A small machine that packs a big punch

WE’RE REALLY PLEASED with how this system turned out, because building it wasn’t easy. The NZXT H1 is a fantastic case with a bunch of cool innovations that benefit its small form factor, but actually building in it is an exercise in cramped spaces and fiddly cabling. Were we to start afresh, we might wait until the motherboard cables are all in place before installing the memory, as it got in our way while we were trying to connect the ATX motherboard power cable.

Thankfully, though, once we closed the case up and plugged this bad boy in, it booted and ran perfectly straight away. Praise be! All too often we have to delve back in to rectify a little mistake that prevents a boot. Not this time around, though. We got our peripherals and monitor set up and boom, the pre-loaded copy of Windows 10 on the Corsair Force MP600 is up and running.

The first thing we noticed is the noise. Yes, this build isn’t exactly quiet, although it obviously pales in comparison to bigger, beefier machines. The main offender here is the Nvidia RTX 2080 Super FE; the flat twin fans are quite loud, though only when the card is running at load. We detect a faint bit of pump whine from the AIO cooler too, although the 140mm radiator fan seems to run quietly. The system makes very little noise when idling or during low-intensity tasks.