Gadgetory

hey everybody we are back at it another product showcase from Hardware Canucks and this time we have a modest mid Tower from NZXT that is targeted to those looking for something that's going to be cool and quiet but won't break the bank it's the h2 classic silent chassis the case rings in at about 90 million dollars and should be available as of March 2011 so let's take a look the front panel is hidden behind a plastic molded front with brushed aluminum looking faceplate and chrome accents on the edges the front door is held firm by very strong magnets so there's no clips to break but unfortunately the door only opens to a little past the 90 degree angle it's not really an issue except it makes it a lot more prone to getting broken if it's been left open they've also added noise dampening foam to the back of the door the features of the h2s front panel highlight some of the more innovative features of the case the five and a quarter inch drive bay covers come off with just a clip so you don't have to take apart the entire front panel just to get at them as we move down there are two hundred and twenty millimeter intake fans sporting a very cool feature with just a couple of clips we can completely remove both the fan and its housing and not have to mess around with wires it's for lack of a better term a wireless power system that only requires the to power contacts to be touching in order to power the fan behind the fans you'll have full access to the hard drive cage which features screwless removable hard drive caddies the system is really quite brilliant and probably one of the best that I've ever seen in a case of this category except for one thing why did they not opt to include a hard drive hot swap option for at least some of the front drive bays here we have very easy to access hard drives at the front we can get at them within seconds there completely - lists there's no cables to mess around with and yet the user is still going to have to go through the pain of removing their side panels in order to hook up the power and serial ata cables inside the computer however moving on ports and power at the top with rubber power button audio USB 3 3 USB 2 a 3 speed fan can stroller and reset button ironically NZXT has chosen to include a single hot-swap feature sunken into the top of the case that supports both three-and-a-half inch and two and a half inch drives and finally at the back a cover over an optional 120 millimeter fan space held on by simply magnets at the back we have the USB 3.0 motherboard plugin haven't quite moved over to the internal header system yet 120 millimeter exhaust fan motherboard IO spacing 7 PCI expansion slots water tubing holes bought a mounted power supply and underneath the power supply an externally accessible removable dual fan dust filter topping off our last look at the exterior we did notice an unfortunate amount of blotching on the plastic front panel which is in sharp contrast to the nice and fairly even powder coat of the metal side panels taking off the side panel we see NZXT T's idea of what they call advanced noise dampening technology both panels have a quarter inch or so of quote unquote premium noise dampening foam internally however there is very little to gripe about about the layout at the bottom there is room for either longer power supplies or an additional 120 millimeter fan there are eight three and a half inch or two and a half inch hard drive bays the motherboard supports five different options and there are three five and a quarter inch drive base all with two lists retention systems judging by the interior the h2 seems to have a great layout for anyone from mid-range gamers to small low powered mini ITX home servers that need lots of storage additionally there are grommeted spaces in the motherboard tray and a large CPU backplate opening giving hope that installation should be hassle-free with that we assemble a system into the h2 and as you can tell it cleans up quite nicely and I'm pleased to report it does it very easily despite its small stature it's entirely possible to fit in many modest aftermarket coolers and it can support video cards up to 11 inches in length though you can expect to lose about 3 harddrive spaces as we rotate to the back you'll see that NZXT has given thought to the cabling and pushed the motherboard tray in slightly for plenty of room of the back and they provided a great natural cable storage area in behind the hard drive base despite the fact that it looks like a bit of a rat's nest the back panel fits over top of everything cleanly with all of our spare cables jammed in behind just don't ask us to add any new hardware and that is the NZXT h2 silent chassis while being a relatively standard design the case does bring with it some unique features and ideas that make it an interesting product to dig into easy access quiet operation the polished look and good value unfortunately it seems like a little too much emphasis may have been placed on value and the h2 winds up feeling a little unfinished I think that had the company been willing to further develop the key features of the case consumers would have been willing to pay for it but to you as a consumer if you feel that this is the direction you need to go for your case and price is incredibly important then it may just fit the bill the silent computing case market has very few contenders but for the most part all of them have very strong products ultimately the h2 is stepping into an important market with a comparatively underwhelming product and that is it for this episode of the harbor Canucks product showcase we hope you leave your feedback in the YouTube comments subscribe to our channel if you're not already and be sure to check out triple W broken XCOM for all the latest news and reviews we'll see you next time