The NZXT H2 has 3 pre-installed 120mm fans. These fans can be controlled via the front panel switch to either operate at 40%, 70% or 100%. Combining this with the foam noise dampening on the side and front panels and we have an interesting enclosure in terms of thermal performance and noise interference. It will be interesting to see H2 against the range of other cases we have tested at Vortez.

To discover the thermal performance of the H2 I will record idle temperatures after 20 minutes from a cold boot. I will then stress the system and temperatures will again be monitored after 30 minutes have elapsed. All fans will be set on mid range (70%).

System Components
CPU AMD Phenom II X6 1055T 2.8GHz
Motherboard ASUS M4A89TD PRO
Graphics ZOTAC NVIDIA GTX 480
Memory 4GB Mushkin EM3-10666 DDR3
HDD Samsung Spinpoint 500GB SATA-II
PSU Enermax Revolution 85+ 850W

The NZXT performs well in the thermal tests against competition. It appears as one of the strongest in its category. In terms of noise level, the mid-range point on the fan controller causes 70% fan speed which is noticeable but thanks to noise dampening on the front and side panels this noise is reduced somewhat. 40% is whisper quiet and almost unnoticeable whilst 100% is noticeable but not dramatically interfering.