NZXT H510 Elite Review (Page 4 of 4)
Page 4 — Installation and Conclusion
It has been a while since I built a new computer on a new platform, but thankfully I was able to do so with the NZXT H510 Elite. However, my installation process has not really changed. I started by installing the power supply first and routing the necessary cables to the expect slots. As you can see, without moving the hard drive cage, my Seasonic FOCUS Plus 850 Gold 850W is pretty compact at 140mm and has ample spacing for additional cables to hide in the basement. As for routing, I drew my CPU power cable directly up to the routing hole at the top, while using the valley for the motherboard connection, and the shroud hole to power my graphics card. Even though this is the same layout as the H500, I am still quite impressed at the number of routing holes for cables.
Afterwards, I decided to install my two drives, which includes the OCZ ARC 100 240GB and a Western Digital Blue 1TB hard drive. With the smaller 2.5″ drive, I mounted it in a plastic holder. The larger 3.5″ drive I mounted in the metal bracket. I personally do not like this implementation for the cage, as I would need to remove the cage fully. I would much prefer using some sort of tray mechanism that can be slotted in instead, while allowing the smaller drive size to be mounted here as well.
I recently joined AMD with my main build, so I paired an ASUS Prime X470-PRO with an AMD Ryzen 7 3700X. I also put the Gigabyte AORUS RGB Memory DDR4-3200 2x8GB memory kit to use here. On top of the processor, I mounted the Noctua NH-U12A here. At a height of 158mm, this cooler fits within the maximum 163mm height specified by NZXT. For gaming power, I reused my MSI GeForce GTX 1070Ti Titanium video card. This card has a length of 279mm and does not come close to the front cooling area. NZXT says you can install cards up to 368.5mm in length, though it will depend if you decide to mount additional cooling options at the front.
Just to note, you can install up to a single 280mm radiator here. I personally also tried to install a 140mm fan in the top opening for a neutral airflow setup, but I ran into some clearance issues between the CPU power cable and the fan. I think this could have been fixed by moving this top ventilation area forward by a few centimeters, just to move it away from the back area. As such, I would check for clearances if you were to mount other cooling options, such as radiators.
At the back, you can see all of the power cables routed through the valleys and strapped down. I really think NZXT has done a great job in making cable routing easy and relatively neat. I still do have a bit of a rat’s nest in the basement, but the rest of the cables are easy to route and hold down. There are some cable tie points at the front and the two Velcro straps also do the job in holding the excess cables in place. As I have mentioned previously, I would have liked the vertical opening to have a bit clearance between the white covering bar and the opening since my motherboard power cable is bunched and does not offer a lot of flexibility.
While this is more at the fault of the power supply manufacturer, I still think this would at least allow for an easier routing situation. Otherwise, the rest of the installation was straightforward.
After getting everything setup and installing my own programs, I was up and running on SpaceH 2.0. As you can see, the whole white and black theme is up and running, but the tinted tempered glass keeps quite a few things hidden. According to the standard APH Networks sound scale, where 0 is silence and 10 is loud, the NZXT H510 is a 5.0/10 under full load and a 3.5/10 in more typical workloads. While we are talking about three stock fans included, I may have taken for granted the quieter cases I have used in the past. These fans are alright on a day-to-day use, but are also noticeable under load.
NZXT actually released their latest CAM software, CAM 4.0, which offers some welcomed changes as well as a revamped layout. It is available from NZXT’s website, and at press time, I was testing with CAM 4.
0.7. The installer is about 1.6MB in size, but after downloading and installing, CAM is closer to 267MB in disk usage. This still is in beta testing, but I personally found the software to behave pretty well.
The above output only shows the main page of the CAM software, but I will quickly go over each page. As you can see here, CAM shows you the current information for your computer at the time with more information like specifications or played game times on other pages. The next tab is used for lighting controls, featuring similar lighting effects as the previous versions of CAM. One thing NZXT has made more prominent are lighting profiles, which lets you save full lighting setup for all of the channels. NZXT also provides some of their own lighting profiles for you to use. Finally, the last tab lets you change the fan curves as well as help you overclock your GPU should you so desire. Overall, NZXT has worked on the small bugs like remembering your login information and general UI improvements.
