Can we talk about the new NZXT case that is basically a PC version of the Xbox Series X?

[papacoach]

 

3 hours ago, maartendc said:

ITs a cool looking design, but I don't see the point in these tall "tower-like Small-form-factor" cases. They are still as tall as a regular mATX or even mid tower, so what is the point? They still look "big". They have a square footprint, which makes it harder to fit into a backpack.

 

I like the form factor of my Silverstone Sugo13 better. Which is also smaller, at 11.5 liters versus this 13.6 liters. My Sugo 13 fits into my backpack, so I can carry it onto a plane as my "personal item". Amazing. I doubt I could do that with this case.

 

Or you could go even smaller, like the Dancase A4 and similar designs. Also really clever designs IMO.

It probably depends on you seeing a glass half-empty or half-full. I personally want mITX cases to have as small as possible footprint on a desk. Some on the other hand prefer a bigger footprint but a lower height. And H1 is perfect, it is what Phanteks Shift (not Shift X, that is just waaaay too tall) just simply could not execute fully (and they had to compensate it with that ridiculous speaker cover..it looks like shit).

  

On 2/26/2020 at 10:56 AM, 7nationarmy said:

Lets assume $125 for the PSU (it's the SGX650), $75 for AIO (price for M22, the one in the H1 should be more expensive) and $30 for the PCIe riser. That leaves $120 for the case. It's reasonable considering the competition. It's in the ballpark of upper-midrange tower cases and way below boutique SFF cases like the A4, M1 and Ghost S1.

 

As for standalone, NZXT said they might make one if there is enough demand.

Where do I sign for it? I would love to a stand-alone version ( and use Corsair's SF PSU and some down-firing Noctua black baby).

[ravenshrike]

11 hours ago, kpluck said:

 

While the Phanteks case warranty is better than the H1 (5 yrs vs 3yrs), the H1's 3 yr warranty on the AIO vs 2 yr on the Corsair and 10 yr warranty on the PSU vs 5 yr on the EVGA PSU surely help the H1 justify at least some of the price difference.

 

-kp

Not really seeing as dealing with the AIO when it craps out in 4 years means the warranty on the PSU becomes irrelevant for the type of person who would buy this case. They're not going to want to deal with disassembling the PC in order to pull the AIO and replace it.

[thechinchinsong]

On 2/27/2020 at 8:34 AM, TVwazhere said:

This. 

 

I cant tell you how many times I've seen "Where Can I order a Loque Ghost S1?" or a "Dancase A4 or C4" becasue the website is currently out of stock, but the only place they actually sell them from. 

 

(Side note if you havent checked out the Sidearm T1, I'd recommend it. It looks awesome for what it is)

https://sidearmd.com/products/t1

Its actually quite annoying. Many of the popular boutique ITX cases are sold out instantly whenever they are in stock, and go long months without any stock available at all. There are even times where B-stock is sold by these boutique companies due to demand. The H1 is most definitely not going to suffer from most of these problems due to it being by an established case manufacturer and so is going to be infinitely more accessible, even if the it is on the larger side for small ITX cases and is expensive (although the value aspect is debatable since NZXT does include the AIO and PSU). I'm actually looking at some Velkase products, but they won't be in stock anytime soon. Hopefully this case attracts more attention to the market segment and leads to the boutique case companies being able to actually keep in stock their products as well to compete.

[TVwazhere]

4 minutes ago, thechinchinsong said:

Its actually quite annoying. Many of the popular boutique ITX cases are sold out instantly whenever they are in stock, and go long months without any stock available at all. There are even times where B-stock is sold by these boutique companies due to demand. The H1 is most definitely not going to suffer from most of these problems due to it being by an established case manufacturer and so is going to be infinitely more accessible, even if the it is on the larger side for small ITX cases and is expensive (although the value aspect is debatable since NZXT does include the AIO and PSU). I'm actually looking at some Velkase products, but they won't be in stock anytime soon. Hopefully this case attracts more attention to the market segment and leads to the boutique case companies being able to actually keep in stock their products as well to compete.

One of the reasons for that I think is material choice. Most SFF cases are "premium aluminium (at least for panels) which is way more expensive and likely more expensive and longer to manufacturer. 

[GoodBytes]

8 minutes ago, thechinchinsong said:

Its actually quite annoying. Many of the popular boutique ITX cases are sold out instantly whenever they are in stock, and go long months without any stock available at all. There are even times where B-stock is sold by these boutique companies due to demand. The H1 is most definitely not going to suffer from most of these problems due to it being by an established case manufacturer and so is going to be infinitely more accessible, even if the it is on the larger side for small ITX cases and is expensive (although the value aspect is debatable since NZXT does include the AIO and PSU). I'm actually looking at some Velkase products, but they won't be in stock anytime soon. Hopefully this case attracts more attention to the market segment and leads to the boutique case companies being able to actually keep in stock their products as well to compete.

It doesn't help that you have re-sellers in the mix. Those buying a few to resale at a nice markup somewhere else.

[GoodBytes]

1 minute ago, TVwazhere said:

One of the reasons for that I think is material choice. Most SFF cases are "premium aluminium (at least for panels) which is way more expensive and likely more expensive and longer to manufacturer. 

