Tom's Hardware stopped by NZXT at Computex 2026 to get a look at their latest offerings. The first product we talked about was the next-generation H6 Flow, or better, just the H6. The new chassis takes the popular H6 Flow and improves on it by using a single curved pane of glass for a much cleaner appearance. The top and back of the case, where it’s now ventilated across the entire back side, are now raised above the other surfaces, giving the case some texture and a surprisingly fresh appearance.

The NZXT label moves to the rear of the base and is backlit with white RGB lighting. Internally, there are some changes, too. The H6 Flow had two 140mm fans on the bottom, while the H6 now has 360mm of fan space. The case comes in two flavors: the H6, which doesn’t include fans, and the H6 RGB+, which includes new Ultra RGB fans. Without fans, the case is an incredibly affordable $99. The RGB+ version includes two single-frame 360mm Ultra RGB fans (F360U) and costs $199.

The new Ultra RGB fans have a total of 96 individual RGBs across three zones (hub, tracks, and bars). The single fan F120/140U has 32. It’s a lot of RGB, no doubt, but it does look good inside this case if you’re a fan of all that bling. The best part is the ability to customize each zone for truly unique lighting. In addition to the Ultra fan debut, they added much simpler RGB and reverse-RGB fans to the lineup, which will be at a more affordable price point.

These fans don’t have nearly as many RGB LEDs, and the lighting emanates from the hub through the translucent blades. Reverse Ultra fans could be coming down the road, if there’s enough traction on the regular version.NZXT also had a white Mini-ITX H2 chassis with a new white colorway that looks really clean. Hopefully, we’ll see more white Mini-ITX motherboards. Last, I was escorted into a second room where they showed off new products we’ll see in the coming months. I apologize for the lack of details, or any other information for that matter, but that’s absolutely all I can share. Though I will say I’m looking forward to seeing these products when they're released, and I imagine you will too.

After months of mounting pressure, PC component manufacturer NZXT and its billing partner Fragile Inc. have agreed to a $3.45 million preliminary settlement in a California District Court to resolve a class-action lawsuit, Gamers Nexus reports. The settlement, made public this past Tuesday (April 7, 2026), alleges that the companies' "Flex" PC rental program defrauded nearly 20,000 customers through deceptive marketing, bait-and-switch hardware tactics, and aggressive debt collection. The case, brought under the civil Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, was settled before going to trial, with relief payouts and debt forgiveness expected to roll out after final judicial approval this September.

The controversy surrounding the NZXT Flex program has been brewing since 2024, largely thanks to a massive, multi-part investigation by GN, which was heavily referenced in the court filings. The channel labeled NZXT's program a "predatory evil scam" designed for people who couldn't afford an outright PC purchase.

Those are strong words, but the core of the lawsuit targeted a few incredibly shady business practices. First, NZXT and Fragile were accused of misleading marketing, often targeting children with the promise that they could rent a PC for a month, win a Fortnite tournament, and use the winnings to buy the rig outright. Influencer campaigns also heavily implied the program was "rent-to-own," when in reality, it was an indefinite lease with no path to ownership.

Worse, when customers actually signed up, NZXT allegedly engaged in bait-and-switch tactics, silently swapping out premium parts for worse components while keeping the advertised price the same. When customers tried to bail out of the confusing contracts, Fragile Inc. allegedly unleashed aggressive debt collectors on them, sometimes attempting to collect on debts that had already been paid. The behavior was severe enough that the plaintiffs brought the suit under the RICO Act, citing mail and wire fraud.

Gamers Nexus delved into the dense legal filings, shedding light on exactly how the $3.45 million will be distributed among the 19,322 affected class members. The class includes subscribers from October 19, 2023, to March 30, 2026. Here is how the relief is structured:

• Debt Forgiveness ($923,117.92 pool): Customers currently being hounded by debt collectors will have up to $5,000 of debt forgiven per person. This is expected to happen automatically for those who are more than 90 days delinquent.
• Hardware Ownership ($1.21 million pool): Customers who have been paying into the program for at least two years and fill out a form stating they believed it was a rent-to-own program will finally be granted full ownership of their PCs.
• Cash Payouts: Customers who rented, returned their PCs, and owe no debt are entitled to a cash payout. The exact amount depends on how many people file valid claims, but estimates suggest payouts of around $450 to $500 if 10% of the class files.

The alleged actions of NZXT and Fragile in this saga are reprehensible, but the hefty payout will be a huge blow to NZXT, one of the few companies serving the struggling PC DIY market.

If you were an NZXT Flex customer between October 2023 and March 2026, keep a close eye on your inbox. Make sure to whitelist "NZXT," "Fragile," and "Flex" so settlement notices don't land in your spam folder. According to the filings, the official settlement website and phone number are required to go live within 21 days of the document becoming public. Since the filings were released on April 7, you can expect the portal to open around April 28th. From there, it's a waiting game. The final approval hearing isn't expected until sometime after September.

Getting into PC hardware and building can be daunting. There’s a ton of jargon, spools of technical details, and the thorny topic of compatibility to consider, just to avoid the simplest errors. However, Redditor JoeBiden-mytime (JB) has got off to a grand start thanks to a generous neighbor. They are now the owner of a potent PC packing an RTX 3090 FE and liquid-cooled i9-10850K, which said neighbor passed on to them – for free.

Being a newcomer to the PC DIY scene, JB posted details of their neighbor’s kind donation onto the PCBuild subreddit. Under the heading of ‘Got a free PC,’ they asked “are these components any good or are they outdated?” JB admitted they were a PC building greenhorn, but were attracted to the platform.

Of course, some wise crackers said the system was junk and offered to take it out of JB’s hands to recycle, for free. The first two pictures shared by JB showed that the system was a little dusty, which may have made the poster wonder how old the PC was. However, they’ve followed up with more specs, so we have a good overview of this great neighborly gift.

Out of interest, we have tabulated the key components in this free PC next to their prices at launch:

To get a modern GPU to replace or rival the RTX 3090 in 2026, you would probably be pondering an RTX 5070 Ti from the green team or an AMD RX 9070/XT. Both of those have less VRAM (16GB vs 24GB) but not dreadfully so, and are more modern and efficient. Replacing this single component would set you back around $1,000 right now, if you wanted to stay with Nvidia.

The freebie PC’s supporting components are suitably premium, and appear to include an NZXT Kraken X63 AiO and an NZXT H510i case. The Task Manager screenshot also shows that the system came with 16GB of RAM and a pair of SSDs. In the same screenshot, we see this new member of the PC community is busy browsing the Steam sales for the unbeatable breadth and depth of titles available on the platform.

Later on, we see some pictures of the system powered up by JB, with RGB lighting across the fans, cooler, RAM sticks, etc. It still looks a little dusty, though, and perhaps the new owner of this older-but-gold system should do a bit of dust busting to keep the system ticking over smoothly. Free doesn't mean junk.

NZXT has today announced the introduction of its new potent H2 Mini PC, with both AMD and Intel configurations for compact desktop gaming. Alongside the new H2 Mini PC (U.S. only), it has also released the new H2 Flow Mini-ITX Case and the compact C850 SFX power supply for builders who want to put together their own compact PC.

• H2 Flow Mini-ITX Case $149.99 / €149.99 EMEA / $149.99 APAC / £129.99 UK
• C850 SFX Power Supply $199.99 AMER / €159.99 EMEA / $159.99 APAC / £139.99 UK
• H2 Mini PC (US Only) $3,499 (Intel and AMD)

As noted, NZXT is offering gamers the choice of a pre-built machine or a DIY option thanks to its new H2 Flow case. To begin with, the PC first, the H2 Mini can be specced with either an AMD 9800X3D or an Intel 285K CPU, seated in either a Gigabyte B850I Aorus Pro or a Gigabyte Z890I Aorus Ultra motherboard, respectively. Gigabyte also supplies the RTX 5080 GPU. There's 32GB of RAM, a 2TB M.2 SSD, Kraken Elite 240 AIO, and Windows 11 Home OS. Strangely, the new C850 SFX PSU doesn't seem to feature in the pre-built, which is powered by a Lian Li SP 850W PSU instead.

H2 Flow Mini-ITX Case

If DIY is more your speed, the new H2 Flow is a vertical Mini-ITX case. Like all of NZXT's Flow models, this case is all about airflow. The case is a 20.7L unit, measuring 435mm in height, 181mm in width, and 263mm in depth, according to early retail listings. The case can support AIO coolers of up to 280mm, as well as graphics cards of up to 331mm. All sides of the case feature mesh panels, which can be removed without tools, and there's some built-in velcro for cable management. When you buy the case, you also get a PCIe 5.0 riser cable for your GPU, and two pre-installed F120W 3-pin fans.

C850 SFX Power Supply

NZXT's new C850 SFX power supply is ATX 3.10certified, with an 80 Plus Gold rating and a 92 mm fluid dynamic bearing fan, which includes a Zero RPM mode for silent operation. It comes with a 600W 12V-2x6 connector for hefty graphics cards, and is fully modular in its design. NZXT says safety protections ensure it is shielded from overcurrent, overvoltage, and overheating, and that its 100% Japanese capacitors are rated at temperatures of up to 105 degrees C. The PSU is backed by a 10-year warranty.

Available now

As mentioned, all three new items including the Mini PC are available now for the following prices:

• H2 Flow Mini-ITX Case $149.99 / €149.99 EMEA / $149.99 APAC / £129.99 UK
• C850 SFX Power Supply $199.99 AMER / €159.99 EMEA / $159.99 APAC / £139.99 UK
• H2 Mini PC (US Only) $3499 (Intel and AMD)

Many of us feel the constant urge to upgrade our PC, but getting new PC parts has been increasingly challenging lately. Whether it's due to limited launch availability, scalping of components, or the current AI boom causing memory shortages, it feels like there's always a factor preventing a purchase or upgrade at a reasonable price. The positive outlook is that not all worthwhile upgrades need to focus solely on performance. You can upgrade your monitor, peripherals like gaming keyboards, gaming mouse, speakers, or gaming chair. But one of the best and affordable ways to get your upgrade fix while feeling like you've got a new PC is to put your existing system in a new PC case.

A PC case generally lasts through more than one build, so it’s critical when choosing a new chassis that you consider what parts you have and future upgrades to larger, potentially more power-hungry components as prices drop. And while you’re changing cases, it’s a great time to reapply your thermal paste (if necessary) and do any other cheap or useful maintenance, such as blowing the dust off components. You can even upgrade your cooler; our best CPU coolers list can help you do so on the cheap, while you're at it.

Good airflow aside, a primary motivator for purchasing a new PC case is aesthetics. Modern case designs offer far more variety than a simple black box, significantly enhancing the look of your entire setup. Since cases are typically kept for a long time, choosing one you enjoy looking at is important.

In recent years, we’ve seen wood accents in cases, like the popular Fractal Design North (which made our best PC cases list), and more standard designs, like ‘fish tank’ style cases, and the increasing popularity of rear-connect-compatible chassis for the spate of back-connect motherboards we’ve seen. Are you into old-school styling? There are cases like that too, including the Thermaltake Retro 260/360 TG and Silverstone’s FLP01 and FLP02 that exude 80s and 90s PC vibes.

Fractal Design North

Upgrading your PC case can also be a practical way to boost performance by significantly improving internal airflow and lowering component temperatures. Perhaps your current chassis was sufficient for a lower-power setup, but since you upgraded your system—before the recent surge in AI-related component prices—it’s now showing its limitations with more power-hungry components. Better airflow generally translates into lower temperatures for your CPU and GPU. As our case reviews demonstrate, this heat reduction is the reason for improved metrics, allowing for higher core boost clocks/speeds.

Increasing airflow isn't only about performance, either. There’s also the matter of keeping things quiet. With high-airflow cases, you may be able to run your fans slower, reducing noise while maintaining the same level of cooling. For example, the NZXT H7 Flow we reviewed has solid airflow and is also relatively quiet.

NZXT H7 Flow

Modern cases also feature updated connectivity on the front I/O panel. That case you bought just a couple of years ago may not have enough ports for your usage patterns and only have USB Type-A ports, lacking today’s now common Type-C port. Port type is one thing, and port speeds are another. Many cases from years back support only USB 2.0 (480 Mbps), whereas modern chassis front IO panels support up to USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 (20 Gbps - Type-C) and USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps). For my work, I transfer quite a few images and other files from system to system, and time is money. Even if it isn’t for work, getting data off an external drive or USB stick to the faster internal storage is a tangible upgrade. Less waiting means more playing.

Cases like the Fractal Design North (also on our best case list), Meshify 3 XL, Terra, MSI’s MAG PANO 100R/110R, and the Asus A31 Plus, to name a few, all include a fast Type-C port and faster Type-A ports compared to older chassis. Just make sure your motherboard has an internal USB-C header to plug that front-panel port into.

MSI MAG Pano 100R PZ

A new PC case or peripherals can inject fresh excitement into your current setup, offering a cool new look while you wait for better prices on parts like storage, RAM, or a video card. It's a great option if you have some extra cash but aren't ready for a completely new system or you want to wait until the prices for RAM, storage, and GPUs gets back to some semblance of normal – whenever that might be. For our top recommendations, check out our guide to the best PC cases.

NZXT's once-hyped PC rental service is headed to federal court. The Flex program, first launched in 2024 as a monthly gaming rig subscription, promised affordability for players who couldn't stomach the up-front cost of a multi-thousand-dollar build. But just a year later, amid mounting customer complaints and an exposé by Gamers Nexus, NZXT and its rental partner Fragile are being sued under the same statute used to fight organized crime.

Filed on August 5 in the Northern District of California, Burns v. Fragile, Inc. names both NZXT and its lesser-known partner, Fragile, Inc., as defendants. The three plaintiffs — Jacob Burns, Jonathan Moulton, and Steven Zou — have brought the case under a civil RICO cause of action, a statute typically associated with long-running fraud or conspiracy claims. According to the suit, "NZXT and Fragile conspired to defraud consumers through gross misrepresentations and illegal business practices."

The complaint describes the Flex program as a "bait-and-switch scheme" disguised as a rent-to-own plan. In practice, plaintiffs allege, the program misled customers about the hardware they would receive and denied them the ownership that was implied in marketing. In one example, a subscription advertised with an RTX 4090 was allegedly fulfilled with an RTX 4080, with no clear notice or pricing adjustment.

The inclusion of Fragile is pretty significant. While Flex is heavily branded under the NZXT name, NZXT’s own support materials clarify that it is merely the hardware vendor. Subscriptions, billing, account management, and hardware swaps are all handled by Fragile, the company listed in customer contracts. NZXT has referred to Fragile as its “trusted partner,” but its low public profile has sparked confusion and scrutiny.

That scrutiny ramped up late last year after Gamers Nexus published a scathing, multipart investigation into the Flex program, calling it misleading and a “scam.” Among the allegations were bait-and-switch hardware configurations, aggressive fees, and inconsistent customer support. NZXT responded in December 2024 by pledging clearer disclosures but stopped short of overhauling the program’s structure or distancing itself from Fragile.

While the lawsuit itself is still in its early stages, the nature-of-suit tag alone signals potential trouble. Civil RICO suits are rare and carry high burdens of proof, but they can encompass wide-ranging allegations from wire fraud to deceptive business practices, especially when tied to alleged schemes across state lines.

This isn’t NZXT’s first brush with controversy. The company’s 2021 recall of thousands of H1 cases, prompted by a US Consumer Product Safety Commission warning over fire risk, and a 2023 settlement with California energy regulators over efficiency violations have both cast long shadows. Neither issue is directly referenced in the lawsuit as yet, but they form part of the broader reputational context.

Consumers enrolled in Flex are advised to review their contracts — many of which name Fragile, not NZXT, as the counterparty — and preserve any documentation. With a court date now on the calendar and no public comment from either company, the program’s fate may soon be decided not just by customers and reviewers, but by federal judges.

NZXT is showing off a range of new PC cases and AiO liquid coolers at its Computex 2025 exhibit. In terms of chassis, the firm has gone big and little with its new H9 Flow and H3 Flow cases. It also showed an assortment of new Kraken series AIO CPU coolers. Nothing is very surprising here, but there are some good new options for those planning an all-white build and who have a soft spot for NZXT design.

Let’s start with the biggest new product, by size. The new NZXT H9 Flow is designed to offer a roomy dual-chamber chassis for PC DIYers. This ATX mid-tower case can reportedly provide angle-optimized airflow and facilitate a flexible cooling setup. There are two more versions of this case with RGB frills. The H9 Flow RGB adds a few fans with built-in lighting, and the RGB+ model includes a controller hub.

The major feature of the H9 Flow/RGB/RGB+ is its size and maximum compatibility stats. Systems based on this chassis can fit up to 10 fans (9x 140mm plus 1x 120mm), and large radiators (up to 420mm). GPUs up to 459mm in length can also be accommodated in its 76.7-liter frame.

Though the case also supports motherboards up to E-ATX size, if you wish to make use of one of the new-fangled back-connector boards you will have to pick up an mATX-sized design. We only saw the white version of the H9 Flow case in Taipei, but NZXT also has a black variant of each of the standard, RGB, and RGB+ products.

NZXT’s H3 Flow scales things back to a maximum Micro-ATX (regular or BTF) motherboard-sized build, and is available in black or white. It is less than half the volume of the H9 Flow, coming in at 35 liters, but it still offers respectable max compatibility.

For example, the H3 Flow retains the capacity for up to 10 fans (9x 140mm plus 1x 120mm). The largest radiator you can fit in here, though, is a 280mm model. Chunky GPUs up to 377mm are supported.

NZXT Kraken Plus and Elite AiO liquid CPU coolers

Our attention was also drawn to the new NZXT Kraken Plus and Elite AiO liquid CPU coolers at the firm’s Computex exhibit. The former features an NZXT turbine pump, with a 1.54-inch custom display. NZXT promises “easy installation,” and this model is available with black 240, 280, and 360mm radiators, or in either black or white with RGB 240 or 360mm radiators.

NZXT’s Kraken line of liquid coolers dates back more than a decade. And along with its long line of PC cases, motherboards, and PSUs the company has plenty of experience dealing with PC heat dissipation. Today we’re looking at the latest flagship AIO from NZXT, the Kraken Elite 360 RGB. It features an upgraded pump, thick liquid tubing, and a fancy 2.7-inch IPS display with more customization options than a giant cephalopod has tentacles. This cooler clearly isn’t for builders on a budget – with a price tag of $294.99 USD, it’s firmly in premium territory. As such, my expectations for the Kraken Elite RGB are high. For it to make our list of best CPU coolers, performance will have to be more or less perfect.

Let’s take a quick look at the Kraken Elite 360 RGB’s specifications, then we’ll dive into its features and our benchmark testing.

Cooler specifications

Packing and included contents

The outside of the box sports NZXT’s purple and white theme, with an image highlighting the design of the AIO.

The contents are well-protected with molded cardboard and plastic coverings.

Included with the box are the following:

• 3-in-1 fan block
• 360mm radiator
• Fan cable
• Mounting for modern AMD and Intel platforms

Features of NZXT’s Kraken Elite 360

*️⃣ 3-in-1 fan shroud 

There’s more to a cooler than just the heatsink or radiator. The bundled fans have a significant impact on cooling and noise levels, as well as how the cooler looks in your case. And the included F360 RGB Core “fan” certainly has a unique look!

Rather than including three separate 120mm fans which would then have to be individually connected, NZXT includes the F360 RGB Core. This is essentially one large plastic slab with three fans installed in it. The advantages of this design are aesthetics and simpler installation. The main downside: If one fan stops working, you’ll have to replace the entire block (or add three separate fans).

*️⃣ Large copper contact plate, pre-installed thermal paste

The Kraken Elite features a large copper contact plate to cover even the largest of CPUs, with pre-installed thermal paste applied to make installation easier.

*️⃣ Extra thick, rotatable tubing

The tubing for this AIO is made of CIIR rubber with PET braided sleeves, and it’s much thicker than what you’d find on most other liquid coolers. As a result, the AIO has more internal liquid coolant and higher flow rates – which helps make it easier to cool a CPU and should, in theory, lead to better performance.

*️⃣ Robust software with lots of customization

To customize this cooler, you’ll need to download NZXT’s Cam software - as the AIO doesn’t feature traditional PWM support. The software offers a lot of functionality and customization options, some of which are shown in the images below. You can change the fan speeds, what sensors the cooler responds to, and much more! You can even set the AIO’s display to play YouTube videos – or integrate with other options online.

If for some reason you don’t wish to install the software - the AIO will still function, but it will be limited to the default configuration.

I’ve also uploaded a quick video showing the screen and some of the ways you can customize it, which you can watch below.

Testing Methodology, and how my testing differs vs the competition

I do a few things to ensure my results are useful to PC builders. I strictly regulate the ambient temperature to 23 degrees Celsius during testing. I do not accept results at 22 or 24C as valid, even though in theory there won’t be much of a difference.

I also do my best to emulate the conditions you’d encounter using the cooler, with thermal loads similar to those a person would experience in real life, and tested in a real case rather than an open bench, which can decrease the difficulty of cooling.

Many other reviewers and, in fact, most of my own older reviews, only test coolers with a load running on the CPU. While this does provide useful information, it doesn’t paint a complete picture of how a cooler will perform. Many workloads, and especially gaming, will stress both the CPU and GPU. As such, to test how well a CPU’s cooler will perform in these situations, I’ve added two tests: one with a light CPU and one with a moderate CPU load – both while running a full load with AMD’s Radeon RX 7900GRE.

Testing configuration – Intel LGA1700 platform

Many factors other than the CPU cooler can influence your cooling performance, including the case you use and the fans installed in it. A system's motherboard can also influence this, especially if its socket suffers from bending, which results in poor cooler contact with the CPU.

In order to prevent bending from impacting our cooling results, we’ve installed Thermalright’s LGA 1700 contact frame into our testing rig. If your motherboard is affected by bending, your thermal results will be worse than those shown below. Not all motherboards are affected equally by this issue. I tested Raptor Lake CPUs in two motherboards. And while one of them showed significant thermal improvements after installing Thermalright’s LGA1700 contact frame, the other motherboard showed no difference in temperatures whatsoever! Check out our review of the contact frame for more information.

LGA 1700 Installation

1. The first thing you’ll need to do is attach the fan shroud to the radiator (which requires four screws rather than the 12 you’d need with three separate fans), then plug the fan cord into to the radiator.

2. Secure the radiator to your case.

3. Place the CPU bracket against the rear of the motherboard. Secure it using the included standoffs.

4. Take the CPU block and press it against the CPU. Secure it with the included thumbscrews.

5. Connect the PWM cable to your motherboard, power on your computer, and installation is complete.

CPU Thermal results without power limits

Without power limits enforced on Intel’s i7-14700K, the CPU will hit its peak temperature (TJ Max) and thermally throttle with even the strongest of air coolers and even most liquid coolers on the market. When the CPU reaches its peak temperature, I measure the CPU package power to determine the maximum wattage cooled to best compare cooler performance.

When the cooler’s performance is tied to the CPU’s temperature, NZXT’s Kraken Elite offers the best performance available on the market. To sustain this level of cooling power, the fans spin up to 47.7 dBA.

This is only half of the story though. By default, the AIO’s performance is tied to the temperature of its liquid coolant and runs quieter than my noise meter can reliably measure – which is 36dBA. If you’re particular about noise levels, you’ll love how quietly this cooler runs by default. But that does leave some theoretical cooling performance on the table.

As a result, in its default configuration, the Kraken Elite’s maximum cooling performance is comparable to a strong air cooler – but again I believe it is worth mentioning that this mode’s performance provides whisper-quiet noise levels, quieter than my sound meter is capable of measuring.

Observant readers will notice that the chart above starts at 35 dBA. First, that’s because noise level measurements are logarithmic. A person with typical hearing will perceive a doubling of noise for every 10 dBA increase, but the impact can vary from person to person. 35dBA was also chosen as the “zero” here because it is the lowest level my noise meter can accurately measure.

Thermal results with noise normalized to 38.9 dBA

Finding the right balance between fan noise levels and cooling performance is important. While running fans at full speed can improve cooling capacity to some extent, the benefits are limited and many users prefer a quieter system.

With this noise-normalized test, I’ve set noise levels to 38.9 dba. This level of noise is a low volume level, but slightly audible to most people. The performance of NZXT’s Kraken Elite 360 is so good that when I first saw the results, I didn’t believe them. To be sure these results were accurate, I performed this test two additional times – but the results were consistent! With 257W cooled on average, NZXT’s Kraken Elite has the strongest noise-normalized results I’ve seen from any cooler when paired with Intel’s i7-14700K!

165W CPU + 275W GPU results

I’ve updated my testing methodology to better represent the scenarios a user might actually encounter in real-life use. The first of these new tests is designed to emulate a CPU-intensive game with a full GPU load. Because the CPU load is constant, this test is a bit more difficult than an actual game would be– I consider these results to be more comparable to what someone might see after overclocking.

How well this cooler performs depends on how it’s configured. In its default configuration, which ties cooler operation to the temperature of the AIO’s liquid coolant, the CPU reaches a warm 75C – but runs quieter than the noise of my system fans.

If you instead tie the cooler’s performance to the temperature of the CPU, its performance is chart-topping at only 69C. Doing this causes noise levels to reach 40.9 dBA, but that is still a fairly low noise level that won’t bother most users.

110W CPU + 275W GPU results

Our second round of CPU + GPU testing is performed with a lower CPU power limit, and in theory, should be similar to games that are moderately intensive for a CPU. As with our previous charts, NZXT’s Kraken Elite delivered chart-topping performance – tying with Tryx’s Panorama and Montech’s Hyperflow coolers with the lowest CPU temperatures we’ve recorded in this test.

120W Cinebench results

With my previous testing methodology, I used to record the temperatures and noise measurements using a 125W CPU-only test and I would emphasize how temperatures don’t matter in this scenario. As such, for this section, I’m only going to report noise levels.

The temperature of the CPU in this scenario is largely irrelevant, but the results for liquid coolers are similar to those reported above in the 110W + GPU tests if you are particularly concerned about this information.

Noise levels on this test were perfect, with the noise of the AIO running quieter than the sound of my system at idle. Since completing testing on this system, I’ve also tested the NZXT Kraken Elite 360 on an Arrow Lake system in similar conditions. This system has a lower idle noise level, and as a result I’ve found that the Kraken Elite actually runs quieter than 36dBA in low-intensity workloads – I can’t say exactly how much quieter, because my equipment can’t reliably measure below that.

Again, the chart above starts at 35 dBA, because that’s the lowest level my sound equipment can measure. And because sound measurements are logarithmic, perceived sound differences are greater than the close variances above would lead many to think.

Conclusion

NZXT’s Kraken Elite 360 is one of the most powerful – and quietest – AIOs on the market, with a wide range of customization options via its 2.7-inch IPS display. However, this level of power and configurability doesn’t come cheap.

The $294.99 asking price puts this latest Kraken on par with the Hyte THICC Q60 and the Tryx Panorama 360 ARGB. Both those coolers also perform very well while offering up larger displays. So if you are shopping for a high-end AIO like the Kraken Elite 360, you may want to consider its excellent competition as well.

Whether you're looking for the best PC case for a new PC build or something to freshen up your current PC, today's deal offers a 25% discount on a mid-tower PC case with a cornered glass side panel for panoramic views of your hardware components. Not only that, but the H6 Flow also provides great airflow cooling for your precious parts and that's always a good thing.

Available at Amazon, you can pick up the NZXT H6 Flow for just $82, reduced from its original $109 price tag. Checking the Camelizer, an extension for checking Amazon price history, we can see that this is the lowest-ever price the H6 Flow has been on sale for.

We originally reviewed the NZXT H6 Flow RGB (same case - non-RGB fans) last year and found the case to not only be a pleasure to build in but thanks to its tilted fan design and dual chamber, the thermals in the H6 Flow were exceptionally good, and even beat out the competition with similar designs. We did however also find that the case could become rather loud when the fans were working at full speed under load.

As you can see from the below chart, the temperature thermals in the H6 Flow were very good, even beating out temps in similar dual-chamber PC case designs from the closest competition. We tested the thermals in the NZXT H6 Flow RGB which is the same PC case but with included RGB fans instead of the non-RGB fans included in this deal.

The NZXT H6 Flow features a dual chamber design that houses the cabling in a separate area of the case to reduce airflow obstruction. This chambered design along with fan positioning and meshed panels helps to promote cool air flowing over your components and carrying the hot air away through the exhaust. This case comes with 3 x 120mm fans, and plenty of room for your favorite AIO cooling radiators.

The latest compact mid-tower case from NZXT is a new version of an old favorite, the 2024 models of the H5 Flow. In a move sure to confuse consumers, NZXT’s new H5 Flow shares the same name as a case the company released in 2022. But issues with branding aside, I found this new case rather nice to build in. 

NZXT’s H5 Flow (2024) offers essential performance that’s best paired with mid-range PC gaming builds, and has especially low noise levels. Let’s take a look at the specifications of the H5 Flow, provided by NZXT, and then we’ll dive into the features and thermal performance in its default configuration, and if it can earn a spot on our Best PC Cases page.

Product Specifications

Features of the NZXT H5 Flow

▶ Changes from the NZXT H5 Flow (2022) model

Changes have been made from the 2022 version to improve the airflow and efficiency of the H5 Flow. The bottom is no longer solid, but features mesh instead. Whereas the old version had a unique angled intake fan, 2024’s version features a traditional intake design. The new design can also accommodate an additional two fans at the bottom.

According to NZXT’s in-house testing, these changes result in GPU temperatures 3C lower and CPU temperatures 1c lower than the 2022 model. But of course we’ll have to do our own testing to see how well the case performs.

▶ Cable management features

NZXT includes a simple but effective cable management bar to help organize case clutter.

On the other side of the case, there are 3 slots with Velcro straps to help keep things tidy even in the parts of the case you can’t see without taking the cover off.

Unified F-Panel header

I personally find standard front-panel headers to be annoying because the connections are separate, small, and can be difficult to install. While I always remember where the power button connection goes, I sometimes have difficulty remembering the exact positions of the power LEDs and other connections.  

This isn’t a problem with NZXT’s H5 Flow, which includes a unified F-Panel. This might be a small thing, but it’s a small improvement that I greatly appreciate.

▶ Storage drive bay

The H5 Flow’s included drive bay has space for 2x 2.5-inch drives and 1x 3.5-inch drive at the top. While this won’t satisfy the needs of data hoarders, this should be plenty sufficient for most users, given the dominance of M.2 NVMe SSDs in recent years.

▶ Mesh front and top

The H5 Flow (2024) features mesh front and top covers, but it lacks dust filters.

▶ 360mm AIO support

The NZXT H5 flow supports AIOs up to 280mm at the top of the unit, and it can support larger 360mm AIOs if front-mounted.

▶ Case IO panel

The IO included with the H5 Flow is about what you should expect in 2024: 1x analog audio port, power button, 1x USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 port, and 1x USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 port.

▶ Low noise levels

The default configuration of the NZXT H5 flow includes only one intake and one exhaust fan. The included FL120Q fans are sufficient for mid-range builds, even with a bit of overclocking, as you’ll see in the benchmarks below. The included fans run silently - quieter than the lowest point I can measure accurately, which is 36.4 dBA.

Build quality, looks, and design

The overall build quality is solid, composed mainly of SGCC Steel and Tempered Glass. In theory, it should last several years - barring any user-caused unfortunate glass-breaking accidents. 

I especially appreciate the low noise levels of the included fans. I’ve tested a few cases recently which included fans that reached over 50 dBA, and I just don’t understand the point of that unless you’re running an overclocked Xeon W-3175 and something like an RTX 4090. The vast majority of users will never generate enough heat to justify system fans that loud. 

While there is an RGB variant of this case, I feel the non-RGB version we’re looking at today is aimed towards folks looking for a simple and effective design without bling or special features. If you’re looking for a case with more niche features like wireless Qi charging or lots of storage expansion support, this isn’t for you.

Testing Methodology and Benchmarks

I was originally planning on testing cases only with an i7-14700K and a Radeon RX 7900 GRE, but I didn’t think it would be appropriate to test this case with higher end components. NZXT’s H5 Flow (2024) has a relatively simple, “back to basics” design that I feel would be best paired with more energy-efficient midrange components.

Before we jump into testing results, I want to give two disclaimers about my results today.

1: The tests I’m running are designed to be comparable to gaming scenarios, but they won’t perfectly emulate it. In theory, these tests will be slightly more difficult in terms of cooling than most games. You should consider these results to be comparable to a “worst case” scenario in gaming, rather than a “typical” result.

2: I haven’t recently tested many cases that are comparable to this one in terms of price and target market, so the comparative data here is limited. But I think there’s enough information to help determine if NZXT’s H5 Flow is right for you.

There are three primary ways I’ll be judging the NZXT H5 Flow’s performance. The first test I’ll run is designed to emulate a CPU-intensive game with the CPU operating at “stock” settings. To get an idea of power consumption during gaming with Intel’s i5-14600K, I tested a small variety of games and the worst power consumption I observed was about 100W – most games used considerably less.

For the first thermal test, I tested the CPU while consuming 95W. Concurrently, the MSI RTX 4070 I’m using was placed under a load that consumes approximately 200W. The test results were optimal, with the CPU reaching less than 64C and the CPU cooler's fans running quietly.

The second test is designed to emulate the thermal intensity of gaming while running the CPU overclocked. In theory, this should represent the worst-case thermal loads a competitive gamer might see where framerate performance is primarily limited by the CPU rather than the GPU.

To get ready for this test, I first spent time overclocking and verifying the stability of the CPU. With the settings I used, I was able to run the CPU at up to 5.6ghz. After verifying the CPU’s stability, I tested games and the worst power consumption I observed was about 140W – so for this second thermal test I’ve set the power limit to a little lower, 130W. As before, the GPU is placed under a load during the test, consuming approximately 200W.

When dealing with an overclocked CPU, ideally you want to keep temperatures under 80C during workloads. Performing this test in NZXT’s H5 flow resulted in a CPU temperature of 77C – a few degrees below my discomfort point for an overclocked CPU.

Keep in mind that these tests are performed with an entry-level single-tower air cooler from Thermalright, the Assassin X 120 R SE. If you’re particular about temperatures, using a stronger cooler will yield better results.

The last test I performed was to test the noise levels of the fans, but I wasn’t able to get an accurate reading because they ran quieter than the lowest level my noise meter can measure accurately, which is 36.4 dBA. If I had to make an educated guess, I would estimate the noise levels to be approximately 34 dBA. But regardless, performance is pretty silent in the default configuration.

As mentioned in the previous paragraph, the noise meter we’re using is not accurate below 36.4 dBA. For this reason, our “zero” in our noise level graphs is 35 dBA. This is approximately the baseline noise of a quiet library.

To give you a better idea of how dBA readings correspond to noise levels in real life, you can check out this video. One note though: The author’s comparison for a refrigerator of 43 dB is based on older, louder models. Newer refrigerators may not operate nearly as loudly, depending on the model. I recently purchased a Frigidaire refrigerator which has such a low noise level, I wasn’t sure it was actually operating when I first plugged it in.

Conclusion

NZXT’s H5 Flow features a simple and effective design, ideal for mid-range gaming builds. Its included fans run very quietly and will appeal to those who prefer silent PCs.The version we tested is available for $94.99, which is similar to competing high quality mid-tower cases.

An RGB variant is available for $30 more at $124.99 USD, which isn’t as competitive when similar cases can be found on for $60-$100 USD. If fact, Phanteks’ excellent XT Pro Ultra with four RGB fans was just $69 after rebate when we wrote this.

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NZXT has initiated a new subscription plan — NZXT Flex — that enables gamers to rent a pre-built NZXT gaming system for a monthly fee. With NZXT Flex, customers can rent a gaming PC for as little as $59 monthly with guaranteed component upgrades every two years.

NZXT Flex has three subscription tiers revolving around NZXT's pre-existing Player pre-built gaming PCs. The Player: One, featuring a Core i5-14400F, RTX 4060, and H5 Flow case, is the cheapest offering with NZXT's subscription service that can be rented for $59 monthly. The Player: Two is the mid-range offering featuring a Ryzen 5 5600X, RTX 4070 Super, and H5 Elite case, which can be rented for $119 monthly. The Player: Three is the most potent system users can rent from NZXT, featuring a Core i7-13700KF, RTX 4070 Ti Super, and H7 Flow chassis for $169 monthly.

Additional perks of the Flex subscription service include a lifetime warranty and 24/7 support. Customers who keep their systems long enough will also receive "guaranteed" PC upgrades every two years to keep their systems up to date.

Flex was made to improve PC gaming accessibility. According to Bryan De Zayas, NZXT's Head of Marketing: "At NZXT, we believe everyone should be able to play the games they love," "In the past, that meant buying a pre-built PC or building your own. Our new Flex subscription service offers gamers more flexibility and choice, so they can focus on what really matters – playing the games they love." NZXT's subscription service gives gamers access to a modern gaming PC when they otherwise couldn't afford one.

The only caveat with NZXT Flex is that it starts to lose its value over a long period — for customers who plan to rent their machines for over two years. The Player: One, for instance, can be bought for approximately $1,054.00 with virtually the same specs as the rentable version for $59 a month, translating into almost 18 months before you've spent enough money to buy the system outright (approximately). But the upside is that you are getting unlimited support and free component upgrades every two years.

Flex won't be for everyone, but for gamers who need a modern gaming PC in a pinch and don't want to buy a new system on a credit card (which can add interest to the system's total cost), NZXT's Flex subscription service is a solution.

NZXT, founded in 2004, is a prominent American computer hardware manufacturer known for its range of products including computer cases, cooling solutions, power supplies, and accessories. Headquartered in Los Angeles, California, the company targets the gaming and enthusiast market with innovative designs and practical solutions. Their product lineup features a blend of aesthetics and functionality, catering to the needs of PC builders and gamers seeking high performance and reliability.

In this review, we are examining the latest addition to NZXT's power supply lineup, the C1500 Platinum PSU, which currently goes for $370. This high-capacity power supply offers exceptional performance and reliability for modern, top-tier PCs. With features like fully modular black nylon-sleeved cables, a Sunon MagLev 140 mm fan, two PCI Express 5.1 12V-2x6, and boasting world-class electrical performance, the C1500 Platinum is designed to meet ATX 3.1 standards and get the attention of enthusiasts and power users who are on the market for one of the best power supplies currently available.

Specifications and Design

In the Box

The NZXT C1500 Platinum PSU comes in straightforward yet efficient packaging. The outer box features a purple-white theme, dominated by a picture of the unit itself. The PSU is well-protected during shipping by a nylon pouch and dense packaging foam, ensuring the safety of the product during transportation.

Considering the tier of this PSU, its bundle is surprisingly minimalistic. NZXT provides only the necessary mounting screws, an IEC C19 AC power cable, and a purple bag for the modular cables. The package is spartan, providing only the essential accessories needed for installation.

The NZXT C1500 Platinum PSU features all-black cables, including connectors and wires, all covered in black nylon sleeving, giving the unit a sleek and uniform appearance. The highlight here is the presence of two 600 Watts 12V-2x6 connectors and six PCI Express 6+2 pin cables with just one connector on each, forgoing “piggybagging” multiple PCI Express connectors on a single cable.

External Appearance

The NZXT C1500 Platinum PSU is housed in a chassis that measures 180 mm in length, significantly longer than the standard ATX dimensions specified by the ATX design guide. This extra length is unsurprising bearing in mind its high-power output and requires a case with ample clearance to fit properly. It features a sleek and understated design, with a smooth satin black finish. 

It avoids unnecessary decorations, instead displaying discreetly etched company and series logos on the sides for a clean appearance. The top side is labeled with a sticker that details the electrical specifications and certifications. The unit features a unique fan guard with a square design and honeycomb cutouts, combining effective protection from the fan but also enhances the unit's overall aesthetic with its distinct design.

The front side of the NZXT C1500 Platinum PSU features the standard on/off switch, the IEC C20 AC cable receptacle, and an additional switch for the "Zero-Fan" feature. The switch allows users to disable the feature and force the fan to operate continuously regardless of the unit’s load or temperature but the speed of the fan will still be controlled by the unit’s thermal control circuitry, so it will be practically be running at minimum speed until the load is high enough to justify an airflow increase.

The rear of the unit is littered with modular cable connectors, which are keyed in order to prevent mishaps. The connectors are not color-coded and the legend is barely visible but it is not possible to actually install any cable into the wrong connector.

Internal Design

The NZXT C1500 Platinum PSU is equipped with a Sunon MagLev MFE0251VX-1Q010-S99 140 mm fan, featuring a magnetic levitation engine. The patented Sunon engine design offers superior performance and also the fan's performance is not affected by orientation. This type of fan is known for its superior performance and durability, making it a judicious choice for a top-tier PSU. While MagLev fans can be noisy at higher speeds, they excel in high-temperature environments. The fan in this model can reach the terrifying maximum speed of 2500 RPM – hopefully, it will not have to.

The NZXT C1500 Platinum ATX 3.1 PSU is produced by Channel-Well Technology (CWT), a Taiwanese OEM with extensive experience in the power supply industry. CWT has a long history of designing and manufacturing mid-to-top-tier PC power supplies, known for their quality and reliability. They are behind many of the latest high-performance units from various reputable brands, including this NZXT model.

This platform does not bring ground-breaking changes into the power electronics world but it is a step up from most other readily available designs available right now. While the core design of the unit is based on well-established topologies, the designer replaced some of the analog sensors with digital ones, which have massively better response times and allow for tuning flexibility. The input stage features a robust filtering setup, consisting of four Y capacitors, two X capacitors, and two filtering inductors, which then feed two rectifying bridges (WNR2560M). The bridges are sharing the heatsink with the Active Power Factor Correction (APFC) active components, which are two APFC MOSFETs and two diodes. The passive components of the APFC circuit are two large encased inductors and three massive Rubycon 820 μF capacitors.

The primary inversion stage of the NZXT C1500 Platinum employs four Alpha & Omega TF29S50 MOSFETs forming a full-bridge inversion circuit. All four MOSFETs are mounted on a single heatsink dedicated to them. The primary stage is feeding two transformers that, in turn, feed the two secondary stage conversion circuit vertical daughterboards that generate the primary 12V line. 

It is a synchronous rectification setup and a total of sixteen Infineon 014N06NS MOSFETs are being used. The 3.3V and 5V rails are produced via DC-to-DC conversion on a vertical daughterboard. The capacitors on the secondary side, electrolytics and polymer alike, are all from reputable Japanese manufacturers (Rubycon, Nichicon, and Nippon Chemi-Con).

Cold Test Results

Cold Test Results (25°C Ambient)

For the testing of PSUs, we are using high precision electronic loads with a maximum power draw of 2700 Watts, a Rigol DS5042M 40 MHz oscilloscope, an Extech 380803 power analyzer, two high precision UNI-T UT-325 digital thermometers, an Extech HD600 SPL meter, a self-designed hotbox and various other bits and parts.

The NZXT C1500 Platinum PSU easily meets the 80Plus Platinum certification standards, missing the 80Plus Titanium certification by a hair when tested with an input voltage of 115 VAC. When tested with a 115 VAC input, it achieves an average nominal load efficiency of 92.6%, which increases to 93.7% with a 230 VAC input. The unit's efficiency peaks at around 40% of its capacity. Additionally, the PSU demonstrates impressive efficiency even at low loads, nearing 87% with a load of just 70 Watts.

The NZXT C1500 Platinum PSU features a "Zero-Fan" mode, keeping the fan off during low-load conditions to maintain quiet operation. In our testing, the fan began to operate slightly before the unit was at 50% capacity, which means that the C1500 Platinum essentially operated fanless until the load was greater than 700 Watts. NZXT’s marketing graph show that the fan starts when the unit is at around 60% capacity, which may be achievable under ideal laboratory conditions. As the load exceeds 50%, the fan increases its speed to manage the rising thermal output, slowly at first but more sharply when the load goes above 1200 Watts, yet it never reaches its maximum speed under these testing conditions.

Hot Test Results

Hot Test Results (~45°C Ambient)

During hot testing, the NZXT C1500 Platinum PSU displays a very minor decrease in efficiency under heavy loads, with recorded figures of 92.2% at 115 VAC and 93.3% at 230 VAC, compared to 92.6% and 93.7% during cold testing. This reduction is inconsequential and occurs almost linearly across the entire load range. There are no signs of thermal stress, even at maximum load. The PSU is rated to perform efficiently at ambient temperatures up to 50°C and maintains seamless operation under these conditions.

Under hot testing conditions, the NZXT C1500 Platinum PSU's fan activates a little earlier but its speed does not increase significantly before the load is greater than 850 Watts, after which point the speed of the fan increases sharply. This approach keeps noise levels acceptable with a load up to 800 Watts. 

When heavily stressed, the thermal control circuit seems to be designed so as to forgo acoustics performance in favor of reliability. The internal temperatures of the unit are remarkably low, especially when taking the massive 1.5 kW capacity into account.

PSU Quality and Bottom Line

Power Supply Quality

The electrical performance of the NZXT C1500 Platinum PSU, even after taking into account its class, can only be described as outstanding. The 12V rail maintains a tight regulation of 0.5%, while the 5V and 3.3V lines are well-regulated at 0.7% and 0.6% respectively.

Ripple suppression is equally impressive, with low values of 24 mV for the 12V line, 12 mV for the 5V line, and 14 mV for the 3.3V line. These figures were taken with a load of 1.5 kW, which makes them even more impressive considering that most modern designs struggle to reach such performance at half that wattage.

During our thorough assessment, we evaluate the essential protection features of every power supply unit we review, including Over Current Protection (OCP), Over Voltage Protection (OVP), Over Power Protection (OPP), and Short Circuit Protection (SCP). The NZXT C1500 Platinum PSU successfully passed all critical protection tests, confirming its capability to protect both the PSU and connected components. 

The unit displayed standard OCP settings for the 3.3V and 5V rails, activating at 116% and 118% respectively, which are typical for these specifications. The 12V rail’s OCP activation at 122% is slightly higher but still is very sharp for an ATX 3.1 unit and that is a very good thing considering its massive capacity.

Bottom Line

The NZXT C1500 Platinum PSU stands out as a robust and high-performance power supply unit tailored for extreme gaming PCs and workstations. With its impressive power output of 1500 Watts, it comfortably supports the most demanding components currently on the market. The sleek design, featuring a smooth satin black finish and discreetly etched logos, as well as the unique square honeycomb fan guard, add a touch of elegance - but NZXT’s design focus clearly was not aesthetics. This PSU was designed with raw overall performance above everything else.

One of the key features of the NZXT C1500 Platinum is its advanced cooling fan. The 140 mm Sunon MagLev fan, equipped with a magnetic levitation engine, ensures superior cooling performance and durability. The fan remains off during low-load conditions, thanks to the "Zero-Fan" mode, which keeps the system quiet under typical usage scenarios. 

When the load exceeds approximately 50%, the fan activates to manage thermal output effectively but will not reach disturbingly high noise output levels. During hot testing, the fan starts a bit sooner but will still maintain civil noise levels until the load is greater than 1 kW, after which point the unit will prioritize cooling over noise reduction. The internal temperatures of the C1500 Platinum are, under any testing conditions, very low even for a unit with that high an efficiency.

The electrical performance of the NZXT C1500 Platinum is equally impressive. It showcases excellent voltage regulation and world-class ripple suppression, with values that other designs cannot reach at half this unit’s capacity. The unit's efficiency is very high, achieving 92.6% at 115 VAC and 93.7% at 230 VAC during cold testing, missing the 80Plus Titanium certification by a hair during 115 VAC testing (93.8% at 50% load). Even under hot testing conditions, the efficiency drop is minimal, ensuring reliable performance across a wide range of operating temperatures.

The NZXT C1500 Platinum PSU excels in protection and build quality. Manufactured by Channel-Well Technology (CWT), a reputable OEM, the unit features top-tier Japanese capacitors from Rubycon, Nichicon, and Nippon Chemi-Con. Its solid construction and high-quality components are backed by a 10-year warranty, providing users with peace of mind. However, its steep  price tag is a significant drawback. This substantial cost positions it in a niche market, appealing primarily to the few extreme users who require its massive 1500W power output. For many users, the performance may not justify the premium price, especially when comparable alternatives existing at lower price points. 

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The H7 Flow is not a new chassis – in fact, it has been around for a couple of years now. However, the new 2024 iteration sports quite a few changes, like a different front panel, a side-mounted PSU, and room for 10 fans.

The new NZXT H7 Flow is available in black and white for $130, which feels like a fair price. But is the case any good, and is it worthy of a spot on our best PC cases list? We’ll put it through testing to find out, but first, let’s dig into the specs.

Specifications of the NZXT H7 Flow

Features of the NZXT H7 Flow

Just over two years ago, we looked at the NZXT H7 Flow and were impressed by its impressive thermals and not absurdly loud acoustics. Fast forward to 2024, and the new H7 Flow looks different, at least in some ways.

First off, the front panel is much more… meshy. It doesn’t look like a cheese grater like the original H7 Flow did back in 2022. Sure, the front of that case performed great, but I can see how it looked wonky to some. Also, with this design, you get the “NZXT chin” as I call it at the bottom of the front panel, which was missing in the 2022 variant.

If you’re familiar with the original H7 Flow, you might be asking yourself why the interior of the 2024 model looks kind of different, but also kind of the same. The answer: there’s no more PSU shroud. Instead, the PSU is mounted behind the motherboard tray, similar to the H6 Flow, or any dual-chamber design. This is one of the best new aspects of the redesigned H7 Flow, because you get more room for fans. But because it isn’t a true dual-chamber design, you don’t have to deal with that extra width that I don’t love about that kind of case design.

As you can see, NZXT has made room for the PSU like any other case, but forces you to flip your PSU on its side, allowing for bottom-mounted fans instead of a bulky PSU shroud. It’s also clear from the above photo how much storage space there is behind the motherboard tray.

Unlike most chassis these days, you don’t have to sacrifice 2.5-inch SSD’s for 3.5-inch hard drives. Instead, you can mount two SSDs in the cage and two hard drives behind the motherboard tray. Without factoring in how many M.2 SSDs you might install into your motherboard, you can fit four drives, which is beyond respectable for a mid-tower case like this. You can also use the 3.5-inch slots for 2.5-inch drives, should you decide to do so.

Thanks to the PSU being mounted behind the motherboard tray, the H7 Flow allows for a total of 10 fans, with radiator or fan support up to 420mm in the front, 360mm up top, and 140mm in the rear. NZXT doesn’t mention radiator support at the bottom, but you can mount three 120mm spinners there for direct GPU cooling.

Speaking of GPUs, this chassis can house the largest cards, up to 410mm (16.14 - inches). CPU cooling space is abundant as well, with support for tower coolers up to 185mm (7.28 inches).

Usually, I don’t make a big deal about the amount of space granted behind the motherboard tray, but here because the PSU is mounted behind the tray, you’re still given 34.5mm (1.36 inches) of room to work with. So, yes, your sleeved cable extensions will fit, but you’ll need to make good use of the included straps for cable management.

The H7 Flow’s IO is what you’d expect from NZXT (and most companies in this price range): two USB Type-A, one Type-C, and a headset audio jack. Thankfully, all of these pesky IO cables are bridged into one header plug, making building even easier than it already was with the H7.

Testing Hardware

Our testing hardware uses Intel’s 12th Gen Alder Lake platform. We’re using a Core i7-12700KF, cooled by a Noctua U12s air cooler. Our graphics card is a Gigabyte RTX 3070 Ti Gaming OC, and our motherboard is the MSI Pro Z690-A WIFI.

Acoustic Results for the NZXT H7 Flow

Our acoustic test consists of three scenarios: We run the CPU at full load, the CPU and GPU at full load, and an optimized mode. The CPU full load test runs the CPU and case fans at their maximum speed. For the CPU and GPU full load acoustic test, we also stress the Gigabyte RTX 3070 Ti Gaming OC and set the fans at 75% speed, because in gaming, the fans never run at 100 percent and are far too loud when they do.

For the optimized mode, we run the GPU fan speed at 30%, and the CPU and included case fans at the lowest speed they will spin.

Interestingly enough, there isn’t a massive difference between the H7 Flow from 2022 and the new 2024 model with a different front panel. While the 2022 version is better with the GPU speed ramped up, at full speed, the new variant wins by a degree.

Thermal Results for the NZXT H7 Flow

For the thermal tests, all case and CPU fan speeds are set to 100%. The Core i7-12700K is set at a 4.7GHz clock at 1.3v on all performance cores to ensure consistent power consumption across test scenarios. Letting the GPU run at 75% fan speed enables it to maintain its power target while sticking to one set reasonable fan speed, so the temperature is the only variable.

The difference in CPU temperature is nearly the same between the 2022 H7 Flow and the new model, but the GPU temperature differences are somewhat significant. Keep in mind that this test was conducted without fans mounted at the bottom of the case, because the case doesn’t come with fans there. So theoretically, temps will only improve if you decide to add your own fans at the bottom – which is something you couldn’t do with the previous model due to its PSU shroud.

Bottom Line

Both the original H7 Flow and the new 2024 model are solid case options if you’re in the market for a mid-range mid-tower case. The question is which should you buy while both versions are still available: the 2022 variant with its more open front panel, or the 2024 variant, which ditches the PSU shroud in favor of fan mounts at the bottom. While the 2024 variant is better looking in some ways, and allows for more cooling. But I personally still like the 2022 model. Fine mesh tends to be good for thermals, but it’s also on so many cases at this point that its addition here doesn’t help the case stand out visually. And considering this case is already a revamp of an existing chassis, it could use a little more in the way of novel design flourishes or… something else to help it feel fresh. In other words, it just feels like NZXT has played it safe with its update to the H7 Flow.

The 2024 NZXT H7 Flow is still a very solid chassis, especially if you plan to take advantage of its extra fan support. With hardware getting hotter and hotter, the mesh front and extensive fan options make this a good choice for NZXT enthusiasts and those looking for great thermals at low volumes.

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The NZXT Lift 2 Symm is a wired gaming mouse that balances mid-tier pricing with a minimalist aesthetic. Weighing a mere 2.05 ounces (58g), it has a simple, symmetrical shape that's both versatile and comfortable. It’s a little light on features for its $50 price tag,, but that’s unlikely to deter gamers looking for a basic yet capable mouse.

We received the NZXT Lift 2 Starfield for review, but our conclusions also apply to the standard NZXT Lift 2 Symm. The NZXT Lift 2 Symm is available now for $49.99 ($59.99 for the Starfield version).

Design and Comfort of the Lift 2 Symm

The NZXT Lift 2 Symm sports a sleek, flat, and symmetrical design. The body is constructed entirely from plastic, which contributes to its low weight. Material quality didn't immediately impress, but the plastic used seems acceptably resistant to smudges and scratches — especially in the white colorway I received. 

The mouse has a total of five buttons, including a clickable mouse wheel and a DPI/Profile button for adjusting sensitives and swapping saved profiles. The scroll wheel has a rough texture that looks likely to collect dust and dirt, but it felt good to use. It doesn't move smoothly but is instead notched, with discrete steps — which I personally preferred, but there’s no option to change how it operates. If you're looking for a mouse with more than one scroll wheel option, mice such as Logitech's G502 X Plus and Razer's Basilisk V3 Pro have scroll wheels with free-spin modes. 

Flipping the NZXT Lift 2 Symm on its back reveals why it’s so light: most of the plastic has been removed, leaving only a few thin strips to hold the optical sensor. It looks a bit strange, but no more so than mice that remove portions of the upper shell. 

In fact, I like this design. The Lift 2 Symm doesn’t scream “look at me, I’m a light-weight, competitive gaming mouse!” It just looks like a mouse, and that’s how I like it. If you prefer a little (or a lot) of flair, however, the Lift 2 Symm isn’t for you. A lack of RGB lighting underscores that point.

Every mouse in the Lift series, including the Lift 2 Symm, is wired. That’s important to note, as the Lift 2 Symm’s $50 price tag puts it in league with some wireless gaming mice, such as Logitech’s G305 Lightspeed. Wireless competitors are heavier (the G305 is 3.49 oz vs. the Lift 2 Symm’s 2.05 oz), but most have similar features.

NZXT compensates with a lengthy braided cable measuring a tad over six and a half feet long. That’s a lot of slack, so tension from the mouse cord won’t be a burden in most situations. In fact, the long cord and low weight meant the Lift often “felt” wireless in my hand. I didn’t notice any amount of tension with, or connection to, the back of my PC. 

The NZXT Lift 2 Symm has a symmetrical, oblong profile. It evenly supported my hand, striking a balance in size that didn’t seem overly large or uncomfortably small. That suggests it can comfortably accommodate a wide range of hand sizes — making it a versatile option that should suit many gamers. 

However, while Lift 2 Symm’s symmetrical shape might suggest it's ambidextrous, that’s not quite right (and, to be fair, NZXT never says it is). Its button placement is optimized for right-handed users. I believe a left-handed owner could use the mouse comfortably for many games, but the placement of the third and fourth buttons would prove inconvenient. 

I found the mouse enjoyable for both gaming and general use, and it excelled in scenarios that demand frequent movement. That is mostly a boon, as I noticed my arm and wrist felt ever-so-slightly more relaxed after using the mouse for a few days. The low weight can become a barrier when pixel-level precision is required, though. I found it a bit too easy to jostle, bump, or shake the cursor of its mark.

I have zero complaints about the Lift 2 Symm’s button placement. There aren't a ton of buttons to begin with, so there’s plenty of room to ensure all buttons are large and easy to find. The left and right mouse buttons were easy to activate from a press either at their front or back and respond with a light, yet tight, click. The same was true of all other buttons, including the mouse wheel. In short: no notes.

The overall design and comfort of the NZXT Lift 2 Symm is close to one of our favorite budget gaming mice, the Corsair Katar Pro XT. The Corsair, however, has the advantage of a lower price point (usually around $35), while the Lift 2 is arguably a bit too expensive to sit in true budget territory. But the Lift 2 Symm is over half an ounce lighter than the Katar Pro XT — 0.63oz (17.9g), to be exact — and weight definitely makes a difference. THe Lift 2 Symm is slightly heavier than HyperX's Pulsefire Haste 2, which weighs 1.87oz (53g) and currently sells for around $40.

Specs

Performance of the Lift 2 Symm

The NZXT Lift 2 Symm packs a PixArt PMW3395 optical sensor with a native resolution of 26,000 DPI and up to an 8,000 Hz polling rate. I don’t recommend putting too much stock in these figures, however — not because they’re inaccurate, but because figures this high are well beyond what most gamers need. Still, NZXT is not giving up any ground here, and its specifications match some more expensive gaming mice. It also supports Nvidia Reflex which, though likely of niche appeal, is noteworthy at this price point.

I was pleased by the sensor's responsiveness in general use. It handled a wide variety of surfaces well — including a standard desktop, a felt-like fabric, and a semi-reflective metal surface. The only surface it failed to track on was a mirror, which is typical for most optical mice.

It was also a fantastic plug-and-play device. The simple design, slim feature set, and inclusion of a physical button for toggling DPI modes add up to a mouse that’s close to 100% functional without software. There are a few reasons to use the software, which I’ll describe later, but the Lift 2 Symm is ideal if you're looking for a mouse you can plug in and use without additional setup.

Game performance was also great in most titles. I had no issues with the mouse's reliability or latency — it’s a wired mouse, after all — and it tracked beautifully across several dozen hours of gameplay. 

That said, a mouse this lightweight is better for certain types of games. It’s great in titles where you frequently move the mouse great distances, quickly. This most often applies in FPS games, but I also found it useful in MMORPGs. The mouse didn’t become tiring to use, and it was easy to rapidly throw the cursor (or crosshairs) across the screen. When I required precision, though, the lack of weight was a barrier. Every jostle and shake was translated to the mouse. Lowering the DPI helped, of course, but it never felt dead-on precise. This might be a problem if you like games with a very heavy UI and many tiny objects to interact with, such as Crusader Kings 3 or Factorio.

Features and Software

No software is required to enjoy the NZXT Lift 2 Symm, but the company does have its own software suite, the oddly-named NZXT Cam (which...isn’t just for cameras, I guess). Name aside, NZXT Cam is easy-to-use and doesn't demand you sign into an account to access the Lift 2 Symm's features. 

But — as I mentioned earlier — features aren’t what the Lift 2 Symm is about. Owners can control what the DPI setting does, remap some mouse buttons (the side buttons, middle click, and DPI button only), alter the polling rate, and change the lift-off height (from 1mm to 2mm — though, frankly, I’m not sure I could tell the difference). Profiles can be saved to the software or directly to the mouse, which has onboard memory and can store up to four profiles.

That’s the extent of the options available — fairly standard for a modern gaming mouse. Still, I appreciated that the software was quick and easy to install, and that it wasn't required to use most mouse features.

Bottom Line

The NZXT Lift 2 Symm is a solid mid-range entry that’s worth a look if you're shopping for a lightweight wired mouse. It weighs just 2.05oz (58g), which is far less than most similarly-priced mice, and it has a versatile, comfortable design that will probably fit a range of gamers' hands. Plus, it's easy to use right out of the box and doesn't require software to function. 

