The angled bottom fan reminds me of the adjustable angle fan in the old Phantom cases. Really wish they'd update and redesign that case with modern looks and ideas, such a good case.
the GPU temps are generally made worse by the stock config, adding an AIO to the mix doubles the fans in the case at the same time. I think more ideally AIO top mount with maybe at least 1 more fan in the front in the bottom position will net the best results, I question the use of non-ventilated slot covers tbh and wonder how much those are holding back certain configurations (since those exhaust air in positive pressure setups, or intake cool air in negative pressure setups) There are some other reviewers for this case as well and GPU temps are basically a mixed bag depending on setup.
@@chaon93 Well the test shows that adding two front fans lowers the GPU temps about 1 degree which is still the worst result other than this case without two additional fans. So adding two fans did not help gpu temps.
@@DM-fp8uw you mean 6C. recheck the review, it was 60.9 to 54.8 by adding front fans. I have no idea where you got that 1 degree metric from. To be clear, I'm more of a air cooler kind of person. Id rather just get something else. I just find that for people planning to get AIO's that stock fan counts aren't as big of an issue as the AIO will include fans. having seen other reviews I suspect that GPU temps are better on 3x fan GPUs because they are longer and catch the air from the bottom intake better, the angle isnt enough without either a longer GPU or front intake to help force the air over the GPU area. I think the solid slot covers REALLY hurt this case a lot. air flowing either in or out of the slots via pressure would go a long way imo.
@@chaon93 You are right. I was looking at the normalized fans not normalized plus the bottom fan. Still 55 degrees with normalized fans plus bottom fans is still worse than almost every case with just the normalized fans except 5.
Yeah this case is really for those who already have plans to add their own fans. Just ordered this and will install unifans for this case. Might also buy a vertical mount for my 3080 suprim but I'm not buying that badly priced NZXT vertical gpu mount that costs as much as the case itself. Hopefully, the universal one from cooler master will work on the H5 Flow.
@@acid3129 didn't go for the cooler master. A friend sold me his lian li one designed for the O11 but it fits in this case. The suprim 3080 doesn't go past 70 and mostly hovers at 69 deg.
I wish GN did fully fan populated reviews. He is obsessed with stock. We want to know how the chassis works in full potential. Standardized just gives 2 120 1 120 at the back.
Lol the toilet fan is certainly an interesting addition. With the amount of builds I’ve seen where the GPU basically perfectly fits to separate the top and the bottom I can see it being more necessary.
Honestly, a case that has some kind of seal around the GPU, and dedicated bottom intake, rear exhaust, then top intake and rear exhaust for the CPU could be quite interesting. Just tossing ideas around though, probably some practical considerations to be made.
I'm kinda surprised there's not been cases with adapter plates to install a fan to the bottom PCI slots for GPU air intake. I bodged a fan there on a previous build and it helped a lot. Sure, it makes means few (if any) additional cards can installed, but few people have more than a GPU installed, and as they're typically the biggest heat generator and toughest to cool, seems to be a worthwhile addition. I expected this toilet bowl fan to do better, but maybe too much air is escaping around the card, without the card's fan(s) getting much chance to grab it.
This seems like a phenomenal case once you overcome the fan deficiencies. Add two front fans and it jumps to the top, or nearly to the top. If they'd added $15 and included those fans, it would be a no-brainer.
I dunno ... The GPU temp didn't change much between having the toilet bowl fan and 2x fronts. If the two stock's were used for front CPU direct and rear, the CPU temp might be greatly improved with the GPU barely changing. Hard to tell, as half the bottom front looks to supply the GPU somewhat, but also I think the Noctuas are noticeably better than the NZXT stock ones. Basically, I expected much better GPU temps with that toilet bowl fan, than what was achieved, so I'm curious as to the cause of the disparity between expectation and testing results.
I have an old Thermaltake case which I used in all my configurations over the course of 12 years. Still rock solid with great thermals and that's without any additional fans. Back then manufacturers didn't care much about cable management and that's the only reason why I'm considering upgrading after all this time.
You can add front fans to nearly any case. You can't add bottom fans to very many. I'm a big fan of that lower/shrouded design. I feel like having a source of fresh air blowing towards the gpu from the bottom of the case is helpful. That's why I really like the Lian Li Lancool II, you can put two intake fans right under the gpu pulling from air from the bottom of the sides.
great video as always. side note, the coasters arrived and their quality is superb. glad i got the entire 9 pc set. thanks GN team for everything that you do.
Actually, the lack of fans is a great plus for most enthusiasts who will instantly switch them to noctua or some high end RGB if thats your thing. Keeping the one on the bottom kind of makes sense as the toilet bowl is kinda the hallmark of this case.
I've always grandfathered fans from my previous rigs when upgrading, anyway! Well, I've only upgraded twice in my life, since I'm not _made_ of money, but each time I've grandfathered in fans, and replaced the oldest / worst ones when I get enough money to, or when they start to lose performance.
@@caramelldansen2204 The thing is, if the manufacturer keeps the cost down by NOT including fans, you can always buy 5x120mm pack for 15USD going absolute cheapo if you don't have cash/don't care. OR you can buy 100USD worth of noctuas/corsairs/Lianli/whatever....or just 3 fans if that works for your config. Or 6 and stick them everywhere. Each scenario, you save, cause not including random fans should in theory keep the case price lower (ofc whether it actually works or just keeps a higher profit margin to the case manufacturer is another thing, but at least you end up with less junk, that can literally be replaced for 10-20usd). Unless, you get a bunch of high quality fans included with a relatively cheap case, that seems like a bargain, you'll get mediocre fans at best or 5+ pieces of electrojunk instantly ending up in the bin.
@@kaziu2eq I have had quite a bit of luck with cheap-o 3x or 5x 120mm fans for $15-$20 - three computers in the last two years, holding decent temps with the cheap-o fans at acceptable (for me) noise levels.
@@TheEchelon Personally, having some limit to the budget i'd much rather go for 60$ worth of Noctua fans (easily 2x 120mm + 2x 140mm) and this case, getting practically as quiet and performing as one can, than the elite version, that gives you bunch of black fans with leds + giant tempered glass in front to suffocate them. Plus otherwise it's really great, I mean relatively small footprint with plenty of space, cable management and the ability to mount 240+280 rads makes it quite good for a compact custom loop or 2xAIO.
