Today for review I figured I’d post another NZXT case review, this time it’s the Gamma. I really like the aesthetics of this case, it looks very nice and has an interesting profile look to it. Inside you’ll find quite a bit of room to install a system, and spaces for six fans, with one pre-installed for you already. The build quality is what we’ve come to expect from NZXT, it’s very good overall, the case is sturdy and designed well. So read on to learn more about the Gamma from NZXT…
Specifications:
Black Steel Midtower
The Gamma places a premium on effective airflow with 6 fan capability including dedicated VGA/CPU cooling and a unique front panel design that allows extra air to enter through the front. NZXT also includes pre-drilled watercooling holes on the backplate and mounting holes for a dual radiator at the top. Gamma gives you everything you need for a meticulously clean build with punched motherboard holes and a turned HDD cage which keeps cabling as discrete as possible.
Features:
* 6 fan capability ( one rear 120mm included )
* Black Interior
* Meshed front panel allows for more airflow
* Wire routing: motherboard punched holes allows for quick CPU bracket removable and optimal wire routing, turned HDD also helps with managing cables
* Pre-drilled water cooling holes on the back plate
* Front mounted USB, audio, and ESATA ports
* Support for external dual radiator at the top of the chassis
* High end graphics card support, the Gamma features space that is especially designed to fit longer 10.” cards
Specs:
MODEL:GAMMA SERIES
CASE TYPE: MID TOWER Black interior chassis
FRONT PANEL MATERIAL: Steel
DIMENSIONS (W x H x D): 190 X 449 X 508 mm
COOLING SYSTEM:
-FRONT, 1 x 120mm
-SIDE, 2 x 120mm
-TOP, 2 x 140/120mm
-REAR, 1 x 120mm, 23db/42CFM (included)
DRIVE BAYS:
-11 DRIVE BAYS
–4 EXTERNAL 5.25″ DRIVE BAYS
–7 INTERNAL 3.5″ DRIVE BAYS
MATERIAL(S): Steel Construction
EXPANSION SLOTS: 7
WEIGHT: 6 KGS (W/O Power)
MOTHERBOARD SUPPORT:MOTHERBOARDS: ATX, MICRO-ATX, BABY AT
Unboxing:
The Gamma comes packaged in a rather plain box, it’s brown with a big ‘G’ on it. Inside the case is packaged very well with styrofoam and plastic.
The Gamma is all black with the exception of the silver NZXT logo case badge on the top of the bezel.
On the front you’ll find four 5.25” bays, below those are the front panel connections including USB, eSATA and audio. To the right of the front panel is the power and reset buttons along with an HDD activity indicator LED.
The right side of the Gamma is plain black, there is an indentation as a hand hold to help remove the case panel though. The front bezel has an odd but interesting and attractive shape to it which you can see from the side view.
On the left side you’ll find space for two cooling fans on that panel.
On the top you’ll find two more spaces for cooling fans or even to install a radiator.
On the bottom of the case you’ll find four rubber feet and a removable air filter for the power supply.
Moving to the back you’ll find the only fan included with the case, a single 120mm exhaust fan. Above the fan are two rubberized holes for water cooling tubing. The Gamma is a bottom mounted PSU style case, and both side panels are held on with thumbscrews making it easy to access the case insides.
Ok, so let’s take the panel off and look inside of the Gamma, instantly you’ll notice it’s painted black.
There’s a little brown box in the hard drive bay, that’s the accessory box and inside we find the HDD rails, user manual and individual labeled bags with the screws to install everything. One of the bags is all thumbscrews, these are used to install the 5.25” devices.
Hanging around inside you’ll also find the front panel wires, standard stuff:
The hard drive cage isn’t removable, but to me that’s no too big a deal, it doesn’t matter much to me if it’s removable or not.
The motherboard tray does have a large square cut out of it to make installing CPU cooler easier, personally I think all cases should be made this way, but I change cooler a lot.
Here’s a look at the back of the case with the panel off, there is some room for wiring back there, you can run the wires up the back of the tray if need be. The tray does have places to fasten or secure wires to.
The front bezel does pop off easily, inside you’ll find space for another 120mm fan, and the front 5.25” covers all have sponge filters on them.
Installation, Performance, Comparison
The other day I took a look at the NZXT Panzerbox, so what I did was take that system out and install it in the Gamma case. The system consists of an Intel C2D6420 and a Calibre GTX260 video card basically.
Everything fit fine for the most part, no real problems, but I found it is a bit tight at the top of the case when you’re trying to install a cooler or trying to hook up the CPU power connector. If you install fans at the top of the case then you’ve really go no room to work, it gets very tight, and you’ll find that you need to secure any wires that could get caught in the fans.
The Calibre GTX260 is a very large video card, it fit but only just. With the card installed in that position I basically lose access to the bottom 3.5” bay, and the top bay is tight. If the power connectors of the GTX260 had been on the end of the card instead of the side, then I may have run into more problems.
No problems with the two hard drives I installed, they mount backwards, meaning the connections are on the back of the case. I like this layout since the cables are out of the way really, and it makes cable management a bit easier.
Here’s the back of the case with the system installed. There’s no hole at the top of the tray to run the CPU power connection through, but you can run it across the top.
There is an LED in the front of the case that lights up blue when the system is powered on, it’s more of a light bar and it’s not very bright, it’s a nice accent to the case though.
I think I’ve covered everything here, the Gamma is a nice budget minded case, but for better cooling you’ll need to get more fans, so that will be an additional cost for you there. As is the temperatures weren’t bad, the system wasn’t going to overheat or anything, but I wouldn’t want to have a couple video cards in there or try and overclock the system without adding more fans.
Conclusion:
The NZXT Gamma is a well designed and well built case that most anyone should appreciate. There’s plenty of room for most any system in it, and a lot of the installation is tool-less making it easy to get your system in it.
It does have a couple issues though, the lack of space near the top is one of them, it’s quite cramped up there, and you’ll find it hard to install a CPU cooler or plug in the CPU power connection.
The lack of fans I’m sure was a way to keep the cost down, but I think they should have included at least one additional fan in the front of the case. You’ll most certainly need to buy more fans, thus incurring an additional cost.
Pros:
+Quite a bit of room
+Looks great, love the design
+Installation of system is easy
Cons:
-Only comes with one fan installed
-Tight fit with large video cards
-Not much room to work at top of case
Ratings
Overall: 4 out of 5
Performance: 4 out of 5
Aesthetic: 5 out of 5
Build Quality: 5 out of 5
I would like to thank NZXT for the opportunity to review the Gamma PC Case and for their support of Bona Fide Reviews.
Disclosure: This product was given to Bona Fide Reviews for review by the company for review purposes only, and is not considered by us as payment for the review, we do not, and never will, accept payment from companies to review their products.
