Gadgetory

hey guys welcome back to another hardware connects review is you may recall we've already taking a look at the hybrid full tower from NZXT the switch 810 that really surpassed our expectations and there is no other chassis like this one one of the major concerns the company received from consumers was the exterior coating which not only made the casebook plastic but feel weak and toy like so NZXT got the hint and have released a special edition of the 810 that took care of that glossy exterior coating the special edition case rings in at $179 just slightly higher than the original 810 with two color choices the gunmetal gray and the matte black which we have here so the front and top plastic parts now have a nice matte black coating no longer fingerprint magnet nor reflective the metal side panels are also non glossy but are slightly reflective and there is an obvious color difference between the side panels and the plastic around so the special edition of the 810 was really aimed at refining the chassis exterior without modifying the already innovative internals so let's recap of what this hybrid chassis has to offer for the front panel connectors we have four USB ports two of which are USB 3 ready and connect through an internal 20 pin cable we have an SD card reader audio jacks reset an led button that lights up the i/o panel at the back and the power button is located separately at the top from the rest of the front panel connectors below that we have four removable drive bays along with a hot swap bay for 2.5 inch SSDs and regular drives as well the front intake panel can easily be removed has a built-in dust filter and spacing for the airflow behind which dual fans can be installed with a single 140 millimeter fan provided and right the bottom a dual dust filter is located for the optional bottom intake fans taking a look at the top we have this large ventilation cover that can be open to allow for the air to exit and it's also easily removable for installation of the fans and since this chassis is heavily focused on water cooling triple fans can be installed above the frame take a look in the back the large sizing of the chassis allows the rear exhaust fan to slide closer to the top panel which could come and use depending on your cooling configuration then there's the i/o area water cooling holes and nine PCI slots and they bottom out the power supply with a removable dust filter the side panel has a large window that shows off the internals it's nice and clean it fits in with the overall design to get inside the case three thumb screws must be removed with the middle one to be loosened up and pushed down and once inside the case they've maintained the same black color scheme as on the original without any modifications at top right we have three tools optical beam mounts along with the extra thumb screws to secure the optical base at the back then we have the connections for the hot swap a and the two removable hard drive cages at the bottom on the other side a very large CPU cutout is available to support multiple motherboards and CPU cooler backplate placements then many large rubber grommets to accommodate for pretty much any cable management and looking in the back we have plenty of cable tie notches which are spread around to tidy up any mess and just under one inch of room to work with but it really shouldn't be an issue another simple but the very clever tool to minimize hassle with cable management and all these fans is this fan hub that is powered up by one molex connector and supports up to 7 fans it is attached with Velcro meeting positioning of this unit is not restricted all right let's move to the front and check out these modular hard drive cages they are removed by several thumb screws and slide out through the front either which can be installed individually either to allow more direct airflow or utilizing the bottom portion for water cooling a dual rod came installed at the bottom after the removal of the hard drive mounting rails and this is where the dust filter would be crucial now the hard drive cage itself is something unique because it incorporates a fan bracket that can be angled towards your internals and each of the tools brackets can be secured to the cage in case the system is in transport and NZXT has listened to our feedback with regards to the brackets and mounting SSDs now should not be a problem as or there were some clearance issues since the case supports a 360 millimeter rat at the top there are two walls that must be removed first still quite a tedious process with many screws but the back wall which has all the front panel connectors running through it it is still closed in meaning you have to backup all the cables in order to remove it we wish NZXT would have made it easier to work that one out and as part of the accessories n16 who's a braided 8 pin extension just in case you need that extra reach and assembling the system into the special edition a intent wasn't any different than the original our ATX motherboard looks tiny in this large interior a good sign for water cooling enthusiasts graphics cards and length of 14 inches are supported with the cage installed so really this monster can do it all and cleans up nicely as well so to wrap this up the special edition 810 was only a minor refinement to the original the new paint job is welcomed and it does give off a better vibe in terms of quality maybe because it no longer looks like it came from a toy store and the matte black is just more elegant and practical to keep the chassis clean the small revision to drive brackets is also appreciated meaning the company is listening to consumers feedback and tries to deliver to what we want other amazing aspects of the chassis include air flow and water cooling capabilities which are simply unmatched in this price range and has no limits to what can be installed inside this beast and just an outstanding cable management design that makes your life a heck a lot easier during assembly and since the main focus for the special edition has been on color those who are picky about color may not appreciate the difference between the metal side panel and the plastic as it's quite obvious we do however feel that a special edition series is a bit of an overstatement as releasing an identical chassis at different colors is something that should be available to all without having to pay the extra seeing that the negative outcry for the original 810 revolved mainly around the glassy coating and Ziggs teeth should have just released the extra two colors and the same price as the original but overall the switching tent still remains one the best and most practical cases for enthusiasts and deserves the damn innovative award and that concludes our review for the special edition switch 810 from NZXT thank you guys for watching and we'll see you next one