Like he says, there are problems with it though. Some cases are just obviously not designed for that standardized config. Ideally we'd have multiple standardized configs to test including AiOs, for each case where they are physically possible, but it's a lot of extra testing.
They should do a best flow setup for every particular case for both air and aio cooling no matter what the case standard setup is . Just to show what you can except at best with that particular case. But that surely would be almost impossible to do with all the coolers and fan around...
@@fabrb26 This. Why not test them to the designed potential? If I buy the X63 cooler this was designed for why would I want to pay for front fans that come with it that I wouldn't be using?
I don't think the lack of fans is a problem, most users will just front mount the radiator, or get 2 fans of their choice anyways. I don't remember the last time I kept the stock fans on a case that I bought.
Yeah stock fans usually just get moved to whatever the old parts project is (NAS, rig for partner, etc). I do like having extras around to experimenting with though
Yeah but they had to mention it because of their hate boner for nzxt. Notice how this has never been an issue when they tested LianLi‘s O11 cases because they‘re friends with they guy who created them.
Lack of fans is real problem if you cant spend any more money. Good thing you have more to buy good quality fans and AIO. Most people use air cooling anyway.
I appreciate NZXT trying something performance-focused. They may have realized that it's good to diversify and innovate in this market. The little angled fan is a great idea, but we'll see if it catches on as a new trend. Personally, I'd like to see more cases with top-mounted power supplies (other than the Torrent) so we can have fans on the bottom that blow air up into the GPU.
@@mjc0961 Side panel fans are a very practical idea for performance, but most people won't really enjoy it. Glass side panels already won that war years ago, and combining the ideas seems like it wouldn't work very well. I could see side fans making a return with cases that already have solid side panels (for example, fractal makes most of their cases with this option), but those are already hard to sell in the first place, and it would be pretty risky to make something like that considering it'll require new tools.
@@Haetheii I like my Fractal Arc-Midi with the 180 mm side vent, used it as an EXHAUST with a slim (15mm) Silverstone 180mm fan when I ran dual GPU's, my CPU really liked that.
Hey @Gamers Nexus, short question to your charts. How do you choose which cases to show in the chart? Because in the overall comparision some cases show up in some charts but not in others. E.g. The Dark Base pro 900 on the noise level chart is at the top. But in all the other charts it's missing. Great Videos as always! Very thorough testing, keep up the great work!
Just ordered this case and 4 Noctua fans. It will work exceptionally well with my Nvidia FE card’s flow-through design. This case is clearly designed for that air path.
Which card specifically do you have if you don't mind me asking I'm looking into building my first PC with this case and I'm curious what works for other people.
21:15 After we saw conclusion in this case, are the 4000D Airflow little bit more value to performance guys? (Me dont like Fractal Pop Air Design) Looking from the GPU temp...
Just built a system with it hours ago, it would not have been possible to fit a full ATX PSU with it if they were to make it mATX only. There really is no space for many shit inside
I think a toilet bowl fan is a great idea (context people, CONTEXT!), but it sounds like this case is a bit on the small side for it in addition to the missing front fans. I wonder if GPU thermals would improve much if you modded it with custom duct from the bottom fan directly to the under side of the GPU, preventing the air from bypassing around the sides. That, plus a couple of front fans could make for a decent build if you are into case modding and already have a couple extra fans laying around.
Good review. There’s definitely demand for non-gigantic, minimal, tasteful (subjective, I know) cases that don’t compromise power too much so the NZXT approach has its place, but they do have quirky thermals. In a 4090 world I worry the pendulum is swinging too far to giant builds. I’m struggling because I basically want something like an NZXT minimal look, itx or mini-atx size, but 4090 power. I’m willing to pay more to shrink the size. Would love to see you guys give your reccs for smaller-but-still-powerful builds.
I kind of appreciate cases not coming with fans. I usually want to use other argb fans anyway so it's just another thing I have to store or sell when I remove the stock fans. That said I think it's worth noting that cases like this are hard to compare to competitors since I don't think NZXT expects anyone to actually run this case in the stock configuration. If you compare the NZXT H5 flow to the Lancool 216 with 2 140mm fans added to the H5 Flow they are pretty comparable, and the 216 is as far as I know the best thermally performing midtower on the market. 216 is definitely the better case when you control for cost, but I think this H5 flow performs quite well when configured in a reasonable way.
Would be good to see a review of DeepCool's LS720 AIO, everything I've seen so far has been positive but it would be useful to see how it's actually designed.
I'd like to see them explore the angled fan in their larger cases like the H7 - this kind of feature would've done so well on the H710i where the entire front panel was closed off.
I recall another case that NZXT experimented with angled fans. It was the Switch 810 full tower. One of its main selling points was having two adjustable fans on the back of the front-mounted hard drive cages. Dunno how well it works but the whole idea looks interesting.
I just ordered 2 of these. One starfield themed for my son and the glass front for myself to build in. Both will be running 140 front fans with 240mm top radiators. Great looking case.
My last PC was built with a NZXT S340 and it was a great case, though the paint scuffed by just berating on the damn thing. I've always felt the NZXT has a very Star Wars Imperial Army feel.
Very nice in depth case review! I think your critique on the fans is very valid, but everyone's approach is different on something like this. Personally I would really appreciate the fact that a case lacks fans, so I can just pick ones that I think look great and work well, or just use all fan slots with all the same fans... would dent the budget a bit, though
The critique is really that if you need to byof, then 95 is a high price. But what I think is -- if you indeed put 2 front fans like you obviously should, then is the toilet fan even going to matter?
Why wouldn't you consider buying fans for the front? Why would anyone buy this case and not put front fans in it. It's a customization thing. Most cases that come with fans I toss them and throw in Noctuas anyway...
I just bought this and plan to add two fans to the front. Love the look and it's price in Canada + two nice fans was still cheaper than anything similar. Thanks for the informative review.
