Nox hummer fusion s review in Spanish (full analysis)

NOX Hummer Fusion S is the new chassis of the Spanish brand compatible with Micro ATX and Mini ITX boards. A variant of the Hummer Fusion that we analyzed a little less than a year ago and that comes with a very similar aesthetic section, with a tempered glass panel on the side and a front with plenty of lighting. In addition, it incorporates a rear RGB fan with microcontroller and capacity of up to 5 fans.

In addition, we will take the opportunity to also analyze the clamping system for large graphics cards NOX H-VGA.

Let's see what this compact chassis can offer us for the smallest boards, but first, we thank NOX for their trust in us for so long by giving us their products for our analysis.

NOX Hummer Fusion S technical characteristics

Unboxing

The NOX Hummer Fusion S chassis has arrived in a neutral cardboard box as usual in the manufacturer. In it, we see a sketch of the very basic screen-printed chassis along with make and model.

We open the box in the upper area, and we find the chassis tucked inside a plastic bag and two expanded polystyrene corks that hold it on both sides to avoid knocks.

But this does not stop here, since the support for GPU NOX H-VGA has also been included for us to test it together with this chassis (or any other). For this product, a hard plastic packaging in the form of a mold has been used, nothing different from what a glue bottle would carry.

In total, we will count as the following items in the bundle:

• NOX Hummer Fusion S chassis Various screws BIOS grips and speaker Apart, NOX H-VGA bracket

Exterior design

NOX is a specialist in manufacturing chassis with an excellent quality / price ratio and an example of this is this new Fusion S, with around 52 euros in Spain. Although it is true that it is a chassis that remains in no man's land as it usually happens with Micro ATX, since there are not many boards of this type currently available. Nor do their measures invite to mount a Mini PC with ITX, unless we want to introduce enough fans or large secondary hardware.

If you have taken a look at the link that we have left you of the Hummer Fusion, you can see that it is a chassis with a design very similar to the previous one. Of course this NOX Hummer Fusion S is different in its hardware capacity and consequently its measurements. We are talking about 393 mm high, 210 mm wide and 437 mm deep. On this occasion, the manufacturer has limited the space only for Micro ATX and Mini ITX boards, although the depth will be more than enough to install graphics cards and normal ATX size power supply.

The chassis is built on a 0.7mm thick SCPP steel frame and is only available in black. One of the sides has tempered glass, while the front is entirely made of ABS plastic with integrated RGB lighting. The total weight of the product is 5.3 Kg, relatively light due to its volume.

We deal with their faces in more detail, starting as usual with the left side area. And this time we have something different from what was seen in last year's Hummer Fusion, since now the glass panel is completely free of screws. The system has been improved, placing the glass on a metal frame and holding it only behind, an option that I like much more than the previous one, since it eliminates the annoying screws.

The front on the other hand, is made of plastic, using the mesh type design resource for the sides. In fact, these two mesh areas are fully protected from dust ingress with high-density black polyethylene foam. In turn, it is highly breathable to allow clean air to pass into the chassis.

The central area of ​​the NOX Hummer Fusion S, is simply an opaque rigid plastic plate with a diagonal design to give volume to the set. On both sides, we have two very thin addressable RGB lighting bands and, in my opinion, with a few bright LEDs. A year ago we overlooked it, but now NOX should have done a system overhaul to improve it a bit more.

Thus we come to the right side, where we only have a 0.7 mm steel plate installed by means of two screws in the rear area. The configuration is traditional and typical of a chassis, so there is no hidden secret in it.

We go to see the upper area, which is more interesting due to the fact that it has the I / O panel and a huge hole for ventilation. A thick mesh magnetic dust filter has been installed in it to prevent dust from entering the interior. Here we can install two fans, either 120 mm or 140 mm, as well as liquid cooling.

The fastening system for the fans is not very flexible since, instead of having rails for the different assemblies, they are simply fixed holes.

The I / O panel has the following ports and buttons:

• 1x USB 3.1 Gen1 Type-A2x USB 2.02x 3.5mm Jack for audio and microphone RGB lighting control button Power button Small Reset button LED activity indicators

Overall, a fairly full panel, though NOX has bypassed the speed control for the fans and a second USB 3.1. Then we can see that the controller is also responsible for powering the fans, and not only for cooling, but it is much more basic than that of the Hummer Fusion tower.

We now move to the rear of the NOX Hummer Fusion S, where a new generation 120mm fan with ARGB Rainbow lighting has been installed. In fact, it is the only one available, since on the front we do not have any more installed.

Being a Micro ATX chassis, we have only four expansion slots, without the possibility of installing vertical graphics cards. A detail that could have been improved are the slots plates, since they are welded instead of fastened with screws. As always we recommend removing them before placing the motherboard, since we must use force and we could damage some component.

The lower area is quite interesting in this NOX Hummer Fusion S. In the back area, we have an opening protected by a basic coarse mesh dust filter for the PSU. The truth is that the system is quite simple and is only gripped with metal tabs, many slightly higher chassis in price already have plastic filters and fine mesh in this place.

