NZXT S340 White/Purple Case Review

Introduction

The S340 has been out for quite a while now, and has been a huge customer favourite ever since its launch. NZXT have decided to not tinker with the design whatsoever, but to just release different colourways… this time white, but with a splash of purple. In 2017 though, is the S340 still one of the best cases on the market for the money, or is this just plain lazy from NZXT?

Specifications

Closer Look – Exterior

As already mentioned, the design of this “new” case hasn’t changed, and therefore the inspection of its looks & features isn’t going to be breaking news. However, in the interest of thoroughness, let’s take the usual tour of the external aesthetics of the case.

The side panel sports a large acrylic window, which gives us view of a large portion of the interior chamber. Despite the exterior sides of the case being white, the interior is clearly still black.

The front of the case is completely devoid of any features whatsoever, and is a crisp, white slab of steel. Upon closer inspection, there is a very subtle “NZXT” logo towards the bottom, also in white.

The minimalistic approach of the front, also extends to the rear side panel, which again is flat matt white.

Things get a little more interesting up on the roof however, where we get our first big expanse of purple on the new edition. Up front we have the large air intake scoop, which is a large gap between the chassis and the front panel, that extends all the way to the foot of the case. Just behind this resides the front IO, which consists of HDD indicator light, microphone & headphone inputs, twin USB 3.0 ports, and finally an illuminated power button.

At the rear of the roof we find a fan grill, with a pre-installed 120mm exhaust fan. This grill doesn’t have a dust filter unfortunately, but there is room to fit a 140mm fan if required.

Moving around to the back of the case, and we see that the chassis is indeed black, and that it’s only the outer panels that are white. All fairly standard with regards the layout of the rear panel, with a further 120mm fan exhaust fan fitted out of the box.

To finish the exterior review of the S340, a quick look at the underneath. Here we see proof that the front air intake chamber does indeed extend all the way to the base at the front, and at the rear we have a removable PSU dust filter.

Closer Look – Interior

Whipping off the windowed side panel we get our full complement of the purple element in this new colourway. The cable management shield and PSU chamber shroud is decked out in a gloss purple finish, which is nicely set off by the black motherboard tray, and the two SSD trays that sit atop the PSU shroud.

Removing the rear side panel is also effortless, and it’s worth noting that the thumbscrews used by NZXT are also captive (ie. they remain on the panel, and aren’t removed completely). It’s surprising how many cases still don’t employ this method, so worth noting.

With the rear exposed, you can see the deep recess that the shield causes, which will make good capable management a lot easier. The front IO cables are all nicely zip-tied to mounting points already, with an accessories box sat in on of the two HDD drive cages in the basement.

Removing the front panel requires a fair amount of force, and reveals a full-length dust filter, held in place strong magnets on each corner. With that out of the way, we see that there are various mounting points for front fans up to 140mm, and the S340 will also accommodate a 240mm radiator.

The roof panel is riveted to the chassis, and is therefore not removable

Closer Look – The Build

• CPU – Intel Core i7 6700k
• Motherboard –Asus ROG Maximus VIII Hero Alpha
• Cooler – Cooler Master MasterLiquid 120
• GPU – ZOTAC GTX 1060 6GB AMP! Edition
• RAM – Crucial Ballistix Elite 16GB DDR4 3000MHz
• SSD – Crucial MX300 525GB
• PSU – BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 11 1000w

Conclusion

So, there we have it… our look at a new case… that isn’t new… apart from the colour!

Having access to lots of new cases that hit the market here at Play3r, I was interested to see if the S340 was still high performer, given that its design dates back to 2014. Other companies have had a long time to look at what made this a fan favourite, and improve upon it.

Performance

There is no denying that the NZXT S340 is a joy to build in. There is a good amount of clearance between the rear of the motherboard and the rear side panel. The bar that protrudes into the main chamber, results in a really good space to tuck all your excess cables into, which means that achieving a nice clean front view is easy.

Build quality is also a strong point. The steel side panels are nice & thick, and the whole unit feels solidly built.

Design

With the S340 being very minimalistic in exterior design, means that it has aged very well, and doesn’t look out of place alongside other cases that have launched recently. Once you’ve experienced tempered glass side panels, it makes it hard to look at an acrylic window with anything other than a tinge of disappointment… but this is a mid-budget case, and therefore there really is no alternative. There is the S340 Elite which adds a glass panel (amongst some other additional features) although this isn’t available in this purple/white colourway at the time of this review.

Value

The NZXT S340 comes in at around £65 at the time of the review, which pitches it against some stiff opposition from competitors such as Corsair, Phanteks and Cooler Master. At this price however, it isn’t outshone by any of its rivals, and it remains to this day a top buy for people looking for a mid-priced case.

Final Thoughts

The NZXT S340 is a really good case… but we already knew that, didn’t we? It is safe to say however, that despite its age, it’s still a rock-solid buy in 2017. It’s built well, looks good, is a dream to build in, and doesn’t break the bank.

The addition of this colourway is really aimed at those who really want a white & purple theme to their gaming rig. If any more evidence was needed to back this up, this case now resides in my 11-year-old daughter’s bedroom!

During the course of the review, she came in to have a look… and as soon as the test build was done, I then found myself transporting her existing system in the white & purple S340! She doesn’t care how much it costs, what the build quality is like, or indeed how easy it is to build in it. She adores the way it looks… and to be honest, I have to agree with her.

Therefore, the NZXT S340 White & Purple edition gets the Play3r Gold Award.

Purchase from Overclockers UK: £66.95

Massive thanks to NZXT and OcUK for sending the S340 White/Purple in for review.