| NZXT Tempest-EVO Case TEVO-001BK |  |
| Reviews - Featured Reviews: Cases | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Written by Joey Peng - Edited by Olin Coles | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sunday, 31 January 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NZXT Tempest Evo Case TEVO-001BKFollowing the success of the original Tempest mid-tower computer case, NZXT tinkered around with its designs and came up with the NZXT Tempest Evo. The two cases share many of the same assets, and are both priced at $119.99. The Tempest Evo features an array of upgrades, including a unified paint job and better cable management. With a total of six 120mm intake/exhaust fans, the NZXT Tempest Evo mid-tower case promises excellent airflow. Benchmark Reviews takes a detailed inspection of the NZXT Tempest Evo mid-tower computer case, model TEVO-001BK, to see how much of an "evolution" it is and how close it comes to perfection. Recently many companies have started offering revised versions of their popular hits, keeping what was praised and tweaking what was necessary. NZXT has done that several times. Revised cases allow the original product to stay competitive against newer models, and, at times, even surpass them. These cases don't pack as much "wow" factor, but they are expected to have overcome all quirky aspects. Existing features should be near perfection. This is not only attractive to buyers, but also attractive to manufacturers. Very little additional investment is required, everything from designs to the manufacturing process is re-used. 
That being said, the NZXT Tempest Evo could definitly be priced a little lower to be more competitive (currently offering the mail-in rebate). For main-stream users there are many sub-$100 cases out there that will satisfy their needs. We shall see in this review whether or not the Evolved Tempest will be worth that little bit of extra cash. NZXT Tempest Evo Features
TEVO-001BK Specifications
About NZXTNZXT, a company built upon gamer's dreams, hopes to create products that put consumers first. With the objective of designing unique products catered for hardware enthusiasts and gamers, NZXT has grown into a globally renowned brand recognized for dedication towards creating the next great gaming product. NZXT has won numerous awards from media and publications from across the globe with a product line spanning from gaming chassis, power, and gaming input devices. As a corporation formed by gamers, NZXT continues to expand into new horizons and push the limits further with each product unveiling. Our dedicated sales and customer service team will work diligently to earn your trust and loyalty. All our products are built with high quality material and engineered in the best conditions. NZXT products are designed and engineered in the United States and manufactured overseas in China and Taiwan. NZXT was established in 2004 in Los Angeles, California. Closer Look: Tempest Evo ExteriorThe NZXT Tempest Evo arrived in a fairly standard box, safely cushioned in between two foam layers. The steel case is strong and sturdy, but quite heavy. Unfortunately there are no convenient places to grip onto for lifting. While the case came fully equipped with all the accessories you'll need for installation, including motherboard and PSU screws, it did not come with an adequate manual of any sort. For those that need a little bit of explanation, the manual can be found on NZXT's website. 
NZXT maintains it's style for see-through side panels. This shape/concept is used on several NZXT cases, such as the Lexa S and M59. It must be a popular design if it was kept for several products. The fan (120mm LED fan) is covered with a steel mesh to block out large particles. You can see the two thumb screws on the back. They allow easy access to the inside of the case. You will have to detach the fan every time though. 
The other face of the Tempest Evo is carved to match the plastic see-through panel on the other side. Definitely a nice visual touch, but it also serves to give the case a little extra room for cable management and cooling. 
The front is covered entirely with steel mesh, allowing complete airflow from the front of the case. Three 5.25" bays are located on the top, each matching up to a single slot. Located right below them are 2 blue LED intake fans. With two strong fans sucking air in from the front, the dust WILL get through and fill the case eventually. Don't expect it to be a magical filter. However, it does a great job keeping large particles, like pet fur, out of the case, while providing extremely smooth airflow. 
