Specifications, Availability and Pricing

With the Source 210 Elite we are about to get a closer look at, the bulk of the exterior of this chassis is white. The inside and outside of the chassis is white along with the center component of the front bezel. The plastic on the front of the chassis is comprised of two panels that play against each other's top and bottom edges, as they are slightly out of square. On top of that, there is also an angle that each can be viewed from the top. This means that from left to right on the front bezel, there is also opposing angles to be viewed. Breaking up the vast whiteness of the exterior is the edge of the front bezel which is black on all four sides, the optical drive covers and the power and reset buttons which are all black too.

Airflow has been changed in the way it enters the Source 210 Elite versus the Tempest 210 we just saw. First off, the mesh front panel is blocked off with plastic on the Elite in lieu of grooves cut into the front bezel on the sides to allow the intake of air. The left side panel is also changed and offers actual mounting for a fan in the side panel. The larger mesh area on the Tempest has been reduced to a single mesh covering with mounting holes. Inside the case, the same two fans are supplied with the chassis. You get the black framed, white blade fans, a 120mm in the back and a 140mm up top, which really match the color scheme of the inside and outside. If you plan to add fans, there is mounting for up to seven fans, two of which can be 140mm versus the other five being limited to 120mm.

Around the inside of the chassis you will find three 5.25" drive bays with tool-less clips on one side of the rack. Below that you find eight bays to house 3.5" drives, and again one side of the rack offers a tool-less clip for each bay. If you want more permanent mounting, there are still holes on the back to allow screws to fully secure the drives. The motherboard tray offers over twenty places to tie wires to, six wire management holes and a large CPU cooler access hole for either m-ATX or ATX motherboards. In the back of the chassis you will find seven black expansion card slot covers to match the black on white theme above the bottom mounted power supply.

Looking to find out about the current availability of these cases, I found there are eleven spots to buy the black version, and twelve currently stocking the white version we are about to see. Pricing varies as with anything, but here the swing is pretty limited. On the lower end, you can get this case to your door for just less than $50, and on the high end of the spectrum you will see prices right near $70. Newegg.com is right in the middle of the price swing on both the black Source 210 Elite at $59.99 plus $7.99 to ship it and the white Source 210 Elite is at $59.99 and only $4.99 to ship. This is the first time I have seen it where the white version of any chassis was actually the cheaper solution. Now we need to get deeper into the Source 210 Elite from NZXT and see if in fact it is as worth the asking price as I find it.