1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:08,160 There was a point maybe 7 to 10 years ago where NZXT was the king of PC cases. 2 00:00:06,160 --> 00:00:11,519 They provided stylish and compact PC cases that everybody basically copied. 3 00:00:10,240 --> 00:00:15,280 But styles come and go and it can be tough to remain the top dog forever. So 4 00:00:13,440 --> 00:00:20,720 NZXT has sponsored this video today for us to show off their new H2 Flow SFFF PC 5 00:00:18,160 --> 00:00:25,840 case that is supposed to have a focus on compatibility as well as a small desk 6 00:00:23,439 --> 00:00:29,920 footprint. But looking at it, it's not that small form factor. It's almost in 7 00:00:28,160 --> 00:00:34,079 the uh like medium form factor area, especially with its size, which is at 8 00:00:31,760 --> 00:00:39,440 20.7 L. Some people like to draw the small form factor line at 20 L. So, this 9 00:00:37,280 --> 00:00:43,200 is going a little bit over, but look at this dinky little look at that. Okay, 10 00:00:41,600 --> 00:00:47,760 maybe it is a little small, especially when you consider the footprint on your 11 00:00:45,520 --> 00:00:50,640 desk. As you can see, this is all the space it's going to take up. One of the 12 00:00:49,039 --> 00:00:54,640 issues I have with my small form factor case at home is that it ends up taking 13 00:00:52,719 --> 00:00:56,960 almost the entire depth of my desk once all of the cables are involved. So 14 00:00:56,079 --> 00:01:03,440 having something that's a little bit shorter is going to actually maybe save you a lot of space because your desk, 15 00:01:01,120 --> 00:01:06,720 you want table space. The vertical space might not be so bad. For the case side 16 00:01:05,040 --> 00:01:10,640 panel, it's split into two. A small tempered glass window as well as this 17 00:01:08,479 --> 00:01:16,720 very quite porous mesh on the other half. And this same kind of mesh is 18 00:01:12,400 --> 00:01:19,280 found on the front, the back, and the 19 00:01:16,720 --> 00:01:22,799 top of the case. Clearly NZXT is taking a lot of their airflow complaints to 20 00:01:20,720 --> 00:01:27,360 heart. And this thing looks very promising with just literally mesh on 21 00:01:25,759 --> 00:01:30,560 every front. There's no additional magnetic fan filters, which is I think 22 00:01:29,200 --> 00:01:34,799 okay in a scenario where you have this dense of a mesh. Look at how easy I've just taken off all of the panels. This 23 00:01:33,360 --> 00:01:39,600 isn't going to be too hard to clean, which I think is okay with this level of 24 00:01:36,720 --> 00:01:44,400 mesh. And I popped all of the side panels off. Super easy cuz they're all 25 00:01:41,200 --> 00:01:46,159 just attached with detents detents. So 26 00:01:44,400 --> 00:01:49,280 honestly, this seems pretty easy to work in, especially as far as small form 27 00:01:47,680 --> 00:01:52,320 factor cases go. Let's just get these accessories out of here before we take 28 00:01:50,720 --> 00:01:56,159 too much of a closer look. In the accessory box, we get some zip ties as 29 00:01:54,560 --> 00:01:59,920 well as screws for your motherboard, power supply, and case fans. Pretty 30 00:01:58,159 --> 00:02:04,719 simple load out there. Out of the box, you have two 120 mm fans at the top 31 00:02:02,159 --> 00:02:09,599 blowing hot air up and out of the case. We also have your front IO in here, 32 00:02:06,479 --> 00:02:11,440 which is uh quite long for a small form 33 00:02:09,599 --> 00:02:15,040 factor case. It's they only have to get to here really, and they're going to be 34 00:02:13,360 --> 00:02:21,040 way longer, which is nice. that's going to be a little bit easier to work with, but might be a little bit hard to hide 35 00:02:17,840 --> 00:02:23,599 the cables. So, 36 00:02:21,040 --> 00:02:29,440 