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Today we are building a high performance enthusiast level system for testing. For a change we are using the AMD FX 8150 processor with an Asus motherboard (not pictured on the build phase of this review).
Processor: AMD FX 8150 Black Edition.
Motherboard: Asus CrossHair V.
Cooler: Noctua NH D14.
Memory: ADATA 1600mhz Gaming memory.
Graphics Card: HIS HD6950 ICE Q.
Power Supply: Corsair TX750M.
Boot Drive: Patriot Wildfire 240GB SSD.
Secondary Drive: 1TB Samsung.
Windows 7 Enterprise Edition 64bit
Thermal Diodes
Raytek Laser Temp Gun 3i LSRC/MT4 Mini Temp
Digital Sound Level Noise Decibel Meter Style 2
Firstly let us have a look at the chassis design and airflow, as it comes ‘out of the box’.
The large front mounted 220mm fan sucks in cool air from the front, backwards, across the drives, components and motherboard, being pulled out of the top and rear of the case thanks to the 140mm and 230mm exhaust fans. Additional cool air is pulled in from the meshed side panel.
We have placed thermal diodes into 5 case positions. 1: at the top of the case, beside the optical drive bay. 2: beside the CPU cooler, next to the exhaust fans. 3: Next to the drive bay rack. 4: In the very center of the chassis, next to the graphics card. 5: close to the power supply, underneath the lower section of the mother board.
Ambient room temperatures were maintained at 23c throughout.
The AMD FX 8150 Black Edition was overclocked to 4.8ghz with a +0.125 boost in core voltage. Fans were set to a midway/high point via the controller.
There is plenty of airflow inside the case, and the results are positive. The cooling isn't quite at the same level as the Cooler Master Storm Trooper case which we reviewed in early November. Still, this case can clearly cope with some high end, overclocked components.
