NZXT H2 Silent Case Review
Author: Darren McCain
Published: Monday, July 11, 2011
Case Internals
The interior of the H2 is a typical ATX layout. The front is lined with the top three external 5.25" bays that can be used tool-less or with the included thumbscrews. The rest of the front is taken up by the 8 hard drive bays. The power supply is bottom mounted and sits on four rubber pads. Power supplies will draw air from the bottom through the filters helping to reduce interior heat and noise.
The motherboard tray is not removable but is offset from the right side more than I normally see allowing for hidden cable runs and additional organization normally reserved for top windowed cases. NZXT has provided a large cutout for easy access to the heatsink back plate for aftermarket installations too.
In addition to the cage we described earlier, these bays can be secured using the thumb screws seen here. The design is simple and efficient but I would have liked to seen a removable or rotated section to allow for larger video cards without sacrificing drives. The case currently will not hold cards larger than about 10.5 inches without removing two or more of the cages (310 w/o HDD, 270mm with HDD).
In addition to the cage we described earlier, these bays can be secured using the thumb screws seen here. The design is simple and efficient but I would have liked to seen a removable or rotated section to allow for larger video cards without sacrificing drives. The case currently will not hold cards larger than about 10.5 inches without removing two or more of the cages (310 w/o HDD, 270mm with HDD).
The motherboard tray features two of these rubber cable gaskets along the front edge and one at the bottom along with several cuts to allow for cable ties. Coupled with the extra space behind the tray cable management is easy and clean.
The three fans provided by NZXT are pretty nice for OEM parts. I would have liked to see some individual fan controls but these work well to allow for on the fly changes. The space for the top 120mm is a bit tight when using a good size aftermarket cooler and would not allow for an internal radiator mounting in most setups.
The back side includes seven expansion slots finished in a vented black and fastened by matching thumb screws. Additional rear venting above the slots will help with air flow as well.
The three fans provided by NZXT are pretty nice for OEM parts. I would have liked to see some individual fan controls but these work well to allow for on the fly changes. The space for the top 120mm is a bit tight when using a good size aftermarket cooler and would not allow for an internal radiator mounting in most setups.
The back side includes seven expansion slots finished in a vented black and fastened by matching thumb screws. Additional rear venting above the slots will help with air flow as well.
With an ASUS P8P67 motherboard installed and a Cooler Master V6 heatsink you can see just how tight the top corner can get. NZXT recommends heatsinks no larger than 170mm (6.69 inches) maximum.
This ATX motherboard fits with not a lot of space to spare but abundant cable management makes the H2 feel more spacious than it really is.
This ATX motherboard fits with not a lot of space to spare but abundant cable management makes the H2 feel more spacious than it really is.
