NZXT’s latest
PC case is called the NZXT H2 Silent Classic Mid-Tower PC Chassis which is designed
to run whisper quiet. It runs so quiet
that it’s too bad NZXT already used the Whisper name for another one of its
case models. NZXT employs noise
dampening foam to help keep the noise inside the case and not out in the user’s
environment.
The NZXT H2
Silent Classic Mid-Tower PC Chassis has a couple of unique features not found
on other cases. It is one of the first
cases that I have encountered with a front USB 3.0 port. Plus it has a top hot swap capable SATA HDD
Dock which I never heard of before the H2. This is perfect for adding additional storage or easily swapping boot
drives.
NZXT H2 Silent
Classic Mid-Tower PC Chassis
Reviewed by: Tomas
Ratas
Sponsor: NZXT
Tech Specs,Features or the Basic Info:
H2 Silent Classic
Mid-Tower PC Chassis
NOISE – chaotic wavelengths that
distract, distort, impede, confuse, and endanger the gamer during a life and
death situation. If you are a professional gamer, avoid it at all cost.
Intelligently constructed to give you peace of mind, NZXT’s H2 Classic Series
Silent Midtower Chassis minimizes extraneous hums, clicks, whirls of your
system to enhance your concentration, accuracy, and deadliness
Features:
Touch powered fans with fan filter for
easy maintenance and fan swapping
•30W 3-step fan control for airflow
settings at 40%, 70%, and 100% of maximum fan speed
•Top hot swap capable SATA
HDD Dock (requires an AHCI capable motherboard and hot swappable
HDD) and USB 3.0 port for the most up to date function
•8 Front facing HDDs for optimal
airflow
•Noise dampening foam and a top
magnetic fan cover for minimal PC noise
•Ample 25mm space behind motherboard
for cable management
MODEL H2
CASE TYPE Mid Tower Steel
FRONT
PANEL MATERIAL Plastic/Steel
DIMENSIONS
(W x H x D) 215 x 466 X 520 mm
VGA
Clearance Maximum
310 w/o HDD, 270mm with HDD CPU Heatsink Support 170mm
COOLING
SYSTEM
FRONT, 2 X 120mm @ 1200rpm (
included )
REAR, 1 X 120mm @ 1200rpm (included)
TOP, 1 X 140mm
BOTTOM, 1 x 120mm
DRIVE BAYS 3 EXTERNAL 5.25″ DRIVE BAYS
8 INTERNAL 3.5″/2.5″ Slots
Screwless Rail Design
MATERIAL(S) Steel with painted interior
EXPANSION SLOTS 7
WEIGHT 8.9 kg
MOTHERBOARD SUPPORT ATX,
MICRO-ATX, BABY AT
Price:
$99.99 (From Amazon at time of review)
{mospagebreak title=
A Better Look at Things
-Part 1}
A Better Look at Things
– Part 1:
The NZXT
H2 Silent Classic Mid-Tower PC Chassis arrives packaged in a brown cardboard
box with images of the case on the front and a listing of features with images
on the back. This packaging is a change
of pace from NZXT who usually have an action style image with the case emblazed
on the front.
NZXT ships
the NZXT H2 Silent Classic Mid-Tower PC Chassis wrapped in a plastic bag sandwiched
between two Styrofoam inserts for protection. Besides the case inside the package we find a box containing the
instruction manual, a bag of screws, washers,
stand offs and other components.
The case is composed of plastic and steel weighing 8.9 kg and measuring 21.5 x 46.6 X 52.0 cm. It comes without a power supply and can
accommodate ATX, MICRO-ATX, and BABY AT motherboards.
The NZXT H2 Silent Classic Mid-Tower
PC Chassis is a primarily black case with a silver accent on the front
door. The plain black face and sides of
the NZXT H2 makes it look monolithic. The
case comes in black or white versions; obviously we will be looking at the
black model today.
The door has white LED lights on
the top and bottom corners for power and drives use indication and opens from
the right side. At the foot of the door
is an embossed NZXT logo.
To help keep the sound of the
case to a whisper NZXT placed sound dampening foam behind this door.
Opening the door reveals two 120
mm modular fans and three external 5.25” drive bays. The fans are easily removed providing access
to the internal 3.5 drive bays.
Moving to the top of theNZXT H2 Silent Classic Mid-Tower PC Chassis we
find the power and reset buttons on the front area sandwich the headphone and
mic jacks along with two USB 2.0 connectors and one USB 3.0 connector which is
a nice feature not found on many PC cases. NZXT also includes a fan controller switch with three speed
options.
Behind these controls is one of the unique features of the NZXT H2
Silent Classic Mid-Tower PC Chassis, the
top hot swap capable SATA HDD Dock. This
bay is protected by a removable plastic cover and can fit either a 2.5” or 3.5”
SATA drive. This is the 1st case that I have encountered with this feature and I have to say I like it a
lot.
{mospagebreak title=
A Better Look at Things
-Part 2}
A Better Look at Things
– Part 2 :
Just behind
this dock bay is another removable plastic cover that hides a 140mm fan. There is a slight elevation over the back of
the cover providing a channel for airflow aimed towards the backside of the
H2. Both of these cover plates attach to
the H2 via four small magnets.
A closer
examination of the back of the H2 reveals an opening for the PSU at the bottom,
seven removable peripheral covers, two water cooling openings, a 120 mm fan and
the opening for the motherboard back plate. You’ll also notice the addition of a USB 3.0 cable, which is designed to
plug into the motherboard’s USB 3.0 connector to provide power to the front USB
3.0 port. While I wish the front USB 3.0
connector worked via an internal header I can see why NZXT chose this method as
some people may only have PCI-e USB 3.0 cards and none on their motherboard.