In addition, they now have a switch where you can turn off information collection and reporting. In this day and age of information privacy, users of the older CAM software were not happy when this was first implemented, so it is good to see we can now turn it off you so desire.
——————————————
If we were to look at the original case the NZXT H510 Elite was inspired by, you would know that we thought it was a pretty good compact ATX option, with a smart but budget friendly design, without compromising on premium elements either. However, the H510 Elite is not targeted for wallet-watchers at an MSRP of $150 USD ($170 USD with tariffs), which is a chunky increase over the H500. The differences between the two cases are noticed immediately with the front glass addition. Internally, we have the second-generation Smart Hub, two extra fans with RGB lighting, and interior lighting all pre-installed. Furthermore, NZXT answered my one request from the previous review with an updated front panel USB 3.
1 Type-C Gen. 2 port for fast transfers on the newest connection. Other positive elements found on the H510 Elite include its great build quality, sufficient storage options, and excellent cable management; all of which were kept from the H500. On the other hand, at this price point, I also may have liked to see some better functional aspects. I think the easiest would be first to add some vibration dampening on the glass panel and the power supply mounting area. I also would have liked to see them keep two full-sized USB ports in addition to adding the newer Type-C ones. Unfortunately, my gripe from the last case is still present as they did not address my desire for a drive cage with caddies. Even so, while you will pay a price for these updated features, the NZXT H510 Elite is a very solid case now made stunning in its appearance.
NZXT provided this product to APH Networks for the purpose of evaluation.
APH Review Focus Summary:
8/10 means Definitely a very good product with drawbacks that are not likely going to matter to the end user.
7/10 means Great product with many advantages and certain insignificant drawbacks; but should be considered before purchasing.
— Final APH Numeric Rating is 7.5/10
Please note that the APH Numeric Rating system is based off our proprietary guidelines in the Review Focus, and should not be compared to other sites.
The NZXT H510 Elite builds off the H500 with updated features and appearance, albeit at a much higher price point.
Do you have any comments or questions about the NZXT H510 Elite? Drop by our Forums. Registration is free, and it only takes a minute!
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look — Outside
3. Physical Look — Inside
4. Installation and Conclusion
NZXT H510 Mid Tower Iconic cable management bar and uninterrupted temp
– EasyPC
-
NZXT H510 Mid Tower Iconic cable management bar and uninterrupted tempered-glass side panel Removable bracket PC Case Black, White/Black, Black/Red
- NZXT H510 Mid Tower Iconic cable management bar and uninterrupted tempered-glass side panel Removable bracket PC Case Black, White/Black, Black/Red
NZXT H510 Mid Tower Iconic cable management bar and uninterrupted tempered-glass side panel Removable bracket PC Case Black, White/Black, Black/Red
Delivery Options
Payment Options
Warranty
- Description
- Reviews
NZXT H510 Mid Tower Iconic cable management bar and uninterrupted tempered-glass side panel Removable bracket PC Case Black, White/Black, Black/Red
Product Specifications
- Brand: NZXT
- Model: H510
- Color: Black, White/Black, Black/Red
- Motherboard Support: Mini-ITX, MicroATX, ATX
- Enclosure Type: Compact Mid-Tower
- Case Material: SGCC Steel, Tempered Glass
- Compatibility & Clearance
- Max CPU Cooler Clearance: 165mm
- Max GPU Clearance: 381mm
- Front Fan & Radiator Clearance: 60mm
- Cable Management: 19 — 23mm
- Expansion Slots
- Standard: 7
- Vertical: —
- Fan Support
- Front: 2 x 120mm / 2 x 140mm
- Top: 1 x 120mm / 1 x 140mm
- Rear: 1 x 120mm
- Filters: All air intakes
- Fan Specs
- Model: Aer P 120mm (Case Version)
- Speed: 1,200 ± 200RPM
- Airflow: 50.
