Hardware NZXT Beta Review

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cases/2009/10/30/nzxt-beta-review/1

Looking for a new case but running on a tight budget? We take a look at the NZXT Beta, a full ATX case with features like tool-less fittings for just £40. Does the Beta punch above it's weight, or is it another disappointing addition to the bottom end of the case market? We find out.

 

I built a budget rig with this for my parents, for £35 its a very nice case.
Coated all black inside, fair amount of space, good quality build, what else would you want

 

I've seen tin cans with more steel integrity.

 

I cant help thinking that you should test cases with fans fitted to all available mounts, It seems harsh to right of good cases for the want of a couple of quids worth of fans. Mike

 

You mention the Antec 300 as a comparable case in price yet it is not in the graphs.

 

But they don't come with fans on all available mounts, so you'd have to add the cost of fans to the price of the case (which many people don't do as they leave them as is), then you have the problem of variable performance of different fans so it becomes a real minefield to do that. It's best to just leave it at the stock configuration, as that's what you're buying after all.

And lets face it, this was never going to be a good case anyway.

 

But then how are you supposed to know if the case is any good after you fit the fans? I thought most cases come with worse fans than a lot of the ones you can buy separately, so lots of people would want to add more efficient fans into the remaining spots... No matter how much hardware is inside I couldn't bring myself to spend more than about £50 on the hunk of metal it sits in, but would happily spend more on some decent fans. Obviously you have to factor additional fans into the value, but it's not a very fair comparison of performance.

 

Yes. That's what I was thinking. Funny way of proving a point if you ask me. All be it, I'd get the Antec 300 over this case any day.

 

I agree this was never going to be a great case. But adding an extra fan to the side of my case reduced the gpu temps by 25 degrees.

 

Antec 300? try putting in 5 hard drive plus a GTX inside..a bit tight is it? I prefer this one way over the 300..

 

Dunno if you british folk are served better than us but my 300 only shipped with 1 x 120mm rear and 1x140mm top exhaust fans.

 

No, you're right - the two front 120mm fans Harry mentions are optional (ie, there are mounts but no fans). Will amend the review now.

 

Five hard disks and a high end GPU in a bargain basement case? That's hardly indicative of common low end setups. You might as well complain how it doesn't have watercooling radiator mounts either.

re: Antec 300, somehow we've never gotten round to reviewing it online - i'll try and get it tested in the next few weeks for inclusion into future reviews.

 

I have to echo the sentiments of a few others on here. No one simply uses the single or sometimes two fans that come with a budget case. It's not intelligent at all. The case should be tested based upon the potential of the case. Adding solid, budget conscious "bang for the buck" fans and figuring out what the best orientation for airflow given the cases build setup should really be factored into the testing. At a minimum, I have always at least added enough fans to produce a decent through flow of air on every system I have ever built including some serious low budget rigs for parents and grandparents where the case was around $25. it just makes sense. Without doing this you aren't evaluating the full quality of the case and any overall scoring is misleading to the reader. Just by eyeballing the case, I can easily tell that adding an "out" fan in the rear and a second "in" fan over the CPU/GPU area would improve it's thermal performance dramatically (even with a cheap junk fan). Now I'm not saying your review is flat out wrong or done poorly, I just think that a little tweaking is in order.

 

Now darn it, see, I fixed those grammatical errors before I had to re-log in because of this stupid work comp. That'll teach me not to re-proof an old copy/paste. Go ahead, ridicule me, I deserve it.

 

Read what I wrote above.

You can't just put in some 'bargain basement' fans, as that isn't what you get when you buy the case. Some people might be using different fans, others might have a specific budget for a case and want to know which is the best performing case for its price, without factoring in any additional costs.

It also means different cases wouldn't be compared fairly, and any results garnered would be more indicative on the effect of after-market fans on the case airflow than anything else, so you end up not reviewing the case at all. It wouldn't be fair to review a graphics card based on the performance of an after-market GPU cooler from a different manufacturer that not everyone would be using, would it?

Of course adding more fans will improve airflow and reduce temperatures, that much is obvious and I don't think it's the job of the review to prove that.

 

Well, why not have two temp. data plots on the graph? One for stock and one for the addition of another 120 mm fan?

 

^^ which fan though? And seriously, do you want us to take 3-4 days to review a decidedly poor case? wouldn't it be better for us to move on to something more exciting?

 

It's amusing, isn't it, that tin cans used to be made of tin (hence the name) but are still called 'tin cans' despite now being made of steel. And proper tin cans are more robust than steel, even though they aren't steel, so... ah, I think I took something I found funny, tried to make a joke out of it and failed miserably.

I don't really like the case, but why do you say that? If NZXT put an exhaust fan in and a fan on the side panel (and you're not telling me that a fan costs them more than about £1 to add...) it might not suffer as badly.

Anyway, that's a bit beside the point. The case as it stands is a terrible performer, and doesn't really look all that great either. I must admit I would find it interesting one day to go back and try out one of the old server cases I've got lying around to see how well that cools in comparison to a decent modern high-airflow chassis... it would probably be utterly appalling.

 

Pity there's not a simple way to implement a wind tunnel-style test! Install all the hardware, remove ALL the fans & pump air through in some suitable (likely, relatively universal) direction and test the air pressure & direction of air flow. Essentially that's what defines the efficacy of the case - the interface between the air & the hardware having nothing to do with the case. View how well air is directed over the parts, how much resistance/turbulence the case contributes...

'course, that's likely massively impractical, but I've been up for many hours and slept for not many at all. Humour me.