A Closer Look - Outside

Out of the package, it is immediately obvious that the Phanteks NV7 is relatively massive. If their plans are interpreted correctly, Phanteks is planning an even bigger version - possibly something like the NV9 which is hard to visualize. Focusing back onto the NV7, it sports clean square lines with a deliberate angled feet design. As it has two glass panels, the black framing around them takes that into account and leaves the seam that is touching clean. Unlike some of the other cases with this kind of glass setup we have seen, Phanteks does not join the touching edges with a 45° cut, but instead opts to simply overlap the front glass over the side one. This simpler approach doesn't look as nice, but does eliminate a bit of gap that would otherwise be present.


Looking at the front of the chassis, there is no obvious branding anywhere. But, while you can't really tell in the images, the foot sports an embossed Phanteks logo that is overall very subtle and should appease system integrators. This is also where you will find the NV7 IO panel with an audio combo plug, a USB-C port and two USB-A plugs. This whole thing may actually be detached and installed in the rear, as we will show later on.


In the rear, Phanteks went the extra mile and added a swing open panel, which is held in place magnetically to hide the usually unsightly area of any classic build - the exterior cable mess. Instead, there is a built-in trench at the bottom. This design detail, along with the fact that the IO panel is also at the bottom of the NV7, means that you are really meant to have the massive chassis on your table next to your monitor.


The main side panel glass is framed very nicely and clean, as Phanteks has simply hidden the screws that hold it in place behind that rear door. On the other side, there is a large, fine mesh vent for the side fan/radiator mounting location that is not meant to be removed. Instead only about 2/3 of this area of the chassis may be accessed from this angle, with another fine mesh vent where the PSU will be installed. This panel is meant to be pulled up and away from the chassis for assembly, which means you will also have to remove the top cover first.


In the rear, at the very top, there are not one, but two 120 mm fan mounting locations. This can also act as a spot to place a 240 mm radiator or AIO. Phanteks has also placed a cover plate here to act as a fan grill, which is a nice touch. To the left, next to the motherboard backplate cutout, there are plastic pins into which you may push your wiring to route it down to the bottom of the chassis in a clean fashion. A Velcro strip helps to keep the wiring against the body of the frame for the portion of the cable that bends out and back. Phanteks has equipped the NV7 with eight vertical, bridge-less expansion slots, so that you may easily use universal vertical GPU mounting brackets if you like. There is also a round cutout, which is meant to be a drain port for your custom liquid cooling loop, as it is the lowest possible point of the chassis. Taking a closer look at the bottom cutouts, there is the secondary mounting location for the IO panel, next to a grommet covered hole, should you want to route wires out the bottom instead of the back of chassis.


In the top, Phanteks has placed another clean, flat cover with fine mesh to eliminate the need for a secondary dust filter layer. Underneath this, there is a mounting bracket for up to three 120 mm fans or a 360 mm radiator with lots of flexibility to move it backwards or forwards. This means that you could have a radiator in the back as well and still easily fit that 360 mm radiator up in the ceiling. Phanteks has also included a fill port cutout, so that you could build your loop with that in mind, making maintenance a lot easier.


Besides the elongated power button and its embedded white LED, Phanteks also includes a completely new, dual channel D-RGB controller. This still utilizes their own proprietary connectors unfortunately. On top of that Phanteks does not include an adapter cable to connect non-Phanteks ARGB products to. This is a rather big drawback, not user friendly to consumers at all. Even more so, considering the otherwise great capabilities and built-in controls of the unit. In other words, Phanteks is choosing to force this limitation on buyers and thus shoots itself in the foot by relegating you to software control when mixing their D-RGB implementation and ARGB.


On the underside of the Phanteks NV7, there is a large, fine mesh dust filter which you may easily pull out the higher side of the chassis.