42 CFM - Noise: 28 dBA
- Fan Connector: 3-pin
- Front I/O Ports
- USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A: 1
- USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C: 1
- Headset Audio Jack: 1
- Drive Bays
- 5″: 2 + 1
- 5″: 2 + 1
- Radiator Support
- Front: 280mm
- Top: —
- Rear: 120mm
- Dimensions
- Height: 460mm / 18.11 inches
- Width: 210mm / 8.27 inches
- Depth: 428mm / 16.85 inches
- Weight: 6.6 kg / 14.55 lb
- Overview:
- This compact mid-tower is an ideal case for the majority of builds. The H510 is easy-to-build-in and offers flexibility for a variety of ATX parts.
- Features:
- Iconic cable management bar and uninterrupted tempered-glass side panel
- USB 3.2 Gen2-compatible USB-C connector on the front panel
- Cable routing kit with pre-installed channels and straps
- Two Aer F120mm fans and removable filter on PSU intake
- Removable bracket designed for radiators up to 280mm
Items On Sale
Seagate 1tb ST1000DM010 Harddisk Drive
₱2,118.
00
₱2,159.00
RAKK Talan Black/White Accuracy and precision Wireless Limitless Customization Gaming Mouse and Top Cover
₱1,595.00
₱1,695.00
Western Digital 1tb Harddisk Drive Blue
₱2,208.00
₱2,355.00
EasyPC Rakk Daguob Illuminated Red/White/Blue/Green Comfortable Headband, LED Illuminated, Tangle Proof, Gaming Headset
₱325.00
₱360.00
RAKK Aptas V2 Keyboard and Mouse Bundle
₱319.00
₱395.00
Amd Ryzen 5 3600 Processor Socket Am4 4.2ghz with Wraith Stealth Cooler
₱6,550.00
₱6,995.00
Rakk Ounos X 120mm Eclipse Red/Blue/Green/White Led Fan Chassis Fan
₱139..png)
00
₱165.00
Intelligent 700 watts Power Supply
₱376.00
₱390.00
ASUS Prime A320M-K Socket Am4 Ddr4 Motherboard
₱2,860.00
₱2,950.00
Adata SU630 Solid State Drive 240gb SATA 2.5
₱1,316.00
₱1,595.00
Secure 220v Avr
₱230.00
₱260.00
Kingston SSDNow A400 240GB and 960GB SATA 2.5 reliable and durable than hard Fast File Transfer Drive Solid State Drive
₱1,403.00
₱1,675.00
Featured Brands
- RAKK
- Specterpro
RAKK Talan Black/White Accuracy and precision Wireless Limitless Customization Gaming Mouse and Top Cover
₱1,595.
00
₱1,695.00
Rakk Tandus 87 Keys RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard
Sold Out
RAKK Aptas V2 Keyboard and Mouse Bundle
₱319.00
₱395.00
Rakk Ilis Outemu Red/Blue PBT Keycaps Mechanical, and Ilis Type-C Gaming Keyboard and Rakk Bundles
Sold Out
RAKK Maris Pro 120mm 3in1 Chassis Fan with Lightning Kit RGB
Sold Out
Rakk Ounos X 120mm Eclipse Red/Blue/Green/White Led Fan Chassis Fan
₱139.00
₱165.00
Rakk Marug Micro-ATX Motherboard Black Gaming Case with Front Panel LED Strip, Can Fit 8x 120mm Case Fan 155mm CPU cooler
Sold Out
RAKK 400watts ATX PSU Brand new power supply truly high performance PSU designed with low-noise Power Supply
Sold Out
Rakk Haliya ATX Mid Tower Tempered Glass, Support mATX, iTX with 120mm fan Black/White PC Gaming Case
Sold Out
RAKK Kusog Pro 7.
