How Much Does it Cost?
So, the H5 Flow and H5 Elite. Anyone who saw my thoughts on the H7 will immediately know what I’m going to say. I get the point of the H5 Elite. If you want RGB, tadah! Here it is and you’ll be expected to pay for it, because not only are you getting RGB, but you’re getting larger fans too, and along with it, an RGB controller which at first I thought you was being sold a bit short on due to the fact that it only has 3 connectors, but with the ability to daisy chain NZXT fans, it’s a bit of a moot point for anyone wanting to add more RGB in at a later date as that’s already been thought of. So I think the H5 Elite will do well, because the kids love their RGB and at $140, you are getting a lot of case for your money, even if it’s a bit deceiving due to its size.
Moving onto the H5 Flow. This is a bit of me. It looks nice, performs well and has enough room for even the largest components, and comes in at less than $100, which ticks all of the right boxes to me, as well as taking up a relatively small footprint in the mid-tower world. You can check for up to date stock and prices of for the NZXT H5 Flow here, and for the H5 Elite here.
Overview
So with the testing, it’s a little loud, but is fixable based on the user, which I’m ok with. That just goes to show the ability of the stock fan configuration and what an interesting configuration it is. I personally would have liked to have seen another fan in the front of the H5 Flow, but I also get that it would have bumped its price up, so I guess NZXT saw it as a trade-off, and while they could have put the fan in there, instead of in the duct, I can only imagine how difficult it would have been to install a fan in that area, and am glad it’s something I didn’t have to do as a consumer.
Cooling
I do feel, that with the fans having the ability to push through up to 62 cubic feet per minute on the Flow and 89 on the Elite, that with components that generally get hotter, and are larger, like an RTX 4090, we may see even better results, but for the sake of keeping things consistent in our testing, we obviously had to use the components that we use in all of our testing.
Acoustics
With a little bit of tweaking to the fan curve, I think it’s easy to oversee the noise complaint, as it then becomes a non-issue and you’re left with something that I’d easily say is one of the best mid-tower cases on the market right now and I’m happy to see that NZXT have ditched the solid panel version for this range, and I also love the fact that their breaking the mold a little with this ducted fan design. It just goes to show that you can still make a big rectangular box exciting, with a little design flair, and without compromising in other areas because that’s normally the downfall. Get nice things, but something has to give, and from what I can tell with the H5, you get all of the benefits, with none of the tradeoffs.
Airflow or RGB?
So what do you think? Are you more of an Airflow kind of person, or does the RGB on the Elite just tug at your wallet? I’d be eager to see, and what do you think of the ducted fan design? It’s a bold move, but one that could potentially pay off in the long run. Personally, it’s just nice to see a brand do something different, and I welcome that to the market. What about you? Let me know in the comments section below
