NZXT – Hades Crafted Series

NZXT continues to expand the fleet of computer cases in 2010 with the new Hades Crafted Series 9 Bay Black mid-tower case. NZXT has designed one more mid-tower case with as many as possible places to mount large chassis fans without overdoing it. The unique look is unlike most on the market today with a unique front panel to assist with hiding your ROM drive, but keep a sinister look. Features such as ports on the back panel for water cooling should get the attention of those who are or are planning on water cooling their rig. Also the Hades series includes two brackets to assist with mounting two SSD drives. Listing just a few key things about the case, let’s take a closer look at what the case has to offer you.

Specifications:

MODEL	Hades Series
CASE TYPE	Mid Tower Steel
FRONT PANEL MATERIAL	PLASTIC
DIMENSIONS (W x H x D)	200 X 430 X 501 mm / 7.87″ x 16.9″ x 19.7″
COOLING SYSTEM	FRONT, 1 X 200mm red LED (included) REAR, 1 X 120mm (included)SIDE, 1 x 200mm (included)TOP, 2 X 120/140mm (1 include 140mm)
DRIVE BAYS	9 DRIVE BAYS 9 EXTERNAL 5.25″ DRIVE BAYS 4 INTERNAL 3.5″ DRIVE MOUNTS Screwless Rail Design
MATERIAL(S)	Steel with black finish
EXPANSION SLOTS	7
POWER SUPPLY	500 WATT PS2 ATX 12V 2.0 ( OPTIONAL )
WEIGHT	6.95 KGS (W/O Power)
MOTHERBOARD SUPPORT	MOTHERBOARDS: ATX, MICRO-ATX, BABY AT

Features:

• Expansion galore: Nine 5.25″ bay setup or Five 5.25″ and Four 3.5″
• Latest Hardware Support: VGA clearance room for 300mm cards like the ATI 5970
• Dual 200mm intake Large air system: 200mm front fan, dual top 140mm fan, Side 200mm fan, rear 120mm exhaust. NZXT includes the chassis with all fans except for one top 140mm fan
• Control the flow: Gaming, overclocking, or office work the dual 8W per channel fan control allows control over the dual 200mm fans that spin up to 150 CFM each
• Monitor your system: A three C/F temperature display at front panel allows the user to see temperatures inside the chassis even with the door closed. A slant on the door allows for easier viewing from above.
• Punched side panel: Besides aesthetics, the side mesh and extrusion allows for even greater and ease of wire management on the right side panel
• Meshed front: 5.25″ meshed bays, meshed door, and meshed bottom panel allows for air to flow into the system with ease.
• Wire Routing: Motherboard punched holes allows for quick CPU bracket removable and optimal wire routing.
• NZXT Solid State bracket allows for two SSD drives to be installed
• Pre-drilled water cooling holes on the backplate
• Front mounted 2 USB, Audio, and E-SATA ports
• Mounting holes for dual radiator at the top
• Removable filter at the bottom PSU

Closer Look:

The front without power supplied has a kind of blank look.	Closer look at the front of the Hades

The front of the Hades case is one really a unique. The shape of the front door is unlike any other case on the market today. Also the top center of the oddly shaped door is a temperature display (presently not powered) which will give the user an insight into what the temperature is in three different locations inside the case. Near the bottom of the front of the case is the in-take for the 200mm fan which (when powered) will light up an LED red hugh. The mesh grill in front of the 200mm fan is a large opening honeycomb like grill which allows the air to move easily into the case.

With the front door open, we get a closer look at the back of the door	Another look, you can see the C/F button on the back of the door which allows you to change the temperature display between Fahrenheit and Celsius.

Initially the thought of a temperature display for the interior of the case seemed a little much, but after installing a PC and running the system for a week, I found myself looking at the display a lot due to the curiosity of what the temperature was inside the case while gaming and other heavy load activities. Also notice the two knobs just under the lowest 5.25″ drive bay. One of these knobs controls the 200mm fan on the front of the case and the other controls the rear 120 and the top 140 exhaust fans.

