HAVN HS 420 VGPU

[Darksaber]

The HS 420 VGPU is the first case of the newest brand on the block: HAVN. With a team of experienced members from the case industry behind it, the HS 420 series manages to be a creative love letter with a fresh take on this style of case, blending function with design and flow.

Show full review

 

[LocutusH]

I am really surprised someone could show something new in 2024. Or at least new-ish.
I mean i wont change my O11D XL for this, because why would i, but it looks really nice.

 

[Chaitanya]

Overall quite well designed case with small attention to detail which is getting quite rare these days with a sea of RGB puke.

 

[Zareek]

Overall quite well designed case with small attention to detail which is getting quite rare these days with a sea of RGB puke.

I couldn't have said it better myself.

 

[Chrispy_]

This thing is obscenely large for most people and restricted to the USA only according to their website, but I think there are several great ideas here and I like the aesthetic.

Here's hoping HAVN make smaller cases with this design language and open sales up to the rest of the world.

 

[Zareek]

This thing is obscenely large for most people and restricted to the USA only according to their website, but I think there are several great ideas here and I like the aesthetic.

Here's hoping HAVN make smaller cases with this design language and open sales up to the rest of the world.

Yes, smaller designs please! Make something with this much thought and attention to detail but 17" tall or less.

 

[Chrispy_]

I think the "typical" Enthusiast build these days is an ATX board, a 30cm graphics card of 4080 class or lower, and a 360mm AIO at most. If you built this case with a non-flagship motherboard, 240mm AIO, and a modestly sized 4070S, you'd basically have a big old empty box with a lot of fans moving air in and out of the case that never went anywhere near your hardware hiding against the rear edge of the otherwise empty box.

"We" don't need or want cavernous boxes that are mostly empty, we want a case that has enough room to comfortably build with ordinary-sized components and no bigger. By "we", I'm speaking on behalf of anyone who lives in ordinary-sized home and typically doesn't have an enormous surplus of free space to waste.

 

[csendesmark]

Nice case, too bad the 3.5 bays are unprotected from drive noises no rubber dampers installed in them
Also, no 5.25" bay on this either...

@Chrispy_ You need a somewhat bigger space inside that box to have good airflow.

 

[theglaze]

Pic from their website.
I understand the logic of 'coldest air possible to graphics card' and a fancy piece of bent glass to facilitate this.
But then, dump all that heat into the CPU radiator?

It appears like the case can support a more sensible configuration:
Install top fans that are unobstructed exhaust.
CPU radiator installed at the front of the chassis, removing HDD & SDD storage and requires AIO with long enough tubes.

 

[wheresmycar]

What a refreshing case! This is exactly the kind of product I was hoping NZXT would deliver - practical innovation combined with a sleek/clean eye-candy design. I first saw the HAVN HS a while ago in some of the Computex blogs and reviews on YT. Besides being the slimmest dual-chamber case available (a big +), with its single-panel curved glass and stylish cut-outs, i never really got to appreciate the rest of it. Thanks to Darksaber’s review, I finally do.

If I were in the market for a full tower case today, this would be at the top of my list. I've always avoided vertical GPU mounts due to concerns about their impact on thermal performance. However, it seems like HAVN HS's vertical mount cooling solution has addressed those issues to some extent. That said, I'd probably still go for the traditional horizontal mount, as I prefer my case’s intake fans directing airflow towards both the GPU and MOBO.

Can't wait to see what else HAVN has in store for us.

 

[LocutusH]

This thing is obscenely large for most people and restricted to the USA only according to their website, but I think there are several great ideas here and I like the aesthetic.

Here's hoping HAVN make smaller cases with this design language and open sales up to the rest of the world.

CaseKing is owner of HAVN, so the biggest eurpean case retailer will surely bring in to the eurpean market too.

 

[wheresmycar]

Pic from their website.
I understand the logic of 'coldest air possible to graphics card' and a fancy piece of bent glass to facilitate this.
But then, dump all that heat into the CPU radiator?
View attachment 367982
It appears like the case can support a more sensible configuration:
Install top fans that are unobstructed exhaust.
CPU radiator installed at the front of the chassis, removing HDD & SDD storage and requires AIO with long enough tubes.

That makes sense.

Although it largely depends on the users cooling requirements. Outside of overclocking or power famished higher core count hotties, for most this configuration works a breeze with 360/420 AIOs already being an overkill. But i agree for those looking to maximise performance and demand uncompromising CPU cooling performance, a RAD on the side (or back wall) for fresh intake and then case fans on the top for exhaust will work better.

 

[Chrispy_]

Pic from their website.
I understand the logic of 'coldest air possible to graphics card' and a fancy piece of bent glass to facilitate this.

Nah, "coldest air possible to graphics card" is an mATX case with bottom intakes practically touching the GPU.

This design with the angled fans and the glass deflector is just a workaround to undo some of the damage that vertical GPU mounts introduce. Air goes where it's pushed and in the case of vertical GPU mounts a lot of hot exhaust air being pushed out of your GPU just gets dumped straight into the space that the GPU fans are trying to breathe from.

With a regular horizontal GPU, you don't get to see the pretty lights on your RGBLED graphics card fans, but at least the air underneath the graphics card should always be cool fresh air rather than recirculated hot exhaust.

 

[dartuil]

Case looks good.

 

[azrael]

Overall quite well designed case with small attention to detail which is getting quite rare these days with a sea of RGB puke.

TBH cases like these are specifically designed for RGB barf. I'm probably in the minority here, but this "fish tank" trend can't die off soon enough. That new ASUS ProArt case is much more to my liking, although I still have a hard time recognizing any kind of wood details on it.

