Case Dilema

Trig

Trig

Trig

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
7,231
Location
Leicestershire
I was originally looking at 3 cases
NR200P Max, this seemed to be an initial run of cases then everywhere went out of stock and a few even reported EOL.
NZXT H1, sets fire to itself.
SSUPD Meshlicious, the case I ended up getting due to the above cases being EOL or BBQ's. Its a nice case, my first iTX build, its been coming for a while as I've been running an iTX board for a while now and was just waiting on a case I liked, I've done some 3d printed parts to improve it slightly, but its certainly a very good case..


However, it appears that NZXT has done a refresh on the case, upped the PSU, riser redesign and increased to Gen4, as well as making it a touch larger..
So thinking it might be an idea to stick my spare parts into one of these, simply because I can, and then maybe move components around based on which case I like the most.
That said, there is also a possible drop of the NR200P Max's coming in as well, so could use that..

So, has anyone here actually built with the H1v2 (or original H1) or the NR200P Max?
 
I've done a couple of builds in the NR200 (non-max) over the last 7 months - one air cooled (Noctua NH-U12A) and one water (Artic Liquid Freezer II 280mm AIO). Seems to be really versatile with more layout options than the max I think.
 
I'm looking for something that's iTX and comes in a kit, Case, AIO, PSU, so the Max and the H1 tick those boxes, I'll be buying in the next month, I've checked reviews of both but would like a bit more of interactive feedback that you don't get from the YT reviewers..
 
I definitely get the attraction of the MAX, it does look to provide a pretty slick installation experience. It's on my shortlist for an i7-12700K ITX build I'm planning, if I can convince myself it'll give me the cooling I need.
 
Well theres nothing stopping the installation of additional cooling if required, for me though its not intended to be a powerhouse, it'll be a 3600x, old crappy HD5450, 16Gb, NVMe drive and that's it..
Unless I really like the case vs the Meshy, and then I might stick my 3080FE and 5800x in there instead..
 
There doesn't seem to be much scope to add more in the way of cooling to the MAX from what I gather from the Optimum Tech and Machines and More reviews. I've got a side mounted 280mm AIO and two top fans in the non-MAX, but the MAX wouldn't allow for much more in the way of fans beyond the AIO I think? There is a bit more airflow through the case in general though.

How are you finding the Meshy?
 
Best iTX case I've ever used...
Ok, so its the only iTX build I've ever done, but still, its a really nice well thought out case, plus if you have access to a 3d printer you can tweak it a bit.
I've got a 5800x in mine, not known for being cool running CPU's but its fine, and a 3080FE which can cause issues in cases like this due to the fan layouts.
Its not as easy to build in as the NR200P Max or the H1 (of either flavour) as its a bare case, and the other 2 have preinstalled AIO's, PSU's, routed cables and the likes where the Meshy doesn't, but with standoff mods for the GPU and motherboard there's plenty of room in there.

Thermal wise, well, I mine on my 3080FE but I'm getting the same temps in the Meshy that I was getting in my mATX case, I suspect I will get better temps once I've finished with the mods I'm doing.

Motherboard standoffs, gives you room between the board and the tray, great for hiding cables for those going down the tempered glass panel route, so looks nicer, for me it means my second NVMe drive isn't as close to the GPU so keeps that a bit cooler, also means less resistance to airflow.
I have the AIO fans set as exhaust rather than intake, this means the CPU is a touch higher than normal, but that gives me lower GPU.
GPU Standoff, increases space between the back of the motherboard tray and the GPU, same as above really, better airflow and gives the GPU a bit more room to breathe.

I've got a set of feet that I've just printed to go on, this will lift the case a bit and let the air coming out of the back of the card (which would normally point out of the back of a traditional case, but bottom of the Meshy) to go elsewhere, rather than the case being sat on its stock rubber feet.
I've also got a fan bracket for a 92mm fan to go in the top, once I've decided which fan I'm going to use then I'll get that ordered and then possibly just have that set to exhaust and flip the AIO fans back to intake to drop the CPU temps, should give me the best of both worlds.
 
Cheers Trig, appreciate the detail (and apologies for hijacking your thread). The Meshy is definitely worth a closer look I think.

I love the look of the Dan A4-H20 too, but all the reviews I've read that have squeezed a 12700K in there seem to have resulted in thermal throttling at load.
 
No worries chap, thats what forums are for...

I've just added the feet so will see what temps are like tomorrow after a good bout of mining :D

Not sure what the thermals are like on the 12700K but the 5800x is known to run a touch on the warm side so it helps having a 240mm rad in there vs the 140mm on the H1, haven't even looked at the A4-H2o, although I have already seen it mentioned on the Meshy FB page, or maybe Reddit, someone is swapping from the Meshy to the A4-H2o so maybe dig that thread out and see what results they get, might help you make your mind up..
 
It was a similar Reddit post the brought it to my attention, someone going from the NR200 to the A4-H20 I think. Seen a few reviews with it running the 12700K, and it seems to be pushing the limits of what the case is capable of cooling. Not sure I want to live that close to the edge :)

I caught Christopher Flannigan's recent review of the Meshlicious running a 12700K last night - that looks really promising.
 
You'd have to check for I saw the thread of the guy going from the Meshy to the A4-H2o, that'll give you comparisons from both to the A4-H2o, bit better informed that way..
 
I've probably stumbled across it - I'm at that stage in my research where I seem to be hitting the same articles for the third or fourth time :)

Been through a lot of comparisons and cooling benchmarks for both now, and the consensus is definitely not favouring the A4-H20 for the i7. Meshy seems to have much more headroom for cooling according to the results I've seen for both, and is the way forward for me. Just finalising a build spec now, and settling on a 280mm AIO.
 
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The NZXT Kraken I have is good because its block is pretty short so you can do the board standoff to give you room to hide cables and improve airflow through the case.
 
Trig said:
I'm looking for something that's iTX and comes in a kit, Case, AIO, PSU, so the Max and the H1 tick those boxes, I'll be buying in the next month, I've checked reviews of both but would like a bit more of interactive feedback that you don't get from the YT reviewers..
Click to expand...
Shame you were looking at all in one kit because I'd have said take a look at the new phanteks mitx case (assuming you haven't seen it). Not seen it in person but reviews seem pretty positive about it.

http://www.phanteks.com/Evolv-Shift-XT.html
 
I have seen it, not a fan tbh..

I'm leaning towards the H1 v2 at the minute due to its smaller footprint and I don't need the cooling performance you can stick into the NR200P, plus I'm not reaaally a fan of the grey, if they did it in other colours, it would be a closer call...
 
So, I now have a white H1 v2 with my 'spares' in.
It's certainly easier to build in than the Meshy, if you want a very easy to build in iTX case then the H1 v2 is certainly it, hardware is completely different to the Meshy build so no point in doing any sort of temp comparison but its a nice case, very nice.

3600x, Aorus B550i, 2070, 16Gb CL16 3200, 500Gb 970 Evo+

Not bad specs for a 'spares' build tbh, and really, not exactly a spares build as the only stuff I had spare out of that spec was the RAM and the NVME drive, I bought the board from the MM, 2070 from eBay and the H1v2 new, so probably spent a bit more than I should have done :lol:
 
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