It does, however, lack any distinctive, must-have features, and it's a little pricier than some similarly-equipped mice we've tested. It offers up to an 8,000 Hz polling rate, which might appeal to eSports competitors but is unlikely to make a difference for the majority of users. While the HyperX Pulsefire Haste 2 debuted at a higher price point, you can now grab that mouse — which is also wired, ultra-lightweight, and offers up to an 8,000 Hz polling rate — for about $10 less than the Lift 2 Symm.

Software designer Cal Bryant created a PC cooling app for his liquid-cooled Ryzen 9 5950X PC from scratch using Python. With his app, he was able to fine-tune his Kraken X53's pump and fan speed and run both a lot more efficiently, making the cooler run significantly quieter compared to running the fan controls through the motherboard BIOS/UEFI.

The origins of Bryant's home-brewed Python cooling app started when he upgraded his personal system from a Ryzen 7 3700X to the much more potent Ryzen 9 5950X. According to Bryant, the extra cores nearly doubled the heat output of his system, forcing his NZXT Kraken X53 240mm AIO liquid cooler to work much harder. Consequently, the CPU swap also made his cooler much louder to deal with the extra heat output. On top of this, the fans were also spinning up and down erratically, due to Zen 3's notoriously spiky thermal output.

Bryant found that the Kraken's cooler is not optimized out of the box for Ryzen CPUs, causing the fans to spin up and down erratically. The Kraken's pump speed is based on liquid temperature, while the fans are based on the CPU temperature, something Bryant found unattractive. (We've also complained about this our own cooler reviews.)

To fix this problem, Bryant decided to build his own cooling app that could eliminate the problem and give him more granular control over his pump and fan speeds. Additionally, he doesn't like how bloated traditional fan software normally is, giving him even more incentive to build his own app.

In the end, he was able to create an application that can read the CPU, case, and liquid temperatures of the system, and adjust the CPU fan and pump speeds accordingly. The app was written in Python and Liquidctl, a programmatic control system that can allow Python scripts to control liquid coolers such as the X53. For temperature control, the app reads temperature data from Linux's built-in hardware sensor capabilities, known as lm-sensors. Bryant wrote his Python app in such a way that it can be installed as a system service that starts when the OS boots up and hides in the background. For the nitty-gritty details on how the app was written step-by-step, check out Bryant's full article.

The app was tuned to run the X53's pump in conjunction with the CPU's temperature output and run the radiator fans in conjunction with the coolant temperature. This is very different from the X53's default configuration where the pump RPM is driven by the coolant temperature.

With this method of RPM control, he was able to significantly reduce the spiky nature of his cooler's default fan profile and make the cooler more performant only when needed. Having the pump speed up based on the CPU temperature allows the cooler to extract heat more quickly from the CPU. Coolant takes a long time to warm up under a heavy load compared to air coolers. Having the fans connected to the coolant temperature, in turn, allows the cooler to only run the fans at a high RPM when the coolant is warm. In an AIO, the fans aren't cooling the CPU, they are cooling down the liquid that is extracting heat from the CPU.

The app can be downloaded for free from a link in Cal Bryant's article. However, the it's specifically fine-tuned to his system, meaning that users would need to edit the code he created to make the cooling app work on their systems.

Black Friday is getting closer with just under three weeks until the madness fully descends on Friday, November 24, 2023.  Up until that point, we're hopefully going to be seeing new deals popping up to save us all lots of money on some of our favorite tech.

One of our reviewed PC cases and an Editor's Choice award winner, the excellent NZXT H7 Flow PC case is now only $79 after having had a whopping $50 knocked off of its MSRP price, making it the cheapest I can recall seeing since its release. This offer is direct from NZXT and from my search is not available cheaper anywhere else at this moment in time. 

From our review of the NZXT H7 Flow, we found that this mid-tower ATX case was a pleasure to build in and had satisfyingly good cable management along with some impressive included stock fans and provided excellent quiet acoustics. If you're looking for an airflow case that can keep your components cool without sounding like a wind tunnel then the H7 Flow is a great option. 

Side panels on the H7 Flow feature a clear glass side panel on the white case and a tinted-glass side panel on the black version. The side panels use a toolless design for easy access to the internals of your PC build, and an easier time organizing your cable routing with its intuitive cable management system complete with wide channels, hooks, and straps to tie your cables together. 

The NZXT H7 Flow supports Mini-ITX, Micro-ATX, ATX, and E-ATX motherboard form factors and comes with a good selection of front I/O ports that include 2 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, and 1 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C, as well as an audio jack for headset use. So if you're looking for an excellent case to build a new PC in at a bargain price, then the NZXT H7 Flow could well be the next case for you. 

When shopping for a gaming monitor, it’s easy to get caught up in the many specs and features used to market them. If you have the budget for a premium display, you can get everything – high resolution, high speed, high contrast, high performance, lots of color and the latest bleeding-edge tech. But if you are looking for value, it’s best to prioritize the features you desire.

The gaming experience hinges mainly on panel speed and response, so spending money on a fast refresh rate is wise before considering screen size or resolution. AOC has just the ticket with its C27G2Z. This 27-inch VA monitor has a curved screen with a 3,000:1 contrast ratio along with 240 Hz, Adaptive-Sync and wide-gamut color. And it sells for $200 at this writing.

AOC C27G2Z Specs

While high pixel density adds to the sharpness and clarity of an image, you won’t be disappointed in a 27-inch FHD panel. It sports 82ppi, just enough to produce a picture without visible pixel gaps when viewed at a three-foot distance. The C27G2Z also has a 1500R curvature which is a nice value-add. The subtle curve adds a slight immersive effect without any noticeable distortion.

240 Hz and Adaptive-Sync are the specs of greatest interest. High frame rates are the surest ticket to smooth motion resolution and fast response. Now that 360 and 500 Hz monitors are available, 240 Hz should be considered a starting point for competitive gaming. The C27G2Z achieves this rate without overclocking. It also supports FreeSync and G-Sync from 48 to 240 Hz. It hasn’t been certified by Nvidia, but I can confirm that it runs G-Sync just fine.

Image quality is enhanced by a VA panel that met its claimed 3,000:1 contrast ratio in my tests. The C27G2Z does not process HDR10 signals, but it does include three HDR emulation modes that tweak gamma to produce a little more punch to the image. Either way, the deep blacks and saturated color promised by VA technology are fully present here.

The feature set is pared down, as expected at this price point. There are no integrated speakers or USB ports. And there is no LED lighting. You get an aiming point and a frame counter in the OSD, fairly accurate color, and good results from calibration. The performance needed for both gaming and image fidelity is there. The C27G2Z seems like a decent value, so let’s take a look.

Assembly and Accessories

The C27G2Z arrives packed in crumbly foam in its three components: base, upright and panel. They assemble without tools into a reasonably solid and lightweight package. The power supply is internal, so you get an IEC cord along with HDMI and DisplayPort cables.

Product 360

The C27G2Z has a bit of red trim, reminiscent of AOC’s Agon line, to offset the black panel and silver base. There isn’t any LED lighting, but the trim is bright and creates a good effect. The monitor’s design intent is clearly game-focused.

The stand features good ergonomics with 5/23 degrees tilt, 30 degrees swivel and a 130mm height adjustment. You can just get the screen to a center eyepoint in the vertical position. This is my preference for all monitors, especially curved models. Setting the panel this way gives you the full potential of the curve’s immersive effect.

The input panel has two HDMI 2.0 ports and a DisplayPort 1.2. All will run at FHD resolution at 240 Hz, but you’ll need to use DisplayPort for G-Sync. FreeSync works through all three inputs. If you’d like to use headphones or powered speakers, a 3.5mm audio jack is provided. There are no built-in speakers, nor are there any USB ports.

If you look closely at the tiny white power LED at the lower right, you’ll see molded-in symbols for the five control keys. One toggles power, and I accidentally turned the monitor off a few times when reaching for the key that activates the OSD. The first three buttons provide quick access to input selection, game mode and the aiming point.

OSD Features

The C27G2Z’s fourth control key opens the ribbon-like OSD on the bottom of the screen. It is the same menu I’ve seen from AOC for the past decade, and it is relatively intuitive though a little clunky to navigate with buttons. I would rather have a joystick.

The Luminance menu includes seven picture modes that correspond to different activities. Standard is the default and best mode as it gives users access to all other picture and gaming options. Also here are three gamma presets, dynamic contrast and the HDR emulation modes. There are three options that look similar but add different levels of edge enhancement. Their approximation of HDR is just OK, but since the C27G2Z already has excellent contrast, I didn’t find that they improved the image, only made it look different. There is no actual HDR support here.

In Color Setup, you’ll find four color temp presets plus a user mode with RGB sliders. The C27G2Z doesn’t need calibration, but a small improvement is possible with a few tweaks. This is a wide-gamut display so if you want sRGB, it’s one of the color temp options and is quite accurate.

Picture Boost is something unique to AOC monitors. It lets you create a bright section on the screen that can be sized and moved about. Within it, you can adjust brightness and contrast to set it off from the surrounding area. It’s a great way to highlight something like a graphic or part of a gaming environment.

The OSD can be moved around the screen if you don’t like its default position at the bottom center. This menu also has the DP version toggle and volume control.

In Game Setting, there are six additional picture modes for different game types. My advice, leave that off to avoid confusion. If you start combining Eco and Game modes, it’s easy to become lost in the options. Also here is a three-level overdrive which I found too coarse in operation. I couldn’t find a setting free of either black or white ghosting artifacts. This menu also has the Adaptive-Sync toggle and a frame rate counter. If you turn off Adaptive-Sync, a motion blur reduction slider becomes visible. This is a backlight strobe with 20 brightness levels. Darker settings reduce blur further, but past level 10, the phasing artifact common to this feature becomes too distracting. I recommend leaving this off and sticking with Adaptive-Sync. 

AOC C27G2Z Calibration Settings

The C27G2Z delivers decent accuracy out of the box. It benefits from calibration, but it’s not strictly necessary. The grayscale errors are barely visible in content and gamma tracks very well. The color gamut is wide, covering over 88% of DCI-P3. If you want the smaller sRGB space, that option is available in the color temp menu. For my tests, I calibrated the user color temp using the RGB sliders. Gamma was fine on its default setting of 1. If you want a lighter look, choose 2; darker, choose 3. You can also experiment with the three HDR emulation modes; the C27G2Z doesn’t support HDR10 processing. Below are the settings I used for all content.

Gaming and Hands-on

I’ll get the question of resolution answered first. 27 inches is the largest FHD monitor I would care to use, but the C27G2Z’s 82ppi is enough to get the job done for both work and play. Unless you plan to sit less than two feet away from the screen, you won’t see the pixel structure, even in finely detailed images. Clarity is aided here by the panel’s prodigious contrast which is around 3,200:1.

I spent time using the C27G2Z before and after calibration and found the small adjustments required are worth doing. Yes, the picture looks fine out of the box. But the calibrated image is a little better.

The only issue I noted with productivity is that at 100% font scaling, you’ll have to scroll a bit more to see websites or to edit long documents. But this is a minor point that only someone accustomed to large high-res screens will experience. There is enough resolution here for whatever one wishes to do.

When taken in the context of a budget gaming monitor, the C27G2Z excels. It’s snappy and responsive with the reasonably smooth motion one would expect from a 240 Hz panel. Input lag was imperceptible to me and my average skills. A more talented player might benefit from a 360 Hz display or a 240 Hz QHD model. But with the FHD resolution in use here, frame rates are easy to maintain. You won’t need a premium video card to hit 240fps.

Picture quality is top-notch thanks to the C27G2Z’s excellent contrast and wide-gamut color. Accuracy is apparent with or without calibration, as everything looked natural and correct. Shadow detail is rich with deep blacks, and I saw bright highlights that added to the sense of dimension. Doom Eternal was well-detailed with good clarity. The overdrive artifacts I observed in test patterns were less evident during actual gameplay. I recommend avoiding the HDR emulation modes. They add a distracting level of edge enhancement that only reduces clarity.

Overall, the C27G2Z is a solid value among gaming monitors and affords a bit more speed and performance than a 165 Hz display of the same resolution. Since it is priced below 27-inch QHD monitors, it will certainly fill the bill for gamers seeking value.

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To compare the C27G2Z’s performance, I’ve selected monitors ranging in speed from 165 to 360 Hz. We have Dell’s S2422HG, ViewSonic’s XG2431, the HyperX Armada from HP, NZXT’s Canvas 27F and Alienware’s AW2523HF. 

Pixel Response and Input Lag

Click here to read up on our pixel response and input lag testing procedures.

As you can see, 240 Hz monitors are not created equal. The C27G2Z lags a bit in panel response with a 6ms result. This means motion is a tad less smooth than the others. It is visibly better than the 165 Hz Dell though. When testing the overdrive options, I noted that no setting was free of artifacts. I could either choose black or white trails behind moving objects. The MBR option is a little better but then you have to give up Adaptive-Sync.

Overall lag is only 1ms quicker than the Dell. The takeaway here is that the C27G2Z only performs slightly better than a typical 165 Hz monitor. So, it is qualified for competitive gaming but there are faster screens available. Of the 240 Hz monitors in the group, the AOC costs the least.

Viewing Angles

The C27G2Z’s off-axis image quality is just fair. An IPS screen would fare better though these photos show typical VA performance at this price point. At 45 degrees to the side, the image loses around 30% brightness and takes on a red tint. Gamma stays consistent, so you’ll still see full detail. The monitor is almost completely dark from the top. For this reason, you’ll want to be precise in how you place it relative to your eyepoint. A perfectly vertical position is best. 

Screen Uniformity

To learn how we measure screen uniformity, click here.

Even value screens show good uniformity when measuring the latest models. The C27G2Z acquits itself well, with no visible bleed or glow in my sample. The meter shows slight elevations down the center of the screen, but I could not see this with the naked eye in either test patterns or content. There are no panel quality issues here.

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To read about our monitor tests in-depth, please check out Display Testing Explained: How We Test PC Monitors. We cover brightness and contrast testing on page two.

Uncalibrated – Maximum Backlight Level

The C27G2Z is bright enough for any indoor environment or intended use. Only the most sunlit room will need a peak level of over 350 nits. I noted a slightly higher level when using the HDR emulation of 373 nits. That is a tiny, almost imperceptible difference.

With super low black levels, the C27G2Z cracks the 3,000:1 contrast barrier with a 3,205.6:1 score. In this group, only the Dell boasts better and only by an infinitesimal amount. You can see that the IPS screens are strong performers relative to that technology but don’t even come close to VA in contrast. This is a difference that can easily be seen in actual content.

After Calibration to 200 nits

Calibration has little effect on the C27G2Z’s contrast, which is good. I had to lower the contrast slider three clicks to correct the 100% grayscale step, which bodes well. It is well ahead of even the very best premium IPS monitors in this test.

Again, the IPS panels here do well in the ANSI test, but the Dell and AOC are far superior. Contrast is king and unless you put an OLED on your desktop, VA is the best way to achieve maximum image depth with true black levels and saturated color.

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I tested the C27G2Z in its default Standard picture mode, which provides access to all image controls. Other modes lockout different options.

Grayscale and Gamma Tracking

Our grayscale and gamma tests use Calman calibration software from Portrait Displays. We describe our grayscale and gamma tests in detail here.

The C27G2Z shows only slight grayscale errors in the 70 to 100% brightness range. The chart indicates a purple tint, but it is tough to spot in both test patterns and actual content. The C27G2Z does not need to be calibrated. Gamma tracking is spot on with values that measure a tad light but look great in practice.

Calibration tightens up grayscale tracking to professional levels with all errors under 1dE. Gamma measures a tad lighter than before. The overall look is slightly better, so the adjustment is worth doing if you have the means or would like to try my settings from page one.

Choosing the sRGB mode from the color temp options renders that gamut but creates a light gamma value at 10% brightness. This translates to fully detailed shadow areas but a bit lighter in tone than before. This minor issue is offset by the C27G2Z’s extremely accurate sRGB color gamut.

Comparisons

The C27G2Z’s default grayscale error of 3.01dE is completely acceptable for any gaming monitor, and certainly for one at this price point. It finishes mid-pack behind three more-expensive screens. After calibration, it takes the crown in a group of very accurate displays. Once adjusted, there are no visible errors from any of them.

Gamma tracking is very tight with a small 0.11 range of values, good enough for second-best, and a 2.73% deviation from 2.2. The actual gamma average is 2.14. If you choose the gamma 3 preset, it gets darker, with an average of 2.31. You can get away with this when the panel has high contrast, like the C27G2Z. Some users will prefer this, so I suggest trying all three gamma settings to find your preference.

Color Gamut Accuracy

Our color gamut and volume testing use Portrait Displays’ Calman software. For details on our color gamut testing and volume calculations, click here.

The C27G2Z’s color gamut accuracy eliminates any real need for calibration. With an out-of-box average of 2.16dE, color is visually flawless. Like most wide-gamut screens, green is a tad under-saturated, but all other colors are fully covered. This is impressive performance for a $200 monitor.

Calibration tightens up the cyan and yellow secondaries a bit, but visually, there is no difference. Overall, calibration has a greater impact on grayscale tracking than color. We’re talking about minute changes here. The C27G2Z looks great whether you tweak it or not.

If you need an accurate sRGB gamut for photo grading, the C27G2Z delivers with a tiny 1.47dE average error. That’s pro monitor territory. This makes it fully qualified for color-critical applications.

Comparisons

The C27G2Z finishes fifth in the color comparison, meaning this is one impressive group of monitors. None of them have visible color errors. Again, the AOC costs less than all the rest except the Dell, which is around $170 but has a smaller screen.

When you consider color volume, the C27G2Z comes out on top with just a tad more coverage than the S2422HG. Can you see the difference between 88.76% and 88.49%? Unlikely. But it’s easy to see the top two screen’s advantages over the rest. These VA screens are defeating all comers here, and they cost the least. The C27G2Z is a tad undersaturated in green but fully covers the rest of the DCI-P3 gamut.

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If one prioritizes their needs for a gaming monitor, a lot of performance can be found for relatively little money. The gaming experience is most affected by speed and response so a high refresh rate and Adaptive-Sync are a must. Even players of average skill will benefit when a game runs consistently at 240fps.

To achieve this without putting an expensive video card in your PC, FHD resolution is the smart choice. Up to 27 inches, there is enough pixel density to render a detailed image. A refresh rate of at least 240 Hz ensures smooth motion resolution and low input lag.

By using a VA panel, AOC’s C27G2Z achieves solid picture quality thanks to high contrast and saturated color. Among budget screens, it boasts one of the largest color gamuts I’ve measured. With over 3,200:1 contrast, it delivers deep blacks and bright highlights. And its 240 Hz refresh rate maintains clarity when gaming action heats up. The overdrive has room for improvement because it doesn’t have an ideal artifact-free setting. But that is a minor point when the asking price is $200. The value-adds are a 27-inch panel with a 1500R curvature. Add a flexible stand and solid build quality and you won’t miss the USB ports or internal speakers as much. Though there is no HDR support, the emulation modes exist for those who like to experiment.

If you’re on a budget but want something bigger than a 22 or 24-inch screen, AOC’s C27G2Z is a great choice. It prioritizes speed over other factors and delivers a solid gaming experience for the price. Value-conscious users should keep this monitor on their shortlist.

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Der8auer reviewed a new modular water cooling concept from a company called Lynx+ that is designed to bring cheap, long-lasting, and highly expandable liquid cooling to graphics card owners. The AIO is a modular unit designed to be reusable with different GPUs and also be expandable by plugging in multiple GPUs and radiators. Best of all, the AIO is designed to be very cost competitive and will be priced similarly to air coolers if it comes to market.

The unit is a custom-built AIO that features disconnecting hoses and a pump inside the radiator (similar to the NZXT M22). The disconnecting hoses allow owners to change any components connected to the liquid cooler with new GPUs/cooling units or additional radiators if needed to increase cooling capacity.

The pump location is specifically designed to improve AIO compatibility, allowing you to use the AIO in almost any orientation without trapping air inside the pump. This is a typical problem with most AIOs on the market today, and if you don't mount them correctly, air can get trapped inside the pump, vastly reducing its lifespan. The AIO also has a pair of mini "reservoirs" on either side of the radiator to further reduce the likelihood of air becoming trapped inside the pump.

The GPU water blocks will be sold separately and will be designed for specific GPU models. Der8auer showed off an RTX 3080 and RX 7900 XTX design, featuring a die-cast aluminum block that is easy to manufacture but still offers powerful cooling. The block also features several mini "reservoirs" inside the block that controls where the air gets trapped, just like the radiator.

In the video, Der8auer demonstrated the Lynx+ concept cooler running on a Radeon RX 7900 XTX. The GPU temps were incredibly cold, hovering at just 48C on the GPU core temp and just 76C on the hotspot while the GPU was running Furmark. For comparison, standard air-cooled versions of the RX 7900 XTX run at least 10-15C hotter, meaning there is plenty of thermal headroom to spare. This can be great for overclocking or expanding the life of your GPU.

The real highlight of the Lynx+ water cooling concept is its very competitive pricing and its functionality. Expandable AIOs with a low barrier to entry are non-existent in the cooling market today. They could be fantastic for anyone getting into PC liquid cooling for anything more than just CPU cooling. With this cooler, you can start with a simple GPU cooling loop, then expand to multiple GPUs or radiators down the road. You could also use it through multiple upgrade cycles if water block support extends beyond the initial launch.

Panoramic cases are clearly striking a chord with PC builders. When we wrote this, Hyte's panoramic Y60 case occupied the #8 spot on Amazon's list of best-selling PC cases. But if you've spent any time on PC-adjacent social media or game streaming sites in the last year, you've no doubt seen it hundreds of times, if not more. It's no wonder that more-established case companies have taken notice.

NZXT's new H9 line is a clear attempt to offer up a Y60 alternative, with the H9 Elite offering glass front and side panels that but up against each other at a 90-degree angle, with no metal frame in between, allowing for an uninterrupted view. That model has a glass panel on top as well. The H9 Flow, shown in our photos, has the glass on the front and side, but swaps the glass top for perforated steel for improved airflow. Both models feature a right side panel that's perforated across its entire surface to make up for the lack of intake at the front. This panel also features a huge removable dust filter, that covers the entire surface area of the side panel. There's also a slide-out filter on the bottom of the case, which nicely pulls out from the side for easy access. 

Both the H9 Elite and H9 Flow are available in white or black, with tinted glass on the black models. The H9 Flow will sell for $159, while the H9 Elite also includes a fan and RGB controller and three RGB fans for its higher $239 price. Both cases should be available today, and will compete with the Hyte Y60 ($199) and the new Hyte Y40 ($149). Keep in mind, though, that while both Hyte cases come with an attractive PCIe 4.0 riser cable for vertically mounting your GPU, NZXT offers a vertical GPU and cable kit as an option, for an extra $89.

NZXT Specifications

At 19.49 x 11.4 x 18.35 inches (HWD), the H9 cases are more than an inch taller than Hyte's Y60 (18.19 x 11.22 x 17.95 inches), but the other dimensions are pretty similar. With 6.5 inches of clearance for the CPU cooler and over 17 inches for the GPU, most core components should fit with room to spare. Both H9 models ship with four 120 mm fans (and support for up to ten). But the Elite sports three F Series RGB Duo fans (which feature RGB on each side) on the right side, in front of the motherboard, and one F Series Quiet Airflow fan at the rear exhaust. 

The H9 Flow brings four F120Q fans, focused on quiet performance, also located at the front side and the back. But since the front fans on the Flow are mounted as intake, you'll be staring at the back of those fans inside the case, which isn't as attractive as the front. Note that in the pricier RGB H9 Elite Pro, this may be less of an issue since the company's new Duo fans have RGB on both the front and back. None of the fans on the Flow model we received have lighting, nor is there any other lighting, which seems a bit of an odd choice for a case designed to show off your components. You'll have to bring your own lighting or opt for the much pricier Elite model.

While we didn't get the H9 Flow case in time to do temperature and airflow testing, we did toss some components in it to get a sense of its features and how things fit. The company also sent along its new C1200 Gold ATX 3.0 modular power supply, which packs an impressive 1200-watt rating (including 600 watts for the GPU via a 12VHPWR connector) into a compact 150 x 150 x 86 mm chassis with an internal 135 mm fan. The C1200 PSU is priced at $219 and slots easily in its horizontal position behind the motherboard.

Also behind the motherboard hide some of the H9's nicest features. A magnetic swing-out door has mounts for four 2.5-inch drives on the inside, while a removable cage near the back can support two 3.5-inch drives (or two more 2.5-inchers). With many motherboards sporting several M.2 drive slots these days, six SATA drives should be enough for almost everyone.

That magnetic swing-out SSD door also hides a massive cable-routing channel, with over three inches of depth and six big Velcro straps on both the rear of the motherboard area and a side panel near the front. The latter has the front panel and fan connectors nicely pre-routed, while the former holds the exhaust fan cable out of the box, with lots of room for your motherboard cables. There are even three straps along the top of the motherboard area for routing header and PSU power cables. I only wish the straps were a little longer, because things can still get tight when you try and route a whole system's worth of wires down the same channel.

 Aside from just the general lack of airflow that comes with lots of glass, particularly in the Elite model, there's a lot to like about the H9's design. If temperatures are a concern, we'd definitely recommend springing for more fans – there's a reason this case supports up to ten. The cable routing and SSD placement in particular are standout features. And if you like the loads-of-glass look, the H9 line definitely gives Hyte some competition.

Really though, how appealing the H9 lineup is to you is going to come down to price and whether or not you want to vertically mount your graphics card. If the answer to the latter is yes, it's kind of hard to argue against the value of the Y60 at $199 and especially the new Y40 at $149. Both those cases come with an attractive PCIe 4.0 cable for vertical mounting included, while NZXT charges $89 extra for that privilege. Adding that would put the H9 Elite's total price at a rather wild $330.

But for $159, I do like the H9 Flow for its combination of showpiece aesthetics, ample storage and excellent cable routing. It's also a lot more affordable than the $239 H9 Elite. Just remember, you'll have to bring your own lighting to show off your components in the dark because the H9 Flow doesn't come with any lighting of its own. This still strikes me as odd for a case designed to show off your parts. Hyte's Y-series cases don't come with RGB fans either, but they do ship with a PCIe vertical GPU mount, which again is a $90 add-on for these H9 cases.

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The best gaming monitors on the market offer good performance with tons of bells and whistles. But sometimes, it’s better to keep it simple. After all, how much fiddling do you want to engage in once you've got the picture to your liking? When a display offers speed, quick response and good image accuracy out of the box, what else is truly necessary? If you agree with this, there are some great deals out there.

NZXT is a well-known peripherals maker and recently delved into the monitor genre with its Canvas line of displays. I looked at the Canvas 32Q QHD/165 Hz panel not too long ago and found it delivered all the right things for a great gaming experience at a great price with no frills to add complication. The Canvas 27F adheres to the same design goal, good clean fun at a low price. It’s a 27-inch FHD/IPS screen with 240 Hz, Adaptive-Sync and HDR400.

NZXT Canvas 27F Specs

Like the Canvas 32Q, the 27F comes in either black or white with a stand or an arm. Pricing at this writing is $230 for the panel, plus $40 for a stand or $100 for an arm. A dual arm adds $170 to the total. Whichever way you slice it, it’s a bargain for the level of performance offered.

The panel is a snappy IPS part with FHD resolution. Pixel density is relatively low at 82 pixels per inch, but with a 240 Hz refresh rate, it’s easy to achieve high frame rates without spending four figures on a video card. While you won’t get the super-fine detail of a QHD or UHD screen, the smooth motion with 240 fps is a real advantage when playing fast-paced games.

The Canvas 27F includes HDR10 support with a peak output of over 400 nits. Color is sRGB, so you won’t get the extra punch of a wide gamut display, but I found decent saturation in HDR mode thanks to an accurate panel that sticks close to industry standards for gamut, white point and gamma. In fact, no calibration is necessary to see a colorful and well-rendered image.

Video processing is covered by both AMD FreeSync and Nvidia G-Sync support over a 48-240 Hz range. The Canvas 27F has not been certified by Nvidia, but there were no issues in my tests using both Nvidia and AMD-based PCs. Response time is a claimed 1ms MPRT, and I saw no reason to doubt this. This is one of the fastest monitors I’ve tested, with just 20 ms total lag recorded.

There’s a short list of extras with this monitor. You get a frame counter but no aiming point. There is no LED lighting, nor are there internal speakers. But you get two HDMI inputs, DisplayPort, USB and a headphone jack. You also get a solidly built, well-engineered display that has everything necessary for top-shelf gaming.

Assembly and Accessories 

My Canvas 27F sample shipped in separate boxes that housed the panel, stand and arm. I had a stand left over from my Canvas 32Q review and discovered the two are not identical. The 27F is lighter and requires a smaller stand with a lesser spring to control the height adjustment. Everything goes together easily, and tools aren’t required for the stand. However, the arm bolts to the panel with four fasteners, so have a Phillips-head screwdriver handy. The cable complement includes an external power supply plus DisplayPort, HDMI, USB-C and USB-A/B. 

Product 360

NZXT’s no-frills approach extends to the Canvas 27F’s design, which is minimalist in a good way. The front bezel is 7mm wide and flush around the top and sides, with a 21mm trim strip at the bottom that includes NZXT’s logo finished in polished black.

In back, the simple elegance continues with a smoothly tapered component bulge in the middle with a 100 mm VESA mount point. NZXT’s logo is again molded in a polished finish against black plastic that absorbs all light. A small joystick is easy to find around the bottom right which is used to control all monitor functions.

The stand is solid and free of wobble. It has a 120 mm height adjustment along with -5/20 degrees tilt and 20 degrees swivel. You also get a 90-degree portrait mode. Movements are what you’d expect from a much more expensive piece of hardware with firm but smooth resistance. A small cable clip snaps onto the stand to keep the wiring tidy.

The input panel is up and under and includes one DisplayPort 1.2, two HDMI 2.0 ports and a USB-C port. The latter can be a video input that mimics DisplayPort and provides peripheral support. You also get USB 3.0, one upstream and two down along with a headphone jack. All video inputs can run at full resolution and 240 Hz.

OSD Features

The Canvas 27F’s OSD is divided into just five sub-menus accessible by pressing the joystick in the back. It’s completely text-based and very well organized though I found one oddity – the sliders have no numbers associated with them. That means you’ll have to count clicks if you want to record settings for use later.

The Canvas 27F has eight picture modes that use different combinations of gamma and brightness to make them more suitable for different tasks. I used Standard, the default, for all testing and gaming. It’s quite accurate out of the box, so much so that my calibration barely made a difference. Despite this, the Image menu has color temp presets, including a custom setting, gamma options, color saturation and sliders for low blue light and black equalizer. That last one can be used to brighten shadow detail if you have a hard time seeing in the dark.

