Closer Look: Tempest Evo Interior

Remove 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...

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