1 RGB Gaming Headset USB Black
₱819.00
₱920.00
Rakk Kimat XT.LE RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard, Outemu Blue Switches for Clicky Sound while typing, 14 Lighting Modes, 104 Keys Gaming Keyboard
Sold Out
RAKK Pluma 68 Keys RGB Wireless Bluetooth 5.0 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard Outemu Red
Sold Out
SpecterPro G24SL 24″ IPS 75Hz Freesync Gaming Monitor V-Stand
Sold Out
SpecterPro 27GX IPS 27 » Gaming Monitor 144hz|1ms|Flat Screen|1080P|FULL HD|VESA Mount Ready|Freesync|Gsync (Adaptive)
Sold Out
SpecterPro G27SL 27″ IPS 75Hz Freesync Gaming Monitor
Sold Out
SpecterPro 24GX-IPS 144hz Freesync Gaming Monitor
Sold Out
SpecterPro XT24NS 24″ 144hz Curved Monitor
Sold Out
SpecterPro SP24SL 24 Inches Ips Monitor
Sold Out
SpecterPro SP27SZ 27 Inches Ips Monitor
Sold Out
Specterpro G22F 22 VA Type 75hz Freezync 5ms Response Time Black Gaming Monitor
Sold Out
SPECTERPRO 25240GXT 25 Inch Gaming Monitor | 240hz | Freesync and Gsync Adaptive | IPS Panel|1080p |1MS
₱9,195..png)
00
₱9,300.00
SPECTERPRO 2415CV 24 VA 165Hz Curved AMD Adaptive Sync Gaming Monitor
₱6,395.00
₱6,500.00
SPECTERPRO 2675UW 26 IPS 75Hz Ultrawide AMD Adaptive Sync Gaming Monitor
₱7,395.00
₱7,500.00
SPECTERPRO 3275SL 32 IPS 75Hz AMD Adaptive Sync Gaming Monitor
₱7,395.00
₱7,500.00
0003
City
BerlinAach B TrierAach, HegauAachenAalenAarbergenAasbuettelAbbenrodeAbenbergAbensbergAbentheuerAbrahamAbsbergAbstattAbtsbessingenAbtsgmuendAbtsteinachAbtswindAbtweilerAchbergAchernAchimAchslachAchstettenAchtAchtelsbachAchterwehrAchtrupAckendorfAddebuellAdelbergAdelebsenAdelheidsdorfAdelmannsfeldenAdelschlagAdelsdorfAdelsheimAdelshofen, Kr FuerstenfeldbruckAdelshofen, MittelfrAdelsriedAdelzhausenAdenauAdenbachAdenbuettelAdendorfAderstedtAdlersteigeAdligstadtAdlkofenAdmannshagen-BargeshagenAdorf/Vogtl.
AebtissinwischAerzenAffalterbachAffingAffinghausenAfflerAgathenburgAgethorstAglasterhausenAhamAhausAhausenAhlbeckAhlden (Aller)Ahlefeld-BistenseeAhlenAhlerstedtAhlsdorfAhlstaedtAhnatalAhnebyAhnsbeckAhnsenAholfingAholmingAhorn, BadenAhorn, Kr CoburgAhorntalAhrbrueckAhrensboekAhrensburgAhrensfeldeAhrenshagen-DaskowAhrenshoeftAhrenstedtAhrenvioelAhrenvioelfeldAicha Vorm WaldAichachAichelbergAichenAichhaldenAichstettenAichtalAichwaldAidenbachAidhausenAidlingenAiglsbachAilertchenAindling
Case overview NZXT H510 Elite
| Retail offers (black) |
ask price |
|---|---|
| Retail offers (black and white) |
ask price |
This year, NZXT launched a new series of cases based on the well-known H Series, calling it the H Refresh. At the same time, the classic H series continues to be produced in parallel with the new H Refresh series — at least for now.
The light sources are two fans and one LED strip with individual LED addressing, which are connected to the built-in controller using three-pin connectors. In total, the controller has two ports for connecting light sources.
Illuminated fans are located at the front, and the tape is fixed on the top panel along the glass wall so that it is not visible from the outside, so it creates a diffused lighting inside.