This menu also has gaming options that include three overdrive (Response Time) settings, a frame counter (Refresh Rate) and MPRT. MPRT is a backlight strobe that cancels out Adaptive-Sync like most gaming monitors. It’s better than most examples I’ve tried because its phasing artifact is minimal. But at 240 Hz, it is also completely unnecessary. Setting the overdrive on Fast, the middle option, provides perfect motion processing with no ghosting and no loss of resolution.

Other Setting includes a FreeSync/Adaptive-Sync toggle, the ability to turn off the power LED, auto source detection for the video inputs and volume control for the headphone jack.

NZXT Canvas 27F Calibration Settings

Calibrating the Canvas 27F is unnecessary, but I did it anyway because that’s how I roll. You can leave all settings on their defaults and enjoy accuracy that rivals many calibrated displays. By using the Custom color temp, I eked out a tiny improvement in the test results but no visual gain. This is a very well-done display. My settings are provided below. To hit the indicated values, max the slider and count down from 100, or count up from zero.

HDR signals switch the Canvas 27F automatically and leave all picture controls available. I don’t recommend making any changes, but you can if you wish. I left everything set to default values for my HDR tests and gameplay.

Gaming and Hands-on 

If you plan to use a 1920 x 1080 monitor for desktop productivity, 27 inches is the largest I recommend. Anything bigger will have too little pixel density for easy reading of small text or detail rendering in photos and video. You can see the Canvas 27F’s pixel structure if you sit closer than three feet, but the image is sharp thanks to a grain-free anti-glare layer that prevents reflections from lightening the image.

Color is exemplary, and I didn’t notice the Canvas’ lack of a wide gamut. That’s thanks to its accuracy and solid contrast. I work on an sRGB monitor every day (a BenQ PD3200) and have never wished for more color when it comes to productivity.

Without my intervention, the Windows and Nvidia control panels recognized the Canvas 27F’s 240 Hz capability. I never saw a hiccup during several days of testing and usage. Adaptive-Sync worked without issue on both G-Sync and FreeSync platforms. HDR also showed up fine when selected in Windows Control Panel or when selecting the option in-game.

Doom Eternal is my first go-to game to test video processing, and the Canvas 27F excelled during my many hours playing in horde mode. I’m spoiled by fast monitors now to the point that I consider 240 Hz a minimum refresh rate. At 1920 x 1080 resolution, it was no problem for my GeForce RTX 3090 card to keep the fun over 200 fps. I pegged the frame counter at 240 many times. The quick response and blur-free motion made possible by the Canvas is addictive. There was no need for the MPRT backlight strobe, nor did Adaptive-Sync ever allow a frame tear. The overdrive worked perfectly on its Fast (middle) setting with no artifacts or ghosting.

HDR gaming showed a slight improvement in visual quality over SDR, mainly due to increased brightness. It is possible to adjust all image parameters in HDR mode, which few monitors allow. I preferred things left on their factory defaults with the brightness slider on maximum. The picture was never harsh, but highlights stood out thanks to the Canvas 27F’s prodigious light output of nearly 500 nits.

Dark material, like the nighttime stealth missions in Call of Duty WWII, was less impactful. With no dimming option, black levels and shadow areas were more gray than black. Detail was clearly rendered, and I had no problem seeing what I needed to see. But the sense of foreboding that comes with deep black levels wasn’t there. Considering the Canvas 27F’s game performance and low price, this is a forgivable flaw. 

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240 Hz FHD monitors are THE performance bargain, so I’ve rounded up a group of them from my test database to compare the Canvas 27F’s results. Included are the HyperX Armada 25, Pixio PX259P, Viewsonic XG2431, Monoprice 40778 and AOC C32G2ZE. 

Pixel Response and Input Lag 

Click here to read up on our pixel response and input lag testing procedures. 

The first thing you’ll notice is that the Pixio can run at 280 Hz, but there is no apparent advantage here. It refreshes at 4ms like most 240 Hz screens and ties the Canvas 27F for first place in the lag test with 20 ms. Only a 360 Hz screen can respond quicker and costs about twice as much as the monitors here. For most gamers, myself included, a spread of 20 to 25 ms is small. The gaming experience will be roughly the same when playing on any of these panels. A highly skilled player will undoubtedly prefer the Canvas 27F for competition. It is completely qualified for premium eSports play.

Viewing Angles

The Canvas 27F is an excellent example of what IPS viewing angles can be. There is almost no reduction in brightness at 45 degrees off-axis and the color shift is barely visible as a blue tint. Gamma remains the same, meaning shadow and highlight detail stays sharp. The top view is slightly washed out and green but looks better than many similar IPS panels I’ve photographed.

Screen Uniformity

To learn how we measure screen uniformity, click here.

I consider any result under 10% to be visually perfect in the black field uniformity test. The Canvas 27F posted one of the best results I’ve seen, with just a 4.07% deviation from the center zone. No anomalies are visible in any test pattern, color or otherwise, even in a completely dark room. This is excellent performance, especially for such an inexpensive monitor.

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To read about our monitor tests in-depth, please check out Display Testing Explained: How We Test PC Monitors. We cover brightness and contrast testing on page two.

Uncalibrated – Maximum Backlight Level

The Canvas 27F exceeds its 400-nit claimed brightness in SDR mode by a healthy margin. It’s plenty bright with more than enough light to deliver a vivid picture in any environment. It’s also the brightest monitor of the bunch, which explains the fifth-place finish in the black level test. No matter, it has the broadest dynamic range of the IPS screens at 1,152:1. The VA-based AOC has far deeper black levels, so if contrast is a high priority for you, it’s a great choice.

After Calibration to 200 nits

Calibration doesn’t change the Canvas 27F’s image in any visible way. It slips to fourth in the contrast comparison, but it isn’t too far behind the Monoprice and HyperX displays. Any IPS monitor that can top 1,100:1 is a standout product.

The Canvas 27F stays strong in the ANSI test with a 1,083.7:1 score. That’s also a standout figure, as many IPS screens can’t maintain intra-image contrast over 1,000:1. This is excellent performance.

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The Canvas 27F is a rare monitor that can be calibrated in any of its eight picture modes. That being said, Standard is the best choice for an accurate picture that doesn’t need adjustment to realize its full potential.

Grayscale and Gamma Tracking

Our grayscale and gamma tests use Calman calibration software from Portrait Displays. We describe our grayscale and gamma tests in detail here.

The Canvas 27F’s default grayscale chart would be a great result for a calibrated monitor. Remember that you can pick one of these up for just $270 with stand. There are a lot of jealous pro monitors looking at this review right now. Gamma tracking is nearly perfect except for a slight rise (too dark) in the 60-90% range. In practice, this means a few slightly darker highlights which will be very hard to spot.

Calibration improves the numbers, but visually, the Canvas 27F looks the same as before. It doesn’t get much better than this.

Comparisons

The Canvas 27F easily out-paces the other monitors in my default grayscale tracking test with an impressive 1.30dE average error. There are no visible issues anywhere in the brightness range. The field draws even after calibration, with all screens having no problems whatsoever. The AOC is on par with the NZXT in this test.

The AOC continues its winning streak in the gamma test, but the Canvas 27F is right behind. The good part is that the error is to the darker side, making it much less significant. Numbers below 2.2 mean the picture can look washed out. None of the panels have problems with that score.

Color Gamut Accuracy

Some may complain about the Canvas 27F’s lack of wide gamut color, but that is typical for the category. Nearly all FHD 240 Hz displays are sRGB or sRGB plus with a little bonus color. The Canvas stands out with more accurate color than other screens in the class. 

Our color gamut and volume testing use Portrait Displays’ Calman software. For details on our color gamut testing and volume calculations, click here.

If you switch back and forth between the Canvas 27’s default and calibrated charts, you’ll barely notice a change. That means calibration is not necessary and that it’s a very accurate monitor out of the box. This is pro-level performance that would typically indicate a high price of entry. I can’t make any comment other than that all points are on-target and there’s a slight bit of bonus red and green.

Comparisons

Were the Canvas 27F not calibrated, it would finish third in the group. With a few tweaks, it takes the crown for color accuracy in the sRGB realm. Note that none of the monitors have a wide gamut.

Despite that, I sorted the volume chart to show DCI-P3 ranking since HDR is in play for four of the screens, including the Canvas 27F. Oddly enough, the AOC has the greatest color volume but doesn’t support HDR. NZXT is the best of the rest, with over 77% coverage of DCI-P3 and over 114% of sRGB. In this class, you won’t find too many wide gamut panels. Color-critical work will require a software lookup table. But the Canvas 27F does justice to games with its accuracy and correct color tracking in HDR mode.

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Our HDR benchmarking uses Portrait Displays’ Calman software. To learn about our HDR testing, see our breakdown of how we test PC monitors. 

The Canvas 27F supports HDR10 signals seamlessly by switching modes automatically. All image modes and controls are still available, so it’s possible to calibrate HDR independently. That’s something very few monitors can do. Luckily, no fiddling is needed because it delivers great performance right out of the box.

HDR Brightness and Contrast 

The Canvas 27F is a DisplayHDR 400 certified monitor, and it has no trouble exceeding that figure with over 478 nits peak brightness. Unfortunately, there is no zone or field dimming, so actual contrast is the same as SDR, 1,120.4:1. ViewSonic is the only one to offer a dynamic option and you can see that it bumps contrast to over 5,000:1. The end result is that the Canvas 27F’s HDR doesn’t look significantly different than its SDR presentation.

Grayscale, EOTF and Color 

The Canvas doesn’t have extra HDR contrast, but it does have the same high degree of accuracy as its SDR results. Grayscale tracking is visually flawless, with all errors under 3dE. The EOTF tracks close to the reference line with a rise at zero percent (too light) and an early arrival at the tone-map transition point. In practice, this means blacks that are more gray and occasionally muted mid-tones. It is possible to mask these issues by adjusting the contrast slider upwards. That will offer a little more depth, but some highlight detail will be harder to see.

Even though the Canvas 27F is an sRGB monitor, it tracks the larger color gamut in HDR mode up to around 80%. It also makes a good run at Rec.2020 by hitting the targets up to almost 70% saturation. This is good engineering on NZXT’s part that maximizes the display's capabilities. Aside from a slight hue error in magenta, this is a superb chart for a monitor that costs less than $300.

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There are a lot of gaming displays that offer high performance and a long feature list. If you can do without things like internal speakers, LED lighting and aiming points, there are great deals on monitors that don’t compromise speed or image quality.

The NZXT Canvas 27F is a perfect example of this. The 240 Hz FHD category is already a performance bargain, with many monitors delivering great value. Though pixel density is relatively low, motion resolution is very high, thanks to fast frame rates. You'll never see motion blur or hesitation when the action moves at 200 fps or higher.

The Canvas 27F has everything needed for gaming at every level, from novice to professional. Video processing is as good as the very best displays with a solid and reliable 240 Hz, flawless Adaptive-Sync, precise overdrive and super low input lag. 

Image quality isn’t compromised either. You don’t get a wide color gamut, but the Canvas 27F has a little extra volume that renders accurately. In its default picture mode, no calibration is necessary. Even if you perform one, the improvement is measurable but not visible. Contrast is a bit above average for IPS panels at over 1,100:1. The only downside is there’s no dimming option for HDR. That content looks a little better thanks to the excellent color and a bright panel that comes close to 500 nits peak.

There’s no question that the NZXT Canvas 27F is a performance bargain. If you already have a monitor arm, you can attach one for just $230. Even the stand only adds $40 to the price. For pro-level performance, it’s hard to imagine a better screen. Players looking for high frame rates and reliability should definitely check it out.

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Hardware Sugar, a retailer in the Philippines, has shared the failure rates for the most popular hardware brands over its four-year operation. Although it's a small sample size, it's interesting to see which brands are returned more frequently. Aside from the relatively small sales area, also be aware that other factors, like user error, can impact this type of data. As such, treat it as interesting information and not an absolute. 

Graphics cards had the highest failure rate out of all the hardware components, specifically those from Gigabyte. The retailer's RMA data showed a 5% failure rate for Gigabyte-branded graphics cards. Graphics cards from MSI were seemingly more reliable, and only 1.5% of the sold units failed. However, Hardware Sugar sold 9.3% more Gigabyte graphics cards than MSI graphics cards, so that's important to consider. Sadly, the retailer didn't specifically reveal which models were more susceptible to failure. It would have also been appealing to determine whether Nvidia or AMD makes the best graphics cards.

When it comes to motherboards, it was the other way around. MSI motherboards had a higher failure rate (2.4%) than Gigabyte motherboards (1.8%). But, again, we don't get specific information on whether Intel or AMD motherboards required the highest rate of RMAs.

The information also reveals that Seasonic power supplies are very popular in the Philippines, beating big names like Corsair and Cooler Master. For reference, Hardware Sugar sold 42.8% more Seasonic units than Corsair. However, Corsair was the more reliable brand overall, with less than a 1% failure rate. Other vendors, such as Seasonic and Cooler Master, were at 1.8% and 2%, respectively.

On the other hand, cooling solutions from Corsair and DeepCool didn't show any failure at the time of the retailer's video. However, NZXT cooling products, which sold the most, had a 4% failure rate. We don't know if that data is only for air cooling, liquid cooling, or both. We suspect the latter since CPU air coolers aren't very prone to failures. A fan may prematurely die from time to time, but it's not common to see a heatsink go bad.

Regarding memory, G.Skill was the preferred brand for DIY users and consumers in the Philippines. Hardware Sugar sold a whopping 235.8% more G.Skill memory kits than TeamGroup memory kits. Despite the enormous margin, G.Skill's failure rate was just 0.66%.

Samsung and TeamGroup were the two more prevalent brands for high-speed NVMe storage. The sale numbers were close, but Samsung was the dependable manufacturer with zero RMAs. In contrast, TeamGroup units reflected a 1.2% failure rate.

One of the great things about a popular gaming monitor category is that it spawns value models from less-visible manufacturers. Not only do these displays sell for low prices, but they also often come with excellent performance and solid build quality.

I rarely add a new company to my list of monitor reviews, but here, I have the Galax Vivance VI-01. It’s a 27-inch flat IPS panel with QHD resolution, 165 Hz, G-Sync certification, FreeSync compatibility, HDR and extended color. It checks all the important boxes for less than $300.

Galax Vivance VI-01 Specs

The VI-01 is similar to many of the best gaming monitors in this category, but it adds value as a prominent feature. The IPS panel has a claimed 1ms MPRT response, and my tests showed it draws the screen in 6ms, which is equal to nearly every other 165 Hz monitor I’ve experienced. It also has relatively low input lag with a slightly quicker-than-average total score of 29ms. It will undoubtedly deliver a snappy and smooth experience to a wide variety of gamer skill sets.

The panel is a 27-inch flat-screen with QHD resolution, meaning a very good pixel density of 109ppi. And you can reach its 165 Hz maximum refresh rate without spending a mint on a high-end video card. Adaptive-Sync comes in both forms with Nvidia G-Sync certification, a rarity at this price, and AMD FreeSync compatibility. They operate over a 48 to 165 Hz range. The VI-01 also includes a blur-reducing backlight strobe option that works instead of AS.

HDR10 is supported by an auto-switching mode and an extended color gamut. In my tests, I measured just over 88% coverage of DCI-P3, which is about average for the genre. Out-of-box color is a bit off the mark, but I was able to calibrate the VI-01 to a good standard. The picture is plenty colorful for both SDR and HDR content, although I did not find an included sRGB mode.

The only other gaming feature here is a selection of aiming points. There is no LED lighting though you can get an upgraded version of the VI-01 with LEDs in the back: the aptly named VI-01RGB. The stand is a solid piece with only a tilt adjustment. There are built-in speakers but no USB. And the input panel includes two HDMI and two DisplayPort inputs.

So, there aren’t a ton of bells and whistles, but the VI-01 seems to have the right tools for a solid gaming experience. Let’s take a look.

Assembly and Accessories of Galax Vivance VI-01

The VI-01 arrived in a slim box with its contents encased in crumbly foam. No tools are required for assembly and the base slips into the upright and is retained by a friction spring. The panel then snaps in place. 

A 100mm VESA lug pattern is provided, but you’ll need your own fasteners to use an arm or bracket. The only video cable provided is DisplayPort and there’s a small external power supply to feed the juice.

Product 360: Galax Vivance VI-01

The VI-01’s styling is very simple, with a thin flush bezel in front surrounding a matte screen. The image is free of grain, and reflections are managed well. Only a small Galax logo appears on the bottom trim. The OSD joystick is in an unusual place, just right of center. There’s also a button to toggle G-Sync/Adaptive-Sync on and off. In the photo, you can see a small lens above the upright. That’s the LED feature that comes on the VI-01RGB model. My sample did not have this.

The stand is cast aluminum with a wrinkle finish that resists fingerprints and light in equal measure. The friction fit of the base and upright is something I haven’t seen before. It is very solid and does not pull apart easily. You can pick the VI-01 and move it around without fear of parts falling off. 

Unfortunately, the rubber feet leave marks behind on your desk. I often slide monitors around my white table that serves as a testing area, and this one left faint black streaks on the surface. They cleaned up easily, but this is also something I haven’t seen before. The stand offers only -5/20 degrees of tilt, but there is no height adjustment, swivel or portrait mode. The screen sits a bit low for my average desktop, so I had to angle it upward to my eyepoint.

The clearly labeled input panel has two DisplayPort and two HDMI 2.0 inputs. You also get a 3.5mm audio output. The built-in speakers sound tinny like most monitors but are relatively free of distortion. There are no USB ports.

OSD Features of Galax Vivance VI-01

Though the VI-01 includes an OSD joystick, its function is not immediately intuitive. For instance, to move between the sub-menus, you’d think left and right would be the way to do it. Incorrect; it’s up and down. Left is cancel/return. And adjusting sliders is also up and down even though the sliders are horizontal. It’s a little wonky, but I got used to it after a short time. To activate the OSD, press the joystick and click right. Clicking down cycles through the six available aiming points, three shapes and two colors.

The VI-01 has five main picture modes with another seven under the Game label. The easiest way to avoid confusion is to stick with the default one, Standard. It offers enough image controls to correct the out-of-box color errors I found.

The Picture menu has video processing options, including G-Sync toggle, AMBR (backlight strobe) and Response Time (overdrive). I found the best motion processing with this turned off. The three settings all create ghosting artifacts that break up the edges of moving objects. The AMBR is a viable alternative to Adaptive-Sync. It only has a slight phasing artifact and maxes the brightness to prevent the dimming that usually occurs. And it is the smoothest motion available from the VI-01.

You can calibrate using the User Color with its RGB sliders. I achieved excellent grayscale tracking, but there are no gamma presets, which are sorely needed. The default curve is too light. HDR is set by default to Auto and switches automatically when HDR10 signals are present. However, there’s no additional contrast in this mode.

Calibration Settings for Galax Vivance VI-01

In the default Standard mode, the VI-01 has a cool grayscale, light gamma and under-saturated color. A grayscale calibration fixes one and three, but there are no gamma presets. This means the picture will be a bit lighter in overall tone with slightly less perceived contrast. My instrumented calibration settings shown below will make a visible improvement, especially in color saturation. I also noticed some edge enhancement at the default Sharpness setting. That slider should be set to zero for the clearest image.

When HDR is set to Auto, the VI-01 switches without user intervention when an HDR10 signal is applied. Color accuracy is good with a neutral grayscale and correct luminance tracking. I noted a few color saturation errors, which you can read about on page five.

Gaming and Hands-on with Galax Vivance VI-01

I found the VI-01 looked a bit flat on the Windows desktop and when playing a few familiar games. It needs some tweaking to the grayscale and my visual observation suggested a light gamma. Tests and calibration confirmed that the gamma is indeed low, and grayscale runs cool by default. After calibration, the picture was much better with natural hues, greater color saturation and better-perceived contrast. Gamma still looked a little light, meaning the picture didn’t quite have the pop that comes with correct luminance tracking.

Moving on to work tasks, I found the VI-01 very competent for things like Word and Excel. Thanks to its sharp and detailed image, I could edit graphics without issue. I recommend setting Sharpness to zero to eliminate the slight edge enhancement I saw. It’s most visible when viewing black text against a gray background.

Gaming was a satisfying experience thanks to the VI-01’s smooth motion processing and low input lag. It is adequate for a gamer of my skills and will be a solid tool for nearly any player. G-Sync and FreeSync worked without issue, and I saw frame rates between 140 and 165 fps in both Doom Eternal and Call of Duty WWII. Overdrive was left off because any other setting created distracting ghosting artifacts, which broke up fine detail in moving objects and backgrounds. 

The backlight strobe, called AMBR, also worked well with no visible artifacts in gameplay. When you turn this feature on, it locks the brightness on maximum, so there is no dimming of the image. It cancels out Adaptive-Sync as most monitors do, but I only saw the occasional frame tear. It is a viable option.

Image-wise, HDR looked a little better than SDR. Highlights were brighter, and I could see greater color saturation. To make a practical comparison, the VI-01 in HDR mode looks as good as a premium display running in SDR mode. It’s at its best when playing HDR content. SDR games like Tomb Raider have good color and detail but the low gamma veils the image slightly.

Overall, the VI-01 performs as expected for the price. It’s a good value and delivers excellent gaming performance but image quality, while good, has room for improvement.

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I have no shortage of QHD 165 Hz monitors for the VI-01’s comparison charts. All were recently reviewed. The group includes the HyperX Armada 27, Gigabyte M27QP, Viotek GNV32DBE, NZXT Canvas 32Q and Cooler Master GM27-FQS.

Pixel Response and Input Lag

Click here to read up on our pixel response and input lag testing procedures.

The VI-01 is slightly quicker than average in total control lag. This is a good thing because most 165 Hz monitors are very responsive to the user and ideal for fast-paced gaming. Unless you have extreme skills, this display will provide an excellent feel and experience for all types of play

Most 165 Hz monitors, including the VI-01, draw a full white field pattern in 6ms. For this test, the Galax’s overdrive was turned off because any other setting produces ghosting and edge breakup of moving objects. Motion tests show the same level of smoothness as any other 165 Hz display. Adding in the backlight strobe option (AMBR) increases motion resolution at the cost of Adaptive-Sync.

Viewing Angles

The VI-01 is an inexpensive monitor, but its off-axis image quality equals a premium IPS screen. At 45 degrees horizontal, there is a slight light reduction but no change in color. Fine detail remains clear thanks to stable gamma. The top view is much darker with a green tint.

Screen Uniformity

To learn how we measure screen uniformity, click here.

The VI-01 has excellent off-axis performance with no color shift at 45 degrees horizontal and only a 10% reduction in brightness. There is also no change in gamma. This is one of the most shareable 27-inch monitors I’ve seen. The top view is typical of IPS screens with a green shift, 50% light falloff and washed-out detail. But the view to the sides is well above the norm for IPS panels.

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To read about our monitor tests in-depth, please check out Display Testing Explained: How We Test PC Monitors. We cover brightness and contrast testing on page two.

Uncalibrated – Maximum Backlight Level

The VI-01’s specs promise 350 nits, and my sample nearly delivered that. It’s off by 5 nits which is not noticeable to the naked eye. There is plenty of brightness here. Black levels are about average for the category, making contrast just a tad under my 1,000:1 benchmark.

After Calibration to 200 nits

Calibration increases contrast slightly to 1,001.1:1. While this is a seemingly small difference, the improved color saturation is not small. Coupled with a more neutral grayscale, calibration makes a significant and positive impact on image quality.

ANSI contrast is solid at 975.8:1. This speaks to the high quality of the VI-01’s build and component selection. Galax has not cut corners here. The price is low, but the build is excellent.

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One trait many value displays have in common is weak out-of-box color accuracy. The VI-01 is no exception, but it isn’t too hard to make it into a much better monitor.

Grayscale and Gamma Tracking

Our grayscale and gamma tests use Calman calibration software from Portrait Displays. We describe our grayscale and gamma tests in detail here.

The VI-01 starts out with a very cool grayscale. You can see this as a flatter image with a two-dimensional quality. Because of the light gamma, the default picture lacks brilliance.

Calibration improves grayscale tracking enormously to where there are no visible errors at any point in the brightness scale. Gamma is still too light though. The picture is much better thanks to greater color saturation, which I’ll talk about below, but there is potential for more. A darker gamma preset would be welcome.

Comparisons

The VI-01’s default 6.59dE result is typical of value displays. While the error isn’t huge, the monitor will look much better with calibration. I recommend using the settings I posted on page one at a minimum. That will get you close to the mark. My sample finished at 0.90dE, which is excellent for this category and price point.

The VI-01’s light gamma is a flaw that cannot be fixed. A 0.25 range of values isn’t too bad relative to most monitors, but the 12.73% deviation from standard should be corrected with a firmware update. Galax could either adjust the gamma or add presets to the menu options. This affects both perceived contrast and color saturation.

Color Gamut Accuracy

Our color gamut and volume testing use Portrait Displays’ Calman software. For details on our color gamut testing and volume calculations, click here.

You can see what I’ve been talking about in the first color chart. The primaries, especially red, are significantly under-saturated. The hue errors in magenta and yellow are easy to fix with a grayscale calibration, but the only way to increase saturation is with a darker gamma option.

Luckily, my adjustments add color back in. The hue errors are fixed except for blue, which is a little off the mark. The lower points, 20-60%, are much closer to their targets which is a major visible improvement in quality. Calibration makes the VI-01 a lot better, but there is still some upward potential.

Comparisons

Though the VI-01 is last in the color gamut comparison, 3.50dE is a respectable score for the money. Remember that this monitor costs less than $300. It undercuts much of its competition while only sacrificing a little color accuracy and contrast. In other words, it’s still an outstanding deal.

Gamut volume is not a problem here with the VI-01’s 88.19% coverage of DCI-P3. My only complaint is that there’s no sRGB mode, but that won’t be a problem for most gamers. Like most wide gamut screens, the Galax comes up short in the green primary.

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Our HDR benchmarking uses Portrait Displays’ Calman software. To learn about our HDR testing, see our breakdown of how we test PC monitors.

The VI-01 correctly processes HDR10 signals with a dedicated picture mode and automatic switching. There are no picture options available, but I found decent accuracy and a picture that was slightly better than its SDR counterpart.

HDR Brightness and Contrast

The VI-01 delivers good brightness in HDR mode with just over 363 nits peak. That’s enough to make a little extra impact in the highlight areas of the image. But with no dynamic dimming feature, black levels are the same as they are in SDR mode. That means contrast is the same as well. HDR delivers a bit more color saturation but that is all.

Grayscale, EOTF and Color

I was happy to see that the VI-01 was very color accurate in HDR mode, especially in the grayscale test where I recorded no visible errors and a near-perfect EOTF. The only flaw in luminance tracking is a high reading at 5% black, which is too light. Fixing this parameter alone would increase HDR contrast by a good deal. The rest of the curve is right on the reference line with the tone-map transition point at 65%.

In the HDR gamut test, I noted over-saturation in red by around 15%. This isn’t a huge problem and given the VI-01’s light gamma, it makes color more vibrant at the expense of a little fine detail. Some bright areas show a bit of clipping, but you have to be looking for it. In the heat of an action game, you aren’t likely to notice a problem. 

Hue tracking is on point except for blue, which shows the same shift toward cyan that I observed in SDR mode. The VI-01 interprets Rec.2020 much the same way with over-saturation of the inner points. It manages to get up to around 88% red, but the other colors top out closer to 70%. This is typical performance when compared to all wide gamut monitors.

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With so many QHD 165 Hz screens to choose from, it makes sense to find value-oriented products in the mix. A lower price doesn’t have to mean less performance. However, it’s important to prioritize your wish list because you won’t always get it all. If gaming is the primary consideration, response and motion processing should be a priority.

The Galax Vivance VI-01 delivers excellent gaming performance. Panel response is on par with other 165 Hz screens and with quicker-than-average input lag, it makes a great tool for your favorite action titles. In my experience, it matched my every move perfectly and kept the picture sharp in all scenarios, fast or slow. With G-Sync certification, FreeSync compatibility and a well-done backlight strobe, video processing is as good as the best in class. Just make sure to turn off the overdrive to avoid artifacts.

The only flaw for me was image fidelity, and that was all due to the light gamma. It may seem like a minor point, but gamma impacts all aspects of the picture, especially color and contrast. Though the VI-01 has the 1,000:1 contrast ratio I expect from an IPS panel, the light gamma creates a subtle but visible veil. Calibration improves color saturation, and that is a good thing. But darker gamma would take this monitor to a higher level.

When considering what you get for the money, the VI-01 is a good choice. It’s one of the least-expensive 27-inch QHD 165 Hz monitors available and that partially excuses its downsides. If you’re looking for a solid budget-friendly gaming display, the Galax Vivance VI-01 is definitely worthy of consideration.

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If you’re a fan of HP’s HyperX gaming peripherals lineup, it now includes two of the best gaming monitors, the Armada 25 and Armada 27. I recently looked at the Armada 25 and found it to be a very capable and responsive display with everything a gamer needs for high performance, fast frame rates and smooth video processing.

The other panel in HyperX’s line, the Armada 27, is on my test bench for this review. It’s not just a bigger screen; it also adds a wide color gamut, HDR and QHD resolution. The max refresh is 165 Hz, so it won’t quite deliver the super smooth motion of its smaller stablemate. But with 109ppi pixel density, this $499 display will render a sharper image. And it ships with the same cool mounting arm setup as the Armada 25. Let’s take a look.

HyperX Armada 27 Specs

A 27-inch QHD monitor is the sweet spot of price versus performance. This is a hot and crowded category, with many displays coming in under $600. Indeed, the Armada 27 is out the door at $500, which is only $50 more than the Armada 25. You get greater pixel density, a larger screen, HDR, and a wide color gamut for that extra money. The only thing you give up is speed, 165 Hz, versus the 240 Hz of the 25-inch model. If that sounds appealing, read on because I found a lot to like here.

The Armada 27 comes with the same high-quality mounting arm in place of a traditional stand. This is certainly unusual, but the arm is very convenient. It includes a beefy clamp and hardware for desks with holes already in them. An arm lets you put the panel just about anywhere, at any angle, in portrait mode and any height within a 12-inch range. It’s much more flexible than a traditional stand.

The panel is IPS, but its similarity to the Armada 25 ends there. QHD resolution delivers an ideal 109ppi, so you see a sharper picture immediately. According to my measurements, you also get HDR with 400 nits peak brightness and a wide color gamut that covers over 91% of DCI-P3. I also discovered during testing that you could calibrate for sRGB and DCI-P3 independently and save your settings when you switch modes. That lets you use the extended gamut for SDR content without compromising sRGB accuracy. And in HDR mode, there’s a dimming feature in place that effectively doubles contrast.

