NZXT H440 Mid-Tower Case Review

By Kai Tubbesing
published

Big changes are afoot at NZXT. The company's new H440 mid-tower chassis doesn’t have any bays for externally-facing 5.25-inch drives. The company assures us that there are plenty of features to take up that space and make your system look even better.

The H440 employs a simple, yet modern, design with only a few edges breaking up the plain surfaces. These accents are finished in black for the white case and in red for the black case.

There's a side window cut in such a way as to hide the drive bays, but also to facilitate a good view of the interior's most interesting components. Consequently, a large CPU cooler can deliver its full visual impact. And even though that front might look like a door, it's actually just a cover. Oh, the things you can do when you tear the 5.25-inch peripherals out of an enclosure.

A first look through the side window makes it obvious that the power supply is housed in its own compartment on the floor of the case, and not viewable from outside. Not only does this guarantee a certain uniformity between H440-based systems, but it also helps you hide the unused leads from partly-modular or non-modular PSUs. You can even use that space to hide other cables.

As far as quality goes, we're left with a good first impression. NZXT's finish is clean and without identifiable flaws. The front panel and top cover don't have any give to them. Moreover, the case doesn’t rock or slide.

And here's a handy little design detail: the thumb screws responsible for holding the side panels and hard drive bays in place stay attached to their mounts once they're unscrewed, preventing them from getting lost.

Discreet Lighting That Also Increases Usability

Ah ha; you thought you had us on misusing discreet, didn't you? In actuality, all of the H440's lighting elements are in the back of the case. They consist of the manufacturer’s name on the PSU compartment, as well as a number of LEDs in the area around the rear case fan and expansion slots. Subtle, yet classy, the lighting reinforces the H440's high-quality design.

In the picture below, it looks like the LEDs are illuminating the inside-rear of the case. Really though, they're well-concealed and attached to the outside of the case. This makes for a nice visual effect, plus has bonus utility when you're looking for a port or plug back there and need a little extra light.

Kai Tubbesing
71 Comments Comment from the forums
  • brarboy
    It really does give a look of home to pc peripherals that will be residing inside it. Another great recommendation for gaming pc. Thanks for the reviews ;)
    Reply
  • Phillip Wager
    my 4670k has never gone above 50 degrees with my noctua in a fractal arc midi r2 even though this is a smaller heatsink 68 degrees at stock clocks is just .. wow.
    Reply
  • doron
    Looks like the cpu cooler touches the gpu. How did you deal with it?
    Reply
  • ta152h
    No drive bay, because no one ever uses Blu-Ray drives, or DVDs? How this trash even gets made is a surprise, how it gets 'reviewed' is less of one. Being different, in a bad way, isn't good. I have a great idea, I'm going to make an ugly rectangular case out of polycarbonate, and it's going to have some great features - it won't have space for a motherboard of power supply, but it will have plenty of space for fans and lights. The nice thing is, regardless of the motherboard you have, it's right for you. You can just as easily not put your Mini-ITX in, as you can your E-ATX. No doubt, this will warrant very favorable reviews, due to this innovative and hipster approach, while maintaining the ugly rectangular shape. My motto? "It's now, it's wow" for the hipster dorks, and for the low-brow crowd, "Yo' mama so ugly, even I won't mount her". That's sure to bring in the degenerate, sub-human, buyer that was on the fence, or eating it.
    Reply
  • AMD Radeon
    finally my favorite case got Tomshardware attention :)great review!!
    Reply
  • tomfreak
    Perfect case with a few minor draw backs.

    1. It is a mid tower/ less expansion slot, only 7. putting 3rd double slot GPU will be a trouble.

    2. Poor use of 3.5 HDD space. Could have easily house 10 HDDs while still have some gap for ventilation

    3. while dropping 5.25 bay is a good thing since 5.25 optical ROM drive are pretty much obsolete now but there are still a lot of enthusiast front panel like fan controller are still on 5.25 bay.
    Reply
  • ubercake
    I really think NZXT makes the best cases out there right now. They really think when they design cases. They don't block the intake fans with nearly solid metal drive cage mounts like many other cases in all price ranges and drive cages and mounts are removable. They tuck SSDs neatly out of the way on the back of the motherboard tray or like with this case just above the PSU. They have the cutouts. They don't have too many 5.25 bays (if you're building a burn station, this might deter you). Fan power headers with variable speed switches right on the case (why the heck not???).

    They're just really easy cases in which to build a PC. They are the only company I've seen that's moved case design forward other than Corsair with the 350D (although you need a different type/amount of floor or desk space to accommodate this design). Every other case company seems to put out the same rectangular shape with intake fans blocked by nearly solid sheets of metal and tops too close to the top of motherboards so you can't push/pull your AIO cooler's rad, or case width too shallow for a decent air cooler and a fraction of a centimeter behind the motherboard tray by which you can't very well manage cables.
    Reply
  • Ozan
    Great review indeed. I (both) appreciate the trouble for making this lovely review and also the stylish design of the futuristic mid-tower case. Thank you Kai. Thank you nzxt endustrial designers and thank you nzxt engineers. I am considering to buy the H440...
    Reply
  • Someone Somewhere
    Interesting thought: Why don't any cases put 5.25" bays at the bottom? No airflow issue because the PSU sits right behind it, and because they're rarely used it's not an issue if they're slightly harder to get to. Though on a desk drives at the bottom would actually be easier to access.
    Reply
  • inveriti
    Can someone please explain to me how 5.25" bays are "obsolete" when you still need them to install your OS? I'm sorry, but most of us don't have a spare rig sitting around dedicated to mounting bootable ISOs onto a flash drive. Whoever thought this was a good idea should be put in stocks and publicly humiliated, and whoever OK'ed this as a "smart buy" should be fired.
    Reply