Tuesday 3 April 2012

NZXT Switch 810 Overview!

NZXT have released quite a few eye turning cases lately and the Switch 810 is the latest. You may have seen it being displayed around the internet, so I took one up to the office to take a closer look at what the fuss is all about.

http://www.centrecom.com.au/catalog/nzxt-switch-white-p-56602.html?sort=2a




 

The Switch 810 comes in a large black box safely guarded by foam moulds on the back and front of the case. However unlike the black box it comes in, the case is covered in pure white, so white that I’d be afraid to take this case anywhere but keep it in my office. We all know white things love distressing us by displaying all the nasty scratches and marks on a nice flat white surface. The positive is that dust won’t be as recognizable which does have its drawbacks as you’ll be blind to all the build-up of the particles that love to build up in your precious machine!
 

Looking at the unit I was a bit worried about the build quality and I wasn’t wrong. The case does feature a fair amount of overhanging plastic that feels wobbly and a bit flaky, a disgruntling feature which will be noticeable while fiddling with the top of the case. Its top is where this case loses majority of its points. It features spaced out grids to promote airflow from the single supplied fan (supports up to 3 fans, or a water cooling black in the provided area), so why did they add the ability to completely close off the top to disable airflow altogether? If you install 3 fans on the slot above, why would you go and close off the top? And it’s not like the air will have any other place to go as there are no other ventilation slots apart from the top gaps.
 
Time to look at its internals. After fiddling with the screw-lock combination which is ridiculously designed and executed poorly, the extra-large windowed panel reveals pure white elegance and simplicity in its design. The case has plenty of holes to thread your cables through, yet not providing adequate space between the motherboard tray and the side panel. The space is as thick as my middle finger and first impressions give me the feeling that the motherboard power cable would either be ridiculously tight, or if you have an Enermax power supply which features both motherboard power cables in one thick cable would probably not fit.
 
The 5.25” bays provide a simple single hot pluggable bay which can be used to swap in and out your extra storage drive, or to house your SSD. The 3.5” bays are divided equally into two removable bays which are fantastic as it allows you to access the front panel to install extra fans, or even remove an entire bay all together and provide more room for airflow. The top bay features an angle adjustable fan which will blow straight onto your graphics card, which would provide multi card users with a great flow of air. Oh, don’t forget the fact that this case is very water cooler friendly and is almost built purely for water cooling enthusiasts. So don’t be afraid if you were pondering if this case is ready for intricate water cooling setups.
 
Overall, this case should be attractive to those who would like to setup a nice simple and clean looking case in their study/office. While it does lack from a good solid design, if it isn’t going to be going anywhere then it doesn’t really matter, does it?

By Sahin Selvi
sahin.s@centrecom.com.au

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