Video processing equals the excellent motion quality I found in the Armada 25. Though the frame rate is lower at 165 Hz, it’s relatively smooth thanks to a well-engineered overdrive and Adaptive-Sync. The Armada 27 is G-Sync certified by Nvidia and FreeSync compatible from 48 to 165 Hz. You also get a backlight strobe if you prefer that feature.

With so much extra included for just $50 more, it’s hard to choose between the 25- or 27-inch models. Speed will be the deciding factor for most users. 240 Hz is compelling, but the Armada 27’s 165 Hz and QHD are too.

Assembly and Accessories of HyperX Armada 27

HyperX packs the Armada 27 in a fully recyclable carton with engineered cardboard to secure the contents. The arm and column are easy to assemble without tools; then, the panel snaps in place. I simply replaced the Armada 25 with the 27 using the same mounting bits for my purposes. Each arm is rated for 20 pounds, so you can easily attach two monitors to a single column. HyperX sells the extra arms for $80 each. There are two clamps in the box, one for table/desk edges and one for pre-drilled holes. Extra-long DisplayPort and HDMI cables are included, along with an IEC cord for the internal power supply. The DP cable is red, which is a nice touch.

Product 360: HyperX Armada 27 

Aside from its extra size, the Armada 27 looks exactly like the Armada 25. The bezel is very narrow at 8mm on the top and sides and 19mm across the bottom, where you’ll see a tiny HyperX logo. A larger graphic appears on the back, which is also set off by a large X finished in polished black. Also in back is a power toggle key and a tiny joystick that controls all monitor functions.

The arm allows for a huge range of movement and positioning. Each joint is firm and smooth, with no play whatsoever. The arm slips over the column and is retained by a quick-release ring that can be raised and lowered. The panel fulcrum can be tilted from -20 to +60 degrees, rotated 90 degrees for portrait mode, and swiveled 90 degrees to either side. The arm can swivel 180 degrees as well. The lift range is 12.5 inches, and the arm can sit in a 10-inch window on the column. Each arm can hold up to 20 pounds and works with 100mm and 75mm VESA bolt patterns. The desk needs to be between 0.6 and 2 inches thick for edge mounting. A hole mount should be between 0.6 and 2.4 inches. The column and single arm weight is just over 10 pounds. It is clearly well-built and extremely flexible. You can position the panel just about anywhere you like.

The input panel just includes video access, two HDMI 2.0 and one DisplayPort 1.4. There is no audio jack, nor is there USB. While these omissions are not grave, they force the user to use the connected system for peripheral support. Also missing are internal speakers.

OSD Features: HyperX Armada 27

The Armada 27’s OSD is nearly identical to the one I explored in the Armada 25 but with one important difference, a wide gamut color mode. You also get the ability to create separate calibrations for each picture preset, something which very few monitors can do.

Gaming options include a five-level overdrive. Level 3 provides smooth motion with no ghosting. Higher settings create white trails behind moving objects. If you prefer a backlight strobe instead of Adaptive-Sync, turn on MPRT. It has five options that get progressively dimmer as you go up in value. Level 3 is the sweet spot. It’ll cost you about 25% brightness, but it delivers smooth operation with no visible phasing. Also in this sub-menu is a frame counter and a slick crosshair editor that lets you build your own aiming point from the four available shapes. You can pick one of eight colors and place it anywhere you like on the screen.

The picture modes are different from what I saw in the Armada 25. The Armada 27 lets you tweak the RGB Gains independently for each preset. Standard uses the sRGB gamut while Native is the wide gamut option. Not only are the RGB values mode-specific, but brightness is too. That way, you can have two calibrated picture modes that differ only in gamut volume, very cool.

In the Menu section, you get the ability to program the joystick directions for quick access to four different functions. This makes it easy to change picture modes or adjust brightness for example.

HyperX Armada 27 Calibration Settings

The Armada 27 looks great right out of the box with no need for calibration in its Standard mode. But if you make a few adjustments, it’s possible to not only achieve a better image, but to calibrate two different color gamut modes. This is something only a tiny handful of monitors can do. 

In Standard, the gamut is sRGB which is appropriate for SDR content. Use the values left of the slash from the table below. The Native mode uses the full gamut which covers 91.5% of DCI-P3. There, use the settings right of the slash. You can then switch freely between them without changing any values. They are remembered for each picture mode. HDR has no image options but is accurate enough to not require them.

Gaming and Hands-on with HyperX Armada 27

As with the Armada 25, I loved using the mounting arm that comes with the Armada 27. Okay, I used the same arm, but both monitors ship with the same parts. It truly is the best arm I’ve tried, bar none. It holds position without play or wobble and moves with a sureness that inspires confidence. Once clamped in place, the Armada 27 becomes part of your desk.

For workday tasks, it excels. Pixel density is quite high (109ppi), so I couldn’t see any pixel structure unless I got uncomfortably close to the screen. I had no trouble reading tiny text on web pages or seeing the fine details in photos and graphics. Color was exemplary, and I enjoyed switching between the Standard and Native modes for different applications. Most users will likely prefer the extra saturation of Native, but I am a stickler for accuracy, so I used Standard for most things.

With work complete, it was time for a few rounds of Doom Eternal’s Horde mode. I could switch freely between SDR and HDR, and the difference was noticeable. SDR looked washed out by comparison, and that doesn’t mean it looked bad. It popped nicely in the Native picture mode, which bumped up the color saturation. But HDR clearly had better contrast and depth. It was easier to see distant enemies against the background and color was more vivid.

Game performance was top-notch, easily equal to what I experienced with the Armada 25. The difference in frame rates wasn’t as apparent, thanks to the Armada 27’s superb video processing. G-Sync worked without a hitch and the overdrive kept motion smooth with no artifacts in evidence. In Tomb Raider, I spent some time comparing Adaptive-Sync to MPRT and found the backlight strobe to be one of the best I’ve tried.

Many monitors show a phasing artifact when using this feature that reduces motion resolution, but the Armada 27 didn’t have this issue. I was drawn to the hair detail in Lara’s on-screen avatar. You could see individual hairs blowing in the wind and varying in sheen as she moved. This effect remained clear even when I moved the mouse quickly. And it wasn’t reduced when using dynamic contrast in SDR mode. The picture was a little more three-dimensional and retained its full detail.

After several hours of gaming, I was nothing but impressed with the Armada 27’s performance. It delivers a premium experience and punches well above its price point.

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To compare the Armada 27’s performance, I’ve included Cooler Master’s GM27-FQS, BenQ’s EX2710R & EX2710Q, NZXT’s Canvas 32Q and the Monoprice 43548. The Canvas 32Q and EX2710R are VA, while the rest use IPS panels. All run QHD resolution at 165 Hz.

Pixel Response and Input Lag

Click here to read up on our pixel response and input lag testing procedures.

Most 165 Hz monitors fill the screen in 6ms but some need 7ms. The difference is small but visible. The Armada 27 is in the faster category and is as smooth as the best 165 Hz monitor can be. 

An excellent overdrive adds to that quality with a better implementation than the others. Input lag is also lower than the rest with 27ms total control latency. That’s not far behind the 240 Hz crowd. While 240 Hz will retain motion resolution a little better, the gaming feel won’t be much different. The Armada 27 is one of the better QHD/165 Hz screens I’ve used.

Viewing Angles

HyperX uses a similarly high-quality panel in the Armada 27 as it does in the Armada 25. The color shifts slightly blue at 45 degrees to the side, and light is reduced by around 20%. Detail stays clear in the darkest steps, which means it retains shadow detail. From the top, you get a green tint, 40% light reduction and less definition due to the drop in gamma.

Screen Uniformity

To learn how we measure screen uniformity, click here.

My Armada 27 sample exhibited excellent screen uniformity with no visible variation in a black field pattern. I couldn’t see any bleed or glow when viewing in a darkened room. Color fields were equally smooth and free of aberration. There is no question that quality parts are in use here.

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To read about our monitor tests in-depth, please check out Display Testing Explained: How We Test PC Monitors. We cover brightness and contrast testing on page two.

Uncalibrated – Maximum Backlight Level

The Armada 27 is rated for 400 nits, but when I measured Standard mode at the default settings with the brightness maxed, I got only 360 nits. It turns out the Native mode is where the light is. It measures over 422 nits peak and boasts a wider color gamut too.

The Armada 27 finishes last in the black level comparison because it’s the brightest panel of the bunch. Its contrast ratio is a respectable 1047.3:1. The Armada 25 has a slightly greater dynamic range but less light output and a smaller gamut. In this group, the VA panels easily win the contrast contest with over 3,000:1.

After Calibration to 200 nits

Calibration cost me a bit of dynamic range, which put the Armada 27 equal to average IPS panels. Again, the Armada 25 will deliver a slightly deeper image if you’re willing to accept its sRGB-only color gamut. You can increase contrast to around 2,000:1 by turning on Dynamic Contrast in the OSD. It works reasonably well without clipping detail, but then you can’t adjust the brightness control. User preference will be the decider on that score.

Thanks to good components and quality control, the ANSI contrast value is slightly higher than the static. The Armada 27 remains at the average level, but that’s not a deal-breaker. The picture is nicely saturated and if you want more color, just change to the Native mode. Overall, this is very good performance.

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The Armada 27 has solid out-of-box color accuracy. Calibration is not required but the effort pays off in multiple ways. Not only can one improve picture quality, but it’s also possible to independently calibrate multiple image modes. Only a few monitors have this ability.

Grayscale and Gamma Tracking

Our grayscale and gamma tests use Calman calibration software from Portrait Displays. We describe our grayscale and gamma tests in detail here.

Starting with Standard mode, you can see that grayscale tracking is quite good with only the 90 and 100% steps cracking the 3dE line. That’s the point where errors become visible to the naked eye. In actual content, few users would see a problem. Gamma also tracks to near perfection at the reference line.

Native mode is a bit cool before calibration with more visible errors above the 60% brightness point. If you want the wide gamut it offers, calibration should be performed. Or you can use the settings I detailed earlier.

With adjustments in place, both Standard and Native show reference-level grayscale and gamma tracking. Only Native mode shows a slightly lighter gamma. But the values are still within a tight range, which means it’ll be hard to see any issues. Note that you’ll need different RGB and brightness values to achieve the same result. It’s all in the table I put on page two. This is excellent performance.

Comparisons

For the comparison, I’ve charted the Armada 27’s Standard mode. The values aren’t vastly different in Native, but Standard produces the lowest error levels. 2.40dE out of the box means you don’t need to calibrate. But adjustment brings that number down to 1.20dE, which is a visible improvement.

In every case, gamma tracking is exemplary, with only a 0.07 range of values and little deviation from the 2.2 reference. It doesn’t get much better than that.

Color Gamut Accuracy

Our color gamut and volume testing use Portrait Displays’ Calman software. For details on our color gamut testing and volume calculations, click here.

As stated, Standard mode uses the sRGB gamut while Native expands to DCI-P3. Before calibration, the errors are minuscule, with no visible issues. Saturation and hue points are all on target, with only a slight hue deviation in the cyan secondary. RGB adjustments fix that neatly and take the average error to an extremely low level. This is pro-monitor territory.

The Native mode is much the same, with no visible errors before or after calibration. Like most wide gamut screens, the Armada 27 is a bit under-saturated in the green primary. And it backs off in red to create a usable compromise when viewing SDR content in the extended gamut. Though Standard (sRGB) is the more accurate mode for SDR, most users will likely prefer the extra color offered by Native (DCI-P3). By under-saturating red, it avoids looking overblown or cartoonish.

Comparisons

Again, I have charted the Standard mode for the comparison. The Armada 27 delivers reference quality performance with a tiny average error of 0.87dE. The value for Native mode is slightly higher at 1.61dE. Neither mode will have visible issues. It truly doesn’t get better than this, especially for $500.

The Armada 27 doesn’t have the largest color gamut of the bunch but it’s pretty close to the top. I’ve measured a few screens that crack 100% of DCI-P3 but most are at the same level or below. With near total coverage of both sRGB and DCI-P3, the Armada 27 can be used for critical apps since its errors are so low.

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Our HDR benchmarking uses Portrait Displays’ Calman software. To learn about our HDR testing, see our breakdown of how we test PC monitors.

The Armada 27 supports HDR10 signals by switching automatically to HDR mode. There are no picture options available, but I found decent contrast thanks to a dimming feature and solid color accuracy, enough to say its HDR image looks better than the SDR version.

HDR Brightness & Contrast

The Armada 27 is certified for DisplayHDR 400, and it is indeed the brightest screen here with over 487 nits peak. That ensures that highlights will pop against mid-toned and dark backgrounds which enhances the perception of dynamic range. 

Black levels are respectable enough to double the effective contrast to 2,164.7:1. While that isn’t quite in the NZXT’s territory, it’s a little better than the VA-based BenQ which only manages 2009.9:1. This is very good performance and puts the Armada 27 above the many monitors which have no extra contrast available for HDR content.

Grayscale, EOTF & Color

Aside from a slight warm tone, the Armada 27’s HDR grayscale tracking is solid. The error is barely visible and, in my experience, did not detract from the HDR effect. The EOTF tracks almost perfectly, with only tiny variations from the reference line. The tone-map transition point is at 65% which is a good thing. Though there are no picture adjustments available, HyperX has clearly set up the monitor correctly.

Color tracking shows a bit of over-saturation in red and blue, which is not unusual in the HDR monitors I’ve tested. This helps pump up the presentation without masking fine detail in the mid-tones. Hues are on target, so HDR color looks natural and correct. For Rec.2020-mastered content, the Armada 27 slightly exceeds the saturation targets until it runs out of color at around 90% saturation. This is the right way for an HDR monitor to present as much of the gamut as possible.

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When exploring the extremes of gaming monitor performance, there is always a compromise. High resolution means a lower frame rate. High frame rates mean lower resolution. High frame rates and high resolution mean a higher price. The QHD/165 Hz category is still the balance point where you can get sharp imagery and excellent motion resolution for a reasonable sum. The deciding factor then becomes video processing quality, and, in that area, the HyperX Armada 27 excels.

It has one of the best overdrive implementations I’ve seen with a high degree of blur reduction and no ghosting. It has a useful backlight strobe that reduces blur to nothing while avoiding the phasing artifacts often seen in lesser displays. And it has very low input lag putting it on par with many faster screens.

There is plenty to like about its image quality too. Contrast is about average, but a dimming feature effectively doubles the dynamic range with no downside. And HDR contrast is better than many inexpensive IPS panels can boast.

The best bit, though, is the Armada 27’s ability to save calibration settings in multiple picture modes. That means you can use either sRGB or DCI-P3 color for SDR content with equalized brightness, identical white points and consistent gamma. This is something rarely seen in any monitor, including the professional genre, where you often get just one user-configurable preset.

I also must give kudos to the mounting arm. Though it’s unusual for a monitor to come without a stand, the arm is of such high quality you’ll want to use it. And the ability to attach two panels to a single column is cool. The HyperX Armada 27, like its 25-inch stablemate, sets itself apart from the crowd. If you’re looking for high performance, premium image quality and good value, you should definitely check it out.

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When I think of case companies that stick to the script, the first company that comes to mind is NZXT. The H5 has undergone numerous revisions since it hit the market in 2019, some of which were better than others. However, its silhouette always remained boxy and minimal. Since then, the company has also experimented with keyboards and motherboards, but not so much with new case designs.

The new H5 Elite comes with a good amount of RGB, an attractive 45-degree bottom fan and familiar (and sound) cable management design for $140, available in either white or black. With that said, is the H5 Elite as impressive as its airflow-focused H7 Pro? Let’s find out and investigate whether it deserves a spot on our list of the best PC cases. 

Specifications of the NZXT H5 Elite

Features of the NZXT H5 Elite

The NZXT H5 Elite is a mid-tower chassis that features a tempered glass front panel, a feature that’s fallen off in popularity over the past year or so. Lately, most case companies have been manufacturing new cases with mesh front panels, due to the abundance of heat generated by the newest hardware. And if airflow is important to you, the company also has a new H5 Flow as well, seen in the image above on the right. It has a perforated front panel and sells for $95.

However, the H5 Elite attempts to deliver the look of glass and good airflow, thanks to a roughly 1.5-inch gap in the front between the glass and fans. This allows for a decent amount of intake from the side, plus there is a 120mm fan at the bottom of the case, on a 45-degree angle, to aid GPU cooling.

With those key features out of the way, the H5 Elite mostly follows the recipe of success that we saw in the H7 earlier this year.

That said, when the company launched the H7 and H7 Flow earlier this year, both of those cases had a similar gap up front for better airflow. But here, that gap visually stands out more, perhaps due to the fact that there are only two fans up front, and the glass doesn’t extend to the bottom of the case. I understand the need to better intake here, but several of our editors agree that the gap looks awkward, like there is a missing piece, or perhaps that NZXT has built some kind of Kubrick-inspired “2001: A Space Odyssey” mini fridge.

The fans, which I’ll cover in more detail shortly, are interesting, but the front IO is decidedly uninspired. You get one USB Type-C (10Gbps), one USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type A (5Gbps) and an audio and microphone jack. And while it is nice that NZXT has made some of the cables white to match the case, that doesn’t change the fact that none (or at least most) of the cables from your components won’t be.

Internal Layout

The NZXT H5 Elite stands at 18.3 x 9 x 17.6-inches (HWD), which is just slightly taller than the previous models. The case comes with the usual H-series features, like the cable management bar and an RGB controller, both of which are appreciated.

And you better like M.2 (or have limited data needs) because The H5 Elite meets the bare minimum when it comes to storage. Behind the motherboard tray, you’ll find a sled that can support up to two 2.5-inch drives, while 3.5-inch space is limited to just one drive.

The position of the 45-degree fan at the bottom severely limits the space for storage drives.

NZXT H5 Elite Cooling Options

It’s been a long time since I’ve worked with a case that utilized a tempered glass front panel, so I was excited to see how cooling would work. The front fans are screwed into a tray, which can be removed via two thumbscrews. I’m glad more companies are doing this because I hate screwing fans (don’t get me started on radiators) directly into the case when this option exists.

The front fan tray supports up to 280mm worth of radiator or fans, while the top is limited to 240mm. Both the rear and bottom of the case have a maximum of 120mm, which is good enough.

Case fans are expensive, especially if you want name-brand RGB variants. NZXT includes two F140 RGB fans here, which retail for $27 each. The bottom fan isn’t RGB, but it's an F120Q– the same one found in the H7 Flow, and I love these fans because of how quiet they are. We’ll see how that translates shortly in our testing.

The H5 Elite supports CPU coolers as tall as 165mm (6.5-inches), which is enough to fit even the biggest of the best CPU coolers. However, the GPU clearance is limited to 365mm (14.4-inches), which sounds like a lot, but will be significantly shorter for those running front-mounted radiators.

Testing Hardware

Our testing hardware uses Intel’s 12th Gen Alder Lake platform. We’re using a Core i7-12700KF, cooled by a Noctua U12s air cooler. Our graphics card is a Gigabyte RTX 3070 Ti Gaming OC and our motherboard is the MSI Pro Z690-A WIFI.

Acoustic Results for the NZXT H5 Elite

Our acoustic test consists of three scenarios: We run the CPU at full load, the CPU and GPU at full load, and an optimized mode. The CPU full load test runs the CPU and case fans at their maximum speed. For the CPU and GPU full load acoustic test, we also stress the Gigabyte RTX 3070 Ti Gaming OC and set the fans at 75% speed, because in gaming, the fans never run at 100 percent and are far too loud when they do.

For the optimized mode, we run the GPU fan speed at 30% and the CPU and included case fans at the lowest speed they will spin.

Ironically, the H5 Elite was louder than the suspiciously quiet H7 Flow. However, the H7 Flow comes equipped with two F120Q fans, designed to be subtle with a max RPM of 1,200. The two F140 fans on the H5 sport a max RPM of 1,800, which is necessary for a case like this with less front airflow.

So, are the acoustic results from the H5 Elite disappointing? Kind of, but when there are fewer areas for air to get in, fans need to spin faster to keep the pressure going, which results in more noise. And most people will still find the 44 dB we measured in our middle-ground test acceptable.

Thermal Results for the NZXT H5 Elite

For the thermal tests, all case and CPU fan speeds are set to 100%. The Core i7-12700K is set at a 4.7GHz clock at 1.3v on all performance cores to ensure consistent power consumption across test scenarios. Letting the GPU run at 75% fan speed enables it to maintain its power target while sticking to one set reasonable fan speed, so the temperature is the only variable.

Instead of burying the H5 Elite’s thermals among all the cases we’ve tested this year, I shared the temps of similar chassis. I’m going to compare it to the H7 Flow and as you can see, the bottom fan on the Elite did result in better GPU thermals, though not so much the CPU.

Because the H5 is mostly glass, I wanted to see how the thermals compared to the Hyte Y60 and somewhat surprisingly, the Hyte wins in the CPU category but falls significantly short in every other category.

Finally, I included the Corsair iCUE 5000T because it has a similar PSU shroud design and low profile shroud. I theorized why the iCUE’s low profile shroud provided such great GPU thermals in my review, but to summarize: The air is going up the shroud to the graphics card’s fans. While the H5 Elite doesn’t feature that type of shroud, it more or less has its own GPU fan, thanks to the angeled bottom 120mm spinner.

While the thermals on the H5 Elite aren’t spectacular, I believe there appears to be more potential in this chassis than most other tempered glass cases, thanks to the bottom fan, as well as the gap up front. I recommend picking up a fan with better static pressure for even better thermal performance, like the Corsair ML120s.

Bottom Line

As PC hardware becomes more power-hungry, the need for proper airflow is more critical than ever. However, many people still love tempered glass front panels and RGB. The NZXT H5 Elite brings us back to 2019 when RGB and tempered glass came first and airflow was often an afterthought. NZXT has added some interesting and, according to our testing, largely effective additions, which bridge the gap between airflow and glass fronts–creating a gap in the process. 

And aside from the front gap, the bottom angled fan means drive storage is more limited than the vast majority of mid-tower cases. Given the ever-expanding number of M.2 slots on new motherboards, that’s becoming less of an issue, but those who want to carry over more than a single 3.5-inch drive and two 2.5-inches will have to look elsewhere.

Perhaps the H5 Elite’s most appealing feature is its $140 price. It’s actually $20 less than the previous H510 Elite. In a world where everything else is seemingly going up in price, this  makes the H5 Elite’s quirks feel much more bearable–even if we still think that front gap looks awkward.

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NZXT has pulled the covers off  (yet also kept them on) a new motherboard to accompany AMD’s Ryzen 7000-series processors. The N7 B650E has the shrouded look we’ve come to expect from the firm’s other offerings, and keeps the strong wireless networking and storage options.

B650 is the mid-range AMD chipset for this generation - you’ll need to look to X670 for the premium features - and B650E is its ‘extreme’ version. Here in the extreme middle, you can expect PCIe 5.0 x16 for your GPU, but a cut-down number of other lanes and fewer USB ports. 

At least the Wi-Fi is extreme, with Wi-Fi 6E on board for those with compatible routers. You get Bluetooth 5.2, too, plus a 2.5G Ethernet socket. The PCIe 5.0 x16 slot sits alone, accompanied only by two PCIe 4.0 x16 slots and a Key E M.2 socket for a PCIe Wi-Fi module. There are three other M.2s - one PCIe 5.0 x4, one PCIe 4.0 x4, and one PCIe 4.0 x2. Getting the right drive in the right slot is important with this board. There are also four SATA 6Gbps ports, so you can potentially fill your case with seven drives.

Your shiny new Ryzen 7000 CPU fits into the new LGA AM5 socket, and sits next to four DIMM slots for up to 128GB of dual-channel DDR5 RAM that can be overclocked above 6000 MHz and supports both XMP and AMD EXPO profiles. AMD’s B chipsets have always been good for overclocking, so we hope to see the same here.

Audio is handled by the Realtek ALC1220 codec, and makes itself known through the five analog outputs and single S/PDIF output on the backplate, where you’ll also find an HDMI port for those integrated Radeon graphics, and a bunch of USB. As with the M.2 slots, there might be a bit of thought involved in getting the right peripheral into the right socket, as there's an assortment of USB 2.0 (2x), USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C (1x), USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports Type-A (2x), and USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A (4x) ports. There are also buttons for cleaning the CMOS and BIOS Flashback.

The board uses the familiar ATX form factor, with 24-pin and 8+4-pin power connectors, and also features five fan connectors, additional USB 2.0 and 3.2 headers, four RGB LED connectors, and two 5V ARGB LED plugs. There are also four POST LEDs for troubleshooting.

MSRP for the board is $349.99 (which definitely screams extreme middle), and it should be available in Q4 of this year.

Boutique gaming system and component maker NZXT has added high-performance displays to its product lineup with 27- and 32-inch screens. The Canvas line includes the 27Q (flat) and 32Q (curved) monitor, the latter of which I’ll review here. It runs at 165 Hz in QHD resolution and features a high-contrast VA panel with Adaptive-Sync, HDR, and a wide color gamut. You can get it in multiple combinations of white and black with either a stand or monitor arm. And the pricing is competitive with other established brands. Will it perform well enough to make it onto our Best Gaming Monitors page? Let’s take a look.

NZXT Canvas 32Q Specs

With so many fast IPS screens coming out, I’m seeing fewer VA panels used in gaming monitors. This is unfortunate because they offer all the color and about three times the contrast of the best IPS monitors. NZXT uses a VA part in the Canvas 32Q, delivering nearly 4,000:1, which is higher than any IPS and many of the VA displays I’ve tested. This adds a lot of impact to both SDR and HDR content. The Canvas 32Q accepts HDR10 signals, though it does not use dynamic contrast or a high output backlight. But its HDR quality is still superior to rank-and-file IPS monitors that can muster 1,000:1 at best.

The color gamut covers around 88% of DCI-P3, which is average among value-priced screens. Like most wide gamut displays, it comes up a tad short in the green primary. Blue and red are well saturated, and the Canvas 32Q is very colorful in all types of content. It’s accurate enough out of the box that calibration is unnecessary. I found it only needed a gamma tweak to deliver a good picture.

Gaming performance is assured by a 165 Hz refresh rate, which is easy to meet in QHD resolution when driven by a mid- to upper-tier video card. Though pixel density is 93ppi, it renders a sharp image that works equally well for gaming or productivity. Its high contrast helps make fine detail and shades of color pop.

The screen’s curve radius of 1,500mm is right in the middle, where there is no image distortion, but the curve is useful enough to immerse the viewer. And at 32 inches diagonal, there is a lot of height and width to fill one’s peripheral vision.

The Canvas 32Q clearly has a gaming intent, though it saves the buyer a bit of money by leaving out speakers and LED lighting. However, solid build quality and reliable performance make it a decent value.

Assembly and Accessories

When you buy the Canvas 32Q directly from NZXT’s website, you can choose between a stand or an arm. The panel and stand come in black or white, so you can choose between four possible combinations. The stand adds $50, while the arm is $100 for a single and $170 for a dual model. The panel alone costs $400 in white or $380 in black. NZXT shipped me everything in black, along with a stand and an arm. All components assemble easily and quickly without the need for tools. The generous cable bundle includes HDMI, DisplayPort, USB-C, standard USB and an external power supply.

Product 360

The Canvas 32Q’s styling is simple and functional. The upright looks a bit like the flash suppressor from a machine gun with its rows of holes. Though slender, it is rock solid, with a thick metal plate serving as the base. Ergonomics include a 120mm height adjustment, 20 degrees swivel and 5/20 degrees tilt. There is no portrait mode. The back includes a 100mm VESA mount for whatever solution you choose. Also seen in the back is an OSD joystick and the NZXT logo proudly displayed at the top.

The top view shows the 1500R curvature. It’s right between subtle and extreme, the perfect balance between immersion and image quality. There is no visible distortion, so you’ll be comfortable working on documents and spreadsheets with the Canvas 32Q’s large screen area. You can see the ample cooling grill that keeps internal temps to just above ambient. A little clip attaches to the stand for cable management.

From the side, you can see the panel’s profile is thinner at the top. This portion is covered by a metal plate which further aids cooling. There are no speakers or side USB ports, but the Canvas 32Q does not skimp on connectivity. You get two HDMI 2.0, one DisplayPort 1.2, a USB-C serving as a video input and USB upstream connection. There are also a USB-B upstream and two USB-A downstream ports. You can connect headphones or powered speakers to the 3.5mm audio jack.

OSD Features

The Canvas 32Q’s OSD is super simple which I greatly appreciate. It only has four sub-menus plus a signal information screen.

All picture and game settings are packed into the Image menu. The first section has eight picture modes and brightness/contrast/sharpness along with three color temps, RGB sliders, three gamma presets and color saturation. The second half includes overdrive, a frame rate counter, MPRT (blur reduction via backlight strobe), low blue light and a black equalizer to make shadow detail more visible. My only beef here is the lack of numerical values for settings like brightness and contrast, RGB or volume. You can see the slider move up or down, but there’s no number there for later reference. I counted the clicks, and each slider has 100 steps making the center point 50. Other options like sharpness, saturation, low blue light and black equalizer have 10 steps. It’s unusual, but I got used to it after a time.

In Other Setting, you’ll find the FreeSync toggle. This should be together with MPRT, but it’s not. Turning MPRT on cancels Adaptive-Sync as it does on most monitors. The backlight strobe has no fine-tuning available. It reduces brightness by around 25% and produces some slight phasing artifacts. The overdrive is very subtle in its operation, with no obvious ghosting. It reduces blur reasonably well.

NZXT Canvas 32Q Calibration Settings

The Canvas 32Q is accurate enough by default not to require calibration. I saw some slight green errors in the grayscale patterns I viewed, but the actual content looked very good, with natural color and tone. Gamma is too light on the default 2.2 setting, so I upped it to 2.4 for a visible improvement in depth and dimension. I could not improve the white point accuracy using the RGB sliders because they don’t act equally on all the brightness steps. My calibration consisted only of the change in gamma. Below are the brightness settings I used for commonly chosen output levels.

HDR signals automatically switch the Canvas 32Q into HDR mode where I measured good accuracy for color and EOTF tracking. There are no picture adjustments available for HDR content, so you’ll have to confine your tweaks to any in-game options that are available.

Gaming and Hands-on

The first thing I always see when booting up Windows is the beach scene wallpaper, which is part of Windows 10’s default set of graphics. It has a brilliant blue sky reflected in the water, orange sandy rocks in the background, and a lone figure running along the beach. I always look at the color first, and the Canvas 32Q impresses with its bold and vivid hues. The extra contrast was obvious as I looked at the gentle waves that were clearly in the foreground, well ahead of the rocks behind. And the running lady is almost a silhouette, but some subtle details can be seen. For example, I could tell she was wearing three-quarter-length pants.

The picture looks a tad soft with a pixel density of 93ppi if you like to sit very close to the screen. But the large screen is best used from three to four feet back. Then, you won’t see the pixel structure. The anti-glare layer does its job invisibly without causing any distortion or grain. The image is very sharp, with no apparent edge enhancement as long as the sharpness slider is left at 50%.