Honestly glad I switched to a bequiet! Case. Seems like better value for money but I really liked my normal H510 before I switched despite the thermals. It did me justice for a while but the upgrade cost vs what I would’ve gained made it an easy choice. I dig the toilet fan though
ye be quiet are amazing cases, back when covid/shipping costs weren't inflated i got the Pure base 500 for 60 euros / 62 dollar. Honestly quality wise and design wise one of the best cases to build in, very solid materials no flimsy thin metals, and you can tell the designer of the case thought of everything to make building convinient.
@@jeremyniels that’s a huge W! I recently got the Pure Base 500 FX with the silent wings fans on sale for their anniversary and it was a killer deal. And I totally agree you can tell they put a lot of though into the design and it was great to build in
Hey Steve, is there any chance you could make a 'dusty room' in your facility? Perhaps you could make an enclosure in one of your rooms that is just FULL of dust and you put PC cases in there with their max fan slots occupied to test their dust filtration and efficiency? Would be quite interesting to see how modern cases compare when it comes to their filtering capabilities, as it's something I feel a lot of people would be interested in knowing the results for. From my own personal experience of owning these cases for typically between 3-9 months each, I've found that these were the results: Phanteks P300-P400A: Horrible dust filters, cases quite often filled with dust after a couple of months (with regular dust filter cleaning). Corsair 4000D Air flow: Horrible dust filters, case was chunked with dust and hair after a few weeks - 2 months (with very regular cleaning). Lian-Li PC-O11 Dynamic XL/Mid Tower: Insanely good dust filters, never cleaned out case at all, with infrequent dust filter cleaning. Metallicgear Neo (Phanteks): Mediocre dust filters, case filled eventually with regular dust filter cleaning. NZXT H510: Decent dust filters, case eventually filled with dust with regular cleaning. Unfortunately, dust buildup is one of those things that takes weeks to accumulate, and you don't really want to be testing a case for weeks on end, it's a very bad return when you're making review videos like you do, you need the data and video produced as soon as possible. But, if you were able to set up an enclosure that could effectively emulate several weeks or months of dust buildup over the course of 1-4 hours then that could potentially be game changing for case reviews. Let me know what you think, would be very very interested to hear from you.
It is easy to test dust filter. Mark out the area of a dust filter occupied by 120/140/whatever mm of fan it is intended to filter for. Weight out a certain fineness of dust. Make a jig that limited where the dust can go. Pour the dust, wait everything to settle (10 - 15min) Weight amount of dust pass through. Compare and contrast. I think your specific problem is likely more about the pressure profile and other unfiltered gap of the case.
Good idea but it makes me wonder. Where does the dust go on your Lian Li if it's not caught on the filter? If the pores are so small that dust doesn't even get caught on there, then it'd surely affect thermals.
Your product reviews are the ones I always wait for before biting the bullet. Would you consider reviewing the Jonsbo D30? I think it’s very aesthetically nice, love how understated it is, and seems to have good reviews. The only thing i’m worried about is the fan intake spots are slightly different than a standard case and Im curious if the thermals are okay
This review feels so bias for some reason, like some deep down hatred for NZXT. Continuous focus on all the bad aspects (some of which wouldnt even be an issue for the average person like the 2 included fans. Quality fans are cheap as hell to buy, and no budget case will ever come with all of them included), and just completely glossing over anything good.
GamersNexus isn't biased against NZXT. It's just that they go over extra positives and negatives when talking about cases instead of the neutral sides of them. Which is good if what you are looking for is a quick review that goes over the delta of standarts, but regrettably bad if your goal is to learn more about what makes the standart "the standart".
H510 Flow with front fans.. Done. the white and black look works for me, and the fans will improve airflow. and I'll be sitting just above the butt ugly corsair 4000D in price ( currently $104 retail) which I want to like but MEH! The 510 Flow is at $90 at retail currently. Most of the neutral press had a lot to do with the price, Thermal performance was OK - but adding fans, like with the H5 flow makes sense while adding dollars. Moral of the story. You can't always get what you want for under $100.
I'd recommend revisiting this case because it seems like they took a lot of your notes. It comes with the intake fans now with no glass front, although they don't register with fan control. I've gotten pretty good cooling results. Gonna buy some stuff from the store to support this 😁
This case looks perfect for a compact build, primarily due to god tier aesthetics while not sacrificing anything else. I and many other ppl stopped using hard drive cage as well as default crappy fans long ago so case literally has zero cons
Hi, I am considering either this, or h7 flow, could you please tell me what are the temps you are getting for your GPU under peak load. and which GPU do you have
I have an NZXT H500 with a 280mm Corsair H115i mounted in the front which exhausts air out of the front. That case has terrible airflow but it can keep my 9900k at 75c under 100% load. It used to hit 100c when the front was set as the intake. This case and the H510 Airflow solve that problem for me while keeping the form factor that I personally really like. I don't hate the layout of this case and might rebuild my system with it.
I don't care about the case, I don't care about the specs on this particular case. I'm here so Steve's angelic voice will sing me to sleep. Good night!
Update> I bought NZXT H5 Flow 2024 an I am happy, cable management is awesome and filled it with fans and fron AIO CPU, with fancontrol i got air flow fo my dreams 😍
it really isn't a bad case! i just did a new build with 7700K > 13700K. One thing I was surprised with is the fan noise. I guess I took my Fractal R4 case for granted, that thing was a silent beast. The H5 Flow has about 40% more noise but I know I can upgrade to some premium fans to dampen the noise. Plus my PSU can use an upgrade soon. Overall though The cable management and color were awesome for the sub-$100 price and I give it a 7.7/10. Perfect for a build for your kid's entry-mid level gaming, or non gaming work station.
In defense of nzxt, I didnt want the included nzxt fans anyway and just replaced the existing ones too. So its nice to get a case for cheaper rather than having to throw away 20 or 30$ worth of fans.
5:38 When looking at this I can't help but thing the whole fan assembly should have been part of the case structure. Allowing for the fan to pull back towards the very front of the case. The bottom front could even change shape like a hexagon allowing for different angles the bottom intake fan could take.
