NZXT H630 Silent Case Review

Noise and Thermal Testing

I've mentioned before that when I go into actually testing a case, I generally have a decent idea of how it's going to perform. That wasn't true with the NZXT H630, though; most silent cases use some combination of 120mm or 140mm fans for the front intake and then a single one in the rear. In the H630, on the other hand, NZXT used a massive 200mm intake fan. At the same time, though, I was skeptical as to whether or not the ventilation in the front would really be adequate.

Our stock testing configuration is in many ways a best case solution (no pun intended) for testing silent cases, as the hardware isn't being pushed too hard and the sound-dampening materials are allowed to do their job. Unusually, NZXT doesn't include fan control with the H630, instead opting to just try to include quiet fans in the first place.

Ambient temperature was roughly 23C during testing.

Stock thermals are generally good. The SSD is running toasty, but it has no direct airflow behind the motherboard tray, and it's still well below spec. The queen bee that NZXT has to contend with is the Nanoxia Deep Silence 1 (as well as the Deep Silence 2); while the DS1 doesn't offer exceptional performance in the standings, it has a stellar blend of thermals and acoustics and handles that balancing act very well.

Unfortunately, fan noise is a real problem for the H630. Interestingly, though I was of the impression that there wasn't enough ventilation for the H630, I might have been wrong. The H630 is the loudest "silent" case I've tested under load. This is one of those places where Nanoxia's Deep Silence 1's chimney turns out to be a killer feature; the design of it muffles noise without crippling airflow.

Our overclocked testbed's thermals are where the screws start really getting put to the H630. Thermally it keeps pace with the Deep Silence 1, though Fractal Design's competing Define XL R2 puts in a much stronger showing.

Interestingly, the H630's fortunes turn when noise levels are measured. While idle noise remains less than ideal, load noise is surprisingly strong, even performing slightly better than the Deep Silence 1 and 2.

Unfortunately I don't have results for any of the silent cases we've tested using our freshly minted "full fat" testbed, so we'll have to see how the H630 fares against the other cases that were tested after we put together that bed. This is for all intents and purposes not a fair fight, but should at least be somewhat educational.

Results aren't great but they're not completely terrible either, and under the circumstances the H630 actually performs pretty admirably. Note that the hard drive thermals are a product of a conscious decision to employ the topmost hard drive cage instead of the bottom. I elected to keep airflow clear for the rest of the case as opposed to having cool air directly flow over the hard drives, and a small heat pocket does develop in the top without active air flow.

Noise levels aren't great, but they're actually very competitive, all things considered. NZXT targets the H630 for cooling and silencing high-powered components, and while it seems to have had at least some trouble doing that (as have the other competitors), it at least has potential.