Monday 20 July 2015

NZXT H440 SE

NZXT H440 SE

The special edition of NZXT's H440 has been designed in collaboration with Razer, adding some features and eye candy to what was already a nifty PC chassis, in exchange for some extra outlay.

Aesthetically, while the H440 is traditionally a minimalistic design, this special edition has small nods to Razer's styling throughout the design, with bright green USB connectors and a lighting kit that highlights both the rear and underside of the case, but not so much that it becomes piercingly bright. The Razer logo at the front is similarly illuminated, once again in a tasteful manner. The entire design is swish and the branded improvements and lighting kit are nice additions to what was already a very attractive case.


The H440 SE's design isn't just about great looks though; plenty of thought has gone into the internal design too. A PSU cover (once again, with a bright green Razer logo) not only keeps all the cables out of view, with a generous amount of space to house excess cabling, but it also serves to keep the area around the motherboard clear from clutter.

Even with minimal effort, it really isn't hard to build a clean, tidy, good-looking PC with the H440 SE. Along with the PSU cover, there's a large number of holes around the motherboard tray for cable routing, plus all the cables for the LEDs and fans are already connected and neatly routed out of the way, straight out of the box.

There's also a hub for up to ten 4-pin Molex connectors located just behind the motherboard tray. It can handle a power load of up to BOW, which is enough for a full complement of 120mm fans, or even a water-cooling pump and radiator fans. Its main purpose, though, is cable management, again removing the need to clutter space around the motherboard with fan cables.

All six storage bays are individually removable, supporting either 2.5in or 3.5in drives, with two further dedicated 2.5in mounts on top of the PSU cover. This array of drive mounts provides quite a lot of flexibility if you need to make room in the case for other parts. It's worth noting, however, that there’s no support for optical drives, although we don't consider this omission a major issue these days, considering the affordability of external drives if you need one.

NZXT H440 SE inside

Three front-mounted 120mm fans at the front are included, and can be swapped out for a pair of 140mm fans, with space for radiators in the roof and front. There aren't any vents on the case exterior, though, which could affect overall thermal efficiency. Meanwhile, if you want to install water cooling gear, there's natural room for a triple 120mm radiator at the front, or a double 140mm model, with support for full-height model too.

Identical fittings are found in the roof, although no fans are included out of the box. While you should still be able to squeeze a second radiator in the roof, though, you're limited to half-height models, since the motherboard slightly gets in the way.

Finally, there's a 140mm exhaust fan included at the back.

In our thermal tests, the H440 SE pushed out slightly higher delta T temperatures than the best airflow cases, with both the CPU and CPU delta T results hitting 57 C, possibly due to the lack of venting at the front, and thermal performance is really the H440 SE's only weakness. These results are still cool enough to cope with an overclocked PC, though, and they're not as important if you're going to be water-cooling your PC anyway; plus, the H440 SE was quiet during our tests.

While the H440 SE doesn't offer the best airflow, the great-looking design, well-considered features, flexibility and water cooling support make it an excellent all-round mid-sized enthusiast chassis.

VERDICT
Its airflow isn't the best on test, but the H440 SE's great design, flexibility and water-cooling support make it a superb all-round chassis.