The NZXT Hades makes an interesting first impression, but upon closer look, there are simply too many restrictions and shortcomings. For a chassis aimed at the gamer, not having enough clearance for a 120 mm tower cooler is a big "no-go". Fact is, that there are many such CPU coolers on the market and some of the best performing ones have exactly that configuration. The added value of plastic looks turns out to be fairly useless, as these do not manage to hold a simple optical drive in place and while NZXT has included metal rails with rubber mounts for the hard drives, installing them translates into more work than having a normal 3.5 inch bay and using screws with rubber spacers instead.
While the Hades does end up with a long list of positive features and aspects, the negative ones are fairly major ones, which anyone spending 100 US Dollars should not have to live with. This leaves us with the following closing statement: If you love the design and are fully aware of the drawbacks - sure you can go ahead and grab yourself the NZXT Hades. If looks are not so important, but compatibility and overall quality in parts are the main criteria, then take a look at some of the other cases NZXT has to offer. With the Hades, it feels like NZXT has spread their wings too far, trying to offer too many features, while having to cut too many corners to achieve an attractive price point.