Backlight control is only supported by software — using NZXT Cam software, which must be downloaded from the manufacturer’s website. There are no external controls, as well as backlight control through the motherboard software.
The integrated controller is powered by the SATA Power connector.
Cooling system
The case can be fitted with 120mm or 140mm fans. Seats for them are available in front, top and rear.
| Front | Top | Rear | Right | Left | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fan mountings | 2×120/140 mm | 1×120/140 mm | 1×120 mm | no | no |
| Installed fans | 2×140 mm | no | 1×120 mm | no | no |
| Seats for radiators | 120/140/240/280 mm | no | 120 mm | no | no |
| Filter | nylon | no | — | nylon | no |
Three fans are pre-installed in the case: one 120mm AER F120 fan in the rear and two 140mm AER RGB 2 fans with individually addressable RGB lighting in the front.
The front fans have two connectors: a standard four-pin (PWM) for speed control and a three-pin for backlighting, the rear one has a standard three-pin with control for changing the supply voltage. All three fans are connected to a standard multifunctional controller.
We received the case in the old configuration, and in the new configuration, a 140 mm fan on the top panel will be additionally installed — model AER F140 based on a plain bearing with a screw thread and a three-pin connector with rotation speed control by changing the supply voltage. Customers who purchased an older chassis will be able to order the above fan free of charge through the NZXT website.
The controller has three channels for controlling both types of fans, and the kit also includes a splitter that supports four-pin fans. Thus, if necessary, the fan park can be easily expanded using fans with any standard connector.
By default, the front fans are connected to one port on the controller and the rear fan is connected to another.
The third channel is not busy.
Alternatively, instead of the existing zoo, a 120mm PWM fan with RGB lighting could be installed at the rear, which would look more advantageous in appearance and would make it easier to connect and control.
The front cooling system components are mounted on a detachable bracket, which is fixed with two thumbscrews located inside the case on a vertical post near the front wall on the left side. The bracket is also removable from the inside.
Two CBO radiators can be installed in the case, one of which can be 280 mm and the other 120 mm. The most successful is the placement of the radiator in front.
Three dust filters are installed in the housing:
- on the bottom wall under the front panel
- on the right wall near the front panel
- on the bottom wall under the power supply
All filters are made of nylon mesh in a plastic frame.
The only truly quick-release filter is installed under the power supply.
It can be quickly removed and replaced without having to lay the case on its side.
The lower front filter can only be removed from the inside of the right panel, no tools are required.
The side filter has a similar design, it can only be removed from the inside of the panel, for which it will be necessary to unscrew it. To remove the filter, you will need a flat-head screwdriver or something similar — not to unscrew it, but to pry and pull out the frame. You can try to do it with your nails, but we do not recommend this method. Perhaps the best cleaning option would be to rinse the filter together with the side panel under running water, and periodically vacuum the filter from the outside.
Thus, there are filters, but cleaning them, except for the filter near the power supply, is not very convenient.
It would be logical to combine all the lower filters into one long one with the possibility of extracting it from the front — this would be the most convenient option.
Design
The case weighs about 8 kg, which is explained by the use of high-quality steel with a thickness of about 0.75 mm and tempered glass walls with a thickness of 4 mm. There are no special claims to the strength and rigidity of the structure. The case during operation does not rattle and does not emit any parasitic overtones.
| Our measurements | Housing | Chassis |
|---|---|---|
| Length, mm | 447 | 425 |
| Width, mm | 210 | 210 |
| Height, mm | 463 | 435 |
| Weight, kg | 7.6 |
The front panel here consists of two parts: the lower fixed white steel part and the removable glass plate in its upper part. The glass plate is fixed with two screws for a Phillips screwdriver, to access which you need to remove both side walls. After that, the wall can be pulled out by tilting it forward.
The left side of the case has almost the same design, only the glass plate is fixed with a single knurled screw.
