AZZA Photios 250 Mid-Tower Chassis Review (Page 8)
Final Thoughts
The Photios 250 has shown well. While it isn't the latest and greatest of what you may find in a mid-tower chassis built recently, there is plenty in this design to be relevant. The look of the Photios 250 works well in our opinion, as we are a fan of the angular styling, and more and more we like tempered glass, even with the hazard it may present. The chassis is barely audible at 28 dB with both fans spinning at full tilt, and the LED lights aren't bad either. We found plenty of room for all of our components, yes we feel the kit was missing a few screws, but we managed to put together what the average builder would. It very well may not be your cup of tea, but we feel everything about the Photios is sufficient and hard to slam it for any particular reason.
We are giving the Photios 250 a bit of leeway here too. We could be harsh and slam AZZA for not using helpers of any sort for the tempered glass panel, but we won't we could mention having to fiddle with the back of the case to mount the GTX 970, but as level, as the card sets, we have a hard time complaining here too. We like modularity in cases, and the Photios 250 offers none. Although with 220mm for a PSU, there is no need to remove the HDD cage, we would have liked to have the ODD bays removable. Then, there could be additional cooling and radiator support, but considering the low cost of this chassis, we are willing to overlook a few minor details like this, and none of them are detrimental to the use or functionality of the case.
With everything we have seen, learned, or discovered along this route, the largest selling feature of the Photios 250 is the price. You too can have an aggressively styled, aesthetically pleasing, mid-tower chassis, and it will only set you back $59.99. This being the most affordable chassis with tempered glass, and not just one section of it either, we feel that many of you will also look past the minor details when it comes to housing the next PC build with a budget in mind.
With cases like the AZZA Photios 250, you can make a customer really happy with the finished build, you can be the envy of others who spent much more, and still come off with both a slick looking chassis as well as a fatter wallet, all at the same time.
Chad's Chassis Test System Specifications
- Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-Z68X-UD4-B3
- CPU: Intel Core i7 2600K (buy from Amazon)
- Cooler: Corsair H80i GT (buy from Amazon)
- Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws F3-12800CL6D-4GBXH
- Video Card: ZOTAC GeForce GTX 970 AMP. Extreme Edition (buy from Amazon)
- Storage: SuperSpeed 128GB SSD
- Power Supply: SilverStone SST-ST85F-G (buy from Amazon)
- OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit (buy from Amazon)
Product Summary Breakdown
| Performance | 91% |
| Quality | 93% |
| Features | 89% |
| Value | 98% |
| Overall TweakTown Rating | 93% |
The Bottom Line: AZZA's Photios 250 delivers in spades! The chassis is quiet, attractive to look at, laid out very well, but best of all, it has a tempered glass side window to see inside. For the limited amount you need to spend, this chassis is hard to pass up on.
PRICING: You can find the product discussed for sale below. The prices listed are valid at the time of writing, but can change at any time. Click the link below to see real-time pricing for the best deal:
United States: The Azza PHOTIOS 250 Gaming Case, Black CSAZ-250 PHOTIOS 250 retails for $55.07 at Amazon.
United Kingdom: The AZZA Photos 250X Gaming Case with Tempered Glass Side Panel - Black retails for £54.99 at Amazon UK.
Canada: The AZZA Photios 250 Mid-Tower Chassis retails for $115.99 CAD at Amazon Canada.
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