NZXT Source 530 review

The NZXT Source 530 is a solidly-built midi tower case. It looks inoffensive and the entire case is clearly built for airflow, with a vented top, bottom, front and rear. The bottom and front vents have fine mesh covers to keep dust and fluff from getting in, but the top and back aren’t protected.

The interior bay is well finished, but lacks features we’d expect at this price, such as rubber grommets to protect cables threaded through the motherboard tray from wear. We weren’t too happy with the side panels, either, which began to bend slightly at the corners the first time we took them off.

Inside, there are plenty of fan mounts, including one on a hinge connected to a drive cage. The system only comes with two fans, though: one at the back and one at the top, both positioned as exhausts. The side panels do a fair job of keeping the noise down, but if you fill all the fan bays, this case is going to be loud. The chassis provides more room than most for extra-tall CPU coolers, with 183mm clearance. At the back, each expansion slot blanking plate has its own thumbscrew.

The case’s design lends itself to impressive airflow, and we liked the easily removable stacked drive cages for 3 1/2in or 2 1/2in drives. There are three cages, capable of holding one, two, and three disks respectively. Your drives fit into plastic trays, but these feel flimsy. There’s also an extra 2 1/2in mount on the back of the motherboard tray, as well as three external 5 1/4in bays. All the case’s mounting points, with the exception of the motherboard’s, are tool-less, and if you wish to install an large graphics card, removing the three-bay drive cage will give you 444mm length to play with.

Although the case is obviously well designed in terms of airflow, we’d like more supplied fans at this price, as well as sturdier drive trays and more attention paid to interior and side panel design. We prefer the cheaper Antec P100, which is less spacious but quieter, better looking and more pleasant to work with.