Features:
One of the features that stood out with the Guardian case is it's screwless design (excluding the motherboard). From the minute you take the side panel off you don't need to pick up a screwdriver. Both side panels are held on with 2 thumbscrews each, which allows for very quick removal of them to access the inside. The screwless design doesn't stop there. Once your inside, the only thing you need a screwdriver for is to install the motherboard. All the 5.25" drive bays are screwless along with the 3.5", which surprised me. Most cases only have the 5.25" bays screwless, with screws usually required to mount anything in the 3.5" bays. NZXT has taken screwless to the next level where even the 3.5" drive bays are tool-less also.

(All the goodies!)

The actual design of the tool-less access also stood out to me compared to other screwless design cases,
as you'll read in the installation part of this review. Mounting hardware was extremely easy and went very fast.
The key point of the Guardian is definitely the LED action at the front of the case. This is called "The Guardian Eye", which is a strip of hidden LED's that blink and move in a predefined pattern. This is one of those features which is unique to this case and will make it stand out above cases.
When looking at the side of the case without the window there are a few rows of ventilation holes. I was surprised to see this because the majority of cases leave that side solid with no ventilation.

(Click to enlarge)

Installation:
Like I said before, accessing the case to install anything goes very fast with the thumb screws on the door.
Starting at the front of the case and working back, I'll give some installation pointers and instructions. At the very front of the case you can install an 80mm fan (not included). To install the fan you must pop off the front bezel, then while holding the fan, insert the 4 screws snuggly into place.
Moving on to hard drive installation, the first step is to push the drive into the drive bay. It is all the way in when it will not move any farther. After that, you then push the purple drive fastener forward until it stops. There is also a small vertical moving purple piece which is the lock to hold the drive firmly in place. That must be pushed down to lock everything snuggly in place.
The same goes for installing any devices in the 5.25" drive bays, except they are pushed in from the front of the case, not from inside the case like hard drives are.
The next device you will want to install is the motherboard itself. Since this case supports many different form factors of motherboards, when installing the stand offs you must double check to make sure that the correct number are screwed in and that they line up with the screw holes on your motherboard.
If you wish to install another fan in the rear fan housing, you must remove the two screws from the rear of the case then depress the tabs while pulling it out in the case. Then you simply push the fan into place and run the wire to the outside of the housing.
Another great screwless function of this case is installing any video and PCI cards that you may have. There is a small clamp which must be pushed in then swung out of the way. After you have firmly plugged the card into the motherboard, the clamp can be pushed back in from the back of the case until it clicks in place. Although these clamps work just fine, when installing a big video card it may be an idea just to double up with a screw for the added strength.
Finally you just need to wire everything up and the beast will have power!

 
(Click to enlarge)

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