I think the benefit to this case is for us builders that are upgrading to a modern case and are moving hardware from a previous build. However, it would be nice to see an option with and without fans.
Totally agree that it needs those two front intake fans, but am not so sure about the statement that those two fans would significantly add to the price. There are a ton of multi than packs available that cost less than $15, for the pack. Like 2x Be quiet! 120mm for $10 (for both). Sure you could get a larger case for similar prices, but maybe space is of concern and design is important to you.. taking those factors into consideration this car seems like a pretty good option :)
My old full tower takes 7 fans / 8 if you leave the top optical drive bay empty and CAME with 2 fans in front with a dust filter and 1 an exhaust fan in the back. It is an NZXT case and I am still using it 10 years later. This is from the days before they developed small form factor cases that provided employment for professional fire fighters. Sad to see how they have regressed.
I currently use this case and I think it works great, the temps are great even though im missing two 120mm fans at the top, There is also plenty of room if you get the right sized graphics card
They may have omitted front fans expecting you to buy a AIO which will include fans, we need a poll asking if we use tower, downdraft, AIO, or custom loops
I hope you guys look into reviewing the Fractal Focus 2 in the near future 🙏 For some reason a $70 ATX case with 2 included 140mm front intake fans, front mesh panel and no PSU shroud (thank god) is getting no reviews :(
I am honestly loving mine I installed 2 ML140 Corsair in the front, 2 on the top ( 1 kolink and 1 sharkoon, both that I want to change for another model) so the Ryzen 5 3600x with a Cooler Master EVO V1 I never ever had any problem with it thermals, but with a AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT THICC III Ultra XFX I always have problems with it thermals( 95C!!!!) , and now, thanks to the bottom fan turned directly at the GPU its been great( for me ) way better than the REV100 Sharkoon ( the case I had before this one) So yeah I had to spend a bit more, but I am extremely happy and I found it quite genius to have the bottom "toilet" XD fan turned to the GPU directly, have a nice day! :)
be sure to use magnetic tools on this case, which has a funnel to collect all the screws you drop and fire them off on random directions.
If you're doing that with the power on, you kinda signed up for the 'exciting prizes' lottery anyway.
@@RN1441 if the power was off, itd just be a lottery for when you turn it on lol
Haha!
@LeRoy Jenkins Mine have snuck behind the motherboard before, necessitating a complete disassembly to retrieve.
*Noted*
*Orders 300 H5 Flow cases for the office, because revenge is a dish best served with a rotating flingamatron*
The angled bottom fan reminds me of the adjustable angle fan in the old Phantom cases. Really wish they'd update and redesign that case with modern looks and ideas, such a good case.
The Phantom 820 was an insanely advanced case for its time, too!
The angle reminded me of the nvidia northbridge 780i
bring back side panel fans!
Curious if a fan held at that angle would cause the bearing to fail more quickly.
It was also insanely overrated. Couldn’t go anywhere without seeing it. Basically everybody had one.
I think this case makes the most sense when you are already planning on running a 240mm AIO in the front. Great review as always.
Those GPU temps though. How do you fix that?
the GPU temps are generally made worse by the stock config, adding an AIO to the mix doubles the fans in the case at the same time.
I think more ideally AIO top mount with maybe at least 1 more fan in the front in the bottom position will net the best results, I question the use of non-ventilated slot covers tbh and wonder how much those are holding back certain configurations (since those exhaust air in positive pressure setups, or intake cool air in negative pressure setups)
There are some other reviewers for this case as well and GPU temps are basically a mixed bag depending on setup.
@@chaon93 Well the test shows that adding two front fans lowers the GPU temps about 1 degree which is still the worst result other than this case without two additional fans. So adding two fans did not help gpu temps.
@@DM-fp8uw you mean 6C. recheck the review, it was 60.9 to 54.8 by adding front fans. I have no idea where you got that 1 degree metric from.
To be clear, I'm more of a air cooler kind of person. Id rather just get something else. I just find that for people planning to get AIO's that stock fan counts aren't as big of an issue as the AIO will include fans.
having seen other reviews I suspect that GPU temps are better on 3x fan GPUs because they are longer and catch the air from the bottom intake better, the angle isnt enough without either a longer GPU or front intake to help force the air over the GPU area. I think the solid slot covers REALLY hurt this case a lot. air flowing either in or out of the slots via pressure would go a long way imo.
@@chaon93 You are right. I was looking at the normalized fans not normalized plus the bottom fan. Still 55 degrees with normalized fans plus bottom fans is still worse than almost every case with just the normalized fans except 5.
I actually have to give them overwhelming props for not including fans. I wish more cases would leave their garbage fans out
same, i have so many good fans aready at home, why would i need those garbage stock fans anyways
Yeah this case is really for those who already have plans to add their own fans. Just ordered this and will install unifans for this case. Might also buy a vertical mount for my 3080 suprim but I'm not buying that badly priced NZXT vertical gpu mount that costs as much as the case itself. Hopefully, the universal one from cooler master will work on the H5 Flow.
@@Le_Mon9 did the coolermaster vertical mount fit and what is the gpu temp like mounted vertical
@@acid3129 didn't go for the cooler master. A friend sold me his lian li one designed for the O11 but it fits in this case. The suprim 3080 doesn't go past 70 and mostly hovers at 69 deg.
@@Le_Mon9 thanks I just got a evga 3080 ftw3 ultra and decides to get a new case atleast I know I can mount it
The toilet fan is the funniest thing I've seen, surely the best innovation they've made for a while (aside from self burning cases)
That case was lit
Orrr just make the front panel have space for 3 fans and have more space in the psu shroud thing
@@MichaelBelgium This, and also add the possibility of 3x14 at the front, like some lian li cases which arent even super sized like lancool.
they should test things before production ... would be a lot better case, with perforated rear under gpu + remove that toilet, put 2 fans at front.
@@heksogen4788 3x14 is on the bigger h7, which i have. Super nice and quiet, never going back tp 12cm case fans again :D
I wish GN did fully fan populated reviews. He is obsessed with stock. We want to know how the chassis works in full potential. Standardized just gives 2 120 1 120 at the back.
