NZXT H630 Silent Full Tower Case Review @ [H]

FrgMstr

FrgMstr

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NZXT H630 Silent Full Tower Case Review - NZXT leads its H630 charge with the key talking points of, "Clean. Modern. Silent." Surely we think these are thee things that many enthusiast look for when putting together a new system build. Its huge fan support, steel construction, and airflow qualities that are reported to be specifically engineered for silent high performance operation are reviewed here.
 
I was very disappointed that you didn't test the case with actual silent components. After all, the case bills itself as silent. This would be of particular interest as there are no direct vents at the top, so hot air has to escape via the vents around the side of the top

I also felt that your noise test was not useful: it would have been a better test if you'd recorded it while stressing the CPU by running Prime 95 or similar rather than while booting.

That said, I was (ahem) quietly impressed and will certainly consider it when a quiet but not silent solution is required.
 
Quartz-1 said:
I was very disappointed that you didn't test the case with actual silent components. After all, the case bills itself as silent. This would be of particular interest as there are no direct vents at the top, so hot air has to escape via the vents around the side of the top

I also felt that your noise test was not useful: it would have been a better test if you'd recorded it while stressing the CPU by running Prime 95 or similar rather than while booting.
Click to expand...

We evaluate products as they ship. We do not add to or take away from any product for the sake of getting better/worse results (that may / may not be repeatable by the end user) in our reviews.
 
I would really like to hear about how the machine performs with four 200mm fans (±140mm) on the back, temperature wise. I was thinking about replacing my Shinobi XL with the H630. My only gripe with the case is the fact it has only two USB3.0 ports, would of been perfect for me with four. Anyway, I enjoyed the review as always.
 
Quartz-1 said:
I was very disappointed that you didn't test the case with actual silent components. After all, the case bills itself as silent. This would be of particular interest as there are no direct vents at the top, so hot air has to escape via the vents around the side of the top
Click to expand...

I think they did exactly what they should have done....they reviewed a case billed as silent but capable of keeping a hot system cool....with a hot system. Ignoring the noise, the case didn't do so hot on temperatures. (no pun intended)

Straight from the horse's mouth, right on the H630 page off their website:
NZXT said:
Beautifully architected, the new H630 was engineered for one simple purpose: provide enthusiasts the ability to build the highest performing systems while remaining audibly invisible.
Click to expand...

For crying out loud, it has 9 fan mounts (at minimum depending on fan size) and a hub that accepts [10] 3 pin fans. If you really thought a case with those specs was going to be good at staying quiet....you're crazy. Even with the quietest fans you can get or a rheobus, you're still going to hear airflow noise.

I was really sold on this case the day it was announced, and then lost most of that interest when the Anandtech review came out and basically had the same results as [H]; nice looking case, not really great at quiet, not really great at cooling either. Visually the case is a huge win for me, but the actual performance leaves a lot to be desired IMHO especially given the price.
 
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zero2dash said:
For crying out loud, it has 9 fan mounts (at minimum depending on fan size) and a hub that accepts [10] 3 pin fans. If you really thought a case with those specs was going to be good at staying quiet....you're crazy. Even with the quietest fans you can get or a rheobus, you're still going to hear airflow noise.
Click to expand...

So what? My Silverstone FT02 had 4 fans. I took them out.
 
Quartz-1 said:
So what? My Silverstone FT02 had 4 fans. I took them out.
Click to expand...

Cool. I left the fans in mine.

They reviewed an air cooled case billed as an air cooled case with air cooled components....and it's not that good at air cooling.

In what part of that do you think that it would be even remotely decent at passive cooling?

It chokes on airflow (intake OR exhaust) as it is with active cooling. I have absolutely no idea why anyone would consider this case for a passive cooling setup. After reading the reviews, sorry but I have no idea why anyone would consider it for any other cooling setup, unless they're running integrated chipset, and in that case, a cheap $20 Rosewill case does the job adequately.
 
zero2dash said:
I was really sold on this case the day it was announced, and then lost most of that interest when the Anandtech review came out and basically had the same results as [H]; nice looking case, not really great at quiet, not really great at cooling either. Visually the case is a huge win for me, but the actual performance leaves a lot to be desired IMHO especially given the price.
Click to expand...

Sadly, I seem to be leaning the same way you are Zero..The case seemed PERFECT when they announced what it was supposed to offer..The great visuals really had me sold on it as well..I am glad I didn't jump the gun and pre-order it...

I am going to wait for a review, but I am really sold on the Phanteks Enthoo Primo..It offers all of the WC options of the H630 x5 :cool:..I really hope that will my AP-15s running @ 5V will offer the balance of performance/noise I am aiming for...I will be running either a 4/6 core Ivy-E and a pair of heavily o/c'd 7950s at first..I am planning on adding another 2 7950s later for mining, all water cooled of course..

