NZXT H230 Silent Mid-Tower Case Review
H230 External Impressions
NZXT says the H230 has a minimalistic classic design, this is very true. Overall, this model of the H230 is solid black with a little accent on the front door. The finish is a flawless high-gloss piano finish, it will show fingerprints very easily. Covering the front of the case is a solid door, on the bottom left side of the door are a few tiny air vents. The side panels and top panel are plain, there are no additional fans or items worth noting on the side or top panels. More fans and openings means more noise potential. As the H230 is designed for “Absolute Silence” NZXT has to take everything into account to keep the case as quiet as possible.
Since the front panel is covered by a door, along the edge of the bezel are some vents that will allow the front fan(s) to pull in some fresh air. Thankfully NZXT also covered these vents with a wire mesh filter.
On the left side there is a little indentation to allow something to grasp the front door to open it. It is held closed by a couple of magnets. Most doors are fairly lightweight, however this one is pretty solid. It should help to reduce noise from the front of the case. The bezel itself, has three 5.25″ drive bays, the covers are held in place by a little slider; I was surprised at how easily the drive covers came out once the slide latch was enabled. Below the 5.25″ drive bays is the front fan intake.
The front I/O is actually at the top of the case, pretty standard grouping. A power button, microphone/headphone jacks, two USB SuperSpeed 3.0 and a reset button.
Exactly as we would expect, the back of the case is painted black, this time a matte paint was used. Power supply is bottom mounted which is common anymore. Black thumbscrews hold the side panels in place.
On the bottom of the H230, we find four large feet with rubber pads to keep the case from sliding around. There is a wire mesh screen in place over the power supply and bottom fan locations. This is held in place by clips and not easily removed for cleaning. Here we can see a large opening where the front bezel connect to the case, which this is a good grip when removing the front bezel, it can allow dust to get past the front wire mesh filter.