Happy to see another case review finally. Nice enjoyable content that's a change of pace from the (also fun) hardware reviews.
If the hardware reviews are like actual movie reviews, the case reviews are often like Jontron or something. They are hilarious!
Lol the toilet fan is certainly an interesting addition. With the amount of builds I’ve seen where the GPU basically perfectly fits to separate the top and the bottom I can see it being more necessary.
Honestly, a case that has some kind of seal around the GPU, and dedicated bottom intake, rear exhaust, then top intake and rear exhaust for the CPU could be quite interesting. Just tossing ideas around though, probably some practical considerations to be made.
Toilet fan 😂…lol that is cool name. But just hope AH never hear it or she won’t use bed toilet anymore.
I'm kinda surprised there's not been cases with adapter plates to install a fan to the bottom PCI slots for GPU air intake.
I bodged a fan there on a previous build and it helped a lot. Sure, it makes means few (if any) additional cards can installed, but few people have more than a GPU installed, and as they're typically the biggest heat generator and toughest to cool, seems to be a worthwhile addition.
I expected this toilet bowl fan to do better, but maybe too much air is escaping around the card, without the card's fan(s) getting much chance to grab it.
How you going to put the anti sag bracket tho
A lot of sandwich style sff cases have a similar airflow pattern. The louqe ghost, dan a4, or even node 202 have fairly separate compartments
This seems like a phenomenal case once you overcome the fan deficiencies. Add two front fans and it jumps to the top, or nearly to the top. If they'd added $15 and included those fans, it would be a no-brainer.
I dunno ... The GPU temp didn't change much between having the toilet bowl fan and 2x fronts. If the two stock's were used for front CPU direct and rear, the CPU temp might be greatly improved with the GPU barely changing.
Hard to tell, as half the bottom front looks to supply the GPU somewhat, but also I think the Noctuas are noticeably better than the NZXT stock ones.
Basically, I expected much better GPU temps with that toilet bowl fan, than what was achieved, so I'm curious as to the cause of the disparity between expectation and testing results.
GPU temp at 55 with toilet fan and two front fans is still near the bottom of the pack.
it's sold for 2 140mm front case fans for $90 atm. Just bought it, badass case
You guys help me so much, can’t wait to make a new pc with all the info I’ve learned from you!
I have an old Thermaltake case which I used in all my configurations over the course of 12 years. Still rock solid with great thermals and that's without any additional fans. Back then manufacturers didn't care much about cable management and that's the only reason why I'm considering upgrading after all this time.
Loved how at 8:03 Steve caught himself right as he said it and needed to comment on the case's special "feature"
I'd be very disappointed if nobody made the MiB joke and yelled at Steve whilst pointing at the bowl: "Flush me Steve, flush me!"
That seems like toilet humor, pretty alien to me 🤣🤣
Ok, you win the internets today 😂
You can add front fans to nearly any case. You can't add bottom fans to very many. I'm a big fan of that lower/shrouded design. I feel like having a source of fresh air blowing towards the gpu from the bottom of the case is helpful. That's why I really like the Lian Li Lancool II, you can put two intake fans right under the gpu pulling from air from the bottom of the sides.
great video as always.
side note, the coasters arrived and their quality is superb.
glad i got the entire 9 pc set.
thanks GN team for everything that you do.
Nice to see a case review again!
Actually, the lack of fans is a great plus for most enthusiasts who will instantly switch them to noctua or some high end RGB if thats your thing. Keeping the one on the bottom kind of makes sense as the toilet bowl is kinda the hallmark of this case.
I've always grandfathered fans from my previous rigs when upgrading, anyway!
Well, I've only upgraded twice in my life, since I'm not _made_ of money, but each time I've grandfathered in fans, and replaced the oldest / worst ones when I get enough money to, or when they start to lose performance.
Very true, although enthousiasts might opt for a more premium built case.
@@caramelldansen2204 The thing is, if the manufacturer keeps the cost down by NOT including fans, you can always buy 5x120mm pack for 15USD going absolute cheapo if you don't have cash/don't care. OR you can buy 100USD worth of noctuas/corsairs/Lianli/whatever....or just 3 fans if that works for your config. Or 6 and stick them everywhere. Each scenario, you save, cause not including random fans should in theory keep the case price lower (ofc whether it actually works or just keeps a higher profit margin to the case manufacturer is another thing, but at least you end up with less junk, that can literally be replaced for 10-20usd). Unless, you get a bunch of high quality fans included with a relatively cheap case, that seems like a bargain, you'll get mediocre fans at best or 5+ pieces of electrojunk instantly ending up in the bin.
@@kaziu2eq I have had quite a bit of luck with cheap-o 3x or 5x 120mm fans for $15-$20 - three computers in the last two years, holding decent temps with the cheap-o fans at acceptable (for me) noise levels.
@@TheEchelon Personally, having some limit to the budget i'd much rather go for 60$ worth of Noctua fans (easily 2x 120mm + 2x 140mm) and this case, getting practically as quiet and performing as one can, than the elite version, that gives you bunch of black fans with leds + giant tempered glass in front to suffocate them. Plus otherwise it's really great, I mean relatively small footprint with plenty of space, cable management and the ability to mount 240+280 rads makes it quite good for a compact custom loop or 2xAIO.
Can’t wait for my cpu to get here and my fans! First ever built pc and it has a 4070 super and a 7600x in this case 😊😊😊😊
The 'Standardized Fans'-Test is invaluable. Just one of the things that makes GN the best!
Like he says, there are problems with it though. Some cases are just obviously not designed for that standardized config. Ideally we'd have multiple standardized configs to test including AiOs, for each case where they are physically possible, but it's a lot of extra testing.
They should do a best flow setup for every particular case for both air and aio cooling no matter what the case standard setup is . Just to show what you can except at best with that particular case. But that surely would be almost impossible to do with all the coolers and fan around...
@@fabrb26 This. Why not test them to the designed potential? If I buy the X63 cooler this was designed for why would I want to pay for front fans that come with it that I wouldn't be using?
