NZXT Tempest

Installation & Performance:

With the NZXT Tempest claiming support for extended ATX motherboards, we had used a Tyan Tempest i5400XT EATX motherboard. The motherboard did fit, but both drive cages needed to be removed in order for the motherboard to be installed. Once that was done, the cage ended up blocking one of the SATA ports and it impaired the top drive cage from being reinstalled. Aside from that EATX issue, everything had successfully installed.

In addition to the Tyan Tempest i5400XT motherboard, the system was made up of dual Intel Xeon E5320 Quad-Core processors, ATI Radeon X1950PRO 256MB graphics card, Hiper power supply, 4GB of DDR2 FB-DIMM RAM, Western Digital SATA drive, and a Lite-On SATA DVD-RW drive. When we had connected all of the case fans, there was superb airflow but the system was a bit noisy. As the dual Dynatron LGA-771 heatsinks are extremely noisy but provide sufficient airflow, we had ended up disconnecting some of the case fans. When it comes to the cable management possibilities, the NZXT Tempest was satisfactory but not the best we have experienced.

Conclusion:

If you're after a case that can accommodate a good number of fans and easily supports water cooling, the NZXT Tempest did live up to its name of being an airflow king. While it may be an airflow king, the Tempest isn't a king among all cases. The two 140mm fans and four 120mm fans come at a cost of noise. The case is built well with steel construction, but there is still some plastic to be found around this case. The aesthetics are nice especially with blue LEDs for the front panel and side fans, but from our perspective it isn't the best we've seen. When installing the extended ATX Tyan motherboard, it was a tight fit for this case and ended up causing issues with the hard drive cages. What's nice about this case, however, is the airflow and that its price point, which comes in at just under $100 USD! This steel chassis with all of its features is quite affordable at $99 USD, compared to the SilverStone Temjin TJ10 and others that can be two to three times more expensive. For enthusiasts after an affordable case that can safely house your hardware components and can easily accommodate water-cooling, the NZXT Tempest is the one to get, but for others there are better options on the market.