NZXT’s Source 210 Elite is here to provide the basic chassis to house your rig and a just a little more to meet your needs. Now with USB 3.0, tool-less features, and an additional 140mm top fan for cooling, it’s modest and contains the essentials for performance. It’s the chassis you can afford, and more.
$ 49.99
Fantastic Case!!,
INTRODUCTION
I was looking for a cheap case for a quick build, and found reviews online saying that as far as cheap cases go, this one was of outstanding quality with many excellent features. I decided to take the plunge, and for my first NZXT product I was quite impressed! According to NZXT, their goal with this case is “to provide the basic chassis to house your rig and just a little more to meet your needs”. I think with this goal in mind they have absolutely delivered on their promise! This is not a power-house case, but at this price no-one should be expecting it to be!
BUILD/QUALITY
This is not your usual fifty buck case! The steel used is extremely sturdy and NZXT has taken great care to ensure that there are no sharp edges to be found! Even the plastic of the front panel seems very sturdy and well made! The included fans are whisper quiet, and yet the still move a LOT of air, keeping the case cool without sounding like an aeroplane taking off! All of the hardware included with my case was of excellent quality, and everything screwed in just fine for me (feelings go out to another reviewer who had trouble with some mobo mounts).
DESIGN
I absolutely love the design of this case! It has all the earmarks of a more expensive case, with uniform color everywhere, holes for cable management, and a nifty (near) tool-less design that I am extremely impressed with at this price. Even the power and reset buttons have been very well designed, with a sleek all-black look. As is to be expected with most cases today, the PSU is bottom mounted, something which simply makes sense, although you would be surprised how many budget cases lack this feature! The case doesn’t come with air filters, however these are very cheap and can be found here on Amazon (link on bottom). I love that all of the front panel wires and fan wires are long enough to route behind the mother without much difficulty (especially with 21 holes to zip-tie things down!) Another great feature is the space left in between the motherboard and right side panel for routing power cables! I can fit my 24pin ATX connector without any resistance when closing the panel!
FEATURES OVERVIEW
– Almost tool-less design.
– 2x120mm included fans top and back for excellent air flow
– Cable management holes in motherboard plate
– Rear water-cooling holes with rubber grommets
– Space for four more 120mm fans
– All internal cables are black for uniformity!
– USB 2.0 and 3.0 Front Panel
CAVEATS
-As another reviewer mentioned, the front USB ports are upside down. While this may be a problem for some, I only use my front USB ports for flash drives and the occasional external USB device such as my DVD burner. Not a huge deal for me.
– While NZXT advertises this case as almost completely tool-less, you WILL need to screw HDDs and DVD Drives on the far side to prevent vibration. Not a huge deal again.
– “Tool-less” design does not allow for reverse-mounting of hard-drives.
WHY 5 STARS?
– Excellent value for money (++)
– Very well made! (++)
– Fantastic look! (+)
– USB ports upside down (-)
– Tool-less design sub-par (-)
OVERALL
I probably would give this case a 9.5 out of ten, rather than a full ten because of the several points mentioned above. That said, I feel as though I absolutely got my money’s worth, and will be highly recommending this case to anyone looking for a budget case! With all the features you normally find in a pro case, save the extra fifty and upgrade your CPU cooler or something. Buy it, you won’t be disappointed!
RECOMMENDED PURCHASES
Aluminum filter/120mm black
NZXT CB 24P-W Singled Sleeved M/B 24-Pin Premium Cable (White)
NZXT CB 8P-W 8-Pin Motherboard Premium Power Extension Cable (White)
**EDIT**
I noticed after installing everything that one of the 140mm fans had two fins that were cracked, and upon removing the fan both pieces fell off. I immediately contacted NZXT customer service, and spoke to two VERY friendly people who took my address down and shipped me a new fan THE SAME DAY. I absolutely appreciate good customer service, without the hassle of a long RMA process, nor asking me to send the whole case back (you think that sounds crazy, but Corsair and I have had words about this.)
Still very impressed, more than likely the fan was damaged during shipping. Thanks!!
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|Simple but beautiful,
Simple. Traditional. Cheap. This is all it needs. A lot of cases today are trying to look new or modern with flashy lights or unique designs. But this case brings back the old plain stock case design in black. It doesn’t rely on exagerations or extra decorations to catch the attention of buyers. It could be used for both professionally and for gaming.
Pros:
1. Front USB 3.0 panels. USB 3’s are hands down going to be the next gen of connectors for any type of data transfer. Having one in the front will be very helpful since it’ll prevent the hassles of connecting it to the back. Also it can charge the battery of iphones, ipads or other similar devices without turning on the computer. For this price range and for it’s time(late 2011), it’s rare to find front USB 3.0 panels.
2. New screwless locks for drives. These mounts are very sturdy, will keep all 3.5 inches and 5 inch drives in place. No looseness or rocking.
3. Wire management. It has supple amount of space and a generous amount of hooks and hedges to tie the wires down.
4. Spacious. This case is a bit on the larger size of mid towers. I have a evga GTX 560ti which is about 10 inches and it fits easily with excess 2-3 inches of room. I’m pretty sure it can hold GTX 580’s or HD 6970’s.
Con:
Airflow. No front mesh grill. At this price range a good amount of cases come with front mesh grills, which in my opinion, helps with airflow quite a bit. Don’t get me wrong tho. You can still mount 2 fronts fans on this case. Just that the air intakes for this case are small slits about half an inch wide going around the edges of the bottom half of the front cover. Comparing this with the full frontal mesh plates, the intake is hindering.
This case may not be the best cooling case out there but with some time spent on wire management and after-market fans it can still be a great budget gaming case. For those looking for a simple exterior design, plenty of room, decent airflow, AND the front 3.0 panel, this is a very good case for the price range.
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|Nice features, poorly constructed,
I bought this case based on it’s USB 3.0 front port and it’s abundance of cooling options. It comes with two fans and has pre-drilled options for adding 2x120mm fans on the front panel and another 120mm-140mm fan on the side panel as well as a 140mm fan mount for the top. Its cost was roughly $40.00 and with the added feature of a bottom PSU mount, it seemed ideal for a new build. Well, the front USB 3.0 port is crooked and the interior 3.5″ bays are built from cheap plastic. Mounting the motherboard and using an aftermarket heatsink proved too tall so if you plan on using a more robust heatsink, choose one that has a relatively low profile or it won’t fit and will obstruct air flow through the interior.
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