for front IO, we have two USBA ports and a USBC running at 20 Gbits per second 37 00:02:26,959 --> 00:02:34,400 and a combo headphone microphone jack. Also included is a Gen 5 riser cable, 38 00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:38,480 which is pretty nice for a PC case at this price point. Mounting for fans and 39 00:02:36,080 --> 00:02:42,959 or radiator at the front. This supports up to 60 mm of depth between your fans 40 00:02:41,280 --> 00:02:47,680 and your radiator. And that front radiator mount comes out for easy 41 00:02:44,640 --> 00:02:49,440 installation with captive screws. Super 42 00:02:47,680 --> 00:02:53,599 nice feature. And at the bottom, we have a removable 2.5 inch drive cage with 43 00:02:52,239 --> 00:02:57,519 that is toolless at least for the drives, but not for the removability. 44 00:02:55,760 --> 00:03:02,239 The observant or biologically minded amongst you may have noticed that there is a spine in the middle of this case, 45 00:03:00,400 --> 00:03:05,599 which indicates that this is a sandwich style case. So, your motherboard and 46 00:03:04,239 --> 00:03:10,319 power supply are going to be on this side, and your graphics card will be on 47 00:03:08,400 --> 00:03:15,280 this side. This case can support triple slot GPUs up to 330 millimeters in 48 00:03:13,440 --> 00:03:18,720 length. Heightwise, you're not going to be too worried. One of their claims is 49 00:03:17,200 --> 00:03:24,400 that it's going to be very easy to build in. So, if you're somebody who's not experienced with SFFF parts, you should 50 00:03:22,319 --> 00:03:30,360 have an easy time. Let's find out if that is true. No such thing as an easy 51 00:03:26,319 --> 00:03:30,360 case to build in when it comes to SFFF. 52 00:03:31,200 --> 00:03:36,239 Um, turns out our motherboard was broken. So, we're going to do things a 53 00:03:34,560 --> 00:03:39,120 little out of order. Hopefully, this will be a real test of how easy it is to 54 00:03:37,840 --> 00:03:45,440 build in here. We're going to start with putting our power supply in. This is a NZXT C850 SFX gold power supply. We 55 00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:49,519 figured, you know, keep it all in the family. Also sponsored by NZXT, so 56 00:03:47,760 --> 00:03:53,840 they're so cute. I love SFX power supply. One thing that they did here that I love is that they didn't just 57 00:03:51,920 --> 00:03:57,360 label the type of screw. They actually labeled what it's for. It can be really 58 00:03:56,159 --> 00:04:00,879 hard to tell the difference between like a motherboard standoff screw or a power 59 00:03:59,280 --> 00:04:05,599 supply screw. They're very, very similar. So, shout out to NZXT for doing 60 00:04:02,959 --> 00:04:09,519 that. Since we got some time, we are going to swap out our fans. The included 61 00:04:07,760 --> 00:04:12,959 fans, nothing wrong with them. I would usually keep them because that's how you 62 00:04:11,120 --> 00:04:15,840 can save a little bit of money. But we thought it'd be fun to show off these 63 00:04:14,239 --> 00:04:20,959 F240X fans. They're like a dual fan in a 64 00:04:18,639 --> 00:04:23,759 single frame. They got some nice RGB. And these are high performance fans. 65 00:04:22,160 --> 00:04:28,400 They use liquid crystal polymer. These can spin really fast. And unlike many 66 00:04:25,840 --> 00:04:32,160 fans that are just 25 mm, these are 30 mm in depth, which helps with even more 67 00:04:30,400 --> 00:04:35,280 static pressure and performance. They even have a caution signal. High 68 00:04:33,520 --> 00:04:39,199 velocity fan keep hands and objects clear during operation. I I Captain, 69 00:04:37,280 --> 00:04:43,680 does it support 30 millimeter fans in the top? We're gonna find out. 70 00:04:42,479 --> 00:04:51,199 Something to