An Interview with NZXT

bit-tech: What have been your most successful products - past and present?

Johnny: We're really known for our Phantom line but the past year has really been the H440 and S340. Due to the success of these products we rolled out a number of additional designs with colour variations to cater for different tastes. An example being the recently reviewed H440 Special Edition. A lot of work went into the core design of these products. The success of these products has allowed us to cater for the individual tastes of our customers, something that we really appreciate having the opportunity to do.

bit-tech: Apart from the odd case such as the Vulcan and Rogue, your cases have focused on larger motherboard formats. Are there any plans to expand into mini-ITX and micro-ATX case segments?

Johnny: We've been interested in small form factor for a long time and have been considering this for a while. There are no confirmed products and dates for it at the time, but we're definitely thinking about it.


bit-tech: You worked with Bit-tech modder Craig Brugger to design the Phantom. Do you think you'd work with the community on another case design?

Johnny: Our customer’s opinions are important to us, and whilst we hope we can cover off all requirements from day one, we know that sometimes things can be overlooked. We are passionate at putting the customer first, so are very active in getting community feedback on our designs. We are constantly listening to our customers by running focus groups and surveys which help us design the next generation of products.

bit-tech: Your cases have been pretty successful and usually score very well. How do you go about designing them?

Johnny: NZXT products are designed by a very small core team of fewer than five members that work directly with me. We don’t have limits for prototyping. The approach is that we will only ship if we feel it passes our standard. We do validation with users consistently on prototype and final stages to make sure we’re getting the responses we’re searching for. The team’s confidence, based on market research, surveying, risk analysis and some instinct, helps to make the final decision for whether a project is kicked off or not. The result is a lot of prototypes, but the end result we strive for is a truly exceptional product!

bit-tech: Finally, what can we look forward to from NZXT in the near future?

Johnny: In the coming 12 months, our customers can expect some exceptional cases, fans and coolers from NZXT in addition to more software integrated hardware.

We are constantly challenging ourselves to offer better products to our customers. Being a company made up of passionate PC Gamers, we know how demanding and deserving our community is. We are very particular about the design and quality of our products so expect to see a quality not quantity approach with our launches which we influence by listening to our fans.

Readers may have noticed our drive to compliment hardware with software to enhance the user experience like the recent CAM 2.0, this is an area we are passionate about and are continuing to put development in.

We have a number of new case launches on the cards this year including one at the end of this month, plus we are exploring potential new product categories, however, this is something for 2016 and beyond. Watch this space!"

We'd like to thank Johnny and the NZXT team for taking the time to talk to us and we will, of course, be covering all the new NZXT gear when it arrives.