NZXT's latest mini-ITX PC case looks seriously nifty, I'm just not sure how I'm going to afford the RAM for the build...
Fair to say we're established fans of NZXT's Flow line of PC cases, including the NZXT H3 Flow, the NZXT H9 Flow RGB+ and the NZXT H7 Flow. They're all four-star-plus PC cases. So, the addition of a new compact mini-ITX model, the NZXT H2 Flow, is very welcome indeed.
NZXT describes it as, "a mighty, compact vertical mini-ITX case designed to save space while showcasing top-tier components." And that seems about right.
It's a 20.7 L vertical-oriented mini-ITX case that supports GPUs up to 331 mm long, plus liquid coolers up to 280 mm. The design is very much in line with existing models in the Flow family. So that's crisp edges, glass panels and mesh inserts. Nice.
As you would expect, it's largely a tool-less design with pop-off panels for easy-access cleaning, upgrades, and maintenance. The cable management, meanwhile, includes built-in routing points and Velcro straps to help with not just slick looks but also optimised airflow.
Speaking of which, along with the aforementioned support for 280 mm liquid coolers, the case comes as standard with two pre-installed F120Q fans (3-pin DC) in the top of the case that NZXT says are quiet and efficient "right out of the box".
GPU support, of course, is ever the crunch point for small form factor rigs, and here NZXT provides a PCIE 5.0 riser cable for vertical GPU installation, again with support for cards up to 331 mm in length. For context, the Nvidia RTX 5080 and RTX 5090 Founders Edition boards are both 304 mm long.
Funnily enough, NZXT is offering a ready-built H2 Flow in the US, populated with a Gigabyte RTX 5080 graphics card, plus an AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D or Intel Core Ultra 9 285K CPU, 32 GB of DDR5 memory, 2 TB M.2 storage, a Kraken Elite 240 mm liquid cooler and finally a Lian Li SP 850W Power Supply: All for $3,499.
The H2 Flow itself goes for $149.99 or £129.99. But the hefty price of that pre-built version is, of course, a reminder of what will be for many people the real barrier here, populating it with components, what with memory and SSD prices spiralling upward and graphics cards now ticking up, too.
All that said, this looks like a seriously slick little case, and the vertical configuration, in particular, means that H2 Flow's footprint is very compact. It promises to pretty much match full-ATX cases for performance while being both good enough looking and compact enough that you might actually want it on your desk. On second thought, scratch "might actually" and insert "will definitely". For me, anyway.