The left side of the Hades case has a large 200mm fan and a interesting hood scoop one might find on a classic car.	From the inside of the left panel, you can see clearly the intake is a functional one and the 200mm fan has a lot a blades to assist with air movement at low RPM.

The left side panel is like the front of the Hades case, unique. The lack of the common day window which allows users to show off the contents of their rig my not appeal to the showoffs, but for though assembling a sleeper the Hades case will likely be on their desired list. The functional auxiliary scoop on the side panel may not have a fan connected to it, but the two 200mm fans pulling in air and one 120mm rear fan and two 140mm fans on top pushing the hot air out (optional after market third 140mm fan), the air flow through the scoop will be a breathing flow depending on the speed of the exhaust fans set by the two dials on the front of the case.

Closer Look Continued:

The top of the Habes is pretty clean with two ports for 140mm exhaust fans.	This reviews favorite feature is the easy to access i/o ports for audio, USB and e-SATA. No need to reach around to the back to plug in a thumb drive or your gaming headset.

The Hades case comes out of box with just one 140mm fan installed, which must be some sort of cost savings to keep the price of the case low for the initial purchase. The case does come with two grommet ports for running water cooling lines out the back of the case, but we don’t see any pre-drilled holes for mounting an external radiator.

The right side of the Hades case is designed very similar to the left with a hood scoop which sticks out roughly a 1/4″ from the side.	The side scoop on both sides of the Hades case may be more for looks than function, but it is a welcome sight to see a manufacture do something with the right side of a case for once.

The much neglected right side of the computer case has been over looked for far too long. Though the right side of the case is merely the bottom of the motherboard and airflow is not necessarily as needed to keep components cool, this is still a side of your case which others will see.

The back of the Hades is laid out with a great well proven design in recent years with the power supply mounted at the bottom of the case.	As we stated earlier, the back of the case has ports for water cooling, but neither the top nor the back of the case have any pre-drilled holes for mounting a radiator.

The back of any case is as important in function as the front and sides are for looks. In recent years the placement of the power supply being placed at the bottom has become the favored place. The Hades hasn’t come up short on any of the exterior layout of design as far as we can see.

Internal Layout

The inside of the Hades case is a very open design.	The cable running from the front of the case are ran through the 5.25″ drive bay area and not around the back-side or around the outside of the drive bay area.

The inside of the case includes wire routing holes which are grommets to prevent cables from getting snagged or cut by the case’s metal. The grommets are a very welcomed feature which also assists with dressing up the inside of the case. As stated above, the cabling for the fan speed controllers and a few others are ran through the 5.25″ drive bay area, though the cables don’t take up much room while ran through the drive bay area, it still makes the area look a little cluttered. Three of these wires are the temperature probes which one will be located near/on one of the your hard drives but the other two are for the main area and the CPU which in this reviewers opinion should be routed around the right side of the drive bay and back into the main area of the case through the grommeted cable ports. There is no port in the case to allow you to run these cables around the right side. Maybe in the next release…?..

Another look at one of the cable runs with a grommet.	Close look at the bottom of the case whilere the power supply gets mounted. Most power supplies will need to be mounted upsidedown because the have a fan grate that will need to be removed before it can be mounted right side up. NOTE: Some Power supply companies may void the warranty if the fan’s grate is removed.

The holes for cable runs are a welcomed sight in the Hades case and the overall design and layout of the Hades case is very nice to say the least.

Conclusion:

The Hades case from NZXT is a very well thought out and unique design for a mid-tower case. The cables running through the drive bay area was the only drawback (though minor) to the overall layout of the Hades case. The lack of the second exhaust fan on the top of the case may be to keep the price of the case down, but we think NZXT should provide an option to purchase a Hades case with this second fan included. The front door is an odd shape which contributes to the Hades overall design and with the front mounted temperature gauge the gamer has a convenient way to check in on what the temperatures are inside the case.