Productivity apps look solid, with clear type and good contrast between black text and white backgrounds. Photo editing was easy enough, but since there's no sRGB mode available, I had to use a software LUT when that gamut was needed. Watching video was a smooth experience, with no apparent stutter or cadence issue in YouTube content.

I started my game time with Doom Eternal’s horde mode, which keeps the action moving non-stop. The overdrive did a reasonable job of maintaining motion resolution, but it could have been a little more aggressive. Even on its highest setting, it didn’t clean up the picture completely. The MPRT backlight strobe does a good job of keeping fine detail solid during rapid movement, but some phasing artifacts are present. I could compensate for the light reduction by turning up the brightness slider. But ultimately, I preferred to keep Adaptive-Sync on instead. Frame rate management was flawless on both G-Sync and FreeSync systems.

Shadow areas in Call of Duty WWII were nice and dark thanks to the Canvas 32Q’s accurate EOTF tracking in HDR mode. I could still see detail clearly, and that true black made the image look three-dimensional. Color also had extra pop, which further distinguished HDR from SDR. Highlights were a little flat relative to brighter monitors, but I’d still call the Canvas 32Q a good HDR display relative to its value price point.

The Canvas 32Q is a solid first effort for NZXT that delivers a solid gaming experience and good picture quality in all areas of productivity and entertainment. 

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I’ve managed to find a few other VA QHD 165 Hz panels in my test database to compare the Canvas 32Q. They are Monoprice’s 42891, Viotek’s GNV32DBE and BenQ’s EX2710R. To fill out the group, I’ve included the IPS-based Cooler Master GM32-FQ and Corsair 32QHD165.

Pixel Response and Input Lag

Click here to read up on our pixel response and input lag testing procedures.

165 Hz will give you a response time between six and seven milliseconds. The Canvas 32Q is in the 7ms category, giving it the same level of motion blur as a 144 Hz monitor. Its overdrive helps some, and if you want even more reduction, you’ll have to forgo Adaptive-Sync and use the MPRT backlight strobe. Overall motion resolution quality, in either case, is on par with other 165 Hz QHD screens.

For overall lag, the Canvas 32Q is one of the quicker 165 Hz monitors I’ve tested, coming in a total time of 31ms. That’s very responsive from a casual gamer’s standpoint like mine. Very skilled players will want to consider a 240 Hz screen, but most enthusiasts will have no problems racking up frags on the Canvas 32Q.

Viewing Angles

VA screens aren’t known for great viewing angles, but the Canvas 32Q does a respectable job. Light is reduced by around 30% at 45 degrees off-center and the color shifts to green, like an IPS monitor. From the top, you can see green and red shifts, a 50% light reduction, and washed-out detail.

Screen Uniformity

To learn how we measure screen uniformity, click here.

My Canvas 32Q sample was a tad hot in the upper left and center zones, while the rest of the screen had an even tone. Brighter gray and color patterns showed no issues. I could not see any problems with actual content during dark scenes. Bright highlights also looked white and neutral in tone.

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To read about our monitor tests in-depth, please check out Display Testing Explained: How We Test PC Monitors. We cover brightness and contrast testing on page two.

Uncalibrated – Maximum Backlight Level

VA panels aren’t known for their high brightness, but they have more than enough light for their intended uses. NZXT rates the Canvas 32Q at 300 nits, and my sample beat that. If you want searing whites, IPS can deliver that for you.

What VA does better than other technologies is black levels and the Canvas 32Q one of the very best examples. Its native contrast ratio of 3863.8:1 is one of the highest I’ve recorded. It’s only pipped here by the Viotek.

After Calibration to 200 nits

Calibration increases the Canvas 32Q’s contrast a bit to 3953.5:1. It’s still well ahead of the other VA panels (except the Viotek, which is an over-achiever for sure), and it leaves any IPS monitor in the proverbial dust. You won’t get better native contrast in a computer monitor unless it’s an OLED.

The Canvas 32Q shows some weakness in the ANSI contrast test. Though it is still quite high at 2594.5:1, it slips to fourth place in a tight field. And the IPS monitors are still bringing up the rear. You won’t get a better picture than what a VA display provides at this price point.

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The Canvas 32Q has good accuracy out of the box in its Standard picture mode. The other presets vary color and brightness to suit different game types or tasks. Standard is the most natural-looking mode for all content.

Grayscale and Gamma Tracking

Our grayscale and gamma tests use Calman calibration software from Portrait Displays. We describe our grayscale and gamma tests in detail here.

Looking at the default grayscale chart, one would say it’s pretty good with room for improvement. Only the 10% and 20% steps have any visible error with their slight coolness. Gamma runs too light for the labeled 2.2 setting. It’s tracking closer to 2.0, which makes the picture a bit washed out, not befitting a VA panel.

Unfortunately, I could make no headway with the RGB sliders. They simply would not fix the entire brightness range, only one step at a time. I eventually went back to the default Normal color temp preset and changed gamma to 2.4, which made a noticeable improvement. Aside from the slight dip at 10%, gamma is on-point.

Comparisons

Though the Canvas 32Q’s before and after grayscale numbers are different, it’s not enough to make a visual impact. Both values are below the visible threshold, so I rate its performance here as acceptable. If the RGB controls behaved properly, this result could be improved.

Luckily, gamma correctly tracks once you change the preset to 2.4. With a reasonably tight 0.23 range of values and only a 0.45% deviation from 2.2 (actual value 2.19), I can’t complain about the Canvas 32Q’s gamma performance. That has a positive impact on color saturation which I’ll show you below.

Color Gamut Accuracy

Our color gamut and volume testing use Portrait Displays’ Calman software. For details on our color gamut testing and volume calculations, click here.

The Canvas 32Q’s default color chart shows good hue results but there is a slight under-saturation across the board. This is due to the light gamma. The second chart shows the effect of changing the preset from 2.2 to 2.4. Red is still a bit under but it’s much closer and it hits the 100% saturation point, which is a good thing. Only magenta is slightly off hue, but that is a minimal issue. The final average error is quite low.

Comparisons

When a monitor can achieve such a low color error by changing a gamma preset, that’s excellent performance. I’ve measured all the monitors here against the DCI-P3 standard, and they all come very close to the reference level. The Canvas 32Q has one of the more accurate gamuts out there.

DCI-P3 coverage is about average among value-oriented displays. The Corsair is extremely colorful thanks to its Quantum Dot film but also costs around $250 more. Since there is no sRGB mode, the Canvas 32Q will need a software LUT if you plan any color-critical work. But for gaming and entertainment, the extra saturation is a good thing.

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Our HDR benchmarking uses Portrait Displays’ Calman software. To learn about our HDR testing, see our breakdown of how we test PC monitors.

The Canvas 32Q doesn’t add any contrast in HDR mode as it has no dynamic option. That said, it still does a good job with HDR material, thanks to its high native contrast. It outpaces any value-priced IPS monitor in this regard.

HDR Brightness and Contrast

The Canvas 32Q’s peak HDR brightness is around 333 nits which deliver bright, if not super sparkly, highlights. The best way to enjoy it is with the room lights turned down or off because it has excellent black levels and shadow detail. With just shy of 4,000:1 contrast for HDR, it does justice to the standard. If it had a dimming backlight, it would be even better. But if you’re looking for budget HDR, the NZXT, Viotek and Monoprice all deliver a solid image. Even the BenQ beats the two IPS screens by enough to make a visible difference.

Grayscale, EOTF and Color

Though there is no means to calibrate the Canvas 32Q’s HDR mode, it offers good grayscale tracking, EOTF and gamut accuracy. The white point is a tad blue though only the mid-shadow areas show any visible error. The EOTF tracks almost perfectly with a tone-map transition point at 60%. This means all detail present in the original material will be clearly visible. Shadows are deep and dark but full of fine shading. Highlights exhibit the same behavior.

HDR color tracking is similar to what I saw in the SDR tests. The primaries are slightly under-saturated, and magenta is a little off hue. The Canvas 32Q’s contrast will add a lot of vibrance and pop to the HDR image. Measured against Rec.2020, it hits all the targets until it reaches its gamut limit at around 87%, which is as it should be. When content is mastered in Rec.2020, that doesn’t mean the display must be 100% saturated all the time. Tracking like this will deliver the most accurate representation of the original material. Though the Canvas 32Q doesn’t quite have the HDR contrast of premium screens with zone dimming, it is better than most budget monitors.

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The QHD, 165 Hz category is still the best bang for the buck in gaming monitors. For $400-500, you get a capable screen with Adaptive-Sync, HDR and extended color. And it can maintain higher frame rates than an Ultra HD (4K) display that has the visual effect of higher resolution when things are moving quickly across the screen. And you can save a bit of money on the video card. You won’t need a bleeding edge board to top 150fps at QHD resolution.

Adding to the QHD performance advantage is the availability of VA panels, which has yet to proliferate in the Ultra HD realm. VA delivers at least three times the contrast of IPS, thanks to its superior black levels. This makes the picture more colorful and more three-dimensional. Many of the monitors in this category are VA, and I’m glad that NZXT has chosen this route.

The Canvas 32Q is a solid performer. Though its overdrive could be a little more aggressive, it has good motion resolution, flawless Adaptive-Sync and low input lag. It is one of the quicker budget monitors I’ve tested and will deliver an excellent experience for most gamers. The backlight strobe effectively reduces motion blur, but like most monitors with this feature, there is a bit of phasing involved and a reduction in brightness. One thing that would help there is a pulse width adjustment.

Though I could not calibrate the Canvas 32Q effectively, its color accuracy is decent enough. Aside from some minor green errors in the grayscale tracking, all that needs to be done is to change the gamma preset to 2.4. The gamut is nearly perfect, and I recorded a very low average error in that test. DCI-P3 coverage is about average, which is to say very good at just over 87%. This is aided perceptually by the panel’s superb contrast of nearly 4,000:1.

It appears that at the moment, the only way to buy a Canvas 32Q is from NZXT’s website. It’s unfortunate that you can’t audition one before purchase, but other manufacturers are in the same situation, like Monoprice and Dough (formerly Eve), who also make some very good displays. But in my testing and experience, the Canvas 32Q is a monitor that would make nearly anyone happy and is highly recommended.

NZXT has announced its N7 Z790 ATX motherboard, with an LGA 1700 socket ready for 12th and 13th generation Intel CPUs. Visually clean on the outside and available in both black and white, the N7 Z790 contains plenty of RGB connectors for you to set up the light show of your choice.

Based on the Z790 chipset ready for some of the best CPUs for gaming, the N7 Z790 has plenty of advanced features, including four DDR5 slots for up to 128GB of RAM and the Intel XMP 3.0 settings, plus rated RAM speeds of up to 6,000 MHz. Alongside the memory slots sits one PCIe 5.0 x16 slot for a GPU or an SSD boot drive, plus two PCIe 4.0 x16 slots and two PCIe 3.0 x1 slots. 

M.2 slots come in the form of three PCIe 4.0 units supporting x4 mode (one of which can also talk to a SATA M.2 drive), plus an extra Key E socket for a Type 2230 Wi-Fi module and Intel CNVio devices, though the board itself supports dual-band Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2. There are also six SATA 6Gb/s ports for all your hard drive needs.

Complementing the fast wireless is a 2.5G Ethernet port — it and a pair of wireless antennas sit on the backplate of the board. Alongside them are two USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports, three USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports, and one USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 Type-C port. There are also two USB 2.0 ports, for your mouse and keyboard, and one HDMI port for use with integrated graphics. Audio comes in the form of an eight-channel solution, with five analog audio jacks and a SPDIF output.

Internal connectivity builds on what you can see on the backplate, with extra USB 2.0 and 3.2 headers, AIO pump and Sys Fan connectors, four NZXT RGB LED connectors, and two 5V ARGB LED connectors. You also get a 16+1+2 DrMOS power phase design with a 2oz copper PCB — which should be helpful for overclocking your i9-13900K — plus presets, fan profiles and custom modes via the NZXT CAM software.

MSRP for the NZXT N7 Z790 board is $299.99, which certainly puts it above the NZXT N5 Z690 — which also had an extra M.2 socket. The N7 Z790 beats the N5 Z690 with DDR5 RAM slots and additional shielding over its PCIe interfaces, but otherwise the boards look very similar. An N5 Z790 board has yet to be announced.

NZXT’s N5 Z690 is a new and more budget-friendly offering from the company tht’s more well known for cases and coolers. Priced at $239.99 on the NZXT website, it brings a wide range of features, including Wi-Fi 6E, four M.2 sockets, plenty of USB connectivity, capable power delivery, and NZXT’s now-signature look. Overall, it’s reasonably priced, looks good and has the features you need for a solid starting point for your Alder Lake system.

The N5 Z690 performed well enough across our testing suite, ending up right around the average. It was slower than most in Handbrake, but made up for it by posting above-average scores across the Procyon benchmarks. Power consumption was average, as was memory performance and gaming. Unless Handbrake is your primary use, some simple tweaks get things settled down and back to average. Still, it’s a performant board across most tests, including gaming. It only really struggles a bit with long-running multi-threaded tests. 

One of the more unique features, particularly at this price point, is the four M.2 sockets. If your storage configuration lends itself to being M.2-heavy, the N5 has you covered, supporting PCIe and SATA-based modules. It’s also good to see Wi-Fi 6E capability, though few have a recent/high-end enough router to take advantage of it over Wi-Fi 6. 

If you plan to overclock, the N5 Z690 doesn’t come with the most robust VRMs, but it still managed to run our Intel Core i9-12900K without issue. The audio is dated and mid-range, but most users should find it satisfactory. Read on to see if the low-priced N5 Z690 has a chance to make our best motherboards list. But before that, here are the board’s detailed specifications from NZXT. 

Specifications: NZXT N5 Z690

Inside the Box of the NZXT Z690 N5

Opening up the purple trimmed box, in addition to the board, NZXT includes a few accessories to get you started. This list is short but still includes the basics, outside of a driver disk (you can get all the drivers/software/BIOS at the NZXT website). Below is a complete list of the included extras. 

• (4) SATA cables (two ea. 90/180°)
• Wi-Fi antenna
• (3) M.2 screws
• Manual

Design of the N5 Z690

NZXT offers the N5 Z690 (and the higher-end N7) in two colors: black and white. Both boards sport a matte-black PCB with matching slots and sockets. Both colors sport black heatsinks and shrouds, except the white board has two white accent pieces covering the left VRM bank and chipset heatsinks. On this board, most of the bottom half is fully exposed without shrouds, something expected from this price range. If the motherboard/PCB configuration itself looks familiar, that’s because it’s essentially an ASRock Z690 Phantom Gaming 4 with NZXT accouterments and an additional full-length slot instead of x1-size on ASRock’s board.

For those who would like an RGB light show from your motherboard, you’ll have to look elsewhere, as the N5 doesn’t come with integrated RGB LEDs. That said, there are RGB/ARGB headers to attach your own with control via NZXT’s CAM software. This board won’t win any design awards, but it would still look good as the centerpiece of your build, especially in a matching NZXT chassis.

On the top left of the board, we get a close look at the shroud covering the IO bits as well as the VRM heatsinks. The plastic shroud sports NZXT branding stamped on top. To the right, the VRM heatsinks cover both VRM banks. There’s a fair amount of mass here, but not a lot of surface area. VRM temperatures ran hot, so I would like to see higher-speced MOSFETs or larger/more surface-happy heatsinks for the existing configuration. On top of the heatsinks is an accent piece with small holes cut out for a visual contrast to the sharp angles.

Just above the left VRM bank are two EPS connectors that feed the processor. The 8-pin is required, while the 4-pin is optional. Continuing our board tour past the socket area, we run into four single-side (top) locking DIMM slots. The four support up to 128GB of DDR4 with speeds listed to DDR4-5000+(OC). With the latest BIOS (7.02), our N5 ran our test GSkill DDR4-3600 and DDR4-4000 kits simply by enabling the XMP profiles.

The first three (of six) 4-pin fan headers are found on both sides of the DRAM slots. Here are the CPU_FAN, AIO_PUMP and SYS_FAN 3 headers. Each header auto-detects if a 4-pin PWM or 3-pin DC fan is in use and supports up to 2A(24W) each. You control the attached devices through the BIOS or the CAM software. Just off to the right are four POST LEDs that light up as the board boots. If the CPU, RAM, VGA or BOOT fails during POST, the corresponding LED remains lit and tells you, generically, where the problem exists.

We spy the 3-pin ARGB and 4-pin RGB headers along the right edge of the board. I like that there’s a shroud around these headers, as it makes it easier to install the connector onto the pins and protects them and your finger from being gored by any number of the fragile tines. Next is the vertical 24-pin ATX connector to power the board, a 19-pin USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps) header, another fan header (SYS_FAN 1), and the front panel USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) Type-C header.

Power delivery on the NZXT N5 Z690 is listed as a 9-phase configuration for Vcore. Power comes from the EPS connectors and onto a Richtek RT362BAE 9-channel controller. Power moves from there and for Vcore onto the 50A Vishay Sic654 DrMOS MOSFETs. While this is certainly not a high-end setup, it held its own throughout testing, even with our overclocked Intel Core i9-12900K sitting in the socket. VRM temperatures were hot, but within specification.

On the bottom of the board, we see the audio, PCIe and four M.2 sockets on full display (one hidden below a heatsink). The Realtek ALC897 audio codec and four dedicated audio capacitors are on the left. Like the power delivery, this certainly isn’t the best audio implementation, but it’s par for the class and good enough for most users.

There’s plenty of PCIe connectivity in the middle of the board, including three full-length slots and two x1 slots. The top slot connects through the CPU and runs at PCIe 5.0 x16. The bottom two full-length slots attach through the chipset, with the top running at a maximum of PCIe 4.0 x4 and the bottom slot PCIe 3.0 x1. This setup supports 2-Way AMD Crossfire.

Wedged between and around the PCIe slots are four M.2 sockets for storage (there’s also a Key-E socket for CNVi WI-Fi modules). All slots support up to 80mm modules up to PCIe 4.0 x4 (64 Gbps) speeds. The top two sockets, M2_1 and M2_1, handle only PCIe drives, while M2_3 and M2_4 support PCIe and SATA drives. If you’re looking at the board and wondering where the fourth socket is, check the rear of the board! Moving past the chipset heatsink, we run into four SATA ports supporting RAID0/1/5/10 modes. Also located in this area is a USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps) front panel connector. In all, there are plenty of storage options on this board. NZXT doesn’t list any port sharing, a product of placing using just four SATA ports.

Across the bottom of the board are several exposed headers. You’ll find the usual here, including additional USB ports and RGB headers. Below is a complete list of headers from left to right.

• Front panel audio
• 3-pin ARGB header
• 4-pin RGB header
• USB 2.0 header
• System Fan header
• (2) USB 2.0 headers
• Clear CMOS jumper
• TPM header
• Front panel header(s)
• System Fan header

The rear IO area comes with a pre-installed IO plate that matches the NZXT color scheme (black in our case). The black background yields to gray writing for the ports and NZXT branding. In total, there are eight USB ports here: a single USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) Type-C header, one USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) port, four USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps) ports and two USB 2.0 (480 Mbps) ports. Along with the USB ports, the N5 has an HDMI port to use with integrated graphics, a BIOS FLashback button, Wi-Fi antenna connections, the 2.5 GbE port, and finally, a 3-plug analog audio stack.

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 Firmware 

As we know, NZXT worked with ASRock to help develop this board, and it shows with the overall setup of the BIOS. Not much has changed from the Z590 version. Things looke the same with a black-and-purple color scheme, NZXT’s colors. Across the top are several headers, including Main, Overclocking, Advanced, Tool, PC Monitoring, and more. Editable fields are on the left, while descriptions of each selection are on the right. The colors used in the BIOS (black, white and purple) is easy to read and match the brand colors. Most options are found under the sub-heading(s), and you do not have to dig down to find commonly used features. That said, CPU, DRAM, and Voltage have their sections. We didn’t have any issues inside this BIOS.

Software

On the software side, NZXT uses an all-in-one utility named CAM. The CAM utility controls RGB lighting, overclocking, power, audio, fan speed and more. On the left side of are menus/sections, while the right side displays information and is where adjustments happen. Overall, the software worked well in our limited use during testing. To get the most out of it, you can sign up/in to the software. It does work offline/without an account as well–and we hope NZXT maintains the offline capability.

Test System / Comparison Products

We’ve updated our test system to Windows 11 64-bit OS with all updates applied. We kept the same Asus TUF RTX 3070 video card from our previous testing platforms but updated the driver to version 496.13. Additionally, our game selection has been updated, as noted in the table below. We use the latest non-beta motherboard BIOS available to the public unless otherwise noted. The hardware we used is as follows:

EVGA supplied our Supernova 850W P6 power supply (appropriately sized and more efficient than the outgoing 1.2KW monster we used) for our test systems, and G.Skill sent us a DDR5-5600 (F5-5600U3636C16GX2-TZ5RK) memory kit for testing.

Benchmark Settings

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Our standard benchmarks and power tests are performed using the CPU’s stock frequencies (including any default boost/turbo), with all power-saving features enabled. We set optimized defaults in the BIOS and the memory by enabling the XMP profile. For this baseline testing, the Windows power scheme is set to balanced (default), so the PC idles appropriately. 

To get the most out of the Intel Alder Lake chips, you need to be on Windows 11 with its updated scheduler. In most cases, Windows 10 performs well. However, some tests (Cinebench R20, Corona and POVRay) take a significant hit. In short, if you’re going with Alder Lake, you must upgrade to Windows 11 for the best results across the board. That may change with patching and updates in the future, though.

Synthetic Benchmarks

Synthetics provide a great way to determine how a board runs, as identical settings should produce similar performance results. Turbo boost wattage and advanced memory timings are places where motherboard makers can still optimize for either stability or performance, though, and those settings can impact some testing.

Results in our synthetic benchmarks were average to slightly below average for DDR4-based results. POV-Ray showed a solid result, as did the Procyon Office tests. However, the rest tested a bit slower than other like boards. That said, the results here aren’t far off from the mean, so it’s not like any aspect is way out of whack.

Timed Applications

In our timed applications, the N5 did well overall, showing good results in Corona (52 seconds is average), and our LAME test was the 2nd fastest so far. On the other hand, both Handbrake tests were some of the slowest we’ve seen on this platform. In any heavily multi-threaded tests, the board seems to struggle more than others. It ran at 4.8 GHz during our stress testing (as opposed to 4.9 GHz like most other boards), which is a big part of why some tests were slower.

3D Games and 3DMark

Starting with the launch of the Z690 chipset, we’ve updated our game tests, switching to Far Cry 6 and shifting from F1 2020 to F1 2021. We run the games at 1920x1080 resolution using the Ultra preset (details listed above). As the resolution goes up, the CPU tends to have less impact. The goal with these settings is to determine if there are differences in performance at the most commonly used resolution with settings most people use or strive for. We expect the difference between boards in these tests to be minor, with most falling within the margin of error differences. We’ve also added a minimum FPS value, as that can affect your gameplay and immersion experience.

In F1 2021, the N5 Z690 averaged 164 frames per second (fps) with minimums of 140 fps, an average result. In Far Cry 6, results were also average at 137 fps, with the minimum right up there with the rest. In the synthetic benchmarks, the board scored 14,255 in Time Spy and 16,949 in Fire Strike Extreme. The Time Spy results were lower than average, but Fire Strike was right in line. If you plan to game on this motherboard, it’s just as fast as others.

Power Consumption / VRM Temperatures

We used AIDA64’s System Stability Test with Stress CPU, FPU and Cache enabled for power testing, using the peak power consumption value. The wattage reading is from the wall via a Kill-A-Watt meter to capture the entire PC minus the monitor. The only variable that changes is the motherboard; all other parts are the same.

At idle, the N5 consumed 55W, which is on the good side of average among similar Z690 boards. Load wattage peaked at 326W, also around the average of these overclocking-capable boards. There’s nothing out of line when it comes to power consumption here.

During stock stress testing, for the first time since the EVGA Z690 Dark K|ngP|n, we didn’t run into thermal throttling! This is one of the rare few boards not to throttle the processor out of the box due to high temperatures. VRM temperatures were hot, reaching nearly 80 degrees Celsius when overclocked. Those temperatures are within specification for the MOSFETs, but not by much. Keep some good airflow across the VRMs if you plan on pushing this system with all cores and threads.

Overclocking

Overclocking with Alder Lake is slightly different from what we’re used to due to the hybrid core configuration. Now, you can overclock the P and E cores separately, though they both use the same voltage domain. You can push one and not the other, or both, so there’s some flexibility. We set an overclock to 5.1 GHz across all P-cores and 4.1Ghz on all E-cores. This yields a 200 MHz bump on the P-cores and a 400 MHz increase on the E-cores. We’re topped out on the P-cores, primarily due to temperatures, but the more efficient E-cores still have some headroom.

Overclocking our Intel Core i9-12900K with the N5 proved easy as any other board. We manually set our voltage, and off we went. We ended up using LLC1 with a Vcore of 1.275V. According to CPU, we ended up with 1.257V. There’s still some vdroop left even with the LLC cranked, but that’s almost expected with the VRM configuration. Also worth noting: The MOSFETs ran hot, approaching 80 degrees Celsius, which is still in spec. But again, if you’re overclocking heavily, be sure to have good airflow inside the chassis.

On the memory side, we dropped our GSkill DDR4-4000 sticks in, enabled XMP, and went off without issue. Of course, the middling DDR4-3600 kit worked fine for our testing too. NZXT lists support to well over value-focused speeds, so we expect there’s some headroom left if you want to push the memory higher.

Bottom Line

Although the NZXT N5 Z690 arrived more than fashionably late to the Alder Lake party, the budget-class Z690 board walks in sporting NZXT’s signature style with an all-black PCB. And in the case of our ‘white’ N5, white accents (the N7 white is more white!). It looks much better than the Z690 Phantom Gaming 4 it looks to be based on, that’s for sure. But it’s not all about looks. NZXT’s board has a slew of M.2 storage, Wi-Fi 6E, and a sub-$240 price point that’s easy on the wallet.

Our testing showed the performance in most tests was average, with some slips in heavily threaded applications. Unless you’re grinding that type of workflow, you’d never know the N5 was on the slower side of average in some tests. That said, with some simple adjustments it’s just as performant in those tests as well. If gaming performance is a primary concern, there’s nothing to worry about right out of the box.

There are several boards around this price point, one from all the four major brands. ASRock has the Z690 Extreme ($239.99) and Asus  the Prime Z690-P WiFi D4 ($224.99). Gigabyte offers the Z690 Aorus Elite AX DDR4 ($239.99), and MSI brings the MAG Z690 Tomahawk WIFI DDR4 ($259.99). All listed boards are more than capable of supporting our i9-12900K processor, including when overclocking. Some VRMs are better than others, but in the end, all of these options are limited by CPU cooling. The only board with four M.2 sockets to match the NZXT is the MSI Tomahawk. It also sports the best audio codec as well. The other board with Wi-Fi 6E like our N5 is ASRock’s Z690 Extreme.  Only the Z690 Extreme and Z690 Aorus Elite have integrated RGBs. As usual, which is the best motherboard for you comes down to what you need for your system and what features you want the most. And of course, looks matter as well if you have a case with a window.

The NZXT N5 Z690 is an affordable option in the Z690 board space. While performance isn’t the best we’ve tested, you should only notice a difference in long-running, heavily multi-threaded tests. Gaming performance was spot on, as were all of the other tests. Hardware-wise, it has fast Wi-Fi 6E and plenty of M.2 storage. While the appearance may be a bit flat compared to others, it still makes for a lovely centerpiece for your build, especially inside one of NZXT’s chassis. If you’re looking to buy into Alder Lake without breaking the bank, especially if you prefer M.2 storage, the N5 is a solid option in the sub-$250 price range.

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PC components stalwarts NZXT and Alphacool have launched new thermal pastes. NZXT's new paste — its first-ever thermal paste — is dull-but-descriptively named NZXT High-performance Thermal Paste ($9.99/3g, $19.99/15g). Alphacool claims its new thermal paste, called Alphacool Apex Thermal Paste (€14.99/4g), is the best non-liquid metal thermal paste. Both thermal pastes are electrically non-conductive and are touted as easy to apply, with long-term stability.

The thermal compound that you put between your CPU and cooler (or in re-pasting your GPU, or laptop) can make a significant difference to cooling performance, so it's worth considering carefully when you build or maintain a PC. We tested over 90 different pastes (thermal and non — we even tested toothpaste) in our exhaustive round-up of the best thermal pastes, published earlier today. However, NZXT and Alphacool's new products have somewhat spoiled the comprehensiveness of our coverage — we'll have to test them once we get our hands on them.

Over recent years there have been some esoteric pastes made with materials such as diamond and liquid metal (which can be hazardous due to electrical conductivity and chemical reactions with aluminum). These new pastes from NZXT and Alphacool are more traditional: non-electrically conductive, non-corrosive, and easy to apply and clean off.

For a better handle on the new thermal pastes and how they compare, take a look at the specs.

The new Alphacool Apex thermal paste has a much higher claimed thermal conductivity value, and its marketing material asserts it is "one of the best performing thermal pastes on the market," which is only beaten by liquid metal alternatives. Meanwhile, the slightly cheaper (much cheaper if you buy it in bulk) NZXT High-performance Thermal Paste has thermal conductivity on a par with PC-builder-favorite Arctic MX-5 — so its performance is by no means poor.

NZXT says its paste uses zinc oxide, liquid polymer, and aluminum material. Alphacool isn't as forthcoming with its ingredients, and instead says that its thermal paste is formulated using "a nano-powder with a very low thermal impedance." So, it looks like Alphacool's new paste relies on nanotechnology-boosted thermal conductance.

If you're not sold on NZXT's first foray into the market or Alphacool's nanotech-infused secret sauce, we suggest going for one of the picks in our best thermal pastes round-up (not toothpaste).

NZXT has readied its new N5 and N7 series motherboards featuring Intel's Z690 chipset. The company admits the N5 and N7 series Z690 motherboards represent a "long awaited update," for Intel's 12th gen Core Alder Lake processors. This handsome duo is very welcome: Alder Lake chips are still very strongly ranked among the best CPUs for gaming in 2022, and Intel's 13th gen Core Raptor Lake processors should also fit Z690 motherboards.

The NZXT N5 Z690 and N7 Z690 are very similar, but the latter is a rung above the former with features such as a stronger power phase design, better audio, and a super clean look with the PCB largely covered by matte white or matte black finished metal armor. For a clearer comparison between the NZXT N5 Z690 and N7 Z690, check out the specs:

NZXT is sticking with DDR4 for its Z690 motherboards. This is a pragmatic choice, and you can read an in-depth analysis of DDR4 vs DDR5 in our Intel Alder Lake RAM guide.

