NZXT is relatively new company (founded in 2004) but their products are always designed in an non-orthodox way. Their cases always look like a fusion between standard and modded chassis. We got their Apollo model that belongs to Crafted series and NZXT describes it as “the perfect combination of cooling, value and design”. Lot of water has gone under the bridge since this chassis was introduced but it still looks modern and has very reasonable price tag. Model that had arrived in our test lab was black version although gray, blue and orange versions are available also.
Because of color variety that you can choose from, it will be easy to pick a color that suites you or your “working” environment. Since all surfaces have piano finish, fingerprints will be your usual fellowship along with a cleaning cloth (that is if you care about fingerprints). Basic construction is made out of steel sheets while front is covered with plastic front mask. Left side is transparent with 120m fan mounted in level with graphics card and chipset. This allows better air flow around those components.
This cooler has blue LEDs and 4-pin connector so it can be plugged in fan controller. Since noise levels at max RPM were tolerable it can be mounted directly to motherboard, but if you want to make this fan quieter, you can simply remove dust protector. NZXT Apollo has another 120mm fan that can be found at the back side and its job is to take hot air out of the chassis. This fan has no LEDs but also uses 4-pin connector so it can also be connected to fan controller.
Since this is identical fan to one mounted on left side (except LEDs of course) and it generates less noise, we can definitely conclude that dust protector on side fan is the culprit for its higher noise levels. There is optional mounting place for another 120mm fan behind front mask. On both sides of this fan mounting point are located two LED light sources that also use 4-pin connector and emit light at “chromed” front grill.
Power button and signal LEDs are located at bottom segment of front side while reset button and drive bays are located behind see-through smoked acrylic magnetically locked doors. Five 5.25 inch and one 3.5 inch drives can be mounted at front side while inside the chassis can be placed four 3.5 inch drives (HDD cage).
On lower right side of the front grill are located 2 USB, 1 FireWire and audio connectors. Both side panels can be dismounted but only left has hand grip. All panels have nicely finished edges so you won’t cut yourself while operating inside the chassis.
All drive bays are equipped with screwless mechanisms so you won’t need a screwdriver to mount or dismount drives. HDD cage is rotated for 90 degrees so it allows really easy access to HDDs. Also complete HDD cage can be easily taken out of the chassis thanks to the fact that it is fastened to chassis with just two strategically placed screws. Also PCI and PCIe card can be also mounted without use of any tools thanks to implemented plastic clips.