The best detailed and in depth pc/tech reviews on RUclips hands down.👍
I like the added bottom fan, its not quite a sidepanel intake but still better than most cases focussing on the CPU and ignoring the 500w GPU
Considering the Fractal case is $125 and the Phanteks is $130, I went for the H5 Flow. Got it for $70 and $15 fan pair on sale. Loving my case.
I don't think the lack of fans is a problem, most users will just front mount the radiator, or get 2 fans of their choice anyways. I don't remember the last time I kept the stock fans on a case that I bought.
Yeah stock fans usually just get moved to whatever the old parts project is (NAS, rig for partner, etc). I do like having extras around to experimenting with though
Yeah but they had to mention it because of their hate boner for nzxt. Notice how this has never been an issue when they tested LianLi‘s O11 cases because they‘re friends with they guy who created them.
you are so true!
Lack of fans is real problem if you cant spend any more money. Good thing you have more to buy good quality fans and AIO. Most people use air cooling anyway.
the Only cases i can think of where i have kept / would keep the stock fans are the beQuiet 500DX, 500FX and 802 so yeah, mostly true
I appreciate NZXT trying something performance-focused. They may have realized that it's good to diversify and innovate in this market. The little angled fan is a great idea, but we'll see if it catches on as a new trend. Personally, I'd like to see more cases with top-mounted power supplies (other than the Torrent) so we can have fans on the bottom that blow air up into the GPU.
I'd rather keep the PSU in the bottom so the case isn't top heavy, and just bring back side panel mounted fans.
@@mjc0961 Side panel fans are a very practical idea for performance, but most people won't really enjoy it. Glass side panels already won that war years ago, and combining the ideas seems like it wouldn't work very well.
I could see side fans making a return with cases that already have solid side panels (for example, fractal makes most of their cases with this option), but those are already hard to sell in the first place, and it would be pretty risky to make something like that considering it'll require new tools.
@@Haetheii I like my Fractal Arc-Midi with the 180 mm side vent, used it as an EXHAUST with a slim (15mm) Silverstone 180mm fan when I ran dual GPU's, my CPU really liked that.
If it is such a good idea why are the GPU thermals at the bottom even with two front fans added? Doesn't seem to have helped much.
Hey @Gamers Nexus,
short question to your charts. How do you choose which cases to show in the chart? Because in the overall comparision some cases show up in some charts but not in others. E.g. The Dark Base pro 900 on the noise level chart is at the top. But in all the other charts it's missing.
Great Videos as always! Very thorough testing, keep up the great work!
You just saved me $95, thanks Steve and the Team, keep up the quality content!
Just ordered this case and 4 Noctua fans. It will work exceptionally well with my Nvidia FE card’s flow-through design. This case is clearly designed for that air path.
That's a wise and clever choice.
Which card specifically do you have if you don't mind me asking I'm looking into building my first PC with this case and I'm curious what works for other people.
@@NeoVesterhow did your first build go?
@@Akamo. Not great the thing didn't turn on so I'm currently considering taking at all apart and trying again or taking it to a repair shop
21:15 After we saw conclusion in this case, are the 4000D Airflow little bit more value to performance guys? (Me dont like Fractal Pop Air Design) Looking from the GPU temp...
I think a micro atx version of this would be cool as it would make the bottom fan make even more sense.
agree, if this came out with a version for matx, i'd buy it in a heartbeat.
Just built a system with it hours ago, it would not have been possible to fit a full ATX PSU with it if they were to make it mATX only. There really is no space for many shit inside
That "Joe rules, Steve drools" sign still remains. 😂
I think a toilet bowl fan is a great idea (context people, CONTEXT!), but it sounds like this case is a bit on the small side for it in addition to the missing front fans. I wonder if GPU thermals would improve much if you modded it with custom duct from the bottom fan directly to the under side of the GPU, preventing the air from bypassing around the sides. That, plus a couple of front fans could make for a decent build if you are into case modding and already have a couple extra fans laying around.
Good review. There’s definitely demand for non-gigantic, minimal, tasteful (subjective, I know) cases that don’t compromise power too much so the NZXT approach has its place, but they do have quirky thermals. In a 4090 world I worry the pendulum is swinging too far to giant builds. I’m struggling because I basically want something like an NZXT minimal look, itx or mini-atx size, but 4090 power. I’m willing to pay more to shrink the size. Would love to see you guys give your reccs for smaller-but-still-powerful builds.
I mean... You can easily get that with 5070 or 6060 /s
Jokes aside; AIO GPUs?
I kind of appreciate cases not coming with fans. I usually want to use other argb fans anyway so it's just another thing I have to store or sell when I remove the stock fans. That said I think it's worth noting that cases like this are hard to compare to competitors since I don't think NZXT expects anyone to actually run this case in the stock configuration. If you compare the NZXT H5 flow to the Lancool 216 with 2 140mm fans added to the H5 Flow they are pretty comparable, and the 216 is as far as I know the best thermally performing midtower on the market. 216 is definitely the better case when you control for cost, but I think this H5 flow performs quite well when configured in a reasonable way.
I haven't watched the video yet, but I am so keen to see something like a case review after getting bombarded with all the new stuff lol.
Would be good to see a review of DeepCool's LS720 AIO, everything I've seen so far has been positive but it would be useful to see how it's actually designed.
Man I can't wait til solid top panels come back into fashion, holy hell.
I'd like to see them explore the angled fan in their larger cases like the H7 - this kind of feature would've done so well on the H710i where the entire front panel was closed off.
Considering the absolutely HIDEOUS 2008 Chinese gamer cases available in shops where I live, this is an absolute beauty!
I recall another case that NZXT experimented with angled fans. It was the Switch 810 full tower. One of its main selling points was having two adjustable fans on the back of the front-mounted hard drive cages. Dunno how well it works but the whole idea looks interesting.
I used that case for almost 10 years, just swapped it out. Was ahead of it's time, and not too far behind cases today.
GN actually reviewed that one iirc
The realization after saying flush was hysterical.
Thank the GamersNexus Team for their continuing efforts to provide the highest level of content possible!
I just ordered 2 of these. One starfield themed for my son and the glass front for myself to build in. Both will be running 140 front fans with 240mm top radiators. Great looking case.