One 120mm exhaust fan is located on the back, right where the CPU is located. There are a total of 7 expansion slots and 4 outlets for water-cooling. The PSU is mounted on the bottom, and 8 holes are available for screwing in your PSU. A bottom-mounted PSU may concern some, as there's a common belief that heat rises and thus your GPU ends up being right above a heat vent, and your PSU ends up sucking in more dust. However, a top-mounted PSU simply means the PSU takes the hit instead by sucking in all the heat from your entire system. Moving the PSU to the bottom of your case also frees up real estate at the top, and the NZXT Tempest Evo takes full advantage of that by installing two 120mm fans in its place. There are benefits and drawbacks to both builds. Given the airflow of the Tempest Evo, it is safe to say a bottom-mounted PSU will have very little impact on your GPU/CPU, at most 1-2C. 
Benchmark Reviews offers a detailed look at the Tempest Evo exterior in the next section. Detailed Exterior FeaturesThe top of the Tempest Evo features a rather simplistic design, with 2 USB 2.0 ports, audio jacks, and a single eSata port. The two USB ports seem a little too close to each other, but two thumb-sized USB keys should fit no problem. 
The top exhaust fans are positioned to suck air straight from the CPU coolor. All fans can be individually removed, each with its own 3-pin fan-control connector, both male/female 4-pin molex power supply cables. In the end you will probably find yourself connecting bunch of the fans together, and looping them around the case to reach the PSU at the bottom. This is probably the hardest part if you love cable management and want to keep the case looking clean. 
The bottom stands are rubbery and will keep the steel body of the NZXT Tempest Evo safe from scratches. There is also a PSU vent for allowing extra air flow. Unfortunately there is no dust filter on the bottom. 
The entire front section of the case can be removed to reveal drive bays and fans. It will require a hard tug to get off the first couple times. Taking off the front of the case also happens to be the only way to remove the mesh. Slightly inconvenient, but that depends how often you swap your external bays. 
The fans can be taken off by loosening four screws. Each fan is covered by a removable dust filter, a nice plus for watching to details. The wires for the front LED's are looped in from the bottom of the case, which is great because it leads straight to the PSU. Right behind the fans are the HDD drive cages, which will be kept cool by the two fans blowing fresh air straight at them. 
The external design of the NZXT Tempest Evo is quite well thought out. The design and color, as well as small details have been refined. With major components sitting right next to the case fans, and dust filters located at most of the critical locations, the chassis seems promising so far. Let's take a look at the interior now. Closer Look: Tempest Evo InteriorRemove two thumb screws and we get to the inside of the NZXT Tempest Evo. The interior is painted black, giving the case a wholesome look, way better than the old unpainted interior of the Tempest. Many cases, especially ones with see-through panels, often fail to realize that the inside needs to look great too.
The inside of the NZXT Tempest Evo is fairly roomy. With a horizontal span of about 30cm (slightly less than 12"), all graphic cards up to this date will fit. However the PCI bar is not that great. My GTX285 fails to completely fit. Luckily there are the screws to keep it in place, because it certainly isn't 100% plugged into the motherboard slot. It was about 1-2mm off. There are 2 drive cages and a 3.50" external bracket. There are pre-drilled holes for your motherboard, which supports the entire array of ATX motherboards. Although the case lacks a full manual, the instructions for motherboard installation (which holes to use for which types of motherboard), are nicely printed on the inside. 
Taking off the back cover reveals the space you have available for cable management. Remember the back cover is shaped to allow a thick wad of wires, so you can hide every bit of wire possible in the back. You can choose to route the wires through either the rubber fringes (another nice new feature) or at the bottom. The rubber fringes work quite nicely to keep wires in place and keep them from jumbling together into one thick entanglement. The hollow rectangle matches exactly to where the CPU will be located, allowing a little extra airflow and easy access to the CPU backplate. 
The HDD cages can each hold four hard disk drives, each cooled by one of the front fans. These cages can be removed, but they took quite some effort. To get them out of the case required removing screws and lots of tugging. 
The PSU goes right on top of the four rubber stands, with screws to help keep it in place. The rubber helps with reducing vibration. My PSU happens to sit comfortably on top of the rubber stands, and the screws matched up perfectly. Again, NZXT paid attention to details here. 
In the next section we explore the detailed interior features for the NZXT Tempest Evo case... Detailed Interior FeaturesMigrating hardware into the NZXT Tempest Evo case went pretty smoothly. Installation of the hard drive was made incredibly easy thanks to the screwless rail design. 
