The NZXT H510 Flow case is a model that was announced towards the end of 2021, in september 2021 more precisely. In broad terms, it is a version of the H510 optimized for airflow thanks to a honeycomb front. Let’s see how this works out!
The exterior of the H510 Flow:
We start with a brief tour of the dimensions and volume offered by this new model signed NZXT. Thus, the brand continues to put forward compact medium tower cases. This model displays dimensions of 210 (W) x 428 (D) x 460 (H) mm. With its 41L, the volume is identical to the Elite version. Concerning the weight, there is no risk of hurting your back since this model shows 6.6 kg on the scale.
As for the design, we stay on something sober and elegant at the same time. We will find just a small contrast with the different textures of this model with a honeycombed front and a smooth steel bottom part. Finally, a tempered glass side window adds a little class to the whole. It is not new, but we love the NZXT design.
We finish this overview of the exterior by the choice of materials that is focused on steel and tempered glass … And that’s it.
The control panel:
The minimalism, we find even on the control panel that takes place on the top of the case. This last one goes to the essential since it puts forward:
- 1x power button
- 1x USB 3.2 Gen1 Type A
- 1x USB 3.2 Gen2 Type C
- 1x 3 .5″ jack for microphone/headset
In itself, this preserves the design with a limited number of ports on the top of the case. However, in terms of practicality, this is not the best in our opinion. A second USB Type A would have been nice, as it is, we might quickly run out of ports.
The bottom :
The bottom of the H510 Flow remains identical to the Elite version… At the same time, logical, the base remains the same. We find four small plastic feet with a rubber coating. Once again, we have a material that adheres well to the surface on which we put the case. Not necessarily practical during the assembly where you spend your time turning and turning your machine.
We finish by mentioning the presence of a PSU filter at the back of this model. Unfortunately, it is accessible from the back and not from the front as it can be on an P120 Crystal from Antec.
The back :
The back of the case is still very classic, with an I/O Shield slot for the motherboard at the top. Just next to it, a fan slot is part of it. If we look a little further down, there are seven expansion slots. And at the very bottom, we have the power supply slot.
You guessed it, there will be no alternative mounting for the graphics card, namely vertically.
The top:
On the top, we don’t find anything special except the usual 120/140 mm slot of the cases in this series. Moreover, we notice the absence of filter at this place. Nevertheless, in its defense, we can say that the fans positioned there will be used to extract the hot air. There is therefore little chance of seeing a large quantity of dust entering through this area.
[nextpage title=”Inside the H510 Flow”]
To flip inside the case, you’ll have to unscrew three screws that remain attached to the panels they are attached to. Then, we just have to move the panels away from the case to see what’s going on inside
The chassis :
Inside this reference, no doubt, we are in familiar territory. Indeed, the chassis remains identical to that of the H510 Elite. We find the famous lower compartment for the power supply with the motherboard slot at the top. Moreover, this case is compatible with ATX, micro-ATX and mini-ITX format cards.
Otherwise, openings are present everywhere around the motherboard tray, convenient for the passage of cables. Already, at the bottom, there are two openings as well as two large ones at the top and on the right side of the tray. Finally, a long plate with the logo ” NZXT ” is part of the game to hide the SATA cables and the 24-pinATX as well as possible.
Storage slots:
Basically, we have two areas for storage, the first of which includes two small boards for 2.5″ units. They are held in place by a small Phillips screw on the back of the motherboard tray.
The second one includes a hard disk cage with three 3.5″ slots or two 3.5″ slots completed by a 2.5″ on top of the cage. The latter is located in the power supply compartment. It should be noted that the cage can be moved closer to or further away from the power supply, or even removed completely.
On the other hand, the cage remains identical to the other versions of the case, so to add or remove storage, it will have to be completely removed from the case… Which is not practical if you already have hard drives in place.
Power supply location:
The power supply slot is located at the bottom of the case and remains totally classic. At this place, there will be no device to reduce the possible vibrations produced by the block. Only some studs are molded directly from the steel of the case, but that’s all.
Finally, this slot is intended to accommodate ATX format power supplies. As for the total depth of the block, it will be able to display up to 38 cm if you remove the HDD cage positioned just in front.
The cooling possibilities :
Now we come to an important chapter regarding the cases since we will talk about the cooling possibilities. This version has two 120mm Aer F fans operating at up to 1200rpm and generating an airflow of 50.42 CFM. These fans are located at the front to provide fresh air and at the back to expel hot air.