Black
thumbscrews keep the two side panels locked into place. Both side panels are composed of flat black
steel with sound proof padding on the inside of each panel.
On the bottom
of the H2 is a large mesh filter that covers a 120 mm fan. Numerous rubberized pads to keep the case
firmly in position surround the perimeter of the base.
Looking
inside the case we find three
external 5.25″ drive bays and eight internal 3.5″/2.5″ slots. The external bays use a keyless locking
system for loading drives while the internal bays use rubber grommets to lock
the sliders onto the hard drive or other 3.5”/2.5” device.
The motherboard tray has three rubber-protected
open areas for running wires into the back of the H2 to help keep them out of
sight. As with their other cases NZXT
has a key for the standoff screws for the appropriate sized motherboard.
Four
rubberized standoffs keep the PSU elevated off the floor of the H2.
The back of
the motherboard has 2.5 cm of clearance for wire management. A cut out for the CPU allows the user to
change the heatsink cooler without having to take out the motherboard.
Installation, Testing and Comparison
To test the NZXT H2 Silent Classic Mid-Tower PC Chassis the following
components were installed.
Motherboard: Asus
P8P67 PRO
CPU: Intel Core i7 2600K
Memory: Kingston
KHX2133C9D3T1K2/4GX
Video Card: Galaxy 460GTX/Zotac 460GTX – SLI
Hard Drives: Intel Intel X25-M 80GB
Western Digital 250GB 7200RPM, Samsung 1 TB 7200
RPM
PSU: Ultra
X-Finity 1000 Watt Power Supply
Cooler: NH-U12P SE2
DVD Burner: ASUS DRW-22B1LT
Blu-Ray
Drive: Liteon
iHOS104
OS: Windows 7 Enterprise/OS X Snow Leopard
Thermal Interface: Noctua
Interface
The installation process took
around 45 minutes to an hour with all my attempted wire routing and management;
I sadly have come to the realization that my wire management techniques are
pedestrian at best. The motherboard was
installed first using the ATX marked standoffs. Unlike the Tempest EVO, the NZXT H2 Silent Classic Mid-Tower PC Chassis
does not include washers to place between the motherboard and standoffs.
The motherboard fit easily and
there was an inch or so space between the board and the start of the internal
drive bays. The SATA ports on the
motherboard lined up nicely with the middle rubber coated tray punchout.
Next the PSU was attached in the
lower compartment and the excess wiring was bundled into the space between the
lower 3.5” drive trays and the PSU. Two
large NVIDIA 460GTX cards easily fit and there were several inches of clearance
between the GPUs and the drive trays.
Installation of the 5.25” optical
drives was simple with the hands free connectors. Unfortunately the 3.5” trays were a bit more
difficult as the rubber coated metal pins on the drive tray tended misalign
when pushed onto the SATA’s connector holes; meaning the tray refused to slide
back into the NZXT H2 Silent Classic Mid-Tower PC Chassis. This was somewhat frustrating but after ten
minutes of struggle the hard drives were installed.
Installing a drive into the top hot swap capable SATA HDD dock
was simple; the 3.5” version took some slight manipulation to slide in but the
2.5” SSD tested fit easily. This dock is
my favorite feature of the NZXT H2 Silent Classic Mid-Tower PC Chassis. I currently run Windows 7 and OS X on this
machine, so swapping out the boot SSD drive is a piece of cake with this
capability.
Overall the
case does an admirable job of keeping the machine quiet. Running the fan controller at the lowest two settings
keeps things whisper quiet although it does have a slight detrimental effect on
the temps as expected. Compared to the
Tempest EVO the NZXT H2 Silent Classic Mid-Tower PC Chassis does run warmer but
that is because the EVO is a mesh covered fan factory. This cooling discrepancy can easily be
resolved by adding additional fans to the top and bottom of the H2.
The other
feature I really appreciated was the front USB 3.0 connector; this saved me
from using an extension cable or reaching behind my PC to access a USB 3.0
port. I still would have like an
internal USB 3.0 connector but this is a good stop gap solution until the new
USB format becomes the standard.
Summary:
Although the NZXT H2 Silent Classic Mid-Tower PC Chassis is a bit plain
looking compared to some of NZXT’s other PC cases it still is a nice looking
case for those who don’t want clear panels and/or lots of LEDs. Its black monolithic style gives it an
industrial appearance.
For those who value silence then the NZXT H2 Silent Classic Mid-Tower PC
Chassis is an excellent choice whether you use it for your gaming rig or as a
workstation as there is plenty of room for expansion. The H2 can be so quiet that when the fan
speeds are set on low the front door light on the bottom corner may be the only
indication that the PC is on. It has some minor flaws but priced at under $100
those can be easily accepted for such a versatile case.
DragonSteelMods gives the NZXT
H2 Silent Classic Mid-Tower a 4.5 out of 5 score.
Pros:
+External SATA Dock Bay
+Plenty of cooling including two modular fans
+Built in cable management solution
+Sound dampening foam on side panels and front door
+Solid construction
+Monolithic design
+Plenty of room for expansion
Cons:
-Cooling capability could be better
-Fans are not silent at full speed
-USB 3.0 front panel solution a bit kludgy
-3.5” internal drive mounts finicky to attach
review#707
Disclosure: This product was given to DragonSteelMods for review by the company
for review purposes only, and is not considered by us as payment for the
review; we do not, never have, and never will, accept payment from companies to review their products.
To learn more about our review policy, testing methods
and ratings please see this page.