Help with air flow [NZXT H500]

sabins253 · April 2, 2019

So to start out, a little background is needed: I hadn’t built a computer since the week before Burning Crusade launched. The polar vortex hit the Midwest like a truck and a friend suggested I find something to do since it was so cold outside, so I decided that building a computer would be the thing.

My dad gave me a work computer they weren’t using (i5 7600). I talked to the company IT guy for some surface level info on what I would need to run games at 1080 max settings and the highest frame rate possible—I don’t have the best monitor and wasn’t willing to shell out more cash than needed. So, I took his shopping list to amazon and microcenter and bought up what he told me to get; however, in hindsight, I should have actually done research on this whole endeavor before I made my first purchase, but I was really bored… seriously… I work from home and not leaving the house for a week because the high is negative six isn’t a good mix. All work and no play makes Dan a dull boy. Nonetheless, I ended up buying a NZXT H500.

After now becoming a fiend for the hardware life, I know this decision was folly at best, and futility at worst for any future ideas for CPU and GPU upgrades I may have because of the air flow issues surrounding the case (see Gamer’s Nexxus for the maths behind the issues with this case). The background story trail behind us brings me to the question at hand. I’m gonna drill holes in the front of the case to allow for better air flow; however, I want to do it right. Yes, I could just buy a new case, yet I already own this one and used to be a construction worker, so I have 4 high powered drills and enough bits to bore almost to china and return them.

My computer has the Corsair H100i platinum waiting to be installed on the 9700k I just bought, and I want to make sure that when I start drilling the air flow will be useful and not a waste of my time (yes I know the irony of still not just buying a new case). Any help from you guys would be amazing and I’d love to document the project and show it to you all as a testament to still having hope in strangers from the internet.

TL;DR I Didn't know what I was doing when I bought my NZXT H500 case, and now I'm gonna drill holes into it to allow better airflow. Is there a design I need to follow, a pattern, a Horcrux I need to smash? Any and all help would be appreciated

TVwazhere · April 2, 2019

7 hours ago, sabins253 said:

TL;DR I Didn't know what I was doing when I bought my NZXT H500 case, and now I'm gonna drill holes into it to allow better airflow. Is there a design I need to follow, a pattern, a Horcrux I need to smash? Any and all help would be appreciated

Horcrux Smashing Recommended. Just be sure to bring your basilisk fang and/or Sword of Gryffindor

Whatever you decide on doing in terms of either a simple 120mm hole, A 280x140mm long rectangle, a simple pattern like what @Mnpctech does on the Evolv cases, or a fancier design like this NZXT H700 on reddit, anything you decide to do should drastically improve airflow.