The ultimate PC 2010

There are a huge number of ATX-style cabinets out there, and there's a lot to like about many of them. This year we selected NZXT's Phantom series of enthusiast towers. This roomy cabinet made quick work of installing the motherboard, which is usually (and was) the most time-consuming part of the job. The Phantom is designed to host several motherboard sizes, including ATX, micro ATX, Mini ATX, Flex ATX and others.

NZXT simplifies the job of stand-off installation by stamping codes near each threaded hole, indicating which holes get stand-offs for the type of board you're putting in. A key explains the one-letter codes, and is stamped inside the cabinet too. Once the stand-offs were in place, holes on the motherboard lined up perfectly. After the board was secured by screws to the stand-offs, we were ready to install the drives.

The Phantom has room for seven 3.5-inch internal drives, and each bay includes a rail assembly that makes quick work of populating them with drives. Rather than screws, pins held in with rubber grommets keep the drives in place.

The bays are arranged in five- and two-bay cages, so we put our two SSD system drives in the two-drive cage and used four of the remaining five bays for the spinning SATA drives. After about five minutes, we were routing power and data cables.

A front door on the Phantom reveals its five 5.25-inch external bays, one of which received our LG Blu-Ray drive. Drives slide in without rails, are locked into place with a spring lever and can be further secured with screws. Ventilated faceplates are easily removed from the front by releasing a spring lock. They're not sharp and don't easily bend. A large vent occupies the lower half of the plastic and steel front bezel, which is held in place with spring clips and easily removed. No wires connect it to the chassis.

Cooling fans abound, including two on the left-side panel and a large one on top that's illuminated by blue LEDs. Fans can be controlled individually by means of an illuminated switch on the top panel. A panel on the opposite side is home to power, reset, audio, eSATA and two USB ports. Side panels are held in place with a thumbscrew and are quickly removed and replaced.

The Phantom stands 21 inches high, 25 inches deep and about 9 inches wide. The NZXT Phantom would be suitable for building servers, workstations, gaming systems or anything that needs lots of room to expand. It's available in black, white and red, and sells for around $US99.

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