note, especially when you're doing your cable management, is that to access the PCIe slot covers, you 71 00:04:48,000 --> 00:04:52,240 do have to get inside of the case. So, 72 00:04:51,199 --> 00:04:55,759 there's going to be a decent amount of cables probably hanging out around here. We're going to do our best to keep those 73 00:04:54,560 --> 00:04:59,840 out of our way to keep our case serviceable. The PCIe cable has to do 74 00:04:57,680 --> 00:05:04,720 this kind of weird bend because it has to do this like 90° turn to get flat 75 00:05:02,080 --> 00:05:09,120 here. And you really don't want to compress PCIe cables. They're very 76 00:05:07,120 --> 00:05:11,919 delicate, especially the Gen 5 ones. So, I am a little worried. I might hate 77 00:05:10,800 --> 00:05:16,320 myself for this, but we're going to go ahead and install the GPU. But, we're 78 00:05:13,919 --> 00:05:22,960 just going to try and be delicate and uh hope for the best. 79 00:05:21,280 --> 00:05:26,639 Good news, our motherboard's here. Let's get this done before we get any further 80 00:05:24,800 --> 00:05:28,960 into here, cuz the amount of cables in this thing already getting kind of 81 00:05:28,240 --> 00:05:34,720 scary. >> Guess what? You can win basically the PC we're building right now, but just a 82 00:05:32,560 --> 00:05:38,160 little bit better by signing up for the giveaway that NZXT is having for their 83 00:05:36,479 --> 00:05:45,440 new H2 flow case. It's going to be sick. It's going to have an Intel Core Ultra 9285K and RTX 5080 and it comes with 84 00:05:42,720 --> 00:05:48,880 Windows 11 home. Can you believe it? Entries will be accepted from February 85 00:05:47,039 --> 00:05:52,240 17th to March 3rd, and you can learn more about it in the link in the 86 00:05:50,320 --> 00:05:56,560 description. For our CPU, we are going with a Intel Core Ultra 265K. That's 87 00:05:55,360 --> 00:06:01,120 right. When's the last time you've seen Intel on this channel? Huh? This motherboard's crazy. It's doing the sort 88 00:05:59,840 --> 00:06:08,639 of daughterboard thing that we've seen on a lot of ITX cases, but like look, there's a fan header, two RGB headers. 89 00:06:05,280 --> 00:06:10,080 This is for a M.2 drive. There's going 90 00:06:08,639 --> 00:06:13,680 to be a second there's like a daughter board in here. How' you do that? And 91 00:06:12,160 --> 00:06:18,160 that's where your front panel connectors are. 92 00:06:15,759 --> 00:06:22,880 For our RAM, we're going with 32 gigs of very fast CL26,000 93 00:06:20,960 --> 00:06:27,680 mega transfers per second RAM. That's really speedy. This is a I'm going to 94 00:06:24,639 --> 00:06:30,000 steal this 95 00:06:27,680 --> 00:06:35,360 CPU cooler is freaking chongus. Look at this. Look 96 00:06:32,880 --> 00:06:41,680 at this thing. Like look at our motherboard. It's like the whole thing. 97 00:06:38,319 --> 00:06:44,080 This is the NZXT Kraken Elite 280 RGB 98 00:06:41,680 --> 00:06:47,280 and it comes with dual frame fans just like the ones that we have in the box. 99 00:06:45,280 --> 00:06:50,080 These, however, are just 25mm, but they are more RGB focused. Because they're 100 00:06:48,880 --> 00:06:56,000 not attached out of the box, why don't we swap for the performance fans just to show you how much clearance you can get. 101 00:06:52,960 --> 00:06:57,680 This is a 27 mm thick radiator. That's 102 00:06:56,000 --> 00:07:02,240 going to be a 30 mm fan, which is going to take us right up to our clearance 103 00:06:59,599 --> 00:07:06,160 level of 60 mm for the front radiator. And if you want to do air cooling, NZXT 104 00:07:04,880 --> 00:07:10,880 designed this case with liquid cooling in mind. And 75 mm here is not a lot. 105 00:07:09,599 --> 00:07:15,759 You'll have to stick to like a low profile CPU cooler or go liquid. Oh boy, 106 