The first difference highlighted in the specs table concerns the power design. With more power phases and premium 2oz copper PCB, the N7 should be better for CPU overclocking, providing greater stability at higher clock speeds.

Next up, the configuration of storage expansion options varies between the two motherboards. The cheaper NZXT N5 Z690 benefits from an extra M.2 storage slot that supports both PCIe 4.0 x4 and SATA drives. The N7 Z690 strikes back with more powerful Wi-Fi, more/faster USB ports, and an upgraded on-board audio solution. The audio differences will be important to those who aren't going to fit a PCIe sound card or use an external sound card.

NZXT also wants to highlight the built-in RGB headers and control options offered on both these motherboards. They both support four RGB lighting channels and seven fan channels configurable through NZXT CAM.

The new NZXT N5 and N7 Z690 series motherboards are available now, direct from the maker, in black or white finishes. The N5 costs $239.99 and the N7 costs $299.99.

If you're looking for a motherboard and NZXT's new boards don't appeal to you, take a look at our Best Motherboards 2022 for Gaming, by Socket and Chipset.

In the DIY PC market, NZXT’s cases tend to land somewhere between cult following and industry-leading icons. While its H series of cases have undergone many revisions, the silhouette always looks the same–the differences are down to details and internals. This holds true for the company’s new H7 case, but the airflow-focused H7 Flow is a bit more interesting–and an excellent quiet performer, as our testing will show. 

While we’ve seen prices increase on almost everything in the last couple of years, the new H7 and H7 Flow arrive at a respectable price of $130. Both cases come with two exceptional 120mm stock case fans (which we’ll see in detail in our testing section), spare SSD sleds and much more room for cooling than the H710 and H710i cases they’re replacing. There’s also a new $200 H7 Elite with a glass front. But we’ll be focusing primarily on the arflow-focused H7 Flow for this review, to find out if its balance of performance, features and fairly affordable price will land NZXT a spot on our best PC cases list. Let’s take a close look.

Specifications of the NZXT H7 Flow

Features of the NZXT H7 Flow

The H7 Flow is a mid-tower ATX chassis that takes inspiration from last year’s H510 Flow, with various improvements and a larger size. While the H510 Flow is a decent case, there was plenty of room for improvement–and no room for proper radiator support at the top. However, with the bigger H7 Flow, there’s a ton of radiator space at the top, which we’ll elaborate on later.

Unlike most of NZXT’s cases, the tempered glass side panel on the H7 Flow extends to the bottom of the chassis. This is complemented well by the perforated front panel which also runs down the entire front of the case.

At first, I was a bit indifferent about the look of the front panel on the H7 Flow. However, after running our thermal tests, I have to credit NZXT for not taking the easy way out by using a fine mesh front panel. The perforated metal, combined with the fans, clearly do a good job. Overall, the front panel grew on me, and can look great with a dab of RGB.

Since the H7 Flow doesn’t rely on a mesh front panel that doubles as a dust filter, there are filters behind the front and top panel, as well as the PSU intake. You’ll also find a tiny filter underneath the case used for bottom intake, even though there aren’t any fan mounts at the bottom.

The top IO is about what you’d expect, which is to say nothing remarkable. You get two USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A (5Gbps) ports, one USB Type-C (10Gbps) and the usual headset/audio jack. It would be nice to see more and different ports here, but given the restrictions of most motherboards, adding more ports here would just mean most users wouldn’t be able to plug them in to use them, or be forced to buy something more expensive to make use of them.

Internal Layout

The NZXT H7 Flow isn’t the smallest mid-tower, nor is it too big at 19.8 x 9.1 x 18.9 inches (505 x 230 x 480mm). However, I found the size of this case to be perfect for building in. When I was building in the H7, I didn’t realize until I finished that only 25 minutes had passed, including time spent removing my hardware from the previous case.

While this case comes with the usual NZXT cable routing trenches, it has all of the front panel connects grouped together into one cable, which saved me so much time and I wish more companies did this.

According to NZXT, the H7 series cases can fit SSR-CEB/EEB (E-ATX) motherboards, but as usual if you genuinely want E-ATX support without dealing with things like blocked cable routing holes or other serious clearance issues, you should opt for a full-tower case truly designed for big motherboards. Our standard ATX Gigabyte Aorus Z690 Ultra fit like a glove in the NZXT H7 Flow. CPU and GPU clearance is generous, at 7.2 inches (183mm) and 15.7 inches (398mm), respectively. To give some perspective, I was able to fit our triple-fan Gigabyte RTX 3070 Ti Gaming OC graphics card and Noctua U12S air cooler without any issues. But, if you’re buying this case, wouldn’t you rather take advantage of the perforated top panel by using one of the best AIO coolers, complete with RGB?

Behind the motherboard tray is where you’ll find two pre-installed 2.5-inch SSD sleds (two more are in the box), a 3.5-inch hard drive cage and the cable management cutouts. Cable management was a breeze in the NZXT H7 Flow (pun somewhat intended). According to NZXT, the cable channels have been widened a bit, which helped because there isn’t a ton of space behind the motherboard. After tidying the cables, I snapped the front and rear side panels back into place without any issues, so the tool-less side panel installation worked well.

NZXT H7 Flow Cooling

Last year, we took a look at the NZXT H510 Flow, which delivered good thermals. However, the perforations on the top panel were limited to one 140mm fan. With the H7 Flow, we get a perforated top panel that extends far enough for 3x 120 or 2x 140mm fans, or one 360mm radiator. The fan support in the front has also been increased from the H710, from two 140 to three 140mm fans (or up to three 120mm). The rear supports either one 120mm or one 140mm fan.

NZXT was generous enough two include two of its F120Q Airflow case fans with the H7 Flow, and while they’re 3-pin, they’re surprisingly excellent. First off, the fans are dead-silent even at the maximum RPM of 1,200. The spinners also moved air through the chassis exceptionally well in our testing for stock case fans, which you’ll see in the thermals section. I’m really impressed by the F120Q case fans because even though they’re not 4-pin/PWM, they get the job done well beyond my expectations.

Testing Hardware

We’ve updated our testing hardware to use Intel’s 12 Gen “Alder Lake” platform, which has shaken up the desktop landscape (and taken prominent spots on our best CPUs for gaming list). We’re now using a Core i7-12700KF, which is being cooled by a Noctua U12s air cooler. Our graphics card is a Gigabyte RTX 3070 Ti Gaming OC.

Acoustic Results for the NZXT H7

Our acoustic test consists of three scenarios: We run the CPU at full load, the CPU and GPU at full load, and an optimized mode. The CPU full load test runs the CPU and case fans at their maximum speed. For the CPU and GPU full load acoustic test, we also stress the Gigabyte RTX 3070 Ti Gaming OC and set the fans at 75% speed, because in gaming the fans never run at 100 percent and are far too loud when they do.

For the optimized mode, we run the GPU fan speed at 30 % and run the CPU and included case fans at their lowest spinning speed.

The NZXT H7’s design is very skeletal– especially the front panel, which is nearly all perforated. Because of that, I wasn’t expecting a quiet case, but I was wrong– very wrong. Now, this case isn’t quite church mouse-level silent, but for an airflow-focused case, I’m quite impressed. The only case that goes toe-to-toe with the H7 Flow on our chart is the Hyte Y60, but two of its three included fans are in the basement, and it has a whole lot more glass going on to keep the noise down.

Thermal Results for the NZXT H7 Flow

For the thermal tests, all case and CPU fan speeds are set to 100%. The Core i7-12700K is set at a 4.7GHz clock at 1.3v on all performance cores to ensure consistent power consumption across test scenarios. Letting the GPU run at 75% fan speed enables it to maintain its power target while sticking to one set reasonable fan speed, so that the temperature is the only variable.

The H7 Flow comes with two F120Q Airflow case fans and even though they’re just 3-pin, the F120s spun at a respectable 1,200 RPM and moved air in and out of the case effortlessly.

The H7 Flow’s thermal performance is interesting, because the other cases on the chart, besides the Y60, deliver brute-force airflow, especially the Fractal Torrent Compact with its 160mm fans and the Cooler Master HAF 700 Evo, which has two 200mm spinners. However, the H7 Flow has just two 120mm 3-pin fans and stands competitive against those two airflow beasts. And with this case’s MSRP of $130, that’s cheap enough to buy some extra cooling for even better performance, and still come out ahead of the competition on price.

Bottom Line

NZXT’s H series has been tinkered with many times over the years. And with the performance of the new H7 Flow, it’s clear the company’s iconic design can evolve and continue to impress with the changing market and growing thermal demands of today’s high-end hardware. There really aren’t many bad things to say about the NZXT H7 Flow. It’s relatively affordable, impressed during testing, and importantly in my eyes, it takes a different approach to airflow with a perforated metal front and top, rather than boring (and potentially restricting) fine mesh.

If you’re not into the perforated design of the H7 Flow or if thermals are less of a concern, then it’s still worth taking a look at the regular H7 as well. It may lack the perforated front, but comes with everything else its airflow-focused sibling delivers, at the same pleasing price.

This Friday I've found deals on components that are all colored white for those who are looking to perhaps assemble a clean white PC build that looks icy cool and reflects RGB like there's no tomorrow. Starting off the list, we have the Asus Prime Z690-A for $279 from Newegg. This white and black mobo will look great in a white ATX case such as the NZXT H510i at $98 also from Newegg. 

To cool the CPU and provide some of the flashing RGB (also in white) we have a giant 360mm AIO cooler in the form of Corsair's iCUE H150i Elite Capellix Liquid CPU Cooler, that's on sale for $184 from Amazon.

Unfortunately, some of these components are more expensive than the same model in a default black color — which means you would have to pay more to get the all-white look you're after.

Check below for more white components including some DDR5 RAM and a PSU.

TL;DR — Today’s Best Deals

• Asus Prime Z690-A Motherboard (White): was $299, now $279 at Newegg
• NZXT H510i ATX Mid Tower Case (White): was $109, now $98 at Newegg
• Corsair iCUE H150i Elite Capellix Liquid CPU Cooler (White): was $199, now $184 at Amazon
• Corsair Vengeance 32GB DDR5 5600MHz RAM Kit (White): now $287 at Corsair
• Corsair RM850 850W Power Supply (White): was $139, now $132 at Amazon

Today’s best deals in detail

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NZXT has been expanding beyond cases and cooling for a few years now, releasing a handful of motherboards and microphones. But with its move into keyboards, the company seems a bit more bold and confident. The NZXT Function line launched in three sizes: 100%, TKL and a slightly smaller MiniTKL version that saves space by bunching all the keys up against each other. They're offered in black or white options similar to NZXT's motherboards, and there's a surprising amount of customizability for a mainstream mechanical keyboard line. It's clear the company is aiming for a spot on our best gaming keyboards list.   

Retail models will ship with linear Gateron Red switches. But if you order direct from NZXT you can choose between five different switches, five accent keycaps and removable cable colors (so you can match or mismatch as you like), and two shades of dye-sublimated PBT keycaps (the retail models ship with glossy ABS caps). But perhaps most impressively, all of the Function keyboards feature swappable switches so that you can easily change up the feel of the keyboard later on by buying and popping in something new. The keyboards include key and switch pullers that make this process easy.

In a unique design decision, there's a rubberized volume roller mounted on the upper-left corner to make it easier to adjust audio without moving your hands off your mouse. While its placement is novel and took a bit to get used to, I didn't mind the roller on the left, where you'll also find a few small buttons for mute, Windows key locking, and backlight brightness.

But apart from the swappable switch sockets (which are still fairly uncommon in the mainstream gaming keyboard space), the Function keyboards offer little to help them stand out in a very crowded market. If you like the way they look and you want to dip your toe into the custom keyboard world by trying out some different switches, any of the NZXT Function keyboards are worth considering. But if you aren't going to swap switches, there are better options that cost less.

NZXT Function Specs

Models and Customization Options for the NZXT Function

NZXT sells the Function keyboard in three sizes, and the company seemingly got some pushback after the initial launch that has caused it to revisit pricing. As of this writing, the Mini TKL version was $99.99 on Amazon, while the TKL and full-size model were both $129.99. That makes the MiniTKL I'll be focusing on in this review arguably the most appealing, but note that it lacks a wrist rest, while the larger models have a rubberized magnetic wrist rest that's nice, but a bit narrow.

Another wrinkle to keep in mind is that those prices are for the standard retail versions of the keyboards, which come in black or white, with black ABS shine-through keycaps. The company also lets you customize versions of the Function keyboards on its own site, letting you choose from Gateron Red, Blue or Brown switches for $20 (or Gateron Aliaz Silent or Blacks for $60-$80 more). With the custom option, you also get the choice of a gray metal top plate in addition to the black or white of the retail models. You can also pick black or gray keycaps ($50) which are a nicer PBT plastic but lack the shine-through legends. And because the RGB backlighting here isn't all that bright to begin with, the PBT keycaps really dull the backlight glow.

Other options when going the customization route through NZXT include six accent keycaps ($20) and a USB-C/USB-A cable ($20) in your choice of five colors other than the basic black. All these customization options make you feel like you're getting something tailored to your tastes. But it also basically doubles the price over the $99 retail model. The model NZXT sent my way with a black plate, gray caps, brown switches and red accent caps and a cable lands at $190. If I wanted NZXT to put it all together for me (which I wouldn't because it was easy and fun to do myself) that would add another $10 to the price.

As much as I like the look of the keycaps, extra keys and the red cable, I definitely don't like them $100 more than the $100 base model. Even though the keycaps on the retail models are slick, shiny and pick up fingerprints seemingly faster than my fingers can type.

Design of the NZXT Function

Regardless of which model of the Function you opt for, you get the same pleasingly rubberized volume rocker that lives in the upper-left corner of the keyboard, off the edge of the escape key. NZXT says this placement is optimized for gamers, presumably because you don't have to take your hand off your mouse to use it. But you still need to move your hand away from the WASD and/or number keys (depending on which kind of game you're playing). So I'm not sure how much better this actually is for gamers, though I found myself liking the placement here well enough after a couple days of adjustment.

Below the wheel, along the left edge of the keyboard, are three round buttons that, from bottom to top, adjust backlight brightness (four levels, plus off), lock the Windows key and mute your audio. Again, I'm not sure if this is any better or worse than placing these buttons elsewhere on the keyboard. But with the MiniTKL model I tested, there is no available space around any of the keys to add extra buttons or lights.

In fact, the MiniTKL version has the keys so close to one another that there's no room even for an LED to indicate Caps Lock. It would be nice if NZXT had, say, made the caps lock switch's LED turn when it was enabled, but as it stands your only indication that caps lock is on is when your keyboard makes it seem like you're shouting everything that you type.. 

In terms of build quality, all of the models feel good, though not quite great. The top plate is metal, which makes for a solid feel, but the rest of the housing is plastic. The bottom has four rubber slip-resistant pads to keep the keyboard from sliding around, and there are flip-up feet at the back that are made of sturdy plastic and feature two levels of lift. One of the more annoying things about the feel of the keyboard out of the box is the feel of the stabilizers on the larger keys (space, enter, shift, etc.). They're noisy, don't feel great, and are in desperate need of a bit of lubing. This won't bother everyone, but for those who've used high-end custom keyboards, or who are sensitive to keyboard sound, you'll definitely feel and hear it.

Except for the USB-C port for the removable 80-inch braided cable, that's it for external features. There are no pass-through USB or audio ports. And while you can control media with the keyboard, that's done through secondary function keys in the upper right that do double duty as print screen, scroll lock and pause.

Sweet Hot-Swappable Switches

With the main exterior features of the Function keyboards out of the way, it's time to dig below the surface to one of the lineup's stand-out features: its swappable switches. There are some mainstream and/or gaming mechanical keyboards that have swappable switches, like Logitech's G Pro X. And there are dozens of more niche custom keyboard kits that let you swap switches. But this feature is still fairly rare in mainstream, gaming-focused keyboards, and I applaud the fact that NZXT has included swappable switches across its current keyboard lineup. The company even includes both keycap and key pullers in the box to make the process as easy as possible.

As noted, I chose Gateron Brown switches with the custom MiniTKL keyboard. And they're perfectly fine as browns go: tactile, quiet, and kinda boring. But I ordered Holy Panda X switches from Drop a month or so before NZXT's keyboards arrived, and they happened to show up in my mailbox the day after I started testing the Function keyboards. So of course I pulled out the browns and dropped in the new switches.

The process of swapping the switches was straightforward and took about half an hour, first pulling the keycaps (which mount surprisingly tightly on the standard Cherry-style stems) and then pulling the switches by grabbing the tabs at the top and bottom of each switch with the supplied puller. Popping in the new switches (yellow stemmed in the image above) was super simple, requiring just that the pins were oriented at the bottom and that you press them in from above rather than at an angle. The hardest bit by far was putting the keycaps back on correctly when I was done. 

While this isn't a review of the Holy Panda X switches, I like them much better than boring browns (they have more resistance and a much springier return, making them feel and sound more satisfying). I also like the idea that, should I buy other switches in the future, I could have a keyboard that's drastically different in less than an hour.

Gaming and Typing Experience on the NZXT Function

My experience using the Function MiniTKL keyboard was mixed, but mostly positive. There are slight quirks with the layout, some of which are more odd than annoying. The right shift key, for instance, is larger than the left one, taking up the space of three regular-sized keys. This bothered me more visually than anything. But the delete key being one column in and three keys down from the top corner annoyed me when writing or editing. That's in part because my daily driver is the Keychron K2, where delete lives in the top row. I used the company's CAM software (more on that shortly) to remap the pause key in the upper-right corner to function as delete to mitigate this issue. But after a couple days, I started getting used to the location of the actual delete key. Since that was my primary frustration, I'm sure I'd be fine with the MiniTKL's layout if I were using this keyboard for work or gaming long-term.

I also put the Function through several hours of gaming, with RTS titles like Stronghold 3 and They Are Billions, as well as the punishing RPG Elden Ring. The brown switches might not be to everyone's gaming taste, but since I am not a competitive esports player, I actually prefer their tactility–although I still like the Holy Panda Xs I swapped into the keyboard better. 

The volume rocker on the left edge is supposedly designed to be easier for gamers to use since you don't need to move your hand off the mouse. But I generally adjust the volume to a good level before I start gaming, so I can't say that its placement here was particularly better than having the roller on the right. But I didn't mind its placement here.

Since there is no dedicated bank of macro keys or other gaming-specific features, there wasn't a whole lot that stood out, good or bad, about the Function keyboard when it came to gaming. It's solid, generally feels good, and the MiniTKL model doesn't take up much space on your desk. And while there aren't any gaming-specific keys, the layout does include a few keys you could easily map to macros or other functions, like the odd F13 key and the NZXT key, neither of which do anything out of the box. You'll need the company's CAM software to program those keys, which happens to be the subject of the next section.

Software for the NZXT Function

NZXT's CAM software, much like Corsair's iCue or Asus' Armoury Crate, is designed to do a lot–including monitoring your system's temps and performance and power settings, handle overclocking and even launch games. But its functions when it comes to keyboards is a bit limited and feels clunky.

First off on the lighting side, things are about what you'd expect on the surface. You can choose between six presets for color modes, different multi-color options for those color modes, and choose the number of colors the lighting shifts between, as well as the speed and brightness. There is also a Reactive layer that works atop the base layer, letting you configure how the keyboard reacts when keys are pressed, sending say a line or a ripple across the surrounding keys.

Then there's the remapping section, which looks promising but is oddly designed and doesn't let you do as much as you might want to. You remap keys by choosing the action you want to map a key to by first scrolling or searching the list on the left and dragging that button onto the key you want to map to on the keyboard on the right. This works, but feels counterintuitive. It would feel more natural to click a key on the on-screen keyboard, then press the key you want to program that to on the actual keyboard, then click save. The way CAM has this setup feels backwards, though it does work. 

While there are definitely keys begging to be remapped here (the F13 and NZXT keys don't seem to do anything by default), you can't remap the volume wheel or the three buttons on the left edge. That's a shame because I'd prefer to make the lower two control media rather than brightness and Windows key locking. And since I have a standalone USB volume knob at my treadmill desk at home, it would be nice to be able to use the wheel on the Function keyboard to control something else, like zooming in and out in Adobe apps.  You might be able at some point to do this with third-party software like VIA, but at the time of this writing, VIA didn't recognize the MiniTKL keyboard. Given NZXT has its own keyboard software, it's unclear if it will work to support third-party software control.

Conclusion

As an introduction to the enthusiast custom keyboard world, by way of a more mainstream gaming board, NXZXT's Function keyboards hold strong appeal. And the MiniTKL model I tested is unique in that it gives you an extra column of keys over a 75% layout while taking up just an extra inch or so on your desktop.

But the basic retail models of the Function keyboards feel expensive, particularly in the TKL and full-size models, both of which sell for $130. At $99, the retail MiniTKL model is less so, but if you opt for the custom model from NZXT with PBT keycaps and custom accent keys and matching USB cable, the price doubles–or more depending on the switch you choose.

While the left-mounted buttons and volume wheel and buttons are interesting, but not game-changing. So we recommend the Function keyboards only if you like their looks and want to try out different key switches on your own. If that's not something you're sure you want to do, options like Patriot's Viper V765 offer a great, colorful typing experience with interesting switch options and dedicated media control keys and a volume rocker (albeit on the right side not the left) for as little as $78. That makes the Function models, particularly the two larger ones, tough to argue for at $130 and up (customizations cost more), although the $99 base MiniTKL model has a bit more appeal given its lower price and unique size. 

That said, NZXT says it will offer its custom models as barebones kits (without switches or keycaps), starting at $70 for the MiniTKL, $80 for the TKL and $90 for the full-size model. If you are interested in customization and looking for a solid, affordable RGB deck to add your favorite keyboard bits to for an even more customized keyboard experience, those might be the most appealing options in the Function lineup. Especially if you're looking to take a serious step into the enthusiast keyboard world without shelling out hundreds of dollars up front.

Small form factor PCs have become increasingly popular in recent years, especially with the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S consoles proving a capable gaming rig doesn’t have to be huge. This had led many PC enthusiasts to attempt to build the most epic ‘Console Killer!’ The thing is that fitting high-end hardware into a small case and keeping it all cool is easier said than done. 

One of the more popular console-like small form-factor (SFF) cases, the NZXT H1, is back with an updated H1 V2 version that brings minor changes to make it more friendly to today’s big, power-hungry high-end GPUs. It also aims to right the wrongs that plagued the original model, causing it to be recalled due to a fire hazard just about a year ago. 

Since many gamers are looking for that perfect HTPC case or console killer chassis, we need to see if the new H1 can compete with the cases on our Best Mini ITX Cases list. At $400, the H1 is certainly expensive, though it does come with an included 750-watt SFX PSU and AIO CPU cooler. But it faces stiff competition from the likes of Hyte’s Revolt 3. That case is a couple inches deeper front to back, and it doesn’t have a glass panel or an included cooler. But as of this writing, it was selling for just $200 with a 700W SFX power supply of its own.

The H1 V2 will be available in black or white, and should be available in Asia and Europe today. It’s expected to land in US stores a bit later, on February 21st. After the problematic recall of the first iteration of this case, did NZXT come back strong with the V2? Let’s dig in and find out.

NZXT H1 V2 Specifications

Features of NZXT H1 V2

Since this is the second version of the H1, changes were made to the case to make it more practical. NZXT has added a 92 mm exhaust fan to the rear of the case for cooling, whereas the first version didn’t ship with any fans save for the one on the AIO radiator. The chassis is now slightly taller and wider, increasing maximum graphics card size from 12.01 inches (305 mm) on the original to 12.76 inches (324 mm) on the V2 to allow longer graphics cards.

However, the case is still tiny. I don’t have experience with the original H1, but the H1 V2 stands at just 15.9 inches tall and takes up 7.7 x 7.7 inches of desk space. The first version’s dimensions were 15.2 x 7.38 x 7.36 inches, so the size increase is far from substantial. 

The included power supply is still an SFX 80 plus gold, but now it’s 750W, whereas the first was 650W. Again, this wattage increase is to accommodate today’s high-end graphics cards, and it’s certainly welcome. However, we encountered issues, which we’ll discuss later, with the power supply when testing.

NZXT has always done things differently regarding airflow into the case. This is evident by the tempered glass front panels on its H-series cases. Because the H1 cools via intake from the sides, even a small case like this can have a tempered glass front panel. Note we said can, and not should.

The rest of the panels are composed of steel and are pleasingly thick. I have worked with cases that were so flimsy that when you’d handle them or screw fans into them, they would flex or wobble. That’s not an issue here at all.

The sides of the case feature the same airflow design that we saw on its bigger sibling: the NZXT H510 Flow. Yet, we saw this on the previous version of the H1, and when it comes to cooling, NZXT could benefit from a redesign.

The front of the case does feature a tempered glass panel that snaps right in, but I don’t understand its purpose. The glass panel is heavily tinted and seems forced. What I would like to have seen is another airflow panel instead.

The case IO is OK, but not anything to write home about; there are two USB Type-A ports, one USB Type-C connector and an audio jack on the top. The USB-C port supports 3.2 Gen 2, so it can connect at up to 10 Gbps if your motherboard supports it. 

According to NZXT, the issue regarding the riser cable catching fire that plagued the V1 case has been addressed. NZXT even took the liberty of making this version PCIe 4.0 ready. In the interests of not setting our testing room ablaze, we didn’t attempt to inordinately stress the cable,; we just went about building a system in the H1 V2 as normal, and we never encountered any sparks or flames. But that doesn’t mean we didn’t run into issues related to power. More on that soon.

Internal Layout of NZXT H1 V2

Getting access to the inside of the H1 V2 is as simple as popping off the side panels and sliding the steel body off.

Have you ever looked at something and realized that it’s a lot roomier than it looks from the outside? That’s how I felt about the inside of the H1 V2. The main compartment or motherboard tray is covered by the included 140 mm all-in-one liquid cooler.

You access the motherboard tray by lifting the radiator, which is held in by two captive screws. To give you some perspective, it’s kind of like lifting the hood of a car, especially since, when it’s lifted, the motherboard is right there, just like an engine when you pop the hood.

Behind the motherboard tray is where your graphics card will connect via the included PCIe 4.0 riser cable. The H1 V2’s GPU chamber can house graphics cards up to 12.76 inches (324 mm) and 2.38 (58 mm) in width, which is fairly large. We installed a three-fan Gigabyte RTX 3070 TI Gaming OC for our testing and didn’t run into clearance issues. 

The idea of giving the graphics card its own chamber in a case this small is smart, because it keeps it at least somewhat isolated from any heat dispersed from other components. However, NZXT’s approach to this could be improved. I’ll elaborate on that later on.

Underneath the case is where your motherboard’s IO, GPU and PSU connect, and I don’t like this at all. I’m able to give the power supply cable a pass since you’re probably going to plug it in and leave it. But video cables are often stiff, which can make the right turn necessary here a pain point for the cable, and any USB device swapping later on that you don’t want to plug into the top ports will mean having to lift up or tip down the whole case to plug things in.

Granted, this is a similar layout to many vertical SFF towers, including the Revolt 3 and the Ssupd Meshlicous. But there’s no denying you’re giving up a lot of convenience in terms of port access for the sake of a system with a small footprint. Just keep that in mind if you’re considering any of these cases. 

The H1 V2 has just enough room for two 2.5-inch drives,which are stowed away in a little cage next to the SFX power supply. While this may not sound like much, you need to consider how much space a drive cage takes up. Plus, most ITX motherboards these days have connectors for more than one M.2 drive, so two additional drive slots are good enough for most modern builders looking specifically for a compact PC.

Cable Management on NZXT H1 V2

Cable managing any small form factor PC is a bigger chore than on any mid-tower chassis, due to the lack of cable room. The thing is, NZXT did a fantastic job by pre-routing the power supply cables on the H1 V2, which allowed me to connect to my motherboard without any extra tugging or twisting.

Because I wasn’t running with any SATA drives, I could tuck away the excess PCIe cables and whatnot into the SSD compartment. When I opened up the SSD compartment door, I was pleasantly surprised to see that this is where all of the fan cables were connected. I’m not exactly sure how, but NZXT was able to build its Smart Device V2 (a fan and RGB hub) into a door that covers your SSDs.

Another neat feature in the H1 V2 is the layout of the AIO. I love how the AIO’s tubes bow outward when this case is closed– it reminds me a lot of Cad Bane’s breathing tube from Star Wars.Did NZXT intend on having the tubes sit this way? I doubt it, but I like it.

It’s surprising to say that for such a small case that cable management was easier than some mid-tower cases. NZXT did an excellent job pre routing the cables to meet its motherboard connectors. I don’t even want to think of the horror show it must be to get the power supply seated with all of the cables attached, while dealing with the AIO. I’m happy NZXT does this for you, and it makes the case much more new-builder friendly.

To me at least, cable management within ITX cases isn’t as crucial (as long as it doesn’t block airflow) as it can be in a build that’s done in a standard mid-tower, so I’m overall impressed with the cable management on the NZXT H1 V2.

Cooling the NZXT H1 V2

One of the two pieces of extra component hardware that come with the H1 V2 is a 140 mm all-in-one liquid cooler. I understand that some people prefer air cooling over water cooling. Still, water cooling is arguably more practical here because of the case’s size. Plus, with a radiator oriented to exhaust, the heat from the CPU can be pushed out more efficiently than with an air cooler. This time around, NZXT includes a 92 mm exhaust fan to help expel any heat generated by the other components.

We are still waiting on parts for our new Mini ITX testbed, so in the interim we tested the H1 V2 with components we had at hand. The following acoustic and thermal results were performed using a Ryzen 5 2600X and a Gigabyte RTX 3070 Ti Gaming OC. Once we have the full set of new parts, we will re-run these tests for comparison with later reviews.

Acoustic Results for NZXT H1 V2

Our acoustic test consists of three scenarios: We run the CPU at full load, the CPU and GPU at full load, and an optimized mode. The CPU full load test runs the CPU and case fans at their maximum speed. For the CPU and GPU full load acoustic test, we also stress the Gigabyte RTX 3070 TI Gaming OC and set the fans at 75% speed, because in gaming the fans never run at 100 percent and are far too loud when they do.

For the optimized mode, we run the GPU fan speed at 30 percent and run the CPU and included case fans at their lowest speed.

The NZXT H1 surprised me a lot when it came to noise levels. For a chassis that’s composed mostly of thick steel with zero dampening materials at all, this case is hushed. Even when the GPU fans were ramped up to 75%, it was still bearable to my ears. I’m overall stunned and impressed with how well the H1 V2 dampens sound. This is likely one area where the glass helps.

