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NZXT ZERO Case Review: How quiet can seven fans be?

Cases & PSU/Cases by KeithSuppe @ 2007-03-08

The NZXT company is young, yet their cases have already gained a solid foot-hold on the market. Today we test the ZERO, a case with a total of seven 12cm fans and a 8cm top mounted fan. Does it move around the floor on its own? Can it double as a hovercraft? Read on...

Cooling & Design Choices #1

ZERO aero-dynamics

Madshrimps (c)

The diagram above designates each 120mm intake fan by a blue arrow; the bottom intake which is passive is indicated by a yellow arrow. Red arrows designate 120mm exhaust fans including the 90mm top exhaust; orange arrows indicate additional exhaust via PSU cooling fans.

NZXT's four side panel 12cm fan are essential for any system with mid to high level graphics. Its best attribute insofar as fan placement are the twin 12cm rear mounted fans. Where the ZERO falls short is in the 90mm top exhaust fan. Designed to remove any residual heat the rear mounted fans miss, top mounted fans are an integral element of chassis thermodynamics. Unfortunately they are not mentioned in the ATX Form Factor guidelines and are rarely considered essential to most designs. The power supply continues to be misused as an additional exhaust port simply because most designers do not understand or simply do not care how these elevated temps will affect the power supply and eventually system stability. The ZERO's 90mm is better not used, the problem is NZXT did not take into consideration PSU size standards, ergo any PSU longer then 165mm (6.5") requires you to remove the top fan. Since the PSU I had under those dimensions wouldn't power the BFG 8800GTX I was forced to improvise and re-mount the fan to the exterior.

NZXT has chosen to eschew larger 140mm or 200mm fans for 120mm which are the standard today and therefore relatively inexpensive to procure, cost savings they pass on to the consumer. The side-panel arrangement is very low key and hardly noticeable for those whom are offended at the often ostentatious Gamer style enclosures out there. ZERO sets a new standard for what may be considered a "Gamers case" with its understated, yet sleek ergonomics. The four 120mm side mounted fans are obviously meant to cool modern graphic cards and most likely what will draw consumers to this case. From the fan compliment the ZERO seems to employ a positive pressure environment which is favored for it's elimination of dust. However any belief positive pressure will completely eliminate dust is folk-science since filters and only filters will effectively keep dust out regardless of pressure.

Madshrimps (c)

As is obvious from their grouping ZERO's side-panel fans will have a substantial effect on airflow. Whether this balance will contribute to the ZERO being a positive pressure case remains to be seen, I wasn’t able to judge fairly due to the absence of a real filter at this location. NZXT didn't simply shove as many fans as they could into a case, the arrangement makes sense. The type of fans used is where this design separates it’s self from the rest, these fans are relatively low CFM models which operate very quietly. Perhaps the case's namesake implies "ZERO" dBA. Below we remove and reverse the side-panel.

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Below I've taken a close-up of the 12cm fan model number, I searched the Internet extensively for this model number without any luck, I removed the NZXT sticker off the fan trying to find a maker to no avail. The fan may be a Sunbeam the model number is DF1202512SEDN seen below. I would hypothesize these fans move approximately 15 ~ 30CFM and are virtually noiseless at approximately 20dBA (rated in anechoic room at 1m).

Madshrimps (c)

Comment from KTMitch @ 2007/03/09

Wow, that has to be one of the best reviews I have ever read for a computer case, and I have read quite a lot recently. Liquid3D, you really know your stuff.

The aero- and thermal-dynamic information was interesting and enlightening. And the case review itself was thorough and descriptive. The only subject I saw missing was a mention to how easy the install process was.

I have four questions about the case.
One: What is you're take on the quality of the front door? The review on hexus.net thought it was particularly cheap feeling. But their entire review seemed to be negative.
Two: How easy was it to manage wires in the Zero? I've read a couple of complaints that there is very little ability to manage wires efficiently in the case.
Three: How is the exterior finish? I am not entirely convinced on the 'orange-peel' finish. How easily does it smudge?
Four: Would you use this case as your own rig (in an air cooling situation)?

Overall, this review has definitely piqued my interest in this case.

Comment from Rutar @ 2007/03/09

I like that company, 6 120mm fans

Comment from Liquid3D @ 2007/03/12

Quote:

Originally Posted by KTMitch

Sorry about those areas I missed. Sometimes while trying to focuson one subject I may negklect another. Recently I have noticed the exterior does smudge. it's easily cleaned and as long as you don't handle the case too often it's not bad for the finish.