00:07:13,759 --> 00:07:20,319 the included NZXT cable on this cooler is very long. But the neat thing is that 107 00:07:18,000 --> 00:07:22,720 they are using a single connector that's going to have your RGB, your power, 108 00:07:21,840 --> 00:07:29,120 everything for your fan. So you don't have to deal with any like gross cables plugging into this head, which again is 109 00:07:27,280 --> 00:07:33,440 freaking massive. Finally getting our motherboard in. So far so good. It's 110 00:07:31,680 --> 00:07:37,440 been pretty easy to work in here. Again, lots of space, easy access. All the 111 00:07:36,160 --> 00:07:41,680 panels come off, so we haven't really had to concern ourselves with trying to 112 00:07:39,440 --> 00:07:45,120 get around any tricky corners. And looking ahead right now, just for when I 113 00:07:43,599 --> 00:07:51,280 have to do cable management and stuff, it's going to be pretty easy for me to route the CPU connector that I totally 114 00:07:48,479 --> 00:07:56,000 forgot to connect beforehand, which is a pro tip. something you should do. Oh, 115 00:07:53,199 --> 00:07:59,520 they even have a little hole right here so you can reach a screwdriver through 116 00:07:57,680 --> 00:08:03,759 to screw in that last motherboard standoff. I don't have a thin enough 117 00:08:01,280 --> 00:08:07,199 screwdriver cuz we got thick shafts over here at LMG. We're about to put the 118 00:08:05,280 --> 00:08:10,479 radiator in and it is getting uh pretty nightmarish in here. We have a lot of 119 00:08:08,960 --> 00:08:15,599 extra long cables that are designed for fulls size cases and we're in a small case. Thankfully, NZXT kind of 120 00:08:13,919 --> 00:08:20,160 thoughtfully designed around that big extra part on their radiator. So, it 121 00:08:18,720 --> 00:08:24,160 does fit in just nicely, especially in the optimal orientation that we have 122 00:08:21,919 --> 00:08:28,160 here. As I said, you can do your best to make it as easy 123 00:08:25,840 --> 00:08:32,000 as possible, but there's no way to make it 124 00:08:29,919 --> 00:08:35,760 truly truly easy when it comes to SFFF. There's always some frustrations, but it 125 00:08:33,919 --> 00:08:39,599 will feel oh so satisfying when it's all done. We got everything in here. It's 126 00:08:37,360 --> 00:08:43,919 been lightly cable managed. Not the prettiest thing in the world, but, you 127 00:08:41,279 --> 00:08:50,640 know, gets the job done. Let's find out if it works. 128 00:08:46,160 --> 00:08:52,399 Oh. Oo, look at the CPU cooler. We'll 129 00:08:50,640 --> 00:08:58,920 have to rotate it 90° in the software, but like jeez, that's such a big screen. 130 00:08:55,680 --> 00:08:58,920 And finally, 131 00:08:58,959 --> 00:09:05,440 what the hell is What the hell is that? 132 00:09:02,000 --> 00:09:08,800 Yeah. Oh. 133 00:09:05,440 --> 00:09:12,480 Oh, there's a residue. I hope that that 134 00:09:08,800 --> 00:09:13,920 Oh, I'm making it so much worse. NZXT, 135 00:09:12,480 --> 00:09:18,080 don't look at this. It's a darkened side panel and I think that that kind of 136 00:09:15,680 --> 00:09:21,040 really does a lot for covering up the inevitable cable clutter that you're 137 00:09:19,680 --> 00:09:25,680 going to have in here. It almost makes me wish we didn't route our tubes around 138 00:09:24,080 --> 00:09:29,600 the CPU cooler so that we could show off our RGB RAM, but it looks pretty cool. 139 00:09:28,080 --> 00:09:36,160 Overall thoughts on this thing, it's pretty neat. It is relatively easy to 140 00:09:32,959 --> 00:09:37,839 build in. The mesh plus the darkened 141 00:09:36,160 --> 00:09:42,720 tempered glass side panel make it a little bit easier to hide your cables 142 00:09:40,000 --> 00:09:47,120 and really let your RGB shine through. Instead, the airflow looks like it's not 143 00:09:45,680 --> 