Benchmarking - Thermal

To test the case's ability to keep temperatures of key components in check, we installed our standard micro ATX test bed, using the included power supply, along with an additional hard drive and a DVD burner into the top 5.25" bay.

HTPC Micro ATX Test Bed

DFI K8M800 MLV
AMD Athlon 64 3200+
OCZ PC3200 512MB DDR x 2
Zalman CNPS7000 Copper
Seagate Barracuda 120GB SATA
Sapphire 9800XT AGP8x


Due to the nature of the small design and the triple-side-covering cover, it was both difficult and somewhat pointless to do an inch-by-inch analysis of ambient air temperatures. After leaving the system running for a while and waiting for our thermometers to settle, we did record the exhaust air at 28.3 degrees Celsius from the 120mm fan, and 33.3 degrees from the power supply exhaust. Considering the case was in a room with an ambient temperature of 23.0 degrees, these temperatures are well within acceptable limits. Keep in mind that the figure coming from the 120mm fan exhaust is the one to use when considering the ambient air temperature inside the case, as the extra heat generated by the power supply is not a factor. Here's a look at how the X-QPack did at keeping the components cool:

Component Temperatures

CPU

32 / 44 C

GPU

49 / 64 C

HDD

30 C

Northbridge

34 C

Power Supply

32 C


All in all this is a very impressive showing given the case's size. The 120mm is most certainly the reason behind these good temperatures - one can feel it's moving an awful lot of air. But is it making a lot of noise too? Let's take a look at the case's total sound output.

Installation Cont’d Benchmarking - Sound
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  • Pannenkoek - Saturday, July 2, 2005 - link

    [OT] Can anyone from Anandtech explain what happened to both the game console performance speculation article and Anand's blog entry on the same subject? Called by a lawyer?
  • Sunbird - Saturday, July 2, 2005 - link

    I would really love a SFF case that is just plain black, but with a nice handle on top to carry it with.... then I'd just need a monitor with a handle too!
  • Cookie Crusher - Saturday, July 2, 2005 - link

    The nice thing about the case is the little bit of extra room it provides. It could really be a case modders dream in the sense that a water cooling system is possible. I think it's probably a worthwhile tradeoff that this case is slightly larger than a traditional SFF case like a shuttle. Nice review, I'll be taking a closer look at this case because of it.
  • Tamale - Saturday, July 2, 2005 - link

    yeah getting this review online was a little bit messy.. haha.. I think it's ok now

    and I have to agree with you guys.. this little thing is sweet
  • hoppa - Saturday, July 2, 2005 - link

    Ah, finally, a review of a nice-looking case on AT. And, I must admit, a very, *very* nice case at that. Long gone are the days of the 102 dB "2XTREME SPIDER ILLUMOCHASSIS ZINC-COBALT FUSION SUPERDESTRUCTO CASE FORM HELL"

    Joshua, the image for the sound benchmark is blank.

    -andy
  • Rapsven - Saturday, July 2, 2005 - link

    Seems like a good buy.

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