Overall and Final Verdict

So whats the overall verdict on the NZXT H400i? Well going in I was a little skeptical of the whole thing. NZXT is asking a lot for an M-ATX case, what could they even be including in it. For starters, unlike nearly every other mass produced case on the market the H400i is all sheet metal. There is a little plastic used for mounting things and of course for the included fan filters. But they didn’t just go with a plastic front portion on the case to make designing it simple. The all metal design means this should hold up better to abuse and it also contributed to keeping the design simple. It’s the simple and clean design that I dig with this case. The tempered glass side panel lets you have a little fun on the inside, especially with lighting, but then on the outside you have a design that would look good in an office or in a crazy gaming setup.

This is also the easiest case I’ve ever built in, without a doubt. The wire management on the back was great to work with and helped me get everything together. But NZXT even went as far as to make a simple one plug front panel connection. How long have people been asking for that, after not having to fight with any wiring on the back and then not having to get out a magnifying glass to see what each front I/O plug is I was basically home free. Those are the two things that make building a PC difficult. After building in the H400i I tweeted at NZXT complaining that they may have made things too simple. Now everyone can get perfect wire management, how will people who spend more time and care in their builds even show it.

The other big feature on the H400i is the CAM powered controller. This is basically a Hue+ and a fan controller built into one. Honestly, the individually controllable lighting deserves its own line on the pro’s and con’s below, but I had to lump it in with the controller. A hue plus costs $59.99 and while the lighting strips are shorter, you basically get that setup with this case.

So what are the downsides to the H400i? For starters, I would love to see that controller have a little more expandability built in. They give you a rats nest of wiring to allow you to daisy chain in two more fans but if the controller had those plugs built in it could keep wiring cleaner while still allowing you to add more fans later. Not to mention all of the RGB products on the market, a few more headers could be nice and allow you to control everything from one program, not split it up across your motherboard and the CAM software. Speaking of the CAM software, while it has a ton of features. It can sometimes become a resource hog so keep an eye on it. With you potentially using it for fan controls and lighting you can’t just close it all the time.

With the case itself, my only issue was with the single 3.5 inch hard drive that it can support. There is enough room in that same spot to have a double cage. I know most people are moving away from lots of drives in their builds, but some people still want them and the more flexibility in build options the better in my opinion.

The other thing to address is the price point. When NZXT announced the H series of cases a lot of people mentioned their prices and for good reason. At just under $150 the H400i isn’t exactly a budget case. It actually pushes it up into a premium case range and with a lot of the budget cases offering tempered glass and other features, it can sometimes be hard to justify spending more money. Add to that not getting a Type-C connection that I would be looking for on a premium case. The reality of the situation is that the H400i includes the controller and that raises up the price. If you were planning on adding something like a Hue+ to your build in the future this setup would actually save you money. On that point, I actually think the H400i is well worth its price, but those who are already strapped from the extremely inflated GPU and RAM prices may not be able to afford it. Right now is actually a great time to consider having NZXT build it all for you if you already want their components, it could end up saving you money with their lower GPU prices.

fv5

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Author Bio
garfi3ld
Author: garfi3ldWebsite: http://lanoc.org
Editor-in-chief
You might call him obsessed or just a hardcore geek. Wes's obsession with gaming hardware and gadgets isn't anything new, he could be found taking things apart even as a child. When not poking around in PC's he can be found playing League of Legends, Awesomenauts, or Civilization 5 or watching a wide variety of TV shows and Movies. A car guy at heart, the same things that draw him into tweaking cars apply when building good looking fast computers. If you are interested in writing for Wes here at LanOC you can reach out to him directly using our contact form.

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