00:09:53,440 going to be any sort of problem. We currently have it pulling in through the front and exhausting out the top, but 144 00:09:50,240 --> 00:09:55,680 you also have tons of passive dispersion 145 00:09:53,440 --> 00:10:00,240 through the back. There is nowhere to mount any fans here. What would have 146 00:09:58,720 --> 00:10:05,279 been cool, but I understand why they didn't do it, but you're probably going to see modders do it, is if mounting 147 00:10:02,560 --> 00:10:09,279 like some small like 40 or 50 mm fans to the side here. In terms of GPUs that it 148 00:10:07,600 --> 00:10:13,279 can accommodate, if you have a flowth through GPU, you might find that you 149 00:10:12,160 --> 00:10:20,320 your temps are a little bit hampered, but there is about 15 mm of clearance between the back panel and the actual 150 00:10:17,680 --> 00:10:23,600 GPU itself, which in other cases has been enough to provide decent 151 00:10:22,160 --> 00:10:29,279 ventilation that doesn't choke people off. We actually have a video coming on LT that we did with NASA that may or may 152 00:10:27,360 --> 00:10:33,440 not confirm that you should be okay with a flowthrough cooler. Uh we still have a 153 00:10:31,279 --> 00:10:36,320 decent amount of room for a larger GPU. We got a little bit of extra length, 154 00:10:34,640 --> 00:10:38,800 just a little bit, as well as more height. The trade-off you're making for 155 00:10:37,680 --> 00:10:45,760 having the smaller footprint on your desk is that you have a kind of taller tower, but it looks classy enough. It's 156 00:10:43,200 --> 00:10:51,279 kind of got the iconic very square angular look of NZXT. In terms of things 157 00:10:48,800 --> 00:10:55,360 that could be improved though, I really only have a couple of small things. One 158 00:10:52,880 --> 00:11:01,360 is that it would be more cable tie mounts on the back side of the 159 00:10:57,279 --> 00:11:03,279 motherboard and shorter IO cables. The 160 00:11:01,360 --> 00:11:07,360 uh front IO cables are just really long and end up being quite a burden to deal 161 00:11:05,360 --> 00:11:12,399 with. It's pretty sick and at 150 bucks, it's a very competitive for an SFX case. 162 00:11:09,920 --> 00:11:17,440 It's not the smallest case, but if you're somebody who has some larger 163 00:11:14,240 --> 00:11:18,880 components, especially GPUs, um it's 164 00:11:17,440 --> 00:11:23,279 going to be easier to transition to this instead of spending a lot of money on 165 00:11:20,480 --> 00:11:26,000 finding like the very few uh models that will fit in like a 166 00:11:24,399 --> 00:11:29,839 Fractal Terra. At this point, clear to me that a lot of thought has been put into this case, even down to like where 167 00:11:28,480 --> 00:11:33,360 the GPU is mounted. There's enough vertical space that you can have larger 168 00:11:31,600 --> 00:11:36,079 HDMI and DisplayPort connectors without having like scary tight bends. 169 00:11:35,040 --> 00:11:41,519 Especially if it's a computer that you're going to be dragging. Sometimes you can really, really ruin DisplayPort 170 00:11:40,079 --> 00:11:45,839 cables and or even the ports on your GPU. This one has thought about that. 171 00:11:44,320 --> 00:11:50,160 It's thought about where you're going to put all of your components. It's a really nice case. Looks really slick. 172 00:11:48,480 --> 00:11:53,680 It's really cool to see NZXT coming back and and smashing it. Honestly, 173 00:11:51,839 --> 00:11:56,800 unsponsored opinion, I'll say that much. Thank you, NZXT, for sponsoring. And 174 00:11:55,360 --> 00:12:00,079 thank you for watching. If you enjoyed this, why don't you check out uh some of 175 00:11:58,399 --> 00:12:04,720 the short circuits we've done on some NZXT accessories. Those were also pretty 176 00:12:02,640 --> 00:12:04,720 neat.