Testing

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We use a unique strength test that is a little simplistic and all it requires is my weight on the top and observing the bending etc. that the case exhibits. The ‘test’ is explained more here.

The temperature results are taken from the ambient temperature of the case, the CPU and the chipset. We now also test the temperature of the HDD via HD Tune. All of these results are taken without a graphics card (our motherboard has on-board). The temperatures are taken at load and at idle for the processor using OCCT to load the cores. The stock heat-paste with the water-cooling block is used.

Noise tests are done by ear and with the included case fans. The PSU used is Antec’s NeoPower 550w – one of the quietest PSU’s around.

Ambient temperature is 20C.

Results

The strength test went well. With the thick solid aluminium panels and very rigid structure, this case will withstand some proper battering from LAN’s.

The volume of the case was a bit surprising. With the case fans set to maximum RPM via the manual control on the front panel, it was slightly noisy. However, when set to auto or a lower RPM, It was practically silent – certainly the quietest case I’ve experienced yet.

With water cooling, the temperatures non water cooled components can be slightly higher due to reduced airflow from the removal of the CPU cooler. Therefore these temperatures should show whether or not the temperatures are adequate.

	Idle	Load
CPU Core 1	26	32
CPU Core 2	27	34
HDD	36	39
Chipset	30	40
System	24	27

These are very surprising results as I was expecting the results to be somewhat higher than normal on the other components. The hard drive temperature is good as my HD normally runs at around 42 C even with a front 120mm fan, so 36C is very impressive. The 250mm fan on the side has probably got something to do with this.

The CPU temps are phenomenal. I’ve never seen my e6750 reach below 30 Degrees C on the first core, so for it to hit 26C is very surprising. The load temps of the CPU are better than the temps of most air cooled CPU coolers at Idle – that’s impressive.

As the ambient room temperature was 20C, it’s surprising to see the ambient case temperature at only 24C. This too, it probably down to the 250mm fan and the aluminium construction. Aluminium is a great thermal dissipater and we can see this in action here.

The chipset temperature was also good which proves enough airflow is still getting into the case- even without a front fan.

For the low noise levels this case also produces, these temperatures are outstanding. I cannot fault a single thing.

The front panel display and extra buttons for controlling fan speeds are very useful as they give easy access to controlling fan speeds. With the red illumination they create, they also look very cool. At night, the lights may be slightly annoying, fortunately though, you can switch them off. Zalman really have paid close attention to detail with this case.

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