NZXT H440 review

NZXT has a knack of making incredibly pretty cases that you can’t help but want to own. They manage to be eye-catching and stylish, pushing the boundaries of PC case design without making them extravagant and ridiculous.

The NZXT H440 is one such case. It’s a futuristic-looking white chassis that demands your attention despite being nothing more than a understated box with incredibly clean lines and a silky smooth paint job. Look through the Perspex window on the left-hand side panel and you’ll see that the paint job continues on the inside. You can buy the H440 in either black or white, and the white paint job in ours is a real boon if you’re fed up with having to use a torch when working on your PC because you’ve installed dark components in a black case.

The front panel is a sheer, white monolith with a slight cut-out at the top. One might assume the front panel is a discreet door that provides access to external bays, but it isn’t. There are no external bays in the H440 at all, which could be a dealbreaker for some potential buyers. However, we think it isn’t the impediment to use that it might once have been. We’ve made a few builds for personal use in the last few years that haven’t had any external drives in them at all. Many people prefer to use USB flash drives, and opt to use an external USB DVD or Blu-ray drive when necessary.

The only problem we can see is for those who wish to use external 3.5in and 5.25in drive bays for I/O hubs, such as extra USB3 ports for the front panel, or a slot for hard drives. Even so, there is a good selection of USB ports on the H440’s top panel, with two USB2 ports and two USB3 ports. There are also 3.5mm microphone and headphone ports, and all the ports are stylishly arrayed in line with each other, their presence all the more striking because the rest of the top panel is nothing but a smooth white surface except for a power switch and reset button.

The Front panel pulls off easily enough and behind it you’ll find a mesh filter that covers much of the front and three preinstalled 120mm fans. Conveniently, the filter is held in place by magnets, so you can simply pull it to detach it and then attach it to the side of of the case for safe keeping should you need to replace a fan. Although there are three 120mm fans preinstalled, you can remove them and mount two 140mm fans should you prefer. Behind the fans are five 3.5in-cum-2.5in drive bays, and you’ll have to remove these before you can remove the fans. It’s worth noting that there’s also a also a preinstalled 140mm exhaust fan on the back panel.

The drive bays are held in place by two thumbscrews, and are easy to remove individually. The drive bays are made of metal and feel high quality. Happily, the 3.5in drive mounts are topped off with rubber grommets to reduce vibrations from mechanical hard drives.