Meanwhile, on the front we have a large number of holes to be able to move the disk cabinet inside the chassis, so that large sources can be easily inserted. But we asked ourselves one thing : wouldn't it have been easier to put two rails instead of so many holes? The case is that if we remove the closet, we can still install a 3.5 or 2.5 hard drive in this place, at least that's the feeling it gives me.

NOX H-VGA: the support for large GPU

As we already anticipated, we have another small contraption to analyze with this chassis. It is a support to hold graphics cards at the front end and thus avoid damage to the PCIe slot.

It is made entirely of metal, and has a base to rest it on the chassis, a rod, and a sliding support with a rubber support that will be where the graphics card rests. By means of a manual thread screw we can adjust the height of the support and thus be able to hold graphics at any height, be it a Micro ATX chassis like this, ATX like the Fusion, or a complete tower.

Interior and assembly

The NOX Hummer Fusion S is a smaller, more compact version of the normal Fusion. In fact, we are surprised that the manufacturer had not included this version before, or even in conjunction with the previously reviewed chassis.

Well, inside this model, we can see elements with a fairly basic general design for the simple fact of having to save on costs. The sheet metal that divides the main compartment from the rear is not too thick, and it sags a little if we force it. We have enough holes to pull cables, sides, top and even bottom, but none of them with rubber protection.

On the metal PSU cover, we have three holes to pull cables from below, but no hole has been enabled to install SSD. In addition, this cover is fixedly installed by means of pins to the rest of the chassis. The most positive thing is that we will have a very wide space to install a 180mm ATX source, which may be even greater if we remove the disk cabinet. The resource of opening a hole in the side of the cover we think is superfluous, although for PSU with lighting it does not hurt.

As we have commented, the main compartment supports Micro ATX, Mini ITX and consequently Mini DTX boards. Because it is a fairly deep tower, we will have room to install graphics cards up to 370 mm in length. Of course, it is not too wide and only supports heatsinks with 163 mm height, so the largest on the market will not be admissible.

The rear area for cable management is 27 mm thick, enough for complete installations with numerous hard drives. Although of course, it does not have any integrated management system except a few clips to catch cables.

Storage capacity

Let's take a closer look at the available storage space on the NOX Hummer Fusion S, which is quite acceptable.

For a change, let's start with the lower area, where a metal cabinet has been installed that supports up to two 3.5-inch HDD units. What's more, we are surprised that it does not have holes compatible with 2.5 ”units, which would not have been an extra effort for the brand.

We also do not have a removable tray so the lower disc should be fixed on the sides, while the upper one will be fixed with the holes in the ceiling. In summary, we must remove the closet to comfortably install the discs. As we mentioned before, it offers the possibility of repositioning it if necessary, and it seems that a 3.5 ”hard drive can be installed in the chassis without this cabinet.

Next, we move to the second space enabled for units, which is located in the rear left area. In this sheet, we can install up to 3 units of 2.5 ”SSD, which is quite good for being a very exploited space. If we look closely, part of the disk is left behind a plate, so 2.5 "HDDs will not fit, which could be a problem.

Refrigeration

After looking at the storage capacity in detail, we are going to do the same with the cooling in the NOX Hummer Fusion S, which we already anticipated is going to be a bit basic.

We start with the space available for fans:

• Front: 2x 120mm / 2x 140mm Top: 2x 120mm / 2x 140mm Rear: 1x 120mm

A standard capacity for the size of the chassis, since in height it could have supported up to three of 120 mm, while in depth it could also see the same. Obviously these limitations are due to the cost of the product. At least we have a fan in the rear 120mm ARGB Rainbow area, but none in the front area, and we recommend installing at least one, or better two to have an air flow.

As for radiators we have these possibilities:

• Front: 120 / 240mm Top: 120 / 240mm Rear: 120mm

Identical capacity for the main zones, and again, a 360mm system in the upper zone would technically have fit. In addition, we observe that in this area we have a free gap between the plate and the grid, a good detail of NOX to be able to fit All in One systems in this area.

Similarly, the front area also has more than enough space for these systems, with the corresponding opening in the PSU cover to power the system. We do not have deposit support for custom systems, although it is not relevant information either.

Integrated RGB lighting

An aspect that we always consider advantageous in a chassis of just 50 euros, is having a fairly complete lighting system, and also with possibilities of expansion. And it is that the NOX Hummer Fusion S has a microcontroller model HC06-3 installed in the back area, it is not as complete as that of the Fusion ATX, but it is well worth dedicating a few lines.

This controller has the ability to install 4 standard 4-pin ARGB LED headers, so in principle, any compatible LED strip can be controlled by it. To this we add another three of their own, two of them occupied by the strips on the front. But in addition, it has 4 other 3-pin headers to connect fans, so we would not need to connect them to the motherboard. Of course, it does not seem to have PWM control for them. From it comes a 4-pin RGB header that we can connect to a board to synchronize the lighting using the technologies of the main manufacturers.

The controller will be powered by a standard SATA port, so we only lose the possibility of controlling it through software. The button located on the port panel will allow us to select the lighting mode that we like the most, and we have a lot of variants to choose from.