Note that the lower stationary steel part of the front panel is made in one piece together with the left side stationary steel part, that is, they are stamped from one workpiece. Such technical solutions increase the rigidity of the hull structure without making it heavier.
The right wall here is entirely steel with a U-shaped rolling top and bottom.
The power button and I/O ports (USB 3.1 Gen 1 (USB 3.0), USB 3.1 Gen 2 (USB 3.1 Type-C), headset jack) are located on the top wall at the front of the case. The case allows you to connect wired headsets with both digital and analog interfaces from the front panel. But there are quite a few USB connectors, after all, Type-C is more often used on the consumer device side, and the vast majority of cables have a Type-A connector at the other end. Although it is quite possible that cables with Type-C connectors at both ends will become more mainstream soon.
The case does not have a reset button, and the power button has a round shape, low speed and works with a loud click. The Power LED is built into the wraparound indicator around the power button, as is the hard drive activity indicator. Both indicators glow with diffused white light.
The case is mounted on rectangular feet with medium-hard rubber pads, which provide good stability and dampen small vibrations from fans and hard drives, even when mounted on a hard surface.
Drives
Full-size hard drives are installed in a dedicated three-slot drive cage. The basket is fixed with four screws that are screwed through the bottom of the case from the outside, and if necessary, it can be removed. On the same seat, you can install a separate 2.5 or 3.5-inch drive, as well as CBO components. The basket has three slots for 3.5-inch drives, the bottom drive can be replaced with a 2.5-inch drive, but for this the basket will have to be removed. All drives in the basket are fastened with screws.
No shock-absorbing elements are provided here.
For 2.5″ drives, there are two quick-release carriers installed on the back of the system board base.
Containers are fixed with four plastic pins and one latch, and one Phillips head screw. The process of installing the container itself is not very convenient, because it is not always possible to fix it in place the first time.
| Maximum number of drives 3.5″ | 3 |
|---|---|
| Maximum number of drives 2.5″ | 3 |
| Number of drives in the front basket | 3 |
| Number of drives on the front of the system board base | no |
| Number of drives on the back of the system board base | 2×2.5″ |
In total, five drives can be installed here: 2×3.5″ and 3×2.5″ or 3×3.5″ and 2×2.5″. This is quite enough for a typical home computer (and not only). On the other hand, all the seats are not blown by fans, so it is not worth building a high-performance disk subsystem with constant high loads without additional cooling in this case.
System block assembly
The tempered glass wall is fixed with plastic spacers and one knurled screw, which is traditionally screwed into the rear wall of the case. After unscrewing the screw, the wall does not fall off by itself — to remove it, it must be deflected vertically, overcoming the force of the spacer elements.
The second side wall is attached in a more traditional way with two thumbscrews. Unlike the more conventional lean-to-slide system, in this case the right side wall is fixed thanks to grooves in the front of the case, forming something like a door hinge — this is a convenient solution. All three screws have anti-removable threads, so they do not fall out of their holes.
All motherboard stands are pre-installed by the manufacturer. The assembly order of the PC in the NZXT H510 Elite does not really matter, since the components are spaced apart and do not interfere with each other, but it is better to start by installing the power supply and wiring.
The PSU is installed on the right side and fixed with four screws. The case provides for the installation of power supplies of not only standard, but also larger sizes with a case length of more than 180 mm.
The case, according to the manufacturer, can install a processor cooler up to 165 mm high. The distance from the motherboard base to the opposite wall is about 180mm.
| Some installation dimensions, mm | |
|---|---|
| Declared CPU cooler height | 165 |
| System board bay depth | 180 |
| Wiring compartment depth | 15 |
| Distance from the board to the fan mounting holes on the top of the chassis | 30 |
| Distance from board to top of chassis | 30 |
| Main video card length | 365 |
| Length of additional graphics card | 365 |
| Power supply length | 220 |
| Board width | 244 |
The wiring compartment is approx.
25 mm deep at the back. For mounting wires, loops are provided for fastening screeds or other similar products. There are no petal membranes in the mounting holes, but they are covered with a steel plate, so the case looks pretty neat from the inside.
