AS YOU MAY KNOW, we’re big fans of small
cases here at Maximum PC. It’s perhaps a
bit of an Achilles heel of ours that we don’t
focus on the larger chassis out there. But
there’s just something about compact
chassis that really hits home. For the vast
majority who don’t hoard TBs of data and
process vast simulations or render video
footage, a compact machine like this is all
you really need. On-board audio killed the
sound-card, Nvidia killed SLI, Intel killed
networking cards, and the M. 2 drive has
decimated every other storage form.
Because of that, for most people, a small
case that you can lift off the ground and
plonk on your desk is a smart move.
Typically that means a small form
factor, but ITX cases are difficult to work
with, they require special considerations
during the build process, and it does limit
your ability to expand it later on. On top
of that, micro-ATX rigs, although stellar
back in the day, have also gone the way
of the woolly mammoth, so for the vast
majority a small ATX mid-tower makes
a lot of sense. It’s a perfect compromise.
CompactBrillianceNZXT
H 510
Flow
9
VERDICT NZXT H 510 FlowFLOW STATE Good pricing;
strong performance; intuitive
design features; clean look.LETHARGIC No vertical GPU
support; could use one more 12 0mm vent
on the roof.
$110, http://www.nzxt.comSPECIFICATIONS
Motherboard Support ATX, Micro-ATX, ITX
2.5 / 3.5-inch Support 2+1
Max Radiator Support 280mm Front,
120mm Rear
Fan Support
2x 140/120mm Front,
1x 120/140mm Top,
1x 120mm rear
Dimensions 18.11 x 8.26 x 16 .85
inches
Graphics Card
Clearance
14.17 inches
CPU Tower Clearance 6.49 inchesNZXT’s H 510 series of cases has been
a popular pick for a long while now. The
small compact design, with clean-cut
lines, stylish color picks, tempered glass,
and a host of design features to enhance
your building experience has cemented
this case as a fantastic budget(ish) option
for anyone looking to build a new system.
The stock H 510 comes in at $110, the
H510i with included RGB lighting at $ 145 ,
and the H5 10 Elite, the full tempered glass
affair at $ 180. The one weakness these
cases have, however, is airflow. A solid
front panel might look great for those
social media snaps of your setup, but it’s
hardly conducive to good cooling. These
cases aren’t without ventilation, the rear
of the case has perforations along that
edge, and there’s a cutout underneath,
but it’s not quite what you’d call “airflow
optimized”. Enter the H510 Flow.
So what’s new here? Technically, not
much. The overall interior chassis is
almost identical to the entire H 510 line
(technically the Elite’s base chassis, as it
has the solid metal plate running along
the bottom of the front panel). You’ve
still got a full-size PSU cover, still got
the radiator bracket, the same cooling
support, the cable tidy bar, and the
smart cable routing in the back too. The
material usage is pretty much the same
as well, and there’s the same support for
storage also (a small 2 x 3 .5-inch drive
cage located in the bottom). Even the
front I/O is the same, and there’s still no
support for vertical GPUs either.
The big difference is that front panel.
With its significantly larger perforations,
the intention is clear and simple—allow
better access to cool air. Does it work?
Absolutely. You can check out how well
it performed in our build this month (seepage 6 6), but needless to say, it’s a marked
improvement over its predecessors. If
you want the best performance out of
it, we’d recommend removing that front
dust filter, but then you will have to clean
it more often.
So while not a lot has changed, it
didn’t really need to. This is already an
exceptional case, that doesn’t require
any major update. It still doesn’t support
vertical GPUs, but realistically, that’s
not a huge deal-breaker. And besides, to
have a case of this caliber for $110, with
an airflow option like this, that still looks
as good as its solid panel siblings, well,
yeah, it’s just awesome. – ZAK STOREY