The front door is made from plastic and aluminum, yet it's only about one thrid of the front panel height, so it's not that problematic. I can understand why they would think it was "cheap" feeling, but it works and while my Kandlaf case doors are solid aluminum I don't like the sound of the aluminum scraping against aluminum when they close or if their not closed in the right order they don't close. I'm not picking on the Kandalf it's just an example of what I have here right now. The door on the ZERO is made the way it is so the power switch could be accessable from the outside. Of course the Reset button is inside and I was pressing that button for the first 30-minutes after I built the rig until I found the power button arounf the front hehe. They should have kept them both exterior.

The wires were another area I missed, it does get a little crowded in there, however; I didn't mention it because I haven't found many cases where this isn't a problem with sleeved cables. Ironically as their supposed to ,make things neater, they tend to be bulky. PCPower&Cooling in their effort to produce the finest quality has made their ATX power cable especially stiff, but the problem seems to be case height and depth. If you want your case a little smaller like the ZERO you do make sacrifices.

Installation wasn't really a problem so long as you are organized. Don't try to install memory after you've got all the other devices in, be sure to hook up IDE connectors before power cords. I took all the cords from the PSU (as I usually do) and tape them up to the top of the case to clear room for mobo installation second (PSU is first).

Finally would I use this case in my own sysytem if I was air-cooling? Well if I could have it for $109 it 's better then some cases at $160 but it's not better (in theory I haven't tested them head to head ) then the Antec 900 for $119 at Newegg I would recommend this case over the ZERO and thanks to you I will amend my article.

Thank you for writing in here's the link to the Antec 900 and here's JMKE's article on that case. In his conclusion he stated filters are a problem, and steel makes it difficult for LAN. This exemplifies how difficult a time end-users have finding a decent LAN case so they're dragging along their tower cases. You have to figure it this way, if you want top show off your best at a LAN Party Host One! Or when you buy your next high end rig don't sell the parts from the old one and search for a LAN case that will hold them.

Anyway you can see why I wrote that intro, case makers are hitting the mark in one area and missing the point in another. We should have to make sacrifices for a $100 plus case, meaning at the least the it should be capable of extricating heat from the enclosure. Aluminum isn't that costly and you can use Lucite if the airflow is correct. All it takes are several well placed fans and filters on each (except exhaust) so I pull my hair out in frustration and feel your pain.

Comment from stevem @ 2007/03/13

Good overview of thermal flow, Liquid3D. It's surprising how many case designers make poor choices regarding thermodynamics, flow dynamics & pressure, when this stuff has been modelled since the inception of the ATX spec. It's not as though cost would be severely affected, either...

Comment from KTMitch @ 2007/03/13

Wow, thanks for the quick and in-depth reply!

It is entirely understandable that you missed some subjects. Its almost expected for such a well written (and large) article. And it should be the job of us readers to point out any issues.

I'll definitely take a more detailed look at the Antec 900. From jmke's article, it sounds comparable to the Zero. Its my personal opinion that the Zero looks better, however.

I wholeheartedly agree. There seems to be a rift between the case manufacturers and the consumer. From the points you guys have made, to the simple location of front USB and audio connections, the manufacturers seems to be totally disconnected from the real world demand.

You've made a fan of me. I'll be happily awaiting more case reviews.

Comment from Rutar @ 2007/03/13

Quote:

Originally Posted by Liquid3D

The front door is made from plastic and aluminum, yet it's only about one thrid of the front panel height, so it's not that problematic. I can understand why they would think it was "cheap" feeling, but it works.

brushed aluminium is the best material to make anything out of it, especially when everything else is plywood and plastic nowadays

Dust isn't as visible on it and fingerprints are not an issue and it feels good.

The shiney black plastic that is so dam popular today for many thngs but it won't look good the second you took it out of the packaging.

I think doors in general are stupid for 90% of the users yet so many cases have them (especially if you are too lazy to look for no-cd cracks).

Comment from jmke @ 2007/04/26

Hey Keith,

I just finished testing the NZXT Adamas which has 4x120mm fans, same model as the ones in the Zero, perception of sound can be quite different between people

I find these 120mm fans at 12v to quite noisy, far from dead quiet; especially compared to a 1200rpm Papst or 800rpm Noctua.

at 50cm the noise difference is definitely noticeable (about 4-5dBA) between the 2x120mm NZXT fans and 2x120mm Papst/Noctua setup.

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