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Test System
NZXT Vulcan Chassis
Biostar MCP6P3 AM3 mATX Motherboard
AMD Athlon II 255 @ 3.1GHz
Asus EAH5850 1GB PCI-e
Corsair HX850 PSU
4 GB G-Skill DDR III 1600
640GB WD Black SATA II w 32m cache
LG 16X DVDRW
Software
Windows 7 Professional x64
Everest Ultimate
Furmark
Our test system was built from scratch prior to installing Windows 7 Professional as our operating system of choice. Next we visited Windows update to download all of the necessary patches and finally we installed the applications used for our testing. We run each of our tests for 3 thirty minute cycles and take an average of the 3 tests to obtain our final numbers. When we received the NZXT Vulcan we did not get the 200mm fan included so we delayed the review from being posted until we had the side fan to complete the package.
We will start off with Everest Stability testing and then move on to Furmark to torture test the GPU. The 200mm side fan is attached to a fan header on our motherboard and the front and top fans are attached to the fan controller provided by NZXT. We have disabled the smart fan option in the system BIOS so the side fan will run at maximum speed. Our first set of tests will be done with the 2 speed controlled fans running at low the lowest rpm with no side fan and then test again at with all fans enabled running at full speed.
Everest Stability Test and Furmark
With just the front intake and top exhaust fans the temperatures we not all that bad other than the motherboard chipset. The chipset with our system idle sat at 56 Celsius and reached 64 Celsius during the Everest Stability Testing.
Adding the 200mm side fan into the picture took 10 degrees Celsius off the motherboard chipset with our system idle and lowered our CPU temperature 5c as well which is an excellent improvement! As we continued our testing both CPU and motherboard temperature were consistently several degrees lower with the side fan in place. We feel NZXT should include the side fan instead of making it optional.
Seems like a nice little product, but its a bit skimpy they didnt include the 200mm fan with it. quite surprised they didnt;
Its a very robotic looking chassis isnt it? quite cool looking, but the removal of the fan, for such a reduction in temperatures seems self defeating.
Good read Steve, interesting looking case, I think its rather fugly mind you. cooling seems good, when you spend another £10 on a fan for it !
Price is good, but they should have upped it slightly to include the 200mm fan, seems like an oversight on NZXT part.
Personally I dont want the 200mm fan, at 39db its too loud for me, id rather opt for a high quality 200mm fan myself online if I needed it.
NZXT are selling in the UK/Europe now I see which is good, as they werent before. I am not sure if this appeals to me really though, its a bit ugly looking.
Looks seem to be splitting opinion here anyway. I rather like it, but its a shame the fan wasnt part of the pricing scheme, for what you get I think its rather costly.
Seems like a rather interesting product but im not sure im sold on the appearance.
Looks ok, I think there are better cases for the money however in todays climate.
I bought one of these a while ago and I can’t say im really that impressed. it is ok, but I wish I had opted for the silverstone SG07 SUGO I read about here last week, its more costly but it looks much nicer imo.
Very interesting indeed, and good review thanks.
Good review Steve – its not my cup of tea mind you, but the review was good.