Benchmark Comparisons
To get as meaningful a comparison as possible between the different cases, we installed the same set of hardware into each one. Our new standard ATX test bed is as follows.
With the new test bed comes some new measurements, so we have compiled the results of all the heat and noise testing into two charts now. The only case in this particular roundup that came with an adjustable-speed fan was the Antec Overture II, and that was tested with the fan set to medium. The GPU Amb. column refers to a sensor located on our 6600GT video card that's not directly on the GPU core; the MOSFETs column refers to the motherboard sensor located near the voltage regulators, and the System column refers to the temperature of the air coming out of the unit's main rear