*Semi-EDIT*

After going back through the [H]ard review and listening to the sound clip (which I didn't do the first time) I am now a little less unsold on the case...I think with some very basic modding to those temp vents, a lot of the issues would disappear...

Certainly the "whooshing" sound would be a lot less, especially with low speed fans..The only thing I can think of is how to make the vents look tasteful after cutting the stock plastic out..You certainly don't want to mod it, get everything finished, and still have the whooshing noise you started with:(...

The H630 is certainly a lot cheaper then the P. Enthoo Primoo's rumored $250 launch price..
 
fedex just delivered mine... I am in love with it's looks so far



more pics when I get done putting my i7-4770K in it and all..looks pretty stunning in real life .... but massive...




Uploaded with ImageShack.us


this is going to looks pretty awesome w/ my new desk i think?

5e9s.jpg
 
I want to add my $0.02 to this case.

Overall it's easy to work in with plenty of room for video cards and the fact the back is gaping open for CPU coolers is a nice plus. There is a large space in the back work with your cables and the SSD brackets are nice to have to hide away the 2.5's. Most people will argue that the odd bay you are limited to two, but that's plenty for me. One DVD drive, one fan controller. All of my complaints are related to the hard drive cages. They were and simply are a terrible design. If you plan to install more than, well, any mechanical drives, it's not a great choice in cases. They clearly disregarded the functionality of the hard drive cages and did not look at it close enough. It's a pain in the ass routing the cables due to their drive brackets and your configuration options are also limited. You can do a 3 or 2 drive cage on the top. If you need two cages, it has to be a 3/2. There is no 3/3/2 or 2/3/3. The config is setup for 3/2/3. The backside has a bracket (i'm guessing for support) that is in the way when running multiple drives and setting up the sata power to run down the back of the case, it's in the way and causes a bulge which in turn is in the way of the drive mounting brackets.

The front, and the top are hard to get off and the plastic sides are soft so i've already got marks from gently pulling the top and front off. The top and front panel does have a .8mm thick aluminium plate attached and it's gives it a higher quality feeling but it's still made from plastic. Noise wise, i've loaded up with as many fans that fit. I've got the stock fans plus 6 additional 120's. The config is as such

3 x 120's up top pushing out
1 x up front pulling
1 x at the bottom pulling
1 x on the hard drive cage pulling
1 x200mm up front pulling
1 x 140 in the back exhausting.

With all the fans running max RPM, this case is still quite audible.



My last comment, if they had done three things this case could of been nearly perfect.

A) All Aluminium. It would of increased cost, but it would have been worth it.
B) SATA3 Backplane. Corsiar did it and they even sell the backplane for $10. This wouldn't have pushed up the production cost much
C) Turn the drives around so I can put the drives in the same way I put all my other hardware in.

I plan to mod the last two into this case some how.
 
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freaksavior said:
I want to add my $0.02 to this case.

Overall it's easy to work in with plenty of room for video cards and the fact the back is gaping open for CPU coolers is a nice plus. There is a large space in the back work with your cables and the SSD brackets are nice to have to hide away the 2.5's. Most people will argue that the odd bay you are limited to two, but that's plenty for me. One DVD drive, one fan controller. All of my complaints are related to the hard drive cages. They were and simply are a terrible design. If you plan to install more than, well, any mechanical drives, it's not a great choice in cases. They clearly disregarded the functionality of the hard drive cages and did not look at it close enough. It's a pain in the ass routing the cables due to their drive brackets and your configuration options are also limited. You can do a 3 or 2 drive cage on the top. If you need two cages, it has to be a 3/2. There is no 3/3/2 or 2/3/3. The config is setup for 3/2/3. The backside has a bracket (i'm guessing for support) that is in the way when running multiple drives and setting up the sata power to run down the back of the case, it's in the way and causes a bulge which in turn is in the way of the drive mounting brackets.

The front, and the top are hard to get off and the plastic sides are soft so i've already got marks from gently pulling the top and front off. The top and front panel does have a .8mm thick aluminium plate attached and it's gives it a higher quality feeling but it's still made from plastic. Noise wise, i've loaded up with as many fans that fit. I've got the stock fans plus 6 additional 120's. The config is as such

3 x 120's up top pushing out
1 x up front pulling
1 x at the bottom pulling
1 x on the hard drive cage pulling
1 x200mm up front pulling
1 x 140 in the back exhausting.

With all the fans running max RPM, this case is still quite audible.



My last comment, if they had done three things this case could of been nearly perfect.

A) All Aluminium. It would of increased cost, but it would have been worth it.
B) SATA3 Backplane. Corsiar did it and they even sell the backplane for $10. This wouldn't have pushed up the production cost much
C) Turn the drives around so I can put the drives in the same way I put all my other hardware in.

I plan to mod the last two into this case some how.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the input. I will forward it on over to the product team though.
 
I just got the black version of this case. I absolutely love it. the size and design are nice. Im going to a mod a window into the side but other than that, its perfect!
 
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