However, the H510 Flow features a total of two 120/140mm slots in the front and a 120/140mm in the top in addition to the 120mm in the rear..
As far as watercooling is concerned, it will be possible to install 280/240 mm radiators at the front. At the rear, if you wish, you can opt for a small 120 mm radiator. However, at the top, even if you can position a fan up to 140 mm, there is no official compatibility. We therefore remain rather limited on this type of installation.
Finally, as far as the air cooling fans are concerned, we have a clearance of 165 mm in height. This is the limit to fit a large Noctua NH-D15 chromax.black.
The bundle:
As for the accessories part, what can we find?
- An assembly manual in the form of a leaflet
- Bags containing the screws and bolts dedicated to the assembly
- A dozen of nylon collars for the cables plating
- A 3.5″ jack splitter for microphone/headset
- An adapter for the control panel connector
Finally, the same conclusion as for the H510 Elite concerning the accessory part. The jack adapter can be useful if your headset uses two distinct connectors: one for the headset, the other for the microphone. The same goes for the control panel adapter, depending on the motherboard, the pinout scheme may be different. Finally, this is especially true on older models.
The little details:
To finish, we will focus on the strong points put forward by NZXT on this model. First of all, there are some very useful aids for cabling. These take the form of cable guides with Velcro strips to facilitate their placement. They are present in two places:
- On the top of the motherboard tray
- On the left side of the motherboard tray
Finally, there is a removable plate on which the front panel fans are mounted. It is maintained by two hand screws.
In summary:
Roughly speaking, no real surprise with this H510 Flow case signed NZXT since it is based on the same chassis as the other models in the series. It’s just a “basic” model since, unlike the Elite version, it doesn’t have a control box, a LED strip or a vertical expansion slot.
[nextpage title=”Assembly”]
Mounting
We now move on to the assembly stage of our configuration. Here are the components that will be used for the assembly:
- Motherboard: Asus Crosshair VI Hero
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 1700X
- Graphics card: ASUS HD 7970
- Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock 4
- Power supply: Corsair CS650M
Power Supply:
As usual, we start this stage of assembly by installing the power supply. Here, nothing complicated since our small CS650M comes to slip by the side of the case. We will fix it definitively with four screws from the back of the case. No rear perimeter to unscrew, nothing like that.
The storage :
For the storage part, same observation since you will have to free the storage media from the case. For the SSD plate, it’s simple, there is only one small cruciform screw to remove when there are four (and under the case) for the HDD cage.
Once the brackets are removed, the storage units are positioned there, paying attention to the direction of the connections. It would be a shame not to be able to plug them in afterwards, wouldn’t it? Finally, we can put everything back in place.
However, I have a small criticism of the HDD cage of this model, which forces the user to unplug everything and take it out every time he wants to add or remove a disk. A basket system would have been more practical.
Installation of the motherboard
The assembly continues and we now move on to the installation of the motherboard. For this step, we did not encounter any inconvenience, as it is enough to simply place the card on its support. We will complete its installation by fixing it: 9 strokes of a screwdriver and it’s settled.
The wiring :
The control panel
We now move on to the wiring part and for this, what better way than to start with the control panel. On this subject, we leave the cables such as they were in exit of cardboard then we make pass their connector by the bottom of the case. These will come out through the two large openings present at the power supply compartment.
The motherboard :
We now move to the motherboard to for the EPS12V and ATX 24-pin cables, we will exploit the guides present. It must be said that in this version of the case, we do not risk to saturate them too quickly since there are neither RGB fans nor additional controller. Finally, we end up placing them thanks to the pre-installed Velcro strips. For the EPS12V, a small nylon collar may come in handy.
The graphic card
When it comes to the graphics card, we have two choices, either we bring the PCIe ‘s up through the opening in the power supply cover, or we go through the guides again. We opted for the second solution. A matter of habit surely.
Storage
We quickly finish with the storage part where we used only one and only one SATA strand on our little CS650M. The latter being long enough to connect the SSD and the hard disk in its cage. If it had been necessary, we could have joined our two supports within the HDD cage, it is quite possible.