Well, they don't have much of a choice. Aluminum can be laser cut to size, and anything extra you do, like peg installs, are simple'ish to do. Give a diagram model for the cutting machine, and machines can be setup to do the task. The problem is that the process is very time consuming, and the material too is expensive with that level of quality and thickness. Steel cases are just easy pressed down cuts, and bends. The issue is that it needs tooling.. if you want 500 cases to be made, tooling makes no sense.. you'll spend more on that, and any minor modifications can possibly require modification on tooling. Heck, many case manufactures tend to reuse a lot of parts between cases (specially the more budget ones), especially the core of the case. And this ignores the fact that producing cases for the guys behinds those ITX likes to take minimal risk on investment, it makes them order small batches only, let alone have Lian-Li be able to meet their orders. So, if Lian-Li goes and say "In 3 month time, we can make only 300 cases, because we can only make them here and there on some free time we may have", then that is the max order they can place.

 

What these ITX case manufactures needs to do, is get capital, ie: investors, for them to be able to get proper facilities and machinery and produce the cases themselves. That said, getting investors/capital is not easy, not in this field. I mean, are we a vocal minority? Maybe... Or are we many? 

[TVwazhere]

4 minutes ago, GoodBytes said:

What these ITX case manufactures needs to do, is get capital, ie: investors, for them to be able to get proper facilities and machinery and produce the cases themselves. That said, getting investors/capital is not easy, not in this field. I mean, are we a vocal minority? Maybe... Or are we many? 

Minority, but slowly growing in community and popularity. ATX still dominates the market, both in the custom builders and especially pre builts.

[DailyProcrastinator]

16 hours ago, kpluck said:

 

While the Phanteks case warranty is better than the H1 (5 yrs vs 3yrs), the H1's 3 yr warranty on the AIO vs 2 yr on the Corsair and 10 yr warranty on the PSU vs 5 yr on the EVGA PSU surely help the H1 justify at least some of the price difference.

 

-kp

Yeah it's a decent package deal. Those parts aren't exactly what I would choose as I already own my own 120mm AIO and SFX PSU, that would be my biggest reasoning for not wanting the H1, hopefully NZXT sells the chassis as a standalone! 

[DailyProcrastinator]

18 hours ago, 7nationarmy said:

The AIO and PSU included in the H1 has custom fitted tube and cable lengths. I doubt off the shelf 120/140mm AIO will fit due to the tubes, which would be a headache to most builders new to SFF. As for the PSU, it saves you the cost of getting 3rd party cables (which I agree is optional, but does make things more convenient for many users).It's limiting for a few, but it is very convenient for the mainstream market in general. 

 

As for the rest of us who like to tinker and may have PC parts lying around, NZXT already said they will consider a standalone H1 option if there is enough demand. I guess that is the point. They probably have done their market research and made the H1 bundle for the larger, mainstream market. Look at how they are marketing this case: popular youtubers, game streamers. No marketing in SFF forum. 

Yeah the custom cable/tubing lengths is nice, that said the only time that has been an issue for me was in a true 4.1L SFF enclosure (Velka 3), the tubing/cable length was not an issue for me in the Silverstone SG13 11.5L, the H1 is around 13.6L. But it's a nice touch on NZXT's part.

 

This is just my opinion, however, I'm not sure how successful they will be at selling the H1 with included components. There's a reason no other manufacturer has done this before, and ITX cases are low volume. I think the hope is that it attracts new people to the ITX market, with included parts they don't need to worry about selecting a small AIO and a SFX PSU. But how many people will actually go for that? Hard to predict obviously, only time will tell. 

 

I would think selling the H1 as a standalone chassis would sell more, I could be wrong, but if that was the case I would probably buy it! The appeal of an ITX case that has decent hardware support but occupies less desk space because it is built taller vs wider is a big appeal personally, and the H1 is even more compact than the Shift at 21.9L.

[kpluck]

18 minutes ago, JM21 said:

Yeah it's a decent package deal. Those parts aren't exactly what I would choose as I already own my own 120mm AIO and SFX PSU, that would be my biggest reasoning for not wanting the H1, hopefully NZXT sells the chassis as a standalone! 

 

Yeah, I find it weird that they aren't offering the case by itself. I am guessing they are just trying to make some extra money at the initial release and the stand alone case will come later.

 

I wouldn't mind the H1 as it currently stands except that I dislike the glass front. From some of the reviews I have read, I think it is clear that if they had a mesh front, cooling would be better. Hopefully that will be an option at some point.

 

-kp

[DailyProcrastinator]

Just now, kpluck said:

Yeah, I find it weird that they aren't offering the case by itself. I am guessing they are just trying to make some extra money at the initial release and the stand alone case will come later.

Yeah, that's likely the case. Also, they probably want to attract new people to the ITX market by including those components as well, a bit of a risk though.

 

2 minutes ago, kpluck said:

I wouldn't mind the H1 as it currently stands except that I dislike the glass front. From some of the reviews I have read, I think it is clear that if they have a mesh front, cooling would be better. Hopefully that will be an option at some point.

Phanteks did this with the Shift, the initial response was negative because of the TG panels negatively effecting temps, so they eventually made mesh panels available to buy standalone, and then they came out with the Shift Air. From what I've seen in reviews the mesh is quite dense on the H1 and despite the GPU being up against a mesh panel it still gets a bit warm.