NZXT H6 Flow
Possibly the best budget chassis out there
OKAY, LET’S GET THIS OUT of the way. First and foremost, the H6 Flow is one of the best-value cases you can buy. If you’re after a mid-tower, dual-chamber box for your next build, the Flow has you covered. For the money, it’s just incredible what you can fit in this thing, and although there are a few foibles here and there, on the whole, there’s very little to complain about. In fact, we’d go so far as to say that it even rivals the prestigious Corsair 4000D Airflow, which is one of our alltime favorite cases.
Why is it so good? Well, the real star of the show is the cooling. As standard, it will fit three 120mms in the front right, three 120mms in the roof (where your AIO will sit), two 140mms buried in the floor, and one 120mm in the rear. But it’s that front-right segment that’s the true champ. Positioned at a 45-degree angle, it’s incredibly well-implemented. As standard, the case comes with three 120mm fans installed there, pre-routed through cable grommets, however, the big win is that angled design. Because most fishbowl cases are display pieces, typically sat on desks, these side vents (often populated with triple 120mms) are usually pushed up against the wall, with little airflow space, stifling your intake. Because the H6 Flow has those fans at an angle, no matter where you place it, it gives them far better access to air than you’d otherwise find in the competition, giving you a good healthy source of cool air for your rig.
On top of that, like most of the fishbowls out there, it also features two 140mm fan slots in the bottom of the case, giving you a direct cool intake feed to your GPU. In the H6 Flow’s case, those are quite tight when it comes to fitting fans in there, but as long as your fan of choice conforms to the standard form factor, you’ll be fine, and the super-tight fit looks incredible.
As standard, it supports ATX motherboards and power supplies, and has plenty of space around the back for cable management and secondary devices, along with support for two 2.5-inch drives and one 3.5-inch drive. It manages all this while keeping an incredibly tight footprint at just 17.13 x 11.3 x 16.34 inches, too.
It even supports cards up to 365mm or 14.37 inches in length as well, which should fit pretty much any of the modernday GPUs, even including true monsters like Gigabyte’s RTX 4080 Super Aero OC, which tips the scales just shy of 342mm.
It’s not without fault, however. Some of the cable management, particularly surrounding those triple 120mm fans in the front-right and 140mm fans in the floor is incredibly tight, and once you’ve got your AIO installed, access to the topmost connectors on your motherboard can be a challenge. But those are minor issues that can be addressed by tweaking your build process.
It’s the price, however, that seals the deal. Right now, you can pick up an H6 Flow in white for just $101, or the black variant for $110. NZXT will also sell you an RGB variant as well, which maxes out at $135, but swaps those three standard 120mm fans out for RGB models instead.
At this price, there’s no poor material choices or design corners cut; it’s just pure, simple, elegant sophistication, and we just can’t get enough. The only thing that would make it better (particularly given the number of fans you can install in it) is an integrated fan controller. Otherwise, this is a classic.
NZXT H6 Flow
FLOW STATE Remarkable cooling; Clean aesthetic; Solid clearances; Great pricing; Good cable management.
DOESN’T FLOAT MY BOAT Needs a fan controller; Might need to think about your build order.
$110, www.nzxt.com