NZXT H440 Silent Mid-tower Case Review

NZXT H440 Hardware Assembly and Compatibility Issues

Front mounted radiator:

• Mounting a 360mm or 280mm radiator in the front will prevent mounting of drive on the floor area.
• A 280 or 240mm rad in the front still allows for two HDD caddies to be utilized at the top.
• The front intake has 130mm of space available for push pull radiator configuration. 25mm of that is from the intake fan positioned outside the chassis frame so that still leaves 105mm for a radiator and another set of fans.

Top mounted radiator:

• Dual 360 rads positioned at the top and bottom area is almost possible, but unfortunately not as the fittings will be in the way.
• It is advisable to remove the topmost drive caddy when installing a 360mm radiator at the top.
• The mounting area at the internal ceiling for the radiator/fans are raised slightly and total space between this ceiling and the motherboard is 60mm. Since there is no space left between the top panel and the chassis for a standard 25mm thick fan, that 60mm space limits typical options to either only push or pull radiator configurations and not both unless there is a special thin high-static pressure fan out there somewhere.

Rear Radiator:

• 140 or 120mm radiators supported.
• Height and positioning can be adjusted.

Video Card clearance:

• Full clearance without entering the HDD area is 300mm.
• Additional video card length clearance is available when some HDD caddies are removed, although I was already able to install a 305mm (12 inch) long HD6990 video card and plug-in both power connectors without removing a drive caddy.

CPU Tower coolers:

• CPU heatsink height clearance is generous and was able to fit the 160mm tall (171mm with fan) Phanteks TC-14PE with room to spare before it touches the side window.
• 180mm total height clearance
• Large CPU backplate cutout

System build before using cable ties. Most people don’t bother cleaning up after this part since it will not be visible anyway, but it since it is spring, a good clean up is in order. Plus, my brain is begging for some dopamine.

Cable routing and management:

• Available 15mm clearance at the tightest area behind the motherboard tray for cable routing. The side panel’s dampening material reduces this by up to 4mm (leaving 11mm of space to work with in a worst case scenario), although the material is foam so you can still force the panel shut.
• The thick 24-pin power supply cable makes closing the right side panel difficult, even with the recessed path for cables along the HDD cage area. Using individually sleeved cable extenders proves useful, although tying down the 24-pin cable really close to the chassis works as well.
• Some of the cables come out of the box pre-managed, including the fans which are already plugged in.
• A single MOLEX power connector powers the LEDs and the fan hub.
• Separate top openings at the upper right hand corner for the 4/8-pin CPU power connector and smaller cables such as for routing fan cables.
• Plenty of space for hiding extra cables underneath, even when working with non-modular power supplies.
• Excellent distribution of cable loops to tie down cables to the motherboard tray, unlike some cases which only have some on the middle area.

Here is the system after using the cable ties provided. Dopamine levels have increased significantly. It is not often that even behind the motherboard tray can look organized. Two extra 3-pin fan extensions connected to the hub were removed, but it is a nice inclusion by NZXT for those who want to plug in two more fans later on. The 16AWG wires on this Enermax Platimax 1000W power supply are thick so they can be a problem with closing the left side panel, luckily I did not have to resort to using a 24-pin cable extender (seen at the foot of the photo below, sold separately), the zip ties just held as much of it in place to the chassis.

A view of the LED lighting at the expansion slot area, PSU cover and power button: