The other day I took a look at the NZT Hades PC case and I didn’t quite like it too much, but today I’ve got a case that’s the opposite, it’s one that I truly like. Today for review I have the NZXT Tempest Evo and it’s a very nice case with a lot of great features that makes it a great choice for anyone looking for a new home for their system.
Specifications:
Black Enthusiast Steel Tower
Announcing the Tempest EVO, a sleek, all black, steel mid tower gaming chassis. Building off of the original Tempest’s award winning design, the EVO brings advanced cooling power, expandability, and cable management. The Tempest EVO maximizes airflow circulation with Dual 120mm intake, dual 140mm top exhaust, side 120mm, and a rear 120mm fan. NZXT even redesigned the fan blade design so they effectively deliver more air at lower noise levels. Additionally, the bottom mounted PSU provides better airflow and separation of heat from the CPU.
The Tempest EVO puts a premium on expandability with E-ATX support allowing for compatibility with higher end graphics cards, power supplies and server boards while the server-like HDD space holds up to 8 HDDs ensuring that enthusiasts can make significant upgrades to their system without having to replace the chassis. Installation and upgrades are a breeze with pre-drilled cable routing on the motherboard allowing for a cleaner look and improved airflow. The case also features added space behind the motherboard panel from a punched side panel design that allows for easy heatsink removal. Tempest EVO is well equipped for overclocking and watercooling enthusiasts with predrilled watercooling tube access and support for a dual 120mm radiator at the top panel.
MODEL: Tempest SERIES
CASE TYPE: MID TOWER Steel
FRONT PANEL MATERIAL: PLASTIC
DIMENSIONS (W x H x D): 211.5 X 521.5 X 562 mm
COOLING SYSTEM:
FRONT, 2 X 120 mm Blue LED (included)
REAR, 1 X 120 mm (included)
SIDE PANEL, 1 X 120mm Blue LED (included)
TOP, 2 X 140mm Fan (included)
DRIVE BAYS: 9 DRIVE BAYS
3 EXTERNAL 5.25″ DRIVE BAYS ( up to six 5.25″ )
1 3.5″ External bracket
8 INTERNAL 3.5″ DRIVE BAYS
Screwless Rail Design
MATERIAL(S): Steel Construction
EXPANSION SLOTS : 7
POWER SUPPLY: 500 WATT PS2 ATX 12V 2.0 ( OPTIONAL )
WEIGHT: 11.2 KGS (W/O Power)
MOTHERBOARD SUPPORT: MOTHERBOARDS: E-ATX ATX, MICRO-ATX, BABY AT
Unboxing:
So as usual we start with the box, there’s some interesting art on the box, and the case is packaged well inside.
The side panel window also comes with protective plastic on it. The side panel features a not-square window with a 120mm cooling fan in it at about the place where your video card would be.
The right side is just plain, but the panel is raised allowing room behind it for you to run wires etc.
The front of the case looks like it’s all drive bays, but as it comes it isn’t. There’s only three that are really accessible, behind the bottom six covers are two 120mm fans with hard drive cages behind those. You can of course remove an HDD cage to make more room for other devices if you needed to.
On the top of the case you’ll find two more 120mm fans and the front panel connections of USB, eSATA, audio and the power and reset switches.
Moving around to the back we find a bottom mounted PSU, standard I/O placement and PCI slot along with four holes for water cooling.
On the bottom you’ll find four rubber feet and a filtered power supply ventilation area.
I popped the front bezel off and found a surprise a 3.5” bay adapter. Also with the bezel off you can get a look at the fans.
So next I took off the right side panel and I found wire management similar to the Hades I looked at the other day. The bottom, below the motherboard is also open, this is something I like quite a bit as it allows more freedom of routing your wires around.
Taking off the left side panel we can get a better look at the 120mm fan that is there, and of course the inside of the case. There looks to be plenty of room in the Tempest Evo, but we’ll know more once I get the system in there.
The top three 5.25” bays use tool-less clips to hold the devices in place.
Here’s a few more shots of inside of the case including the fans, the PSU area and the wire management. You’ll notice also the motherboard tray is cut out, something that seems to be becoming a standard now on cases, and that’s a good thing.
Here’s a look at the inside of those top three bays, and a batter look at the 3.5” bay adapter:
The front fans are mounted directly in front of the hard drive cages, so any hard drives installed in there should remain nice and cool.
The case connections for the motherboard are the same as you’d find on other cases, you’ve also got the power connection for the front bezel lighting and all of the fan power connections as well.
In the accessory box you’ll find the usual stuff with the addition of a few more rails for installing more 5.25” devices.
Installation, Performance, Comparison
It’s the same system as the other day that I’m installing in here, but basically it’s an IntelC2Q9650, Gigabyte Motherboard, Nvidia GTX260, PhysX Card and Sound Card along with three hard drives.
I ran into one small issue with the installation or not really an issues but more of an inconvenience . To remove the hard drive racks you must take them out of the front of the case and this involves removing four screws to remove the fan in front of the cage. You don’t have to remove the cage though to install the hard drives as they are inserted into the cage from inside of the case. So it depends on the setup, especially if you’ve already got the rest of the components in the system it can be a tight fit to get the hard drives in from the inside.
I used the top most drive cage for my three hard drives as I figured I could use the bottom one to stick the extra wires from my PSU. I found that there was more then enough clearance for the large GTX260 to fit even with the HDDs installed in there. Granted I could do a little be better wire management to make it even look better and fit better, but as is it works fine.
The rest of the system fit with no issues, I got everything in there just fine. There’s plenty of room on the backside of the motherboard tray to run your wires around there if need be, the side panel extends out a bit allowing room to have your wires back there.
One of my issues with many cases is that there isn’t much room near the top of the case, especially when trying to connect the second power connection on some motherboards, with this case you won’t have that problem. There’s plenty of room even with the fans to work at the top of the case.
When powered on the Tempest Evo does have lighting besides the fans, the bezel lights up as well with two light bars on either side. It makes a nice presentation. The fans are fairly bright, and the side fan lights up as well.
Speaking of the fans, they are a bit on the loud side. For my setup it’s an HTPC as well as a gaming system, so I try and get a nice balance of cooling and silence. So the fans to me are a bit loud, but they’re honestly not overly loud and they of course do a very good job at keeping your system cool.
Bottom line here is that I like this case quite a bit… in fact I’ve decided to keep my system in here, at least until I get another case for review!
Conclusion:
The NZXT Tempest Evo is a very well made case that offers plenty of room for most any system.
It’s got a lot of airflow from the included fans and it will keep even the most high-end system nice and cool.
I like the aesthetic look of it as well, it’s subtle yet stylish, and I do really like the blue accent lighting on the front bezel.
Pros:
+Very well made and designed
+Lots of room inside
+Good cooling abilities
Cons:
-Hard drive bays must be removed through the front
-Fans are a bit loud, at least for me
Ratings
Overall: 5 out of 5
Performance: 5 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 Tempest Evo 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.