We finish the cabling with the data part and there, we proceed as usual : we hide the surplus in the HDD cage. It must be said that there is space at this place, so we might as well exploit it… Especially since there is no fan positioned just in front. There is no risk of disturbing any air flow.
Installation of the cooler and the graphic card:
Finally, we finish the assembly with the installation of our cooler and the graphics card. In the case of the heatsink, nothing special to say since this H510 Flow has a wide access to the back of the motherboard. The backplate is therefore easy to reach and therefore handle. Finally, the only constraint will be the mounting system of your heatsink, but that’s another story. But there is no need to take everything out if you want to change the cooling system.
As for the graphics card, it is simply installed by dropping it into its PCIe slot. Of course we’ll remember to remove the covers corresponding to the card slot before positioning it… Otherwise, it won’t fit.
Overall :
Overall, the assembly inside this H510 Flow went well and there was no real difficulty. Unlike the Elite version, there is much less cable to manage because of the absence of controller or RGB fans. In our opinion, this is a more accessible model from a cable management point of view.
Nevertheless, our criticism will always be about the hard disk cage which is not practical. When adding or removing a hard drive, you have to take everything out and unplug it, clearly, it’s not practical.
[nextpage title=”Protocol”]We have updated our test protocol in order to test the qualities of our boxes. Thus, we will evaluate the performances offered by the different models according to three criteria:
- Isolation
- Noise of the original ventilation
- Air flow
As for adding ventilation, we choose to integrate two Thermaltake Riin 14. They will take place in the top of the case in extraction and in the front (top) in aspiration.
Configuration:
Configuration:
- Processor: AMD Ryzen 7 1700X
- Motherboard: Asus Crosshair VI Hero
- Graphics card: ASUS HD 7970 reference
- Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock 4
- SSD: Corsair Force GS180 Go
- Hard disk: Seagate Barracuda 2Tb
- Power supply: Corsair CS650M
[nextpage title=”Tests”]
Tests
Airflow:
Additional ventilation comes in the form of two Riing 14 fans from Thermaltake, placed in the top of the case, in extraction.
CPU airflow, original ventilation then completed :
We start first with the temperature of our CPU. We keep the front and the top of our test case. Let’s see if the airflow is sufficient for the good cooling of the Ryzen 7 1700X.
We start our series of readings with the temperature of the processor, which is done with a case in its configuration out of the box. In terms of temperature, we can see that the CPU has a tendency to rise quite high, over 70°C with a low speed fan. This is normal, the fan on the front panel only directs airflow to the bottom of the case, so our Dark Rock 4 does not benefit from any additional flow. On the other hand, at 12V, we feel that the additional air supply is greatly beneficial to our Ryzen 7 1700X.
Finally, we really need to add a grinder to the top of the front panel to get the best possible temperatures. By doing so, we get a little over 55°C.
CPU airflow original ventilation without front panel or top :
In order to ascertain the limiting factor in the story (and how much), we remove the top as well as the faceplate from the case. The goal here is to show the raw performance of the integrated ventilation.
By removing the front panel, we inevitably gain in temperature, even if it is honeycombed or not. However, these gains remain moderate compared to other cases, even if the final temperatures remain higher than the competition. Remember, there’s nothing directing airflow to the CPU fan.
GPU airflow, original ventilation then completed:
We repeat the operation, but with measurements made on the graphics card. Here, we test with original ventilation and completed ventilation.
However, if having only one fan at the bottom of the front panel is not very pleasant for the processor, for the graphics card, it is a dream. Indeed, we get some of the lowest temperatures in the ranking, even at low rpm. On the other hand, at full speed, we could have better.
Finally, it will surprise no one, but the fact of completing the ventilation at the top of the front panel has almost no effect on the cooling of the GPU. Well, 3°C is still good to go.
GPU airflow original ventilation without front panel or top:
We redo the same test, but remove the front panel and the top of the case. Let’s see how this will affect the temperatures of the card.
If we remove the front panel, we manage to reduce the temperature again on our old HD 7970. However, compared to the Elite version of the H510 the gains are more tenuous. It must be said that a perforated front panel, it breathes better than solid glass and it shows here.
Insulation:
Here we simply measure the noise emitted by our configuration when we run the CPU cooling and GPU cooling very fast.
Clearly, this H510 Flow is not the best insulating case. At the same time, this is easily understood: steel and perforated front panel, no need to go further. On the other hand, models with a glass front or with insulating material manage to retain noise better.
