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NZXT’s H series has been tinkered with many times over the years. And with the performance of the new H7 Flow, it’s clear the company’s iconic design can evolve and continue to impress with the changing market and growing thermal demands of today’s high-end hardware. There really aren’t many bad things to say about the NZXT H7 Flow. It’s relatively affordable, impressed during testing, and importantly in my eyes, it takes a different approach to airflow with a perforated metal front and top, rather than boring (and potentially restricting) fine mesh. Last year, we took a look at the NZXT H510 Flow, which delivered good thermals. However, the perforations on the top panel were limited to one 140mm fan. With the H7 Flow, we get a perforated top panel that extends far enough for 3x 120 or 2x 140mm fans, or one 360mm radiator. The fan support in the front has also been increased from the H710, from two 140 to three 140mm fans (or up to three 120mm). The rear supports either one 120mm or one 140mm fan. We'll map the results against some recently tested large ATX cases, some of which have at least a modicum of EATX support: Cooler Master's HAF 500, Corsair's iCUE 5000T RGB, Lian Li's O11 Dynamic EVO, and In Win's N515. This mid-tower is perfect for a minimalist build while keeping the process simple and intuitive, utilizing widened channels, hooks, straps, and toolless entry. This mid-tower case is ready to bring the cool. Featuring a perforated front and top panel, alongside widened channels, hooks, straps, and toolless entry, this sleek case will keep any build cool and comfortable while offering plenty of space.
There is a ton of information in these charts and the obvious takeaway is that the Flow front panel works best when combined with the 140mm fans running at high speeds. That will come as no surprise but when you refer to our video you will hear the huge changes in noise levels and there are times when the H7 can be very noisy indeed. In other words, the H7 can work well however you will need to strike a balance between noise and cooling. Closing Thoughts With the fans peaking at a speed of 1,200rpm, they’re not particularly powerful, so it wasn’t a surprise to see the H7 Flow return middling results with the CPU and GPU delta temperatures. However, the flip side is that it’s extremely quiet, even with the fans at full speed. The CPU delta T of 48°C was on par with the Antec NX700 and Corsair 5000D Airflow, while the Antec DF700 Flux, Fractal Design Meshify 2 and Cooler Master MasterBox 500 were a little cooler. However, the NZXT was a couple of degrees cooler than the Fractal Design Meshify 2 Compact. In all, the H7 is slightly smaller than the H710, and it is significantly lighter. The H710 was 12.1 kg, and the new H7 is 10.26kg. That said, both cases support the same levels of CPU clearance, front fan/radiator clearance, and cable management space. The only compromise with the new H7 is that is has 13mm less GPU clearance, not that 400mm of clearance isn’t enough for practically all modern GPUs. The graph below showcases Delta temperatures with a controlled ambient temperature of 20 degrees Celsius.Impressively, the NZXT H7 can contain not one but two 360mm radiators. This won't be needed as even the more power-hungry Core i9 and Ryzen 9 processors will only really require a single 240mm or 360mm radiator, making this case ideal for AIO liquid coolers. With up to seven fans to install, it's possible to offset the restricted airflow. Those changes to the panels are welcome, however they fix problems that should never have existed in the first place. When we dug in further and found the specification of the fans made little to no sense it felt like 2019 all over again. With their new H7 lineup of cased, NZXT wanted to give their customers more options from day-1. No more years long waits for added features or airflow optimised front panels. No, NZXT’s delivering everything on day 1, launching their H7 series with standard, Flow, and Elite series models from day-1. As its name suggests, the H7 Flow also has a large mesh on its front panel and in the roof section, so it’s geared towards offering high airflow with low fan speeds. There are a few useful features on the case’s exterior, such as tool-free side, front and roof panels that simply pop into place. If you were looking at the front of the H7 and though “but where’s the airflow going to come from?”, the H7 Flow is the case for you. The H7 Flow is the same case as the standard H7, including the same fans out of the box, internal layout, and price point. There are only two differences between the H7 and H7 Flow, and those differences are the case’s front and right panels.
I've gone into some detail about the NZXT H7 series refresh in my NZXT H7 Flow review, but the goal NZXT's designers had in mind was to keep the same look but refine the cooling performance. This was carried out by adding a new side vent for the front fans to gain access to more cool air, as well as a redesigned top panel. The dust filter at the bottom of the intake duct wouldn’t make much sense if the face panel didn’t also have a filter, so NZXT equips the H7 Flow’s snap-off front with a snap-in plastic-framed filter that covers the entire ventilated section. The H7 Flow hangs in with the HAF 500 for middling noise levels, beat only by the O11D EVO’s reduced fan set. But that’s with all cases being measured from the front-left and front-right corners. What’s not shown in these numbers is that the H7 Flow became noticeably louder from above the top panel after removing its top filter, which is an angle that we didn’t have other data to compare. IMO, it's better than the H510 Flow, with it's limited exhaust.Curious, why do you say "too little, too late, NZXT?"
Quiet airflow? Count me in.
Then, our testing of GPU thermals. The HAF 500 fed our GPU the coolest air, followed by the H7 Flow without the top exhaust filter fitted in place, and then the H7 Flow with top exhaust filter... With the top filter installed, the H7 Flow’s CPU temperatures are a close match to those of Corsair’s iCUE 5000T, beating both the Cooler Master HAF 500 and Lian Li O11D EVO. In Win’s N515 leads in CPU temperatures due to its different radiator placement, but the H7 Flow almost caught it when we removed the exhaust filter from our configuration. What stopped them from launching meshed versions alongside the older cases? For a comparison, Fractal has their Define and Meshify(recent Pop Air too) series. The snap-off top panel also includes a filter, but this one connects to the chassis underneath. The filter covers a mount that can hold three 120mm or two 140mm fans, as well as any radiators of corresponding proportions.
While this case comes with the usual NZXT cable routing trenches, it has all of the front panel connects grouped together into one cable, which saved me so much time and I wish more companies did this. At the bottom of NZXT’s H7 lineup is the standard H7, a model that features a plain front panel design that will be familiar to most NZXT users. When compared to the higher-end H7 Elite model, the only major differences are the H7 Elite’s tempered glass front panel, the Elite’s inclusion of additional fans, and its inclusion of a fan/RGB controller. Our acoustic test consists of three scenarios: We run the CPU at full load, the CPU and GPU at full load, and an optimized mode. The CPU full load test runs the CPU and case fans at their maximum speed. For the CPU and GPU full load acoustic test, we also stress the Gigabyte RTX 3070 Ti Gaming OC and set the fans at 75% speed, because in gaming the fans never run at 100 percent and are far too loud when they do. The extra SSD trays snap onto the round holes of the power-supply shroud…or pretty much any other vent holes you can think of. But we’d rather place them here. Thermal performance is an essential factor for any PC case. Your system may look fantastic and seem silent from the outside, but all of that is for nought if your PC has the internal temperature of an oven. Your PC case needs enough airflow for your components to remain cool under load and to prevent any form of thermal throttling. For our test, we used the following hardware using fixed fan speeds (so that only the case and its included fans can influence thermal performance).
The Interior Features: Easy Peasy Building
Voltage regulator temperatures show why this builder prefers to put the radiator (and its extra fans) on top, as the N515 fell well behind the H7 Flow’s clear win...
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