Once the rails were positioned properly, just slide it into the cage and it will automatically clip on and hold the hard drive in place. Simple and effective. It's also very interesting how it's designed like a server HDD rack. 
All three fans on the top of the case can be removed and replaced should you choose to. The case comes with wires tied up nicely. It's strongly recommended that you don't untie them completely if you want to keep the cables neat. Each fan has 2 wires, both long enough to reach the opposite side of the case. Best would be to untie just a little bit, connect the fans to each other, and unwrap one power connector for routing to the PSU. 
There are three slots for external drives, tool-free design. There are wires that drop down from the top, which connect to the power buttons and ports. They will touch your top external drive even if you try to route the wires along the side and slip through the cable management openings. 
To insert and external drive, simply turn the knob and the holder pops right out. You can see the screw holes matching up. Once inserted, stick the holder into the matching whole screw, turn the knob and it locks. However the lock doesn't seem to be tight enough. When the disk drive is spinning at maximum speed, the entire case vibrates and it can get a little shaky. 
Overall the interior is well done. A few parts lack a little, which is unfortunate, but overall usability is great. Small details like rubber stands for power supply, rubber fringes for cable management really make the case nicer. There has been significant improvements from the original Tempest that make this new case much better. NZXT Tempest Evo Final ThoughtComputer cases have come a long way, and we're starting to hit a plateau in terms of creativity. Most cases share the same philosophy: Tool-less, use mesh/filters, rectangular box. Personally I'd prefer to see some more radical designs, Thermaltake lv10 being an extreme. When cases like the NZXT Rogue and Antec Skeleton came out, I was excited. I could envision those cases sparking a new wave of designs for mid/full tower cases. Instead, many companies are sticking to what they know the consumer like and doing "remixes" and revisions. If we take a look at the couple of NZXT's products, such as the M59, we'll realize there are so many aspects that are identical to the NZXT Tempest Evo. This really applies to the entire industry, not just NZXT. I'd really like to see some more radical designs, more creativity applied. A little product differentiation couldn't hurt. That being said, the NZXT Tempest Evo is nothing new, but it is a great revision of the original Tempest. The Tempest Evo performs fairly well in terms of airflow. I'll take my GTX 285 temperature as an example. Testing conditions: Room temperature 25C. Load was measured after running Furmark at 1920x1080, MSAAx4 for 10 minutes. My computer is enclosed between my desk and the wall, placed on carpet, so it' clearly not optimal.
GPU temperatures when running Furmark are usually around 10C higher than running an application like 3D vantage. This is essentially as high as you'll ever go. If there is anything to change about the case, it's to tighten up ODD and work on the PCI bar. 
NZXT Tempest Evo ConclusionThe airflow for the NZXT Tempest Evo is great and temperatures benchmarks are fairly decent, especially considering the conditions my computer is under (the back fans currently blow right against the wall and the top fans are about 4-5 inches below the desk). However, 6 120mm fans do come at a price. Under normal use, with fans at 40%, it really isn't that loud. You may not want to sleep with your head near it, but the noise level is low enough. With fans up at 100%, it actually becomes an annoyance that can only be eliminated by wearing headphones and playing music. When turned on or under lights, the case looks awesome. I love the top fans and the see-through panel. It's important that the top and left looks great since this case is designed to stay on the floor, and most of the time that's where your staring at. The lightning from 3 fans isn't enough to make the Tempest Evo a display under your desk, but that's nothing a couple of extra case lighting can't handle. The overall construction is well done, I couldn't find any kind of rough edges or poor. This is where Tempest Evo succeeds. All the details they lacked in the Tempest are present in the Evo. If I start listing flaws, there's really only two, and they may or may not be a problem for you: the loose ODD and PCI slot adjustment. The rest of the case, from build to appearance to functionality, are all great. At $119.99 (or $99.99 after mail-in rebate), I still feel it's a little to the expensive side. When it comes down to value, it's really about what you value. For a revised case I stressed that all functionality should be near perfect, and the Tempest Evo does come close. For those seeking a case with all the details hammered down, this case is without a doubt for you, and I'd say it's a safe buy. Pros:
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