Thermal Results for NZXT H1 V2

For the thermal tests, all case and CPU fan speeds are set to 100 percent. The AMD Ryzen 5 2600X is set at 4.1GHz. Letting the GPU run at 75% fan speed enables it to maintain its power target while sticking to one set of reasonable fan speed so that the temperature is the only variable.

When we got to this part of our testing, our test system suddenly shut down. At first, I figured something overheated and the PC shut down. But when I tried to turn the system back on, nothing happened. 

After hours of troubleshooting, installing the same parts in another system, it was clear that the power supply had died. Now, parts do occasionally die, sometimes when they’re brand-new due to manufacturing flaws or damage during some stage of manufacturing or shipping. Usually, we note this when it happens and warn potential buyers in the review, but don’t hold it against a company or product. 

It’s usually hard to tell if  we just got a rare defective part or if the issue is more widespread. That’s the case here as well. But given the fact that the previous H1 was recalled due to an electrical issue, it’s hard not to worry at least a bit when the followup case has its power supply randomly expire just a few hours into active use. 

I notified NZXT and the company shipped us a new case. We started the testing over and the PSU in our second H1 V2 review unit worked fine–and is still working without issue as of this writing. Still, given the history the H1 line has, it’s hard not to see a random PSU failure as a red flag. 

At the very least, if you opt for the H1 V2, you’ll want to do some stress testing while you’re still in the return window. NZXT does provide a generous 10-year warranty for the power supply, but no one wants to sit around waiting for an RMA with a bunch of PC parts they can’t use until a replacement power supply shows up.

Getting back to the thermal tests, the included 140 mm AIO did a fantastic job keeping our CPU chilled, at 55 degrees Celsius. However, our GPU’s thermals were not great at 77 degrees C, which surprised me since it has its own chamber to cool down in. At the same time, I’m not that surprised because it's not the ideal airflow design if you look at the side panel’s perforated design. 

The case’s holes are too far apart to be ideal for airflow. We were still able to hit our power target, but I needed to bump up the temperature limit in MSI Afterburner to 88 degrees Celsius because its default limit is 83 degrees and I was worried we would hit that.

Bottom Line

The NZXT H1 V2 had a lot of potential, given its similarities to the well-liked design of the previous model, plus the addition of an exhaust fan and a higher-wattage PSU and a little more space for today’s beefy graphics cards. But the demons that haunted the first model may have carried onto this version as well, given that the PSU on our first review unit unexpectedly died in the middleof  our testing. Or maybe I just got a lemon. Who knows? After receiving the second sample, the case worked as intended. 

And even with the power supply problem and the H1’s history aside, $400 is a lot to ask given you can pick up 750W SFX PSUs from Lian Li or EVGA for as little as $120. And while 140 mm AIO coolers are hard to come by, you can get quality 120 mm or 240 mm models for around $100, which leaves you paying about $280 for the case alone. 

Granted, there is some value to be had, especially for novice builders, in the fact that NXZT ships the H1 with the power supply and cooler pre-installed and the cables neatly routed. But the Hyte Revolt 3 comes with a 700W SFX PSU, is a similar size and shape as the H1, currently sells for just $200–and that case has a handle, which can come in handy for both moving the system around or just lifting it to plug something in at the bottom. You’ll have to provide your own cooler with the Hyte, but we’re sure you can afford that given the $300 difference between the two cases.

Cooler Master's Elite 500 ODD case plays in the budget ballpark, at $80, while touching on most necessary traits a mid-tower needs, like up to ATX motherboard support, SSD mounting points, a hard drive cage, PSU shroud, and more. But while affordable cases are always welcome, the budget chassis market is extremely competitive. There are quite a few affordable cases that outperform more-expensive options, including our current best PC case for those on a budget, the Phanteks Eclipse P360A, which delivers better airflow, an extra fan, and RGB, for the same $80.

Arguably the Elite 500 ODD's stand-out feature, especially here in late 2021, is the option to add an optical drive or any 5.25-inch bay accessory in the included single front bay. Besides that, is there anything else that separates the Cooler Master Elite 500 ODD from any budget mid-tower? Let's dig in and find out.

Specifications

At 17.9 x 8.03 x 16.10 inches, the Elite 500 ODD is a relatively small mid-tower, putting it around the same size as the NZXT H510. Even though the Elite 500 ODD is compact compared to most mid-towers, you can still fit up to an ATX motherboard inside, and bigger graphics cards (up to 15.7 inches).

I was able to fit a triple-slot EVGA RTX 2080 TI XC Ultra in the case without any issues, but if you're planning to use one of today's truly massive RTX 3080 Tis, you might want to double-check GPU dimensions before buying this case. But the vast majority of cards, particularly those you're likely to install in a budget case, should fit just fine in this case.

Cooler Master was pretty generous with the cable cut-outs in this case, allowing for cleaner cable routing. I was able to get all of the cables tied up neatly enough that I didn’t have any issues when closing the right side panel.

Design

The Elite 500 ODD is a simple mid-tower chassis. It doesn’t feature any RGB or sound-dampening foam, but it does have a tempered glass side panel to show off your system's internals.

The first thing that caught my eye when I unboxed the case is the fact that it features a 5.25-inch drive bay. Personally, I was very happy to see this because I still like to watch Blu-ray DVDs on my PC.

While the case looks like it’s made of brushed aluminum, the front panel is plastic and in general, the build quality is about what you'd expect from a modern budget mid-tower case. Although there was an issue with the front ports, which I'll touch on shortly.

Generally, for the best airflow possible, you’re better off getting a case with a mesh front panel like the Phanteks P360A, or at least one with better ventilation than what's here. Even though the Elite 500 does have ventilation in the front, it’s not the best. The design of the front panel makes it look like there's plenty of ventilation, but the plastic lines are wider than they look, limiting the volume of fresh air can come in from the front.

This potential airflow issue is exacerbated by the fact that the case comes with just one fan, a 120 mm spinner mounted at the back for exhaust. If you plan on loading this case up with powerful components, at the very least you'll want to spring for a couple of intake fans.

One of the biggest gripes I have with this case is the PCIe slot covers. They don’t screw in like 99.9% of modern cases do. These are cheap metal tabs that you break off and once you do that, you cannot put them back on. This isn't unheard of, but the last time I dealt with a case with this "feature" was in  Corsair's Carbide 88R. That was a $55 case released in 2013.

The front I/O, which resides up above the 5.25-inch bay, could have (really should have) been decent. The Elite 500 ODD comes with two USB 3 Type-A ports, but this review unit came directly from Newegg and one of the ports was bent and broken when I received it. Also here: an audio jack, reset button and a power switch shaped like the Cooler Master logo. Aside from the broken USB port, everything else worked as expected.

The inside the Elite 500 ODD, the design is simple and does the job, offering enough space to fit a standard-sized ATX motherboard. The case also provides pre-installed standoffs and cable cutouts. I’m overall happy with the size of the Elite 500 on the inside, in that it's not massive or cramped. Even though I installed a Micro ATX motherboard, it didn’t look too small for the case.

Underneath the PSU shroud is a hard drive cage that can be moved around to make more room for cables and other components. The cage can house up to two 3.5-inch hard drives or three 2.5-inch SSDs.  SSDs can also be installed directly behind the motherboard tray or to the left of the back side of the motherboard.

Building in the Cooler Master Elite 500 ODD

Building in the Elite 500 was mostly easy--I was only limited in one area, which was radiator placement.

While it's nice to have an optical drive option, it never occurred to me how much space the 5.25-inch drive bay took up until I went to install the 240 mm Corsair H100i AIO liquid cooler. You do have a couple of options with mounting a mid-size radiator in this case, but neither is ideal.

The first option is mounting the radiator to the front of the case.While it’s of course better to mount radiators to the top, mounting it to the front allows you to keep the optical drive drive bay. The second option is to remove the drive bay, which will allow for you to fit the radiator up top, but then you lose one of this case's key selling points. If you decide to go with the second option, at least Cooler Master does provide a cover for the empty front bay.

Mounting fans on the top of the case was as easy. While the case supports up to two 140mm fans, I installed a Noctua NF-P12 120mm case fan at the top for exhaust because it was what I had on hand. I could’ve mounted another fan up top, but I wanted to maintain equal air pressure.

As I said, I like having 5.25-inch drive bays, but when I installed my Blu-ray drive into this case, the cutout on the front was a bit too wide. Even though the Blu-ray player stayed in place once isntalled, it looked a bit weird. There's something to be said about the more modern and clean case front aesthetic.

The SSDs attach via four rubber grommets that grip on to four standoff-looking screws that go into the bottom of your SSD. I was a bit concerned about whether these screws would hold my SSD, but they did

Installing SSDs can be done in three ways in this case: either in the hard drive cage, on the back of the motherboard tray or just to the left of the back of motherboard area.

Generally, the main fan on your power supply should be installed facing downward, to allow fresh air to be pulled in from the bottom. But Cooler Master gives you the option to have airflow with the fan facing upward as well. The PSU shroud has some ventilation holes above the PSU mounting area. I'm not sure why you'd want to do this, but it's an option I guess.

I mentioned earlier how the expansion slot covers were the ones you pop out and don't screw back in again. That's a problem because, when I first installed the EVGA RTX 2080 Ti XC Ultra GPU, I accidentally popped out the wrong slot cover. Normally, that wouldn’t be an issue because in other cases you can just screw the slot cover back on -- but not here. Did this affect the performance of the case? No, but I hate when I see cases with open expansion card slots.

Something else that's worth mentioning, which I also see too often from even higher-end cases like my $200 Enthoo 719: When I was screwing in the top fan, I noticed that the metal was very thin. Even though it didn’t bend out of shape, it sure was flimsy. But given the price and the fact that this happens with cases that cost much more, it's hard to knock Cooler Master much for it here in an $80 budget option.

Cooler Master didn’t include much with this case besides one 3-pin 120mm rear exhaust fan. The quality of the fan is what you’d expect out of an $80 case, but I honestly recommend that you pick up some better quality spinners, like a five-pack of Arctic P12 PWM fans for just $31.

Besides the one fan, Cooler Master includes some extra cable ties, screws and rubber grommets to help dampen vibrations from hard drives.

Cable Management

Proper cable management can be far from easy in many cases, but routing cables within the Elite 500 was simple. I didn’t have any issues aside from looks, as there are no grommets to help disguise the cutouts. In this build, I was using a non-modular power supply, so I had more cables stuffed in the case than I wanted. And even though the drive cage is moveable to allow for more cable space, I didn’t need to move it, and the rear side panel closed with ease.

I am by no means a cable management expert, especially when there’s an AIO with RGB cables involved, but Cooler Master did a good enough job here, providing an ample amount of cable room and tie points behind the motherboard panel.

Cooling

Despite the deceptively vented front panel and the limited (unless modified) radiator mounting potential, the Elite 500 does offer room for up to two 140 mm fans on the top and front of the case, and there's one 120 mm in the rear.

The Elite 500 has a vertical CPU cooler clearance of 161mm (6.34 inches), so my Noctua NH-D15 Chromax didn't fit, but but there is room for some of the air coolers on our Best CPU Coolers list, like the Zalman CNPS10x Performa Black. So if you're going to go the air-cooling route, you have quite a few options here.

As noted earlier, the front panel of the Elite 500 ODD is ventilated, but I wouldn’t say that it’s ideal for airflow. It’s better than a glass front panel, but with a radiator placed in the front, I never felt like the Corsair ML120 Pro fans were generating enough static pressure without getting extremely loud. Again, if you are going to install lots of high-end hardware, and particularly if you plan on overclocking, you should consider other case options, or at the very least get some good 140 mm fans to mount in the front to maximize airflow.

Finished Build and Conclusion

Cooler Master’s Elite 500 ODD is very easy to build in and has a decent amount of cable management to help even the messiest of builders. But that said, even for just $80 the Elite 500 ODD cuts too many corners in terms of design and build quality to be truly competitive with the best cases in this price range. 

The front panel looks more ventilated than it is, and the pop-out PCIe slot covers feel like a holdover from budget cases from a decade ago. I do like that Cooler Master incorporates a 5.25-inch drive bay. But unless you truly need an optical drive,  the Corsair 4000D is a much better case for about $10 more. It comes with two fans rather than one, has even better cable management, sports a USB-C port. The Corsair also looks and feels more refined overall, and it lets you mount your graphics card vertically, provided you bring your own riser cable. And again, the Phanteks P360A is a great case for the same $80 as the Elite 500 ODD.

But if you're specifically in need of a budget case that has an optical drive bay, you're putting together a budget or mid-range system and you don't have a lot of building experience, the Cooler Master Elite 500 ODD is a decent option. But you should probably stick to air cooling if you're going to keep that 5.25-inch bay, and maybe find some old fans to install in the front to improve airflow from the front panel. And if you don't need that optical drive bay, there are definitely better options in the sub-$100 PC case space.

In conjunction with Intel’s Alder Lake CPU announcements, motherboard partners have pulled back the curtain on dozens of new Z690-based motherboards to go along with the upcoming 12th Gen chips. The new motherboards support the latest and greatest technologies from the new processor, including a bump to PCIe DDR5 (some motherboards have DDR4 support, more on that later), PCIe 5.0 and upgraded power delivery. Although there’s a lot to be excited about hardware-wise, what I’m looking forward to most are the new board designs. We’ll review many of these over the coming months, and some will be good enough to make our best motherboards page.

For now, we’ve comprised a list of motherboards with as much information directly from the partners as possible. That said, many details  (including pricing) will arrive later, so we’ll provide what we have and update the information here as we get it.

Intel Z690 Chipset: Different Socket, Similar (but Upgraded) Features 

At the time of this writing, Intel has not released the full details of the Z690 chipset. However, we do know a few things that differentiate Z690 from the previous-gen Z590. Unlike Z490 and Z590, Z690 uses a different socket with more pins, dubbed LGA1700. The new socket is not compatible with LGA12/15xx, so any heatsink, AIO, or custom block requires new mounting hardware. Many cooling companies, including (but not limited to) be quiet!, Alphacool, MSI and Noctua are offering free upgrade kits. Be sure to reach out to whoever made your cooler and ask about that if you plan on purchasing the new platform and using your existing cooling solution. 

In addition to the flagship Z690 chipset, Intel is also releasing lesser H670, B660 and H610 chipsets that cater to budget-conscious or business users, with the latter set as entry-level. Like the 500 series, we expect the H670 and B560 to overclock memory but not the CPU. For those waiting for an HEDT update, you're not forgotten, as the X699 chipset appears to be on the horizon. Workstation users will get the W680 and W685 for Xeon processors.

Like Comet Lake, Alder Lake supports a total of 20 lanes from the CPU itself. In total, there are 16 PCIe 5.0 lanes and four additional PCIe 4.0 lanes. The platform divides the 5.0 lanes as x16 or x8 for graphics and x4/x4 for storage, enabling a full 64 GBps bandwidth. The four PCIe 4.0 lanes provide additional storage connectivity. 

Outside of the new socket, one of the most significant differences in the new Z690 chipset is native PCIe 5.0 support, which doubles the available bandwidth to 64 GBps. While we’re a ways away from PCIe 5.0 hardware, and even further from when that type of throughput is needed, the bandwidth is here. AMD was first to market with PCIe 4.0; now it’s Intel’s turn to lead the bleeding edge with PCIe 5.0. With all of this available bandwidth, you can run more devices (M.2 slots, for example) off the CPU-connected PCIe lanes and not lose performance from your graphics card. There are also faster lanes on the chipset, allowing devices to use fewer lanes to achieve their full performance, increasing board makers' flexibility with where to attach items.

The DMI link between the chipset and CPU has also increased. Z590 doubled the link speed, moving from PCIe 3.0 to x4 to PCIe 3.0 x8. With Z690, Intel is doubling that again, but this time the DMI link jumps up to PCIe 4.0 x8. The increase doubles the bandwidth available for any chipset-connected devices (networking and storage, for example) and allows users to run more attached devices concurrently without losing performance.

DDR5 also makes its consumer desktop debut here, offering users increased bandwidth and capacity along with lower power consumption. Alder Lake sports a 128-bit memory bus, so four 32-bit DDR5 channels (DDR5 = two 32-bit channels /module). The base voltage drops to 1.1V for JEDEC specs instead of the 1.2V we’re used to with DDR4. High-performance kits will still be at 1.2V or above. For those who don’t want to spend the premium to invest in DDR5, you’re in luck. 

Surprisingly, there are Z690 boards that only support DDR4. Rumors suggest that, currently, the performance differences between DDR4 and DDR5 aren’t significant in many use cases. However, we don’t expect much difference until DDR5 matures (speeds increase and latencies decrease). But we’ll investigate and report back once we have the boards in hand.

While there are other distinctions, most are more subtle. Here’s a look at how Z690 compares with Intel’s previous mainstream flagship chipsets. Keep in mind some details are still uncertain as of this writing.

The networking situation doesn’t change too much on Z590. The chipset continues integrated support for Intel CNVi Wi-Fi, but upgrades to Wi-Fi 6E support as the maximum supported, versus Wi-Fi 6 on the previous platform. This upgrade won’t matter for most users, as to run 6E speeds you need to have a router capable of 6E and an internet service provider that offers speeds to take advantage of it. For much more on this, see our Wi-Fi 6 and 6E explainer feature. Like Z590, board partners need to just add the Wi-Fi card to the board for support. 

You’ll find 2.5 Gb NICs on most Z690 boards on the wired front, while some flagships go higher with 5 GbE or 10 GbE. Some budget boards will still use 1 GbE, which is still acceptable for most users. Since a majority don’t have 1 Gb-plus internet service in the first place, the faster ports are still valuable for transfers within your network (assuming the slowest part is up to the task).

We know that USB 3.2 Gen2x2 (20 Gbps) is again supported natively. The chipset diagram describes up to four 3.2 Gen 2x2 ports, 10x 3.2 Gen 2, 10x 3.2 Gen 1 and finally, 14 USB 2.0 ports. There’s obviously not enough physical space for the maximum for each, so each board will have a different count.

SATA3 6 Gbps ports also get a bump up to eight total (from six). Any motherboards with more than eight ports will use a third-party controller, typically from ASMedia. As mentioned earlier, the most significant differences are the PCIe 5.0 support from the CPU and DDR5. Intel has caught up to and surpassed AMD on that front, at least with CPU-connected lanes. While PCIe 5.0 video cards don’t exist in the desktop market yet, the increased bandwidth means other attached items can use fewer lanes and function as fast as possible, minimizing lane sharing and the resultant disabling of ports as you plug more devices in.

While Z690 has arrived, we still dont’ know exactly how the CPUs that will drop into them will perform. Rumors have the new Golden Cove cores sporting a 19% IPC increase over Cypress Lake (Rocket Lake’s microarchitecture), which should best AMD’s Zen2/Ryzen 5000 series processors. But we’ll have to wait for our own testing to say anything for sure on that front. But at the time of this writing, there are over 60 Z690 boards to choose from. So if you’re looking to build a new PC based on Intel’s latest, there should be something for everyone. 

Alder Lake CPUs 

Alder Lake is built on the Intel 7 process node technology and is the first to use a hybrid architecture in the desktop space. The hybrid design in Intel’s terms includes having a set of high ‘Performance’ cores coupled with high ‘Efficiency’ cores -- or P-core and E-core as Intel calls them. The new Performance cores are based on the new Golden Cove microarchitecture, with the Efficiency cores based on the Gracemont architecture. The theory is that the P-cores will handle single-threaded tasks that require low latency, while the E-cores will be better in multi-threaded or power-limited situations. It's worth noting that hyperthreading still makes its way into these CPUs, but only on the P-cores and only on specific processors..

As far as the list of processors goes, six unlocked desktop variants will be available at launch, starting with the flagship Core i9-12900K. The new top-end unlocked processor is a 16-core (8P+ 8E) / 24 thread part with a base clock of 3.2 GHz boosting to 5.2 GHz. The budget end sits with the i5-12600KF, a 10-core (6P+4E) 16 thread part. Refer to the table and image below for a list of the processors announced so far, as well as other high-level information.

Where Rocket Lake went with fewer cores/threads than the previous-generation Comet Lake, Alder Lake processors increase their count over Rocket Lake. Comparing flagship-to-flagship, the new i9-12900K doubles the core count and has a 33% increase in total threads available. Couple that with the expected Instructions Per Clock (IPC) increase and, on paper, you should have a faster processor compared to previous-gen parts. 

The flagship chips have a TDP of 125W for base power and a maximum turbo power (PL2) of 241W. What we do know is that Alder Lake uses more energy than Comet Lake. With that, I do wonder what cooling needs are like, especially when overclocked. To that end, Intel has made adjustments to the CPU itself by thinning out the die and the sTIM layer, while increasing the thickness of the integrated heat spreader (IHS). To support the new processors, board partners have raised the bar on VRM and VRM cooling in Z690. Flagship-class and high-end motherboards step up to 105A MOSFETs, while mid-range and budget boards also get a bump to keep these processors going.

Memory support for the new CPUs also gets a considerable bump from DDR4-3200 to DDR5-4800 when using the new Alder Lake-based processors. At the time of this writing, we didn’t have details on memory support for Z690 boards, but you can expect it to be well over the base spec. We’ve seen some supporting well over DDR5-6000. As usual, your mileage will vary, and working with the correct CPU (with an excellent integrated memory controller), memory kit, and motherboard choice are critical when chasing high memory clocks. That said, the sweet spot for memory speeds and performance per dollar changes as the process matures. Speeds will go up while CAS rating/timings, in general, will go down. For now, it seems like somewhere in the DDR5 5200-5600 range is likely where the sweet spot will be, at least initially. We do know that DDR5 pricing is going to be notably higher than DDR4. So it goes.

Z690 Motherboards: The Full List (So Far) 

With the chipset details out of the way, we’ve provided a list of all Z690 motherboards announced below, doing our best to ignore rumors and unsubstantiated leaks. However, several board partners didn’t respond to inquiries in time for publication, so there's a strong chance that some things will change. Board partners provided the limited information listed in the following tables. We’ll break things out on the following pages and offer some thoughts on the respective launch lineups after. Unfortunately, pricing is an essential piece of information that no vendors have provided yet, but we’ve filled in the tables with what data we have. 

MORE: Best Motherboards

MORE: How To Choose A Motherboard

MORE: All Motherboard Content

ASRock: 20 boards

• Improved aesthetics and power delivery
• 2.5GbE LAN on most (all?) SKUs
• Wi-Fi 6(6E) on some boards

At the time we wrote the article, ASRock had yet to respond to our inquiries about their lineup, so we're relying more on rumors than we'd like. That said, we fully expect ASRock to come out of the gate sporting a full lineup of motherboards to choose from. The information below is sourced from the web in regards to the  count and names.

From the images we do have, you’ll notice the appearance of the boards has changed. At a high level, we expect to see PCIe 5.0 and DDR5 support, more powerful VRMs, updated audio codecs, and an increase in M.2 storage count on most boards. ASRock, like the other board partners, will also have boards with DDR4 options available. 

Familiar names make an appearance again in Z690. They include the Z690 Taichi, PG Velocita, Extreme, Phantom Gaming 4, Pro and more. There are mATX- and Mini-ITX-sized boards, along with entry-level and halo products. But again, with so few details, there are plenty of question marks in the table below.

Asus: 14 boards 

• Improved aesthetics and power delivery
• Teamed Power Architecture (on most boards)
• AI Overclocking Based on CPU quality and Cooler Efficiency
• 2.5GbE and 10GbE NIC Available, along with Wi-Fi 6E

Asus’ initial Z690 lineup consists of eight boards, with the rest likely filling out in the weeks and months to come. Out of the gate are samples from each of the company’s internal market segments, including the ROG Maximus (XIV Extreme/Hero/Apex), ROG Strix (Z690-E Gaming), TUF Gaming Z690-Plus Wi-Fi, Prime Z690-A and the ProArt Z690 Creator.

The premium gaming and overclocking-focused ROG Maximus XIV series continues to bring the best of what the platform has to offer from Asus. Large passive heatsinks help cool the teamed 105A VRMs underneath, save for the Glacier, which includes a water block for the CPU and VRMs.

Asus includes AI overclocking from the BIOS or the AI Suite, which tests the processor to see which cores are best. Like some other brands, CPU quality and efficiency determine the outcome. All Maximus boards include at least a 2.5 Gb LAN, with the Extreme using Marvell AQtion AQC107 10GbE. You’ll also find up to eight SATA ports and five M.2 slots in this lineup.

Historically, the ROG Strix series spans several boards of various sizes, including ATX, Micro ATX, and Mini-ITX. All employ a capable VRM design, but details are scarce across this entire lineup. Many boards receive the updated Supreme FX Realtek 4080 audio codec, though. 

The Asus Prime motherboards have expanded significantly for Z690, with five options including an mATX option. These Prime boards offer users a less-expensive way into the platform without sacrificing too many features and offer a unique black and grey/silver design aesthetic. 

The TUF series boards are geared more toward gamers with more modest budgets and needs. Users still get capable power delivery and heatsinks, integrated Wi-Fi 6E on the Plus (Wi-Fi), along with an updated appearance and an overall increase in M.2 socket count. 

In all, Asus has boards of all shapes, sizes, and likely budgets to fit your needs. Although the company is launching with up to 14 boards, we’ve only listed what Asus provided below.

Biostar: 3 boards 

• Up to 20-phase design
• Wi-Fi 6 capabilities on all boards 

Biostar is releasing three Z590 based boards —  two that carry the Valkyrie name (Z690 Valkyrie and Z690A Valkyrie) and the Z690GTA on the budget side. The Z690 Valkyrie boards include a USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 (20 Gbps) Type-C port, four M.2 sockets, eight SATA ports, 2.5 GbE and Wi-Fi 6, and more. A 20-phase VRM, like the Z590 version(by count), should handle overclocking the flagship i9-12900K. 

The Z690GTA hails from the budget side and offers users a slew of USB ports (though not a 3.2 Gen 2x2 Type-C port), the same (last generation) Realtek ALC1220 audio codec as the Valkyrie, three M.2 sockets, and a less-powerful but still capable (17-phase) VRM. Styling on the Z690GTA has also changed, with this generation sporting a black-and-light-blue theme. Over the years, Biostar has continuously improved and we expect that to continue with Z690. We just hope the BIOS layout is updated, as that was one of the company’s shortcomings in the past.

EVGA: 2 boards

EVGA is another company we haven’t heard back from, but we expect that the EVGA Z690 product stack has two boards: the familiar Z690 Dark and Z690 FTW. The Dark is the flagship board in an E-ATX form factor, sporting a beefy VRM and other gaming and overclocking features. The FTW is also focused on the gamer and overclocker, but tends to be the less expensive but still a well-appointed option.

Details are non-existant here, but we expect the boards to receive similar updatesas the other Z590. boards with PCIe 5.0 and DDR5 support, an updated audio codec, updated aesthetics, and perhaps another M.2 socket or so. As usual, we expect these to be available well after launch. 

Gigabyte: 22 boards

• 60-105A VRMs
• Daisy Chain + Shielded Memory Routing
• USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 (20 Gbps) port for all Z690 boards
• 2.5 GbE-plus NICs on all models (up to 10 GbE)
• Front USB Type-C for all Z690 models
• New styling 

Gigabyte joins the Z690 fray with more than different options, including the gaming-centric Aorus line and the familiar Xtreme (with two PCIe 5.0 slots), Master, Ultra, Elite and Pro boards along with the more budget-focused Gaming X and UD series. The Vision (designed for creators) was replaced last year by the Aero line, which aslo has made its way to Z690. You’ll find all sizes and budget tiers, including several boards that run with DDR4 instead of DDR5. So if you want to save a bit of money and go with DDR4, you have that option with Gigabyte. If you’re jumping into DDR5, the new Z690 boards include Ultra Durable SMD DDR5 Armor and Shielded Memory Routing to get the cleanest signal to the chips. 

One of the most significant changes to these boards, outside of the different socket, are the VRMs. Power delivery ranges from 15 total phases using 60A parts to 23 phases and 105A parts at the high end. Most, if not all SKUs received an upgrade to support the new processors and their higher power draw. Gigabyte also updated some cooling methods, including Fins-Array III to cool the VRMs and Thermal Guard III, a heatpipe connected to fins for the top M.2 socket (Xtreme only). 

All boards include a USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 Type-C (20 Gbps) port, 2.5 GbE NIC, and most include Wi-Fi 6 or 6E (outside of some UD boards that use AC/AX Wi-Fi). Other features include the jump to next-gen Realtek 4000 series audio codec in some models and an increase in M.2 sockets, with many running up to four (Aorus Master has a whopping five!) thanks to the increased lanes and bandwidth from the CPU.

Like a few other board partners, there’s something for everyone in this deep product stack from Gigabyte.

MSI: 18 boards

• 70A to 105A VRMs
• 2.5 GbE LAN and Wi-Fi 6 or 6E for All Models
• Memory support up to DDR4 6800
• USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 (20 Gbps) Type-C port for all models
• New styling

MSI attacks Z690 with 18 SKUs covering both DDR5- and DDR4-compatible motherboards. The MEG/MPG/MAG lines (Gaming) and Pro lines (for Creators) all make a return. At the top of the stack, the MEG boards all use a direct power arrangement, with the MEG boards all using 105A SPS MOSFETs. All MEG and MPG boards use Direct Power (no phase-doublers), while the MAG and Pro series use a “Duet Rail” power system (DRPS). In the end, all of MSI’s Z690 boards use an upgraded VRM to support the Alder Lake processors better.

In addition to the power delivery improvements and aesthetic changes, a vast majority of MSI boards support four M.2 connectors (some even support five), also an upgrade from the last generation. Any board that comes with the M.2 Xpander card also gets PCIe 5.0 support for the storage module. It's worth noting is MSI uses an EZ M.2 Clip to help install/remove M.2 SSDs quickly without fumbling around with tiny screws. Other popular features include the M.2 Shield Frozr to keep the M.2 modules cool, and heatpipe-cooled VRMs on a lot of the lineup.

On the networking front, unlike other brands, the existing MSI lineup doesn’t have a 10 GbE NIC on its flagship or any other board. However, you do find 2.5 GbE NICs on all boards and Wi-Fi 6E on mos models. All boards include at least one USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 (20 Gbps) Type-C port and support many others. SATA port count across the Z690 stack varies from four to six depending on the SKU. Between the increase in M.2 count and SATA ports, nobody should lack storage options in this generation. Like other vendors, MSI uses the latest Realtek audio codec (4000 series) across most of its line, with last-generation’s 1200 series found on others.

The venerable Godlike is missing from the list.. But we hope to see this board soon, as previous versions have been monsters. Rest assured, the rest of the fan favorites are here, including the budget-friendly MAG Z690 Tomahawk and Torpedo boards, as well as overclocking-centric Unify-X and a Mini-ITX board. There’s something for everyone here, too.