NZXT Noctis 450 Mid-Tower Chassis Review

Introduction

NZXT is one of the first names people think of when you ask about PC gaming chassis. Time and time again they’ve delivered award-winning products that are unique in terms of design, but also deliver a range of innovative features at a competitive price. Their H440 has proven to be one of the most popular chassis on the market, but NZXT figured it would be a great idea to tweak the design of the H440 and create their Noctis 450, while leaving many of the core features that made the original H440 so great intact; let’s see if they succeeded.

As you can see from the specifications, the Noctis 450 is knock-for-knock with the H440, offering the same hardware capabilities. This is no bad thing either, as you’ve got room for plenty of air and water cooling, huge amounts of GPU clearance and a whole lot more.

The first thing that stands out is those funky panels. The Noctis keeps with NZXT’s tradition of huge sweeping curves mixed with aggressive angles, something that will no doubt appeal to a gaming audience. There’s a crystal clear side panel window that runs the full height of the chassis, showing off that light-up NZXT logo on the PSU shroud, as well as giving you room to show off your graphics card and motherboard.

There’s a lot of ventilation in the top of the chassis, which has been partially hidden by that glossy white top cover which has a nice floating over-hang appearance to it with the ventilation situated underneath it.

There’s a large cut-away to the top ventilation on the right side, helping further enhance airflow, but also keeping with that Stormtrooper black and white overlaying panel design.

The same continues down the front, with angular glossy white panels that overlap, exposing sections of the large front-panel ventilation. It’s certainly unique and I expect it won’t be to everyone’s taste, but I rather like it and it’s certainly a far cry from the flat white panels of the H440.

The extra airflow the new design provides (vs the H440) is no bad thing, especially for those who are planning to run lots of high-end hardware.

Around the back, you’ll find a pre-installed 140mm fan, although there are mounting options for a 120mm fan if you so desire. The Noctis 450 has seven ventilated expansion slots, more than enough for a multi-GPU setup and you’ll also find two rubber grommets for cable/water routing.

Tucked away in the top corner, a small switch. This controls the rear LED light on the motherboard I/O, handy for finding those pesky USB ports when you’re crawling under your desk.

A slide out and washable dust filter can be accessed from the rear of the chassis.

On the front right corner of the top panel, you’ll find the main I/O. Here you will find dual USB 2.0, dual USB 3.0, HD Audio jacks and the master power switch.

On the underside of the chassis you’ll find the slide out dust filter for the PSU, some LED strips (blue) and a few screw holes which can be used for directly mounting drives on the interior of the base of the chassis.