BitFenix Survivor Case Review

1. Introduction2. The Survivor Case (External and Bundle)3. The Survivor Case (Internal)4. System Installation5. Testing Methodology and Performance Results6. Acoustic Performance7. Closing Thoughts8. View All Pages

For our testing today we are using a Core i5 760 system which we will overclock to 4.4ghz later. We want to compare this case directly against the Bitfenix Colossus.

Chassis: BitFenix Survivor and Colossus
Processor: Intel Core i5 760
Motherboard: ASRock P55 Extreme 4
Cooler: Corsair H70 Liquid Cooling
Memory: Corsair 4GB DDR3 1600mhz Dominator & AirFlow Pro
Storage: Corsair F40 SSD
Graphics: eVGA GTX460 SC
Power Supply: ThermalTake ToughPower XT775

Windows 7 Ultimate 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 Survivor relies totally on two huge 200mm fans acting as an intake and exhaust, with cool air flowing from the front, then expelled out the top of the case. The lack of rear mounted exhaust fan means the CPU cooler is dealing with flow in that direction, on its own.

We have placed thermal diodes in 5 case positions – 1; top optical drive bay position. 2; hard drive position. 3; top area between CPU and fan exhaust positions. 4; above PSU, graphics card (s) area. 5; motherboard central ‘dead zone’ area. Ambient room temperatures were maintained at 23c throughout.

We then overclock the CPU to 4.4ghz which is as far as it will go.

The Survivor unfortunately can't match the Colossus cooling proficiency and GPU temperatures are significantly higher under load. This is due to the smaller overall physical space and the lack of rear or side mounted fans.

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