Noise of the original ventilation:
This time, we measure the noise emitted by the original ventilation of the case. For that, the configuration runs in idle ( CPU and GPU ventilation at minimum) while the readings are successively made in 5V, 8V and 12V on the case ventilation.
We finish with the noise generated by the basic ventilation. At this level, at full speed, the H510 Flow generates 38.5 dB at full speed, we will not lie, it is rather audible. However, what you hear the most is the air rushing inside the case.
Fortunately, by reducing the speed of the ventilation, the noise is already less present: 34 dB. Finally, we can afford to run the two fans at low speed to have no more noise.
Otherwise, you will have to pay attention to the noise of the hard disks if you have any. As it is, this model in no way masks the scratching or running noise of your HDDs.
Bottom Line:
In the grand scheme of things, this H510 Flow allows NZXT to offer a case with low airflow stress. We were able to see what it gave on our graphics card in particular. On the other hand, we can only advise you to add at least one fan at the top of the front panel if you want your CPU fan to be properly cooled. As it is, the ventilation mainly benefits the graphics card.
As far as insulation is concerned, there is no secret, perforated front panels are not the best in terms of noise reduction, on the contrary, and you can feel it on the sound meter. Moreover, it is difficult to have a good air flow and a top insulation.
Finally, the fans are still quite audible at full speed… Well, it’s mostly the airflow that you hear. Fortunately, as soon as you lower their speed, the noise quickly disappears.
[nextpage title=”Conclusion”]
We are now at the end of our test of the H510 Flow from NZXT. So, good case or not? We tell you everything!
A better airflow!
With this version, NZXT wanted to offer us a case with an improved airflow and it is done. For this, the brand swaps its solid (or glass) front for something perforated. At the end of the day, it works and the components are quite well cooled… Especially our graphics card in fact since the CPU is left out of the story. It must be said that the fan in the bottom of the front panel does not direct the airflow to our cooler very much, if at all. To remedy this: installed a second fan.
However, this new front panel degrades the quality of the sound insulation and, potentially, we could end up with a PC that is noisier than the competition. This will depend on your choice of components.
An easy assembly!
Otherwise, NZXT reuses the same chassis as the other cases in the series. The result is a model that is easy to assemble and to wire, especially since there are guides. Also, without RGB fans or any controller, there is less cable to manage. The wiring is therefore facilitated.
And besides that?
Besides that, the brand continues to offer us a sober case, despite a different front panel. Moreover, as far as the realization is concerned, there will not really be any negative criticism since the finish is good and the paint remains well applied.
However, if we have to find something to complain about, we can regret a too small control panel: a second USB Type A would be welcome. Similarly, the hard disk cage is clearly not the most pleasant to handle, having to unplug everything and take it out again each time you want to add/remove a storage medium is a pain. And finally, we would have liked a compatibility with the 360 mm watercooling radiator… Even if you can already enjoy yourself with 280 mm.
An affordable price
We finish by telling you about the selling price, which is officially around 100 euros. Unfortunately, in some retailers this price will not always be respected and it’s a shame. Anyway, at this price, the NZXT box is still rather well placed, even if the competition remains tough in this sector.
As solid competitors, we can talk about the Corsair 4000D Airflow or the Phanteks P400A for example. Both come with a 360mm radiator support and a functional HDD cage, points that are missing from the NZXT model.
NZXT H510 Flow:
We liked:
- The always so pleasant design of this H500 series
- The small size of this medium tower model
- The cabling aids
- The front fans are mounted on a removable plate
- Less cables than on the Elite : Easier wiring
- Improved airflow thanks to the perforated front panel
- The good cooling of the graphics card
- The price which remains contained
We liked less:
- The control panel is too limited (at least a USB type A is missing)
- The hard disk cage which deserves to be improved
- The lack of a 360mm watercooling radiator support
- The original airflow is too much directed to the graphics card at the expense of the CPU
In the end, we choose to give this NZXT case a silver award. Certainly, it’s a model that presents well and will offer an overall pleasant experience. However, keep in mind that around 100 €, this sector is ultra competitive we will easily find a model filling the gaps of this H510 Flow. One thinks especially of the HDD cage, the control panel a little too sober or the watercooling radiator support. However, if you can get past that, this may be the case for you!
A big thank you to NZXT !
