If you had a shrink ray would you ever
so briefly blast your favorite PC case with it so you could have, like a like a chibi
version. We think Phanteks might have done just that with the old nv5, but we're going to
check it out to see for ourselves if the nv5 is truly a smaller nv7 or something so much
more. Stick around because things are about to get tilted. Okay I'll admit it it's a bit of a stretch to call
the Phanteks nv5 chibi. The new case along with the forthcoming nv9 is an answer to a bigger what if
question. What if Phanteks made the nv7 just a little bit bigger and a little bit smaller? What makes us
so excited for the nv5 is that in our benchmarks the nv7 was one of the coolest cases. The Phanteks
nv7 actually bested Lian Li 011 Evo and 011 Evo XL for top marks in our gaming and idle test while
only falling one degree behind the Evo XL in CPU load temps. That's very impressive. If the nv5 can
match or beat the nv7's performance in a midtower form factor we're here for it. Don't be envious
in nv7 we still love you and we hope you still love us for all of our dad jokes. What isn't a dad
joke is that since they announced the nv5 Phanteks went back to the drawing board with their pricing.
Originally the nv5 was slated to be released for $129.99, which would have been a premium though
not unreasonable price for such a midtower case. For context if it stayed at the $130 mark the
nv5 would be a direct price competition with cases like Lian Li's 01 Dynamic, Corsair's IQ 4000x
RGB, and one of my favorite the NZXT H7 Flow. Rather than being intimidated though by this lineup Phanteks took a bigger swing and dropped the nv5's price to pass on the savings to up PC builders. Now
priced at $99.99 for the Black Version and $109.99 for the White Version. Both versions of the nv5 are
backed by a 5-year limited warranty from Phanteks. It's a bold strategy cotton let's see if it plays
out for them. Let's talk about dimensions and all of the materials as we dive in. The Phanteks nv5 is
9.41 in wide, 18.7 s in deep, and about 21 in tall. Compared to the nv7 the nv5 is roughly 5% less in
width, 10% less in depth, and 8% less in height. So it's not quite a little guy, but it's so adorable
to see the two next to each other though we don't have that, but you could pretend. I mean our our
editors are really maybe you're going to see it here and they're like dancing I'd love to see that.
As for the weight the nv5 clocks in at 11.28 kg or around 25 lb. This hefty weight is all thanks to
the solid steel chassis, which makes up the bulk of the construction as well as the tempered glass
front and side panels. For context on the weight without parts installed the nv5 weighs roughly the
same as a 2-year old toddler or five 2 liter of soda pop, Coke, tonic, or whatever you call it and for
all you Starfield players who love to fill your ships with sandwiches that's roughly 25 loaves
of bread. When it comes to top case controls in IO the nv5 has both a powered switch and a recessed
reset button mode and color RGB controls for the integrated strip. More on that later. One USBC Gen
2 Port, two USB 3.0 type A ports, and a combined audio jack for headphones and microphone. In the
box the nv5 ships with a digital RGB or drgb as Phanteks is calling it controller. As well as a
drgb motherboard adapter, a GPU support bracket, a screw assortment box, and six, yes six whole zip
ties, which is super cute that they think six zip ties is going to be enough for this massive case.
Moving inside the case the mv5 supports ATX, Micro ATX, miniitx, and eatx motherboards up to 280 mm. Now
while most eatx motherboards would technically fit a girthy offering like the RG Maximus z790 extreme
would be pushing the upper limits. What about GPU sizes Robey? The nv5 supports GPUs up to 17.32 in
long and 6.69 in wide. So most cards on the market fall well with within the dimensions and will work.
How about PSU support? How much power can we slap? Oh that was really hard. How much power can we slap
in this bad boy? The nv5 can accommodate PSUs up to 230 mm or around 9 in in length. That means
it can technically accommodate absolute units like the 1500 watt Corsair ahx 1500i, but be careful
with these long boys there isn't a lot of room for cabling with long longer PSUs. On a side note if
you're looking to build in the nv5 and you're worried about the PSU sizes. Phanteks is actually
partnered with Seasonic to refresh their Revolt line of PSUs. Now these modular power supplies ship
without cables to cut down on weight for users who want to use custom cabling from, like companies
like Cablemod. Here's the deal. Do you know how many Molex cables we have lying around? I mean
they're useless. And speaking of cables the front of the nv5's PSU shroud is actually removable.
