A Closer Look - Inside

Both side panels are lined with fairly thick and good sound-dampening material, although noticeable scratches and dents line the material, and any cable routed behind the motherboard will only tear things up further. While the material does feel to be of good quality, it is not lined with a very tough protective layer.


The interior looks different to that of a normal mid-tower case since NZXT went to great lengths to create their own unique tooling and setup. The biggest difference to your standard case is probably the metal PSU bay cover with a big NZXT logo on its side. Turning the chassis around, the motherboard tray comes with a large opening for access to the CPU cooler's bracket. With sound-dampening materials consuming most of the 20 mm between the motherboard tray and the solid side panel, there is unfortunately only very little room to route cables there. The many included zip ties will hopefully help by keeping things as compact as possible.


You will also find two PCBs on the H440's underside. We have seen the first before as it is for your fans; it allows for up to eight fans to be connected, which nicely limits the cable clutter these can create. The second PCB is responsible for all the LED elements inside the H440.


As there is no external drive bay, the entire front is lined with hard-drive trays. NZXT really spaces these apart, which only allows you to install five storage devices at most. Normal mid-tower cases can hold more and include a full array of external drives bays. While such spacing also results in better airflow, NZXT could have easily squeezed two or three more trays in. You will also find two more trays on top of the PSU bay compartment. These are for 2.5" drives and are held in place by a single screw. We have come across the trays before - on the backside of modern NZXT cases. The company simply moved these to the front to make the most out of the available space.


Looking at the chassis' interior, you cannot see the power supply bay because a metal cover runs along the entire length of the floor. NZXT also included two openings to route cables through the cover and equipped the contraption with a black panel on the other side, with a large company logo that lights up once you turn your system on.


The ceiling can hold two 140 mm or three 120 mm fans, which would allow you to install a 280 mm or 360 mm radiator instead. The top cover is lined with sound dampening out of the box, which you will have to remove to create the airflow necessary to use this area actively.


Before we dive into assembling the system, let us take a quick look at the cables. All the leads inside the H440 are sleeved black to go with the black and white look, and their default connectivity makes plugging everything in a trouble-free procedure.