We’ve seen a few PC cases with a stylish corner slash and even tested one that used the space to host a high-res display, but NZXT found an actual purpose for that angled slice in its H6 Flow: It’s designed to direct air past the graphics card. In other words, NZXT put its angle on the opposite corner compared to cases like the Hyte Y60. One could argue that the opposite angle used on competing cases was designed to guide air from a side intake around that corner, or that traditional cases achieved the same thing from an ordinary rectangle by putting intake fans on the front. On the other hand, builders paying for style will find that wrapping glass framelessly around the other front corner gives them a great new way to show off their internal components.
Design: Take a Corner Off, Please
It would be a shame to hide a case that looks this slick, and a middling 17.1-inch height and modest 16.4-inch depth increases the chances that the H6 Flow RGB will end up on a desk rather than a floor. NZXT further encourages desktop placement by putting its four-pole headset combo jack, Gen 2x2-compliant USB 3 Type-C port, dual USB 3 Type-A ports, and power button along the lower front edge. The power button has a clear bezel. (That's a more elegant way of putting a lighted power-indicator ring up front than, say, putting a light-blocking sticker over the center of a translucent button.)
That is to say, the H6 Flow RGB is a fancy case, and if the perforated steel fan vents of the corner panel above didn’t convince you, the top panel is covered in those same perforations. NZXT also stuck with the traditional boxed slot panel insert to make assembly easier, and the only place it appears to have cut costs at this point is by not filling the rear 120mm fan mount with an exhaust fan to visibly match the three front intakes.
Six ball snaps on each of the top and front-corner panels allow these portions to be pulled off easily, while the two side panels slide in at the bottom, snap at the top, and are secured redundantly with a captive thumbscrew at the top rear corner. Opening the H6 Flow RGB completely reveals a dual 140mm fan mount on a bottom panel, a dual 140mm/triple 120mm fan mount on the top panel, and a faux bottom interior panel that’s designed to both hide cables and recess any bottom-mounted fans a full 25mm. The bottom fan mounts feature rubber damping grommets, while the tops feature slots, not just holes, for additional front-to-rear fan adjustability.
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Though it only has a standard ATX motherboard tray with optional MicroATX standoff holes, the H6 Flow RGB has more than enough space in front of that tray to hold Extended ATX (EATX) motherboards up to the full 13-inch depth. While 13-inch-deep boards should be supported by an extra column of standoffs that this case lacks, several “enthusiast class” motherboards that are less than 11 inches deep also carry the EATX label. There’s also 60mm of space above the motherboard for radiator-and-fan kits up to 16 inches (406mm) long, and the 120mm-spaced mounts. Also, we measured 15.4 inches (391mm) of card mounting space despite NZXT’s clearance rating of 365mm. The biggest GPU you can find ought to fit.
The power supply fits behind the motherboard tray with only a set of cable-tie loops limiting its length to 220mm despite NZXT saying that nothing longer than 200mm will fit. Beneath the power supply is a two-level drive cage that can hold a 3.5-inch drive inside (where the brown box of installation hardware is seen mounted in the image below) and two 2.5-inch drives in the middle. Two angled cable passages lie ahead of the motherboard tray.
Building With the NZXT H6 Flow RGB
The H6 Flow RGB includes a comprehensive accessory kit. You get a printed build guide, 10 ratcheting cable ties, a spare standoff, and a Phillips adapter socket for removing and reinstalling standoffs. As for screws, you get eight 5x13.5mm metal panhead screws for fans, 16 M3x5mm and 17 #6-32 screws for attaching drives and installing the motherboard, eight countersunk 5x10mm metal screws with plastic thread for fans, and four traditional power-supply screws.
Then there is the usual bouquet of cables connecting the motherboard to the case interfaces. The chassis has a front-panel power button/power LED combo that follows the old Intel spec that companies have recently picked up on, an HD Audio header cable for the headset combo jack, a 19-pin USB 3.x for the two front-panel Type-A ports, a Type-E internal dual link interface (Gen 2x2) for the front-panel Type-C port, an ARGB splitter cable, and a PWM fan splitter. Note that the fans themselves are not PWM but three-pin (voltage-controlled), so that the use of a PWM splitter cable might mislead anyone who wasn’t paying attention.
By placing its power supply behind the motherboard, NZXT leaves the mid-sized motherboard compartment uncluttered.
Built out: Okay then, we have to admit, that looks kind of cool.
Testing the NZXT H6 Flow RGB
Fed by FSP’s Dagger Pro 850W power supply, a mildly overclocked Core i5 and a GeForce RTX 2070 make the test load. Set to full fan speed, the stock GPU cooler and Corsair iCue H100i RGB Pro XT typically make most of the noise. Here’s a rundown of the components in our standard ATX test build.
We’ve tested enough systems with the above platform that we can now populate today’s full comparison set with glass surround cases. First-time builders who want to know how these cases compare to other styles will find the same test configuration in most of our recent ATX case reviews.
Though the design appears optimized to flow air past the graphics card, the H6 Flow RGB takes first place in CPU cooling. Could this be a clean sweep?
Even though the H6 Flow doesn’t have an exhaust fan to pull heat away from our motherboard’s CPU voltage regulator, it still flows enough air over those heat sinks to tie NZXT’s H9 Elite for best temperatures. Note that the position of our closed-loop CPU cooler has an enormous impact on this stat, so that the best results typically come from cases designed to optimize this style of cooler.
If you’re suprised to see the H6 Flow RGB drop to third out of four in GPU temperature despite its intake fan arrangement...well, so were we. At least the temperature difference was only a few degrees.
The H6 Flow RGB also takes third place in noise, behind the clearly loud NZXT H9 Elite. We always recommend that users enable firmware-based fan control to minimize noise levels in daily use, but we use max fans in our tests to achieve minimum temperatures. So know that our noise ratings are something of a worst-case, system-under-strain scenario.
Verdict: On-Par Performance, Above-Average Eye Appeal
In the balance, NZXT’s H6 Flow RGB brings us slightly better-than-average cooling at slightly worse-than-average noise. But the bottom line really is: You’ll buy it, or not, based on its high build quality and extravagant appearance. This ATX chassis is all about the look, and depending on how you might position it on your desk, the angle and the cutaway could be the difference maker, much more so than a few degrees or decibels in the end.
One pedestrian note: We didn’t focus much on discussing dust filters in this case, because the H6 Flow RGB’s top, bottom, side and corner panels are all perforated so finely that the panel itself will likely filter dust. (You can see evidence of that above, around our magnetic PUBG headphone hanger...not included!) That’s going to leave a frequent wiping task to anyone whose PC-build pride arm-wrestles with their inner clean freak. Indeed, this is a very strong showcase PC chassis, and the $135 asking price is reasonable for this level of quality…if you don’t mind managing the dust thing.
Sized and styled for placing on your desk (and solidly built), NZXT’s H6 Flow RGB is a fancy ATX chassis with unusual cooling and excellent interior visibility into your pride-and-joy PC build.
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