Enclosure Interior
Opening up the case we're presented with a layout somewhat reminiscent of NZXT's S340 enclosure (an outstanding budget case I reviewed a year ago), with an open interior and a protruding metal panel in the back that's designed to help hide some of the cables next to the motherboard.
The shroud covering the bottom area of the enclosure hides the power supply and related cable mess, and the NZXT logo here is actually backlit (this can be switched on or off).
No enclosure review would be complete without a look at the door panels, and here the Manta doesn't skimp.
These are the fantastic doors! They slide off smoothly, thumb screws remain attached, and the doors (made of a combination of steel and plastic panels) have a really high quality feel overall.
Moving past the door panels to other aspects of the enclosure (if we must), we'll have a look at the default cooling, starting with the front intake.
A pair of fans are pre-installed here, and these connect to the controller behind the motherboard. There is a screen filter between these fans and the front of the enclosure to keep the interior clean, as we'll see in a moment.
Moving to the rear of the enclosure, we see the pre-installed 120 mm exhaust fan:
With the front and top plastic body panels removed, which is thankfully quite easy, we have easy access to the fan mounts.
And up front we see the pre-mounted front fans, and also see that the area is recessed to allow installation of thicker fans or a radiator behind the front panel.
Looking behind the motherboard tray now, we see the space along the bottom for the power supply (and room for a floor-mounted hard drive).
Below the large cutout behind the motherboard tray we have the fan controller, which comes pre-wired to the included case fans, and offers a PWM fan cable to connect to a motherboard header. I prefer PWM solutions like this, as it allows me to create custom fan speed profiles with my motherboard software (or in the UEFI setup itself, as is the case with this EVGA Z170 Stinger motherboard).
I can’t imagine there’d be
I can’t imagine there’d be too many people who’d want a mini ITX case the size of a micro ATX case.
I know I don’t.
This
I know I don’t.
This probably has it’s niche though, there must be people out there who want to “get the most” out of their ITX board.
Didn’t the Bit Phoenix sell
Didn’t the Bit Phoenix sell like hot cakes?
Baby got back!
And front. And
Baby got back!
And front. And sides. Baby’s got a bit too much, really
Not really liking the look of
Not really liking the look of this box.
I like it, though the
I like it, though the all-black version (on the NZXT website) looks better to me than this red/black. I like the smooth, graceful lines. In a world of harsh boxes, it’s more like a comfy pillow. Engineers struggle these days to find a well-functioning design that hasn’t been done before (except Thermaltake…). I applaud NZXT for coming up with a unique variation; far better than that Corsair Spec-Alpha fugliness.
HOLY SHIT THAT CHEAP CHINESE
HOLY SHIT THAT CHEAP CHINESE SHIT IS SO CHINESE AKA CHEAP AND UGLY AF. Corsair or GTFO. NZXT sucks donkey dicks.
not ATX = meh…
not ATX = meh…
It’d be nice if mini-ITX
It’d be nice if mini-ITX cases would actually go smaller rather than the other way around.
Totally pointless case,
Totally pointless case, 2-3inches away from a mATX/ATX case, something the size of the NCASE is what’s need in the ITX space.
Please review the Antec
Please review the Antec isk600m