Inside the NZXT Switch 810
The Switch 810 is clearly big, but you don't get a real sense of scale until you're inside. Here, the sheer volume of space makes the enclosure feel particularly roomy and easy to work with. Installing high-end components in a chassis of this size is an absolute cinch, and there's no shortage of builder-friendly features.
As you'd expect, there's a gaping hole in the motherboard tray to help ease CPU cooler installation, the optical bays are tool free, the hard-disk cages (each capable of holding three 3.5/2.5in drives) can be removed by undoing a couple of thumb screws, and rubber-grommeted cable-routing holes are in bountiful supply. We count ten in total, and irrespective of which components you choose to install - or how many - you should have no trouble routing cables tidily and efficiently.
In an effort to maintain a clean-looking build, NZXT also includes a hub to which seven three-pin fans can be connected. The chassis' four pre-installed fans are all hooked up, keeping their cables neatly behind the motherboard tray, and a single four-pin molex connector is required to power them up. It's a good way of keeping cables out of sight, but there is one big proviso; the hub offers no fan regulation, so you can't alter fan speed if you choose to have them connected in this way as opposed to your motherboard's on-board headers.
The two hard-disk cages are also a little different to the norm in the sense that each pull-out bay is accessible from the right side of the chassis. Any installed drives can still be accessed by removing just one side panel, and this orientation helps keep hard-disk cables well out of view. In keeping with most of NZXT's high-performance chassis, the Switch 810's storage cages are able to accommodate 120/140mm fans that pivot at an angle of up to 15ยบ. One 140mm fan is pre-attached to the top cage, and it's configured to direct airflow up toward the top-rear corner of the chassis.
The bottom power supply area, meanwhile, is kitted out with rubber-tipped feet, a removable dust filter and five large rubber-grommeted holes in close proximity. Routing a medley of power cables round back simply isn't a problem, and NZXT's clearly thought about the build process; it bundles an eight-pin extension cable as standard to ensure you've no problems reaching the CPU power connector at the top of most high-end motherboards.
There's enough room inside for elongated motherboards (XL-ATX included) and graphics cards measuring anywhere up to 375mm in length (or 285mm if you choose to keep the interior fan at full tilt). Such is the size of the internal area, that our high-end build - consisting of an ASUS X58 motherboard, Intel Core i7 980X processor and Radeon HD 6970 graphics card - looks positively small in comparison.
What's slightly surprising, however, is the lack of clearance between the motherboard tray and the rear side panel. There's a gap of roughly 2cm, and while that's sufficient if you spread the cables around, it's probably the only area in which the chassis feels slightly cramped.
All in all, though, we've found little cause for complaint thus far. The Switch 810 is big, flexible and satisfyingly-easy to work with. But can it deliver the performance to match?