NZXT Hades Mid Tower Computer Case

Observation

Check the long paragraph at the bottom of the page for a funny story about my initial attempts to turn the computer on.

The temperature monitor works excellently, providing a simple way to keep track of some key components without opening the case up. The display is a bit dim, and from odd angles it can be difficult to read the numbers properly. Luckily, looking from above and slightly right (my default case position) gives me a good view of the numbers.  There is a little tab on the backside of the display that allows you to convert between temperatures in Celsius or Fahrenheit. 

I did run into a small bit of trouble with that dislodged side fan I mentioned earlier. After I “fixed” it, I noticed that it ran with a noticeable wobble, which made a rather distracting noise in the case.  Again, I give NZXT the benefit of the doubt here — as I did not do a very precise job of fitting the parts back together and I have had several badly damaged packages come through this particular shipping company before.

This case produced great results in terms of cooling, I can’t feel the difference between intake and exhaust temperatures, which is a big difference from my previous cases. 

Warning: extremely long story about amusing reviewer fail follows.

Once I buttoned up the case, I plugged in my monitors, keyboard, mouse and power cable. Then I stopped and looked at the front of the case. “Where’s the power button?” I thought to myself.  I popped open the front door and pressed the shiny silver button thinking “this has to be the power button.” Nothing happened. 

I went back and made sure I had hooked up the “power sw” wires to the motherboard properly, toggled the power supply’s hard switch a few times, then pressed the silver button a few more times. “Why won’t this %*(@#& thing turn on?!”  I searched the front panel a few more times looking for the power button, then found the little press tab labeled “C/F” on the back of the front door. “Is this the power button?” I pressed that a few times, and nothing happened.

Getting really frustrated now, I just pulled the mother board header cable off and just shorted the two pins with my pocket knife. *whoosh* my computer was off and running. “Now why won’t that danged switch work?” leaving the wire to the power switch unplugged, I pushed that silver button again and poof, the system hard restarted. After I just sat there shocked for a bit, I closed the front door again and noticed that a little piece of the door was different than the rest. 

“A-HA!” I said out loud (getting a weird look from my roommate) I pressed the button triumphantly and nothing happened. Sheepishly I plugged the switch cable back into the motherboard and I finally had a working power button.