat. NZXT strategically avoids openings in the top

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of the motherboard tray where they're not needed. So, it's very clean looking

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in theory. Unfortunately, the built-in fan controller, which supports 10 fans

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or 30 watts max, whichever comes first, is DC only and not DC only, like four

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pin PWM fans will be DC controlled, like the plugs are too close together to use

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four pin fans and they physically won't fit unless you get adapters. Also, the

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included extension cables would need to be chopped up to work with a four pin

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fan. But don't interpret that as me hating the integrated fan controller. I

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wish it was a little bit more flexible, but its weaknesses affected my build

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very little. And when it is usable, it is a fantastic value ad that comes with

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the case. And it gets better. I love how it and all the other front panel stuff

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are pre-wired into the case and pre-cable managed. But there's even an

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extra bonus. I've been saying for a long time that we should be using twist ties

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instead of zip ties for cable management. It's just a little bit less

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plastic to throw away every time because they're reusable. And that's exactly

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what NZXT is using, which is great because unlike a zip tied method where

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I'd have to cut them all, and then throw them all away, and completely reable manage it anyway when I build my system,

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this way I can open them up, add a few more cables as needed, close them back

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up, reroute things, and all of that without having to even break into the

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zip ties that come with the case. Awesome. Speaking of cable management,

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it's the strongest point of this case in my opinion. The rubber grommets

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internally are improved over older designs. They're harder to accidentally

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knock out when running cables through them due to

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due to the deeper channels around the edges. I'm just going to keep going.

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There's ample cable management for the 24 pin and more behind the mobile tray,

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which is quite strong actually in spite of its oversized CPU cutout for easy

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cooler installation. And then also back here we find a ton of cable loops for

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pinning everything down nice and flat. And we also find what is still my

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favorite system for a traymounted SSD. Corsair spring loaders are a lot faster

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to use, but they just don't feel as robust, especially with slimmer drives.

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Not that it really matters. SSDs aren't fragile, just a personal preference

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thing. Onto the rest of the inside. The tall case feet combined with the little

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support pillars that keep your power supply raised up a little bit are, in my

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opinion, a great feature. It means that the PSU isn't necessarily drawing in all

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fresh cool air through the filtered bottom intake, but it also can't

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suffocate from being installed on a thick carpet. And as someone who

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accidentally killed a power supply that way once, it's a trade-off that I'll

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take. Drive mounting is great. The 5 and a/4 inch bays use a totally overbuilt

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steel design. And I love the 321 hard

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drive cage configuration. You can stack up from the bottom, stack down from the

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top, or fill the whole thing to put in up to six drives wherever you want. Or

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you can remove the bottom mounting entirely and put rads on the front and

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the bottom. Very nice. Now, I don't understand though why the 3 and 1/2 in 2

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and 1/2 in cages slide in from the right side. That means I have to take off both

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side panels whenever I'm upgrading a drive. Now, arguably, most people will

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take off both anyway since it makes cable management a lot easier. But if

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I'm in a hurry, I can just run it through and not bother. And if I'm a

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good builder, when I build my system in the first place, I could leave those

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cables in the right place for myself. So, if I could slide the cage in from

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this side, I would only have to take off one panel. Honestly though, that's one

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of the only ease of use complaints I have about the case. The pre-installed

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motherboard standoffs, thumb screw heavy design, and safe rounded internal

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corners make the case a really, really easy one to build in. And it looks

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great, too. The finish and color matching between the plastic and painted

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steel has improved a lot since the first Phantom I looked at. And if I had to

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complain about the looks, um, I guess

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the fan mount on the side panel hurts the overall aesthetic a little bit for

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me. And I don't really feel like it's going to cool these drives much better anyway. Likely it's only useful if

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you've installed that weird uh hinged fan thing that's kind of like a spot

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cool to point at your graphics card. Um, another thing I don't really feel like

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ruining the looks of my system over. But that's about all I can find to gripe

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about. So, I guess all that's left is to give this case a hearty recommendation.

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The Phantom 530 is a great case. It's a bit older now, so I'm probably not the

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first reviewer to come to this conclusion, but better late than never,

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I hope. Right, guys? Uh, thanks for watching. Don't forget to like this

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video if you liked it, dislike it if you disliked it. Leave a comment letting us know if you have any feedback on the

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video or if you just did the your hatred for me or the Phantom 530 or the sound

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of my voice or the way that I have two

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arms that come out like this or whatever. You can leave a comment and let us know. We do actually read most of

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the comments on our videos. If you want to support us, we always appreciate

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that, too. There's a link in the video description. You can buy a cool t-shirt

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like this one. You can change your Amazon bookmark to one that has our

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affiliate code, so we get a small kickback when you buy stuff. And I'm pretty sure there's something else, too,

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right? You can just contribute directly if you love what we do and you think it's great and we should keep doing it.

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And I think that's pretty much it. Thank you for watching, and as always, don't forget to subscribe if you haven't

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already.