Reviews - NZXT H440

[HEXUS]

Ready to give up the optical drive? NZXT reckons now is the time.

Read more.

[krazy_olie]

There seems to be no considerable benefit to removing the bays here.
Still most people would probably be fine with an external. FWIW a ps3 or £50 blu-ray player will probably do the job better.

[GrahamC]

This model seems to have taken a frikin age to go on sale. In the end I went another way. Shame really wanted this.

[MrRockliffe]

Hm, £92 for a case with yucky side panels, louder than average fans and no use of 4 pin. Seems rather expensive considering these fixes aren't rocket science. It's my favourite looking case by far, but the negatives are too big to warrant buying the case. Plus I'd have to get an external optical drive as I use mine a fair amount.

[Firedrops]

This model seems to have taken a frikin age to go on sale. In the end I went another way. Shame really wanted this.

Yeah I remember how hyped it was, having the countdown and all.

I think NZXT's taking a major step in a new(personally, good) direction, but it feels somewhat rushed. Most of its cons can be fixed easily/cheaply if they got some proper feedback from end-users, especially the lack of fan controllers and that both the top and front mesh are far actually too restrictive for airflow, requiring higher speed pressure fans, which contradict the philosophy of this case. NZXT's fans haven't been anything spectacular so far, but I believe their new X41/61 fans will change that, since it's a rebrand of the TY-140.

[GuidoLS]

It's a neat idea, and a good concept, but it's a still a bit premature. Until more of the world (and I'm not talking the so-called 3rd world) has true broadband, dropping the optical drive is still a non-starter.

[davidcrofter]

This certainly looks the part (along with the white version) but when you consider cost and performance I fail to see how it can garner a recommended award??

Poor cooling and very noisy should = must try harder NZXT. When you take into consideration the price it should be a no brainer from the reviewer ... the award seems solely to be based on their decision to drop the optical drive.

[Xlucine]

I can't see the benefit of removing the drive on that case - considering the style of the front panel it wouldn't be hard to cover the drive with a door, and it's not as if you've saved any room in the case without it. I'd like to see a smaller case that actually was smaller than the competitors before I'll consider removing the drive a good idea

[rpjkw11]

I'm not yet ready to do away with drive bays. I like using fan controllers and bays are a great place to tuck away 1-2 HDDs thereby improving front-to-back airflow in the main part of the case. Plus I occasionally use an ODD.

[Bagpuss]

It was a choice between this and the Corsair 450D in my new build last week, chose the 450D in the end, not because of the lack of drive bay, I haven't installed one in the 450D, that's what USB flash drives are for nowdays..)

The reasons I didn't go for this are the relatively poor cooling and the H440 shows up fingerprints and smudge marks like no ones business and is a right pain to keep clean, at least in the black versions and I didn't want it in white.

More than happy with my choice...

[Saracen]

There's a market for most things, no doubt including this. But for me, dropping an optical drive capability is a non-starter.

And so is using an external drive.

If you don't need an optical drive, fine. Or if you need one very occasionally. But if you use one more than occassionally, an external drive is, IMHO, a daft way to go. They're typically more expensive, mean extra cables plugged in the back, is one more thing to get dusty, dirty, broken or borrowed/nicked, and to clutter up your office, bedroom, or whatever.

So .... seems to me that what this comes down to is whether the nominal reduction in chassis size justifies removing, permanently, the OPTION to have anything based on a 5.25" bay. If it does, then this is an option for chassis choice. But for me, the difference in chassis size is pretty immaterial, and the loss of the optical drive, or the option to add one, or other 5.25" items, is not.

[Bhavv]

And where exactly then, would I install the 5.25" front controller for my NZXT Hue, huh NZXT???

Fail.

[duc]

I don't get it. If you're going to throw the rule book away and have a case without 5.25" bays, then be more adventurous in your design.

[Jedibeeftrix]

one of the attraction of buying the In-Win 901 for a HTPC was quite how discrete and non-core the OD was to the design.

I have the Silverstone FT02 as my main PC and its a great case, but i will never again buy a case that wastes so much design priority on a bunch of useless 5.75" drive bays. The FT05 is a massive improvement.

[Obraxis]

I'm just building my new rig inside one as I type:



It is indeed, a sexy case. The only bad thing about it, is it catched fingerprint grease fairly easily, and the lack of 5.25" bays....however, the first point is easy to clean, and second is easy to compensate for.

I was not going to get this case due to me loving my blu-rays....but I managed to find an external 5.25" Caddy for DVD/Blu-Ray drives on Amazon for about £35: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

For those that need it

Also specs of my new build:

NZXT. H440 Case (Red and Matte Black)
Core i7 4790K
Corsair H100i Liquid Cooling
Asus Maximus VII
16GB Corsair Dominator RAM
2x MSi 3GB 280x in CrossfireX
CoolerMaster V850 (Really a Seasonic 850 PSU in sheep's clothing)
480GB Seagate SSD
4TB Hitachi NAS 7200rpm Drive (For Storage)

I also have a custom LED lighting rig going in soon.

Cheers!

[Saracen]

....

For those that need it

....

IMHO, such an external provision is fine if needed occasionally or infrequently. If used regularly, it's just more clutter, and is far better neatly housed inside the PC chassis.

Each to his own, but for me, losing the 5.25" bay(s) is a compromise too far.