Nanoxia Deep Silence 1 review

Nanoxia has been producing high quality cooling fans since 2006. It's only just paddled out into the shark-infested waters of the PC case market, but the attention to detail and build quality of the mid-tower Deep Silence 1 give the impression that it's been in the game for years.

As you might have gathered, the Deep Silence is all about making the case as quiet as possible with enough cooling to keep the internals chilled.

The first thing you notice is that this is no lightweight case. The chassis is constructed from 0.7mm thick steel and weighs in at an impressive 11kg. This is partly due the thick noise-damping material found on both side panels and behind the front doors of the case.

The Deep Silence 1 is available in anthracite, black or silver for £90, though the recently announced white version, is an extra tenner for some reason.

The front bezel is split into two magnetic doors, and opening the top one reveals the three 5.25-inch drive bays and slider controls for the two integrated fan controllers. Each controller looks after up to three fans.

Opening the bottom door reveals some of Nanoxia's attention to detail. The door allows access to the two front 120mm intake fans. Each one has its own cage complete with a filter that can be slid out for cleaning and, should the fans need replacing, you can simply unclip them - a first rate piece of design.

As well as the two front intake fans there's a 140mm exhaust fan on the rear panel (another Nanoxia Deep Silence unit). If this isn't enough cooling for your requirements then there are 120/140mm mounts in the side panel and the case floor, which have their own filters. There are also two more 120mm mounts in the case roof or, if you want to go down the water cooling route, there is enough space to get a 240mm radiator fitted.

Pop the top

On the roof are two panels, the smaller of which is an I/O panel that springs up when pushed to reveal two USB 2.0 and two USB 3.0 ports, plus the necessary audio ports. On our review sample, it took some pushing to make the panel rise.

Just behind the I/O is a much larger panel, which Nanoxia calls the Air Chimney. A slider on the side of the case raises this panel for more ventilation, should you require it.

There are three removable modular drive cages. Two can hold three drives, while the third supports just two. These all have tool-free sliding trays, but you'll need a screwdriver to fix a drive to any tray.

What's really clever about these cages is that they allow all manner of configurations, enabling you to fit extra-long graphics cards. They also have secondary mount points, which allow a full liquid radiator setup to sit behind the front intake fans. It's very flexible.

So, it's a well-designed, well-built case, but there are plenty of those on the market. What makes the Deep Silence 1 stand out from the crowd is the price. Even with an extra tenner for the white version, it's a lot of case for the money. Nanoxia's first chassis isn't quite perfect, but it's really rather good.