The NZXT S340 Case Review
by E. Fylladitakis on July 13, 2015 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- NZXT
- Case
- ODD-Free
NZXT is a renowned designer of PC cases, offering a wide selection of designs for different tastes and budgets. Even though NZXT has diversified into marketing coolers and PSUs, cases remain the focus of the company, with dozens of designs currently available. Nevertheless, it has been nearly two years since we had a look at any of their newest case designs. In this review, we are going to examine one of their newest products, the S340 in White.
Introduction
The S340 is NZXT’s most recent design and it is taking on a huge bet - to be an entirely metallic case with a price tag of about $80. On paper, the S340 with the MSRP of just $70 has excellent specifications, while it also boasts a metal faceplate and a windowed side panel. It is understood that in order for NZXT to be able to offer all that at such a price, certain sacrifices would have to be made. One of them is the removal of 5.25" bays. "ODD-Free" case designs are becoming more and more common, as the market of optical media is slowly fading and discs are getting closer to meeting the fate of floppy discs and cassettes with each passing day, especially with the price of USB ODD drives being quite low. The lack of ODD support is not the only important thing about the S340 though. We are going to examine NZXT’s latest creation thoroughly in this review.
| NZXT S340 (CA-S340W-W1) | ||
| Motherboard Size | ATX, Micro-ATX, Mini-ITX | |
| Drive Bays | External | - |
| Internal | 2 × 3.5" (internal drive cages) 1 x 3.5" (Bottom frame) 2 × 2.5" (System Area) |
|
| Cooling | Front | 2 × 140 mm or 2 × 120 mm (not included) |
| Rear | 1 × 120 mm (120 mm FN V2 fan included) | |
| Top | 1 × 120 mm or 140 mm (120 mm FN V2 fan included) | |
| HDD | - | |
| Bottom | - | |
| Radiator Support | Front | Up to 280mm |
| Rear | Up to 120mm | |
| Top | - | |
| Side | - | |
| Bottom | - | |
| I/O Port | 2× USB 3.0, 2× USB 2.0, 1× Headphone, 1× Mic | |
| Power Supply Size | ATX | |
| Clearances | HSF | 160 mm |
| PSU | - | |
| GPU | 364 mm (<334 mm if a liquid cooling radiator is installed) | |
| Dimensions | 445 mm × 200 mm × 432 mm 17.52 in × 7.87 in × 17.01 in |
|
| Prominent Features | · 90% Steel Construction · Simple Interior Layout · Compact Size · Kraken™ Ready · ODD Free Design |
|
| Price | $81 incl. shipping | |
Packaging & Bundle
NZXT supplies the S340 in a rather plain cardboard box, with the sole artwork being a picture of an amazingly clean system built inside the black version of the case. The packaging provides ample shipping protection, with thick Styrofoam slabs forming a strong protective shell for the lightweight case.
The bundle of the S340 is spartan, with NZXT providing just the absolute necessary for the assembly of the system. Only a basic manual, black screws and a few short black cable ties are provided.
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HQQKrWithAPC - Wednesday, July 15, 2015 - link
with the smaller cases and mini boards, you will have problems with keeping her cool, in general - smaller the case - the hotter it runs. Full towers - are the standard for "balls to the wall" gamers, and for good reason....more space...more air - and cooler temps.romrunning - Wednesday, July 15, 2015 - link
@HQQKrWithAPCI'll disagree with the generalization that full towers = cooler temps.
If a case is designed with good *air flow*, then it will do well with cooling. A poorly designed case, even a full tower, will have problems no matter what internal volume it might have.
Impulses - Monday, July 13, 2015 - link
The biggest issue is case makers are always trying to cater the largest possible market and they end up straddling weird lines...This NZXT design would indeed work better for a M-ATX or ultra quiet build. I doubt anyone that's gonna use SLI/CF (much less water cooling) is gonna be very interested in this, so why bother catering to those markets.
I'm a CF, sound card, and ODD user myself, and I still struggle to find cases that meet my needs perfectly. I have little need for half a dozen 3.5" bays but all enthusiast cases seem built to house a server array of discs...
My Corasair Air 540 is working alright for now, specially for the price I paid, tho I still feel it wastes too much space on the right hand compartment.
Dorek - Wednesday, July 29, 2015 - link
"Do we really need a 36cm deep case to fit a 240mm radiator?"Yes, next question.
"I suppose the same question can be asked of why not a Mini ITX motherboard though; it's rare to see anyone actually needing more than one PCIe slot, as IMO it's usually better to just get a single card and upgrade it later, as multi-card setups are almost always disappointing."
Wrong.
"I do wish we'd get away from the longer cards actually, as there are too few good half-length offerings, though the 960 from Nvidia and the new Nano from AMD seem like good options."
Those are for small-form-factor builds only. If you want an SFF build, build one. This is an ATX case and isn't meant for that.
Samus - Monday, July 13, 2015 - link
I think the irony is the case is 36cm deep (long) yet the expansion slot design leaves that huge gap around the screws. This will invite bugs and rodents to live in the case. My rule of thumb is no openings greater than 1/4" in a PC case and that gap is nearly 3/4" all around. You might as well just leave all the expansion slot covers off!Considering the already lengthy depth, they could have just added 1/2" (a few centimeters) too the overall length, recessing the I/O plates, but the stamping was probably too expensive for the budget compared to using a "flat" back where the expansion slot "gap" was actually created by stamping out the lip. Definitely an economical solution, but at least include a cover?
Flunk - Monday, July 13, 2015 - link
I think that might be a location specific issue, with rodents and insects. I've never had problems like that.Samus - Monday, July 13, 2015 - link
When I used to service PC's in Chicago, I came across this a lot. Fortunately I never had to deal with a live infestation, usually just droppings. But I'd say it was more common in the 90's and early 00's than these days where custom built PC's are virtually non-existent outside of the enthusiast. But even still, someone often leaves a dust cover off and something gets in and takes a piss all over the back of the videocard.PC's offer a warm, dark, secluded space, very attractive to pests.
Impulses - Monday, July 13, 2015 - link
Can't say I've ever seen that after 10+ years of small business IT work in Puerto Rico (and a lot of places I've worked don't even have central AC etc)... I have seen a handful of old systems literally choke and overheat on dust sucked in from every pore tho.ES_Revenge - Monday, July 13, 2015 - link
Where were these people keeping their PCs? Outside? Or are they living in filth? LOL. The only thing I can think of possibly entering a computer case in my house is a spider, but even then I've never come across more than cobwebs in a PC case before.Dorek - Wednesday, July 29, 2015 - link
I've literally never had a bug enter any electronic device that I have owned in my entire life. Are you keeping your computer outdoors? Do you never clean your house?