Custom PC - UK (2020-06)

VERDICT

A brilliant mini-ITX chassis design, as long as you don’t

need a hard drive and you’re happy with the supplied

PSU and cooler.

OVERALLSCORE

85 %%

COOLING

25 / 30

FEATURES

18 / 20

DESIGN

27 / 30

VALUE

15 / 20

MINICOOPER

+ Copeswithhigh-

endhardware

+ Easytobuild

+ Extremely

compact

MINI

ROUNDABOUT

• Radiatorfan
  canbenoisy


• Noharddisk
  mounts


• Needs NZXT’s
  supplied cooler
  and PSU

TEMPERATURE RESULTS

The radiator pops out from the case to let you install
your components more easily and, despite the tight
confines, working with this case is remarkably simple.
However, we weren’t able to use our usual Corsair
Vengeance RGB Pro memory modules, as there’s a
memory height limit of 45mm, so you’ll need to check
your memory height too.
Another limitation is the lack of 3.5in hard disk support.
There’s only room for 2.5in SSDs, with a pair of mounts in
a bracket in the roof. Also, while the SFX-L PSU sits on its
side, with an extension cable running to the base of the case
allowing you to plug in your kettle lead, the actual PSU power
switch can’t be accessed with the side panels installed.
The design is mostly very well thought-out, although
there’s a couple of niggles. There are several areas
around the base of the case that could let the GPU
exhaust air recirculate back up towards its fans, but this
is only likely to be small issue, and one that’s limited to
cards that exhaust most of their air out the rear. Even with
open coolers, though, one side of the case is made from
tempered glass, so air being expelled this way needs to
find another way out of the case.

Performance

As our usual test kit wouldn’t fit in the H1, we had to

compromise and use a different set of gear. Not wanting to

give the case an easy time, we opted for a Gigabyte X570 I

Aorus Pro WiFi motherboard and an AMD Ryzen 9 3950X,

along with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Super Founders

Edition. We configured the system to respond as it would

at default settings. The CPU delta T of 46°C was well away

fromanythermalthrottling,withanabsolutetemperature

reportedinRyzenMasterof69°C,so it’s clear that the

140mm cooler is quite capable.

The GPU delta T of 51°C was also reasonable, and the

graphics card remained quiet throughout testing too. The

same can’t be said for the radiator fan, which did spin up

to quite noisy levels at full speed, but there’s certainly

a little leeway there to rein in the fan speeds in your

motherboard’s BIOS.

Conclusion

It might be a little plain-looking from the outside, but the

H1’s tiny stature and well-designed interior makes it a

capable chassis, even for high-end systems, as long as

you don’t mind being spoon-fed a specific PSU and AIO

liquid cooler.

The cost might seem high, but you’re getting a liquid

cooler, 650W SFX PSU and a PCI-E riser included too.

The storage options mean you’re probably limited to

SSDs unless you want to use 2.5in hard disks, but the

H1 is otherwise a superb home for a gaming or content-

creation-focused mini PC. It has an exceptionally tiny

footprint, and it also kept our hardware cool, despite a lack

of dedicated case fans.

ANTONY LEATHER

CPU DELTA T

NZXTH1 46°C

0 25 50 75 100

GPU DELTA T

NZXTH1 51°C

0 25 50 75 100