So if you forgot to plug in a cable or need to plug in a new one removing this cover actually
gives users an access point directly to the PSU provided you have small enough hands to get in
there. Now while we're looking at this area of the case I want to point out the integrated drgb
strip that runs along the edge of the PSU shroud. This thing is loaded with up to 30 LEDs creating
a really smooth colorway here. That's like 30 * 100 that's also 3,000 extra frames. So it's like 3,000
FPS. Now the RGB strip can be connected directly to the motherboard board via a three pin adapter
or you can link it up with the other Phanteks drgb products just using their included jst connector.
When it comes to room for CPU Cooler the nv5 is really going to thrive with all-in-one closed loop
CPU coolers like the one we have right here. While there is around 6 and a half inches of clearance and you
could technically fit an air cooler it would be ill advised, because there's no way to get direct
air flow to it. By the way if you're counting the technically they seem to be piling up. For the AIO
fits the nv5 can either fit a 240 mm or 360 mm radiator at the top or on the side of the case. As
for fan mounting options there is room in the nv5 for eight 120 mm fans, three on the side, three
on the top, one in the case rear, and one in the bottom of the case. It's kind of useless. We'll get
more to that later. It is important to note that the nv5 does not ship with fans. Much like the
power supplies Phanteks does have some new fans, the d30s and you know what they look really good
in this PC case. Now as for home storage, as for a home for, as for home storage you can put 40 houses
in this thing. As for a home for storage the Phanteks nv5 has room for three, 3 and 1/2 in hard drives,
or four, 2 and 1/2 in SSDs. These mounting options are located behind the motherboard on a foldout
tray that also doubles as a cable management cover. Now that we know what the nv5 can technically do
let's just check out an actual build inside of it [music] Overall building in the Phanteks nv5 was pretty
straightforward for a midtower case. There are some things that we really liked some things that left
us a little bit disappointed and some spots where we felt like we needed to be more calculated in our cable runs
and our order of operations. For now we're going to focus on the order of operations as it pertains to building.
Unlike the nv7 the side intake fan and top radiator are not are not a removable backet. So we have had to consider all the cable runs for the AI and fans as well as some
motherboard cables before mounting the radiator to the top of the case. This was made a bit more
challenging by small cutouts at the top of the case. Seriously these two little guys here we kind of wish like the whole top section was just a little bit more open. Interestingly the piece
that had a removable bracket was the little piece down at the bottom for the little fan. With the
very bottom of the case being at an angle it was nice to have a flat surface to work with, however
we did wish that this bracket was reversible or that there was an option to angle the fan like we
kind of had on the nv7. As we built we had to keep in mind that this was a showpiece case. So for all
of our cable and wire runs we had to actually be very careful planning every single run out. If we
didn't take that extra time we were going to have them sticking out in awkward places and nobody
wants awkward cables sticking out. Now this is where daisy chaining fans and RGB together can be super
helpful. We also noticed that if builders wanted to use like 2 and 1/2 in or 3 and 1/2 in drives
using the drive tray in the back it would be the absolute last thing you'd need to do. At least the
cables for those drives would need to be the last ones you connected. Oh and you're probably going
to need some longer SATA cables to accommodate for the tray swing. So you know one thing that is actually pretty
awesome about the tray is that it's really, unlike the Lian LI that thing sticks and holds.
So good job on that one Phanteks. Now since we're talking about cabling we
have to talk about PSU installation. In case you didn't notice the bottom of this case is
tilted at an angle and that includes the PSU compartment. Unlike the nv7 this is not adjustable,
which is actually really unfortunate. With how the PSU is mounted there was a lot of wasted space.
So there's no tucking cables behind the PSU. I mean I love hiding those things and they make it
actually a little bit harder. While the front of the Shroud is removable and this gives access to
the PSU unless you have really small hands or the supernatural ability of plugging things in without
seeing them. Nope I don't. You're going to want to plug everything in before installing it or you
could use something like the Corsair shift and use the access to tuck the cables along the side
of the PSU, which I mean this is this is a perfect case for the Corsair shift. There is more about
the build experience that we'll talk about as we kind of wrap a pretty bow on this review, but
first let's get into performance. To keep things consistent with the rest of our testing metrics
for ATX cases we used all the same components and all the cases. And if you want to know what those
components are check down in the description below, but let's talk about performance. Now we compared
the Phanteks nv5 with a whack of cases and crowd favorites, like the Lian Li 011 Dynamic Evo XL,
the Hyte y40, and the Fractal North, as well as the nv5's big brother the Phanteks nv7 all of which
you can see videos here right here on Robeytech. No nv9 yet though. We we haven't done the nv9. It's coming
it's not out yet. So calm down now. As we ran our series of tests and benchmarks we recorded thermal
performance of both the CPU and the GPU. Now here is what we discovered. While idle the nv5 CPU temps
hovered around 30° C, while GPU temps were around 31° C. For a comparative standpoint this put the
nv5's performance in line with the NZXT H9 Elite and the Hyte y40. We need to keep an eye on this,
because these two troublemakers have a bit of a reputation for putting on a dazzling display, but
running hotter than we would actually like them to. However under CPU load the nv5 followed the
influence of the actual nv7 pulling around 73° C. That is just 1° away from where Lian Li's 011d
Evo XL landed at 72 and one degree better than the Fractal North at 74. This is fantastic news for the
nv5 and notice the fantastic, because it's with the you we're showing it. Now what about gaming? Now
during our 1440p gaming benchmarks the nv5 hung out at the cool end of the playing field with the
Evo XL and the Antec p20c with CPU temps hovering at 47° C but GPU temps hit 66. Much like the Hyte y40 it couldn't quite keep up with the nv7's 44c CPU temps and 61c GPU temps, but for a case that
is significantly smaller we're plenty pleased with the CPU performance. As for the GPU performance we
have to talk about that in relation to some other things we've mentioned and we'll cover that a little bit later on.