Something that we have observed during the tests is that the animation of the front is not totally synchronized with the length of the strips. Let me explain, it is as if LEDs are missing to build a complete cycle of each animation in these strips. I think this happens because they are the same as those used in the Hummer Fusion ATX, so they are longer and have more LEDs to address. The manufacturer has cut the length, but has not adapted the animation to the circumstances of this board.

Installation and assembly

Now we continue with the assembly of the NOX Hummer Fusion S chassis and this time we have used the following components:

• ASRock Micro-ATXAMD Ryzen 2700X Board with Wraith Prism RGBAMD Radeon Vega 56PSU Corsair AX860i heatsink

A high-end hardware with which we could have a fairly powerful team tucked into this inexpensive chassis. We have not had any impediment while we have assembled, since the space to work is enough and we have many holes to pull cables comfortably.

However, we recommend installing the PSU first, and then pulling the cables we need for each end of the board. Especially important will be the 8-pin connector for the CPU, whose gap is tiny and with the board installed it could pose some problems to put it in. The plates of the expansion slots are welded, so it will be better to remove them before installing the plate so as not to damage the surface of the plate with the metal edges of them.

For the rest, there is not much more to take into account, we see that the rear area has been relatively well with enough space for the cables that we have needed. Of course, the more hard drives we put in, the more space we will take up, so be patient and use the clips when necessary.

The internal connectors provided by this chassis are as follows (in parentheses to where they will be connected):

• Internal USB 2.0 connector (motherboard) HD Audio header (motherboard) USB 3.1 Gen1 header (motherboard) Controller SATA power connector (PSU) 2x F_panel reset and boot connectors (motherboard) RGB fan header and 3-pin power (controller) RGB header (optional connection for board)

NOX H-VGA support installed

We also do not forget the H-VGA support that of course we have tested on this chassis. In the image we can see how to install it correctly, or at least this is how I like it to be. We just have to mount and rest it on the PSU cover, then we loosen the easel and press it a little on the card until it is completely horizontal. After this, it is time to tighten the rear screw and leave it in perfect working order.

In this example we do not have a GPU that weighs too much, but it will be a good element to use for example for the huge Colorful cards, or the custom models of RTX 2080, 2070, RX 5700 XT, etc.

Final score

We leave you with the final result and the chassis in operation.

Final words and conclusion about NOX Hummer Fusion S

We finish, not without first seeing what our final evaluations of this chassis are. And the first thing to note as it could not be otherwise, is its good quality / price ratio. It is a well-built chassis in general, but with a continuous appearance with respect to the Hummer Fusion ATX and also integrating RGB lighting in the front and in a rear fan. And the side tempered glass is not missing either.

We cannot complain then that it offers enough for very little, although of course, all this has small limitations or rather, there are details to take into account and that are justified by its price. For example, the controller is not PWM-compliant for fans, or the lighting has little visual impact because of its low power but stands out. We did like the tempered glass installation system, with a metal arch and attached to the back, getting rid of those unsightly front screws.

Regarding the hardware capacity, it is quite good, it is a Micro ATX chassis, it is true, but it supports large graphics cards, PSU ATX of 180 mm or more and up to 5 hard drives that are not bad.

We recommend reading the best chassis on the market

The cooling capacity is very interesting, since we can install a total of up to 5 120mm fans of which we only have one pre-installed and with lighting. It also supports two 240mm radiators, undoubtedly the most used, although we would have found the possibility that it supported a 360mm radiator very interesting.

The construction of the interior space is minimalist and we can see at a glance the entire interior. There are details to improve such as the sheets are somewhat thin and welded, the cable holes without protection or a basic but very functional cable management. Perhaps the aesthetics of the front is not that of the taste of everything, but it is a very NOX line. We would like to see a white version as we have already seen on occasion by the Spanish manufacturer.

On the part of the NOX H-VGA support, we have given the example of how to use it, although it will only be recommended when we have especially large graphics cards such as custom models. In any case, it is entirely made of metal and its aesthetics are quite discreet and careful.

There is not much more to add, and this NOX Hummer Fusion S will be available in the market for a price of 52 euros in our country. Very economical and quite complete, although it stays a bit in no man's land being Micro ATX. And we will have the Hummer Fusion ATX for 70 euros, just a little more offering us better possibilities.

ADVANTAGE	DISADVANTAGES
+ QUALITY / PRICE RATIO	- WE LAUGHED THE CABLE MANAGEMENT IN LACK OF PROTECTION AND THAT THE SLOTS CAN BE REUSED
+ INCLUDES ARGB LIGHTING WITH CONTROLLER
+ GOOD HARDWARE CAPACITY EXCEPT ATX PLATES
+ WITH TEMPERED GLASS AND VERY WELL IMPLEMENTED
+ DOUBLE AIO SUPPORT OF 240 MM AND 5 FANS

The Professional Review team awards him the silver medal:

NOX Hummer Fusion S

DESIGN - 75%

MATERIALS - 82%

WIRING MANAGEMENT - 75%

PRICE - 85%

79%

Good in everything, but without excelling in anything, quality / price is its asset, few offer so much for 50 euros.