Next, you can install the required expansion boards, such as a video card that can reach a length of 368 mm, if the volume of the case between the motherboard and the front wall of the chassis is not occupied by anything. If a coolant cooler is installed here, then the size of the video card will be limited to about 300 mm, which is quite enough for typical solutions, since the vast majority of modern video cards do not exceed 280 mm in length.
The locking system here is the most common — screw mounting on the outside of the case with individual fixation and a common decorative plate, which is fixed with one knurled screw. All plugs for expansion cards are removable, fixed with one screw for a Phillips screwdriver.
NZXT designers have provided a fairly convenient cable management system, which on the right side consists of plastic channels, guides, Velcro and fabric ties, and on the left side — from slots in the right places and a white steel strip hiding the outgoing cables.
If you correctly choose a combination of a power supply (as an option — additional extension cords for it) and a motherboard, then the final assembly will look as concise as possible.
It’s nice to note that not only the USB and audio ports, but also the buttons and indicators from the front panel are connected to the motherboard with monolithic sockets (Intel FP): no heap of wires, no assembler suffering. True, a monolithic block may be incompatible with a certain board, and in this case there is an adapter that allows you to connect any board in the standard way.
To connect a multifunctional controller, it must be powered from one SATA Power connector, and also connected to the system board with a monolithic USB 2.0 connector. A similar connection method is provided by the NZXT Kraken liquid cooling system and a number of other components, so there may not be enough ports for everyone if there are more than 2-3 such components.
Acoustic ergonomics
During the noise level measurement, all complete fans were controlled by changing the supply voltage.
This made it possible to simultaneously synchronize all the fans and draw conclusions about the range of noise during the operation of the case ventilation system.
The noise level of the cooling system varies from 25.7 to 42 dBA when the microphone is placed in the near field. When the fans are powered by 5 V, the noise is relatively low, but as the supply voltage increases, the noise level increases. In the typical voltage regulation range of 7-11 V, noise varies from medium (33 dBA) to high (40.7 dBA) levels relative to typical daytime residential values.
If the case is further away from the user and placed, for example, on the floor under the table, the noise can be described as minimally noticeable when the fans are powered from 5 V, and when powered from 12 V — as average for a living space during the daytime .
Additionally, we made measurements with combined control: the supply voltage in this case was 5 V, and the PWM duty cycle was set to 0 … 10%. With these settings, the noise level decreased even more and amounted to 23.
4 dBA at the desktop location and 20.5 dBA at the floor location.
The sound attenuation of the front panel is about 8 dBA at a distance of 0.35 meters with the fans running at maximum speed, which is above average for solid panels. Thus, the housing demonstrates a good tightness of the structure and the absence of significant gaps through which the noise propagates along the shortest distance to the user.
NZXT Cam
The Smart Device 2 multifunction controller, which connects to lighting elements and fans, is controlled using NZXT’s standard NZXT Cam software product. It combines in a single interface all devices from the NZXT Cam ecosystem that are connected to the USB ports of a computer.
The Russian-language interface is present here, but it seems that it was made by machine translation of individual words without taking into account the meaning of their use.
In the case of lighting control, there is a choice of a wide range of effects for each light source separately.
Fan control is much more interesting here: it is possible to build an individual rotation speed control curve depending on the temperature of the GPU or CPU for each control channel of the controller. It is also supported to completely stop the fans for each controller channel separately.
The selected settings can be saved to a profile with any name.
Results
The case left a good impression both inside and out, which happens not as often as we would like. The appearance deserves separate compliments: this is the rare case when the glass panels look appropriate and harmonious, and do not turn the case into a sideboard from the Romanian headset of the seventies. The lighting system is also well integrated, which does not look like a random set of lurid light bulbs, but elegantly complements the appearance of the case.
The multifunctional controller is a thing in itself, as it is controlled exclusively by NZXT Cam software. More universal is the fan control using a hub that connects to the motherboard, for example, as in the NZXT h540.