Cabinet is an integral part of your rig. Not only it houses all the components but also helps in safeguarding them. Most of the folks don’t think much when it comes to buying a cabinet. Often the cabinet is purchased from the amount left after spending on hardwares. While getting a new rig, I spent considerable thought in getting a decent cabinet. A search in local shop revealed that most of the good cabinets fell in the price bracket of Rs.4000 INR plus. I was willing to spend Rs.2500 at the most. I decided to rule out cabinets from iBall, Circle and other cheap brands as they are nothing more than a pile of plastic. Their construction is very poor and don’t look pleasing either.

Eventually, I narrowed down on three cabinets – Zebronics Bijli, Cooler Master 310 and NZXT Gamma. Zebronics though not a good brand but still their Bijli cabinet had roared to success owing to being decent case at just a touch above Rs.1000(without SMPS). The Zebronics Bijli is an all black perforated cabinet with a blue LED fan on the front. The side panel houses two fans to aid in cooling. The innards are roomy enough for most of the hardwares. This is a good cabinet for someone on a tight budget but I decided to rule it out as the recent lot had a thinner metal which is not good as it bends with even a slight pressure. I even felt the two fans on side panel did absolutely nothing to help air circulation. They were just added for the sake of it. Another factor was the cabinet had began to bore me as it has became really popular. Coming on to Cooler Master 310, is a cabinet which has somewhat debateable aestethics. Some may like the smooth plastic work while others will find it cheap(including me). The cabinet is better than Zebronics Bijli but falls short on features. It doesn’t has ability to add fans on top or side panel neither it has anything which could pursuade users to purchase it. The price of Rs.1700 doesn’t does helps either. Finally comes the NZXT Gamma Cabinet. Haven’t heard much about the brand, I headed over to their site & got to know these folks make gamer cabinets. The NZXT Gamma is an all black cabinet with a weird front design(again debateable). There is even an unofficial transparent side-panel version in NZXT Gamma which retails for around Rs.2400 which is Rs.400 more than the original non transparent version. I got the original one without the side tranparent panel. I wasn’t impressed by the looks but the specifications floored me down.

The NZXT Gamma comes with,

# Ability to add upto six fans(One rear fan included).

# Ability to mount water radiator if you plan on using water cooling kits.

# 4 External  5.25″ Drive Bays.

# 6 Internal 3.25″ HDD Bays.

# 7 Expansion Slots.

# Screwless Hard-Disk Bays.

# ATX & Micro ATX Support.

# All Black Interiors.

# Cable Management.

# E-Sata Port on Front Panel.

Unboxing:

The NZXT Gamma comes in a fairly huge brown carton. Upon opening the box, you can see the cabinet sandwiched between two styrofoam supports to prevent it from bumping up. The main cabinet comes wrapped in a plastic bag while the accessories like HDD mount plates,thumb screws, user manual are neatly tucked in a small brown box which is further cleverly kept inside the cabinet.

Construction:

The Cabinet feels sturdy as it is made up of steel. It weighs six kilograms which testifies the good quality of materials used. The side panels do not bend upon inserting pressure neither the inner shells. There are four small legs which keep ground clearance to aid in air circulation from the bottom mounted SMPS. Finally the all black interiors & exteriors lend a superb feel to the cabinet. This makes it apt for a gaming rig or for those who like to show off.

Functionality:

Being a fairly big cabinet, there were no space issues inside once I installed all the components. Since the cables were routed from bottom of the motherboard, cable clutter inside the cabinet was much less. It could be further tucked up with the use of some ties & stick-ups. Overclockers will be delighted with the ability to add upto six fans & even a water cooling kit as the NZXT Gamma comes with pre-drilled holes for water pipes. The thumb screws & HDD mount plates make for easy installation of hardware as the need of screwdriver is kept to minimum. As I said before the black interiors lend it a rich feel to the cabinet. I was surprised to see it as most of the budget cabinets don’t come with any finish. Even the mid end, Cooler Master 690 lacks the internal black finish. The bottom of the cabinet has a dust filter(removable & washable) beneath the SMPS mount. There is also another dust filter beneath the front panel. Its great to know that the manufacturers have put thought to every slightest details.

Coming to the front panel, the cabinet has a horizontal blue LED light which looks cool when you power on. The power and reset switch are rested on the outline on front which are difficult to spot. The HDD activity LED rests below the two switches & blinks yellow instead of the usual red. The yellow LED used here is so dim that it will go unnoticed(as it did for me) for the most. I wonder what was the manufacturer thinking. Besides the switches are the Audio & Headphone jacks, two USB ports alongwith an E-Sata port(again not found in budget cabinets).

The bottom front is grilled so as to allow air circulation upon installation of fan. Though the USB ports appear to be located closely but I found no problems in connecting to fat pendrives. I only wish if it had four USB ports as most connect multiple devices simultaneously. Offcourse the ports were USB 2.0 certified as can be seen from the performance. I think mounting an LED fan under the front grill would boost the ‘WOW’ factor of this already killer looking cabinet.

Conclusion:

No surprises here. The NZXT Gamma has it all plus few bonuses to beat its competitors. Actually nothing comes close to the NZXT Gamma at its price range or even at a notch above. NZXT has build an awesome product & I’m sure it will bag huge profits in the coming times with the Gamma. If you’re buying a cabinet under Rs.3,000 then I think the NZXT Gamma is the best  bet. Throw in some fans or mod  the side panel to a transparent one & you have one hell of a case. Highly Recommended!