My last PC was built with a NZXT S340 and it was a great case, though the paint scuffed by just berating on the damn thing. I've always felt the NZXT has a very Star Wars Imperial Army feel.
Built a new PC using this case, I'm really enjoying it
Very nice in depth case review! I think your critique on the fans is very valid, but everyone's approach is different on something like this. Personally I would really appreciate the fact that a case lacks fans, so I can just pick ones that I think look great and work well, or just use all fan slots with all the same fans... would dent the budget a bit, though
The critique is really that if you need to byof, then 95 is a high price. But what I think is -- if you indeed put 2 front fans like you obviously should, then is the toilet fan even going to matter?
Finally a case review, I must say i miss those a lot 😢.
Why wouldn't you consider buying fans for the front? Why would anyone buy this case and not put front fans in it. It's a customization thing. Most cases that come with fans I toss them and throw in Noctuas anyway...
I just bought this and plan to add two fans to the front. Love the look and it's price in Canada + two nice fans was still cheaper than anything similar. Thanks for the informative review.
Honestly glad I switched to a bequiet! Case. Seems like better value for money but I really liked my normal H510 before I switched despite the thermals. It did me justice for a while but the upgrade cost vs what I would’ve gained made it an easy choice. I dig the toilet fan though
ye be quiet are amazing cases, back when covid/shipping costs weren't inflated i got the Pure base 500 for 60 euros / 62 dollar. Honestly quality wise and design wise one of the best cases to build in, very solid materials no flimsy thin metals, and you can tell the designer of the case thought of everything to make building convinient.
@n n it is for sure, if I was going for a white build and already had fans it would be pretty cool. NZXT stands behind their stuff too
@@jeremyniels that’s a huge W! I recently got the Pure Base 500 FX with the silent wings fans on sale for their anniversary and it was a killer deal. And I totally agree you can tell they put a lot of though into the design and it was great to build in
Hey Steve, is there any chance you could make a 'dusty room' in your facility? Perhaps you could make an enclosure in one of your rooms that is just FULL of dust and you put PC cases in there with their max fan slots occupied to test their dust filtration and efficiency? Would be quite interesting to see how modern cases compare when it comes to their filtering capabilities, as it's something I feel a lot of people would be interested in knowing the results for. From my own personal experience of owning these cases for typically between 3-9 months each, I've found that these were the results:
Phanteks P300-P400A: Horrible dust filters, cases quite often filled with dust after a couple of months (with regular dust filter cleaning).
Corsair 4000D Air flow: Horrible dust filters, case was chunked with dust and hair after a few weeks - 2 months (with very regular cleaning).
Lian-Li PC-O11 Dynamic XL/Mid Tower: Insanely good dust filters, never cleaned out case at all, with infrequent dust filter cleaning.
Metallicgear Neo (Phanteks): Mediocre dust filters, case filled eventually with regular dust filter cleaning.
NZXT H510: Decent dust filters, case eventually filled with dust with regular cleaning.
Unfortunately, dust buildup is one of those things that takes weeks to accumulate, and you don't really want to be testing a case for weeks on end, it's a very bad return when you're making review videos like you do, you need the data and video produced as soon as possible. But, if you were able to set up an enclosure that could effectively emulate several weeks or months of dust buildup over the course of 1-4 hours then that could potentially be game changing for case reviews.
Let me know what you think, would be very very interested to hear from you.
It is easy to test dust filter.
Mark out the area of a dust filter occupied by 120/140/whatever mm of fan it is intended to filter for.
Weight out a certain fineness of dust.
Make a jig that limited where the dust can go.
Pour the dust, wait everything to settle (10 - 15min)
Weight amount of dust pass through.
Compare and contrast.
I think your specific problem is likely more about the pressure profile and other unfiltered gap of the case.
Good idea but it makes me wonder. Where does the dust go on your Lian Li if it's not caught on the filter? If the pores are so small that dust doesn't even get caught on there, then it'd surely affect thermals.
Thanks for the review Claudio, I just got this case to build in and hope the thermals are good.
I like that they're trying new designs to help improve performance.
Found this case brand new at a thrift store. Thanks for the review
Your product reviews are the ones I always wait for before biting the bullet. Would you consider reviewing the Jonsbo D30? I think it’s very aesthetically nice, love how understated it is, and seems to have good reviews. The only thing i’m worried about is the fan intake spots are slightly different than a standard case and Im curious if the thermals are okay
Maybe a dual review covering the D30 and D40. There is an update of those coming out soon called the D31 and D41 also
@@FrackaLacka Good to know that an updated one is on the horizon, i’ll keep an eye out for it
bought this case with the T120 + 2x F140 fans for the front because all thermals aside it will look awesome
This review feels so bias for some reason, like some deep down hatred for NZXT. Continuous focus on all the bad aspects (some of which wouldnt even be an issue for the average person like the 2 included fans. Quality fans are cheap as hell to buy, and no budget case will ever come with all of them included), and just completely glossing over anything good.
GamersNexus isn't biased against NZXT. It's just that they go over extra positives and negatives when talking about cases instead of the neutral sides of them. Which is good if what you are looking for is a quick review that goes over the delta of standarts, but regrettably bad if your goal is to learn more about what makes the standart "the standart".
Lancool 2 mesh gang watching another pc case review with a big smile on our face 😎
H510 Flow with front fans.. Done. the white and black look works for me, and the fans will improve airflow. and I'll be sitting just above the butt ugly corsair 4000D in price ( currently $104 retail) which I want to like but MEH! The 510 Flow is at $90 at retail currently. Most of the neutral press had a lot to do with the price, Thermal performance was OK - but adding fans, like with the H5 flow makes sense while adding dollars. Moral of the story. You can't always get what you want for under $100.
I'd recommend revisiting this case because it seems like they took a lot of your notes. It comes with the intake fans now with no glass front, although they don't register with fan control. I've gotten pretty good cooling results. Gonna buy some stuff from the store to support this 😁
This case looks perfect for a compact build, primarily due to god tier aesthetics while not sacrificing anything else. I and many other ppl stopped using hard drive cage as well as default crappy fans long ago so case literally has zero cons
Agree, the review is appropriately from the angle of as-is, however I'd drop high quality fans in there, and I use a single TB SSD.