It's coming I promise. So as we come down to the end of our review of the Phanteks nv5
we have a few loose ends we need to tie up and all of those technically we talked about including
GPU thermals during gameplay. We pointed out that the nv5 can support eatx motherboards, larger
GPUs larger, PSUs, and air coolers, but there are two major detriments that we see in taking on those
avenues. The first is cable management and most of you are like and we're done with this review. Who
cares about cable management, but for those of you who do while the nv5 has a decent amount of it it
always fills up faster than you think in showcase PCS like this. While the pass through grommets are
a nice touch, except for the one in the middle that that just doesn't have a use, but anyway it can
be awkward when pushing the space's limits with larger components. All of this pales in comparison
to the biggest challenge facing the nv5, airflow or more specifically air volume. Now when we saw
on our benchmarks specifically as we looked at the GPU temps and gaming is that there is just not
a lot of air in the case to move move around the GPU. Now while we did our best to set our 4070 TI
up for success there wasn't much more we could do, because the bottom fan is like its placement and
angle there's only about 20% overlap between the fan and the GPU. So it it doesn't actually give a
whole lot of help. The side intake fans they do get air into the case but it's actually indirect air
flow and we actually saw this very same situation inside of the Hyte y40. That fan is just for show
and there's a reason it's not in this building right now. We say all of that to say that if you're
going to be using the nv5 filling the case with bigger and or harder running components a lack
of air volume and or blocked air flow are going to seriously restrict the component's potential.
We think that this is a difficult thing for us to say with the nv5 restricted potential, however
one of the things that you can do and it's just something to be aware of, is using much more
powerful fans like for instance the D30, which should help alleviate some of this. See here's the deal,
it's designed kind is stunning and it really is interesting to look at, but it feels a little bit
like it's held back from what it could be, because of what it was trying to be it feels like. The nv5
is like a younger person that's grown up in the shadow of a talented older sibling albeit it has
a very massive forehead trying so hard to measure up rather than feeling the freedom to do its very
own thing. Now for all of you out there who feel psychoanalyzed by that statement or you have a
really large forehead I'm not sure whether I'm going to say I'm sorry or you're welcome, however
much like all of those positive things there's a lot that we loved about the nv5. Not just because
it's trying to be a smaller nv7 not because it doesn't have a massive forehead, but because it's a
genuinely stunning case in its own right without a massive forehead. Sorry I really don't like the
big forehead on the nv in the nv7. Now we love the overall build quality and structural makeup.
I mean this is a solidly constructed case with angled edges that really make it stand out in
the crowd of otherwise boxy options. The the RGB strips that accents the PSU shroud and gives
you 3,000 FPS is smooth and easy to plug into the motherboard. It also doesn't require proprietary
software, which is honestly a big bonus and I'll be honest let's just pause here for a second. Let me just say
the lighting effects on this are legit. At the end of the day the nv5 doesn't quite
strike us as a smaller version of the nv7 as much as it tries, though without a bigger forehead. In a
certain light it certainly favors the appearance of the nv7 without a bigger forehead, but it
misses major elements that we loved the nv7 for, like the angled airflow GPU stuff. That was
absolutely awesome. These are our impressions of the nv5 from Phanteks, but we want to know what you
think. Are you excited to see the nv7 like midtower case without a big forehead? Would you build in the
nv5 or do you like bigger cases? Let us know all of that down in the comments below. Now while you're
down there go ahead and slap that subscribe button with that like button and ring that notification
Bell so that you get a notification each and every time we post a video like this right here
on Robeytech. Thank you so much for watching this video. I'm sorry if you had a big forehead
and we look forward to seeing you on the next one.