 

[Chaitanya]

TBH cases like these are specifically designed for RGB barf. I'm probably in the minority here, but this "fish tank" trend can't die off soon enough. That new ASUS ProArt case is much more to my liking, although I still have a hard time recognizing any kind of wood details on it.

Unlike rest of aquariums this one uses single sheet of glass which rarity in its segment. I was refering the things like minimal restrictions for fans, rubber dampners for fan mounts, and panels(they didnt go fullway and failed to provide dampner for PSU and HDDs), proper channels for cable management(even for routing fan cables) with stickers providing instructions, additional combs for grommets to organize cables, wheels and magnets used for side panel mounting with addtional screw mounts to secure the panels in place. all of those things are rarity even in cases that cost same or more. PA602 has been available since around April with wood version(just to copy the current "trend") being announced day or two back.

 

[mkppo]

This looks great. Only if it had room (or an offset mount) at the top to house bigger radiators, I could plop the Heatkiller 360-L in there and the other one at the bottom and use the rest (5x) as intake. At it's present state, it's probably not the best for custom loops as there are better options. But otherwise it's a brilliant bit of engineering and i'm genuinely surprised.

 

[LittleBro]

Amazing case. Let's let the hot air from GPU warm the CPU radiator at the top. Really helps in terms of moving the hot air out of the case as soon as possible. It's the same result as putting CPU radiator in the front and feeding the warm air into the GPU and MB coolers.

Is there any case with chamber/tunnel dedicated for GPU? Fans at bottom to feed GPU chamber and at front to feed the radiator at the top? Chambers don't need to be separated by steel, glass or plastic is enough.

 

[Minus Infinity]

Amazing case. Let's let the hot air from GPU warm the CPU radiator at the top. Really helps in terms of moving the hot air out of the case as soon as possible. It's the same result as putting CPU radiator in the front and feeding the warm air into the GPU and MB coolers.

Is there any case with chamber/tunnel dedicated for GPU? Fans at bottom to feed GPU chamber and at front to feed the radiator at the top? Chambers don't need to be separated by steel, glass or plastic is enough.

Hmm, so why does it perform so ordinarily? Middle of the road or worse for temps. Style over substance it seems.

 

[Arctucas]

TBH cases like these are specifically designed for RGB barf. I'm probably in the minority here, but this "fish tank" trend can't die off soon enough. That new ASUS ProArt case is much more to my liking, although I still have a hard time recognizing any kind of wood details on it.

+1.

Bring back all aluminum chassis with side panels.

Still rocking my 14 year old Xaser VI.

 

[ShiningSapphire]

Did you just test it without any fans to actually test this new airflow approach? Useless.

 

[Vayra86]

Overall quite well designed case with small attention to detail which is getting quite rare these days with a sea of RGB puke.

Quite well designed, yet is hotter and less silent than a Define, which is a sound proofed case known for somewhat reduced airflow and higher temps.

AFAIK that screams bad design and form over function. Which can be fine, its not like its a bad case in that sense, if form is your thing.

I did really like the grommet innovation, its so much better than the flaps going all over the place. Its the only innovation in this case that does anything beyond just aesthetics, as you can also cleanly give each cable a separate hole to go through, keeping them apart.

Unlike rest of aquariums this one uses single sheet of glass which rarity in its segment. I was refering the things like minimal restrictions for fans, rubber dampners for fan mounts, and panels(they didnt go fullway and failed to provide dampner for PSU and HDDs), proper channels for cable management(even for routing fan cables) with stickers providing instructions, additional combs for grommets to organize cables, wheels and magnets used for side panel mounting with addtional screw mounts to secure the panels in place. all of those things are rarity even in cases that cost same or more. PA602 has been available since around April with wood version(just to copy the current "trend") being announced day or two back.

Yeah I appreciate the custom stuff in this case too. Its just all visual, not functional, and a lot of things feign being a functional win, but they're really useless. It just feels good, I guess. Its certainly refreshing to see an actually original case design.

 

[PixelTech]

Did you just test it without any fans to actually test this new airflow approach? Useless.

I re-read over this article, I believe this is the case because the case doesn't come with fans and the thermal test setup doesn't mention if used the vertical mount or not . So really the temperature ranking of this case is quite skewed! And because the writer doesn't point this out elsewhere, you can see readers in these comments are also getting that takeaway.

I like this case.

 

[Chaitanya]

Quite well designed, yet is hotter and less silent than a Define, which is a sound proofed case known for somewhat reduced airflow and higher temps.

AFAIK that screams bad design and form over function. Which can be fine, its not like its a bad case in that sense, if form is your thing.

I did really like the grommet innovation, its so much better than the flaps going all over the place. Its the only innovation in this case that does anything beyond just aesthetics, as you can also cleanly give each cable a separate hole to go through, keeping them apart.


Yeah I appreciate the custom stuff in this case too. Its just all visual, not functional, and a lot of things feign being a functional win, but they're really useless. It just feels good, I guess. Its certainly refreshing to see an actually original case design.

I watched GamersNexus review as well and it seems like its better to save $70 and get the "base" version instead of VGPU version which should be better in terms of thermals and noise. Also since this case supports 3x 420mm rads it should be a good case for those who want to do full custom water cooling route. Overall not bad for 1st attempt and its certainly a solidly built case.

 

[ShiningSapphire]

I re-read over this article, I believe this is the case because the case doesn't come with fans and the thermal test setup doesn't mention if used the vertical mount or not . So really the temperature ranking of this case is quite skewed! And because the writer doesn't point this out elsewhere, you can see readers in these comments are also getting that takeaway.

I like this case.

Test completely pointless, I would like to see how it performs in such a setting as the manufacturer shows