The Case

Overview

Aesthetically the NZXT Hush is certainly eye-catching but not due to overdesigning. The solid and clean craftsmanship is what makes this case special. The paint job can be only described as remarkable, it is not only highly reflective but also very professionally sprayed, free of imperfections and extremely smooth to the touch. Despite the extremely low weight of the case, which could easily rival aluminum cases, the Hush is quite sturdy.

Faceplate	Open Door

Door Hinge

The front door of the Hush case is diagonally cut, leaving the front intake fan vent hole as well as the buttons and LEDs of the case exposed when the door is closed. The diagonal cut not only makes the faceplate quite unique, but it is rather practical as well since you don’t have to open the door every time you want to press the power or reset button. Behind the door you can only see the 6 drive bays (four 5.25” bays and two 3.5” bays) which are also perfectly sprayed and reflective, albeit plastic. The metallic hinges and the magnetic latch of the door give it a smooth feeling and show sturdy construction, raising the overall quality of the case.

LED Stripe	Front LED Fan

Front Connection Ports

Besides the power LED, the Hush has also a blue LED stripe at the left side of the door. The front fan is illuminated by blue LEDs as well, with the light being visible through the front ventilation hole. These additions are of course purely aesthetic. The front connection ports can be found at the right side of the faceplate, uncovered. There are two USB ports, the front audio jacks and a Firewire port; there is no eSATA port, which is slightly disappointing since eSATA is becoming much more popular than Firewire nowadays.

A Look Inside	Side Panel

Opening up the Hush reveals where its name comes from. While the base design is very similar to that of many midi tower ATX cases, in order to minimize noise NZXT covered most of the panels of the case with sound dampening material. This material will not only reduce the noise caused by the case fans themselves but from every device installed inside the case. Keep in mind that it will only reduce noise caused by air pressure or moving components, not vibrations. Possible downsides? The material could also reduce the thermal conductivity of the case, however the difference should be minimal as the thermal performance relies mostly on airflow nowadays.

3.5" Bays	5.25" Bays

The Hush provides room for five 3.5” disk drives, two visible 3.5” devices and four 5.25” devices. Perhaps a sixth 3.5” drive slot instead of a second 3.5” visible device slot would be more useful since most people do not even install one floppy disk drive nowadays, let alone two, but five should be enough for most people. All of the drives can be locked into place with the plastic mechanisms NZXT have installed on all of the bays, no tool is necessary. The front 120mm fan blows fresh air directly on the five 3.5” disk drive slots, considerably aiding their cooling.

Rear Fan	Card Slots

At the rear of the case one can see the exhaust 120mm fan. NZXT naturally placed a normal black fan instead of a LED fan at the rear of the case, since any light coming from this fan would illuminate only the rear exhaust of the case. There is no tool-less mechanism on the expansion card slots just re-usable covers.

System

Installing a system inside the NZXT Hush is simple and no different than what it would be with most other midi ATX tower cases.

The Hush is long, so it doesn’t suffer from the common ATX design fault where the HDDs end up above the end of the motherboard, there is proper clearance between the end of the HDD and the edge of the motherboard. Exceptionally long cards will fit as well, but we doubt that the installation of a HDD at the same line with the PCIe slots would be possible, so if you are going with a high end SLI/Crossfire system you mind find yourself able to install only 3 HDDs instead of 5. Concerning the PSU, any ATX PSU should fit as the space between the unit and the optical drives is significant. Unfortunately the Hush has few places you can hide cables, however as there is no side panel window there is no great need for perfect cable management.