I bought the H5 FLOW rgb from amazon, It came with 2 front rgb fans, 1 exhaust fan and the bottom gpu angled fan. so 4 total.
Hi, I am considering either this, or h7 flow, could you please tell me what are the temps you are getting for your GPU under peak load. and which GPU do you have
Nice, watched the whole thing and I completely agree with the things I agree with and disagree with the things i dont agree with. 😐
So happy to see case reviews back! Crazy tech tober. Blegh.
Just ordered my mod mat today! Can't wait for it to arrive!
Steve really leaning into his Used Car Salesman Voice there at the end and I’m digging it.
Great review. Thanks for not holding any punches as always!
Nice of NZXT to include a fan pointing directly at where the Nvidia 12VHPWR cable sits. It will either help it stay cool or just fan the flames.
I have an NZXT H500 with a 280mm Corsair H115i mounted in the front which exhausts air out of the front. That case has terrible airflow but it can keep my 9900k at 75c under 100% load. It used to hit 100c when the front was set as the intake. This case and the H510 Airflow solve that problem for me while keeping the form factor that I personally really like. I don't hate the layout of this case and might rebuild my system with it.
Great Intro! Those Titles in the start dose make the video much better!
5:14 that is good enough for nearly every gamer. Idk what is the problem here, that you call it sparse ...
I don't care about the case, I don't care about the specs on this particular case.
I'm here so Steve's angelic voice will sing me to sleep. Good night!
Thank you for nice review, pls pls can you check NZXT H5 Flow 2024 version ? It looks promising with that bottom change.
Update> I bought NZXT H5 Flow 2024 an I am happy, cable management is awesome and filled it with fans and fron AIO CPU, with fancontrol i got air flow fo my dreams 😍
it really isn't a bad case! i just did a new build with 7700K > 13700K. One thing I was surprised with is the fan noise. I guess I took my Fractal R4 case for granted, that thing was a silent beast. The H5 Flow has about 40% more noise but I know I can upgrade to some premium fans to dampen the noise. Plus my PSU can use an upgrade soon. Overall though The cable management and color were awesome for the sub-$100 price and I give it a 7.7/10. Perfect for a build for your kid's entry-mid level gaming, or non gaming work station.
Well, now we know what to call a bottom mounted fan that's angled. Always good to learn the latest tech terms, thanks!
I was watching your news recap as you took it offline, so now i watch this lol
Finally someone that put fans in the front for the test
i got this case , waiting for prices to go down to build my 1st pc. i love the look of this case.
my Toilet pc . you need good flow
There is an H5 Flow RGB version. With two extra 140mm fans on the front
The white color, Flow name, Steve saying "flush" and coining the "toilet bowl"; I will forever see the H5 as the toilet-themed case.
I guess I'm old school where when you bought a case was just that. Just a case. It may have come with provisions for fans but they weren't included.
In defense of nzxt, I didnt want the included nzxt fans anyway and just replaced the existing ones too. So its nice to get a case for cheaper rather than having to throw away 20 or 30$ worth of fans.
5:38 When looking at this I can't help but thing the whole fan assembly should have been part of the case structure. Allowing for the fan to pull back towards the very front of the case. The bottom front could even change shape like a hexagon allowing for different angles the bottom intake fan could take.
Nice of Bearded Hardware to leave that souvenir in the background
I think the benefit to this case is for us builders that are upgrading to a modern case and are moving hardware from a previous build. However, it would be nice to see an option with and without fans.
Steve got very Italian Uncle in the last 30 seconds. YOU LIKE-A THE CASE? YOU GET-A THE FANS!
I was waiting for this case review! I was looking at getting one for my next build. :)
Totally agree that it needs those two front intake fans, but am not so sure about the statement that those two fans would significantly add to the price. There are a ton of multi than packs available that cost less than $15, for the pack. Like 2x Be quiet! 120mm for $10 (for both). Sure you could get a larger case for similar prices, but maybe space is of concern and design is important to you.. taking those factors into consideration this car seems like a pretty good option :)
I was hoping for a new case review. Awesome!
Honestly, I kinda respect the "bring your own fan" philosophy. Less waste.
My old full tower takes 7 fans / 8 if you leave the top optical drive bay empty and CAME with 2 fans in front with a dust filter and 1 an exhaust fan in the back. It is an NZXT case and I am still using it 10 years later. This is from the days before they developed small form factor cases that provided employment for professional fire fighters. Sad to see how they have regressed.
When video title is neutral, you know it's a comparatively good review.
Can wait for the nzxt h5i with 2 front rgb fans and insane stock airflow
I see additional value in cases that don't have many fans out of the box because that lets you pick the fans that you want... Noctuas ;)
Case reviews are my fave :)
I currently use this case and I think it works great, the temps are great even though im missing two 120mm fans at the top, There is also plenty of room if you get the right sized graphics card
They may have omitted front fans expecting you to buy a AIO which will include fans, we need a poll asking if we use tower, downdraft, AIO, or custom loops
I hope you guys look into reviewing the Fractal Focus 2 in the near future 🙏
For some reason a $70 ATX case with 2 included 140mm front intake fans, front mesh panel and no PSU shroud (thank god) is getting no reviews :(
I am honestly loving mine I installed 2 ML140 Corsair in the front, 2 on the top ( 1 kolink and 1 sharkoon, both that I want to change for another model) so the Ryzen 5 3600x with a Cooler Master EVO V1 I never ever had any problem with it thermals, but with a AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT THICC III Ultra XFX I always have problems with it thermals( 95C!!!!) , and now, thanks to the bottom fan turned directly at the GPU its been great( for me ) way better than the REV100 Sharkoon ( the case I had before this one) So yeah I had to spend a bit more, but I am extremely happy and I found it quite genius to have the bottom "toilet" XD fan turned to the GPU directly, have a nice day! :)
The H5 Flow RGB comes with 2x 140mm fans in the front, and 1-2x (?) 120mm elsewhere, and it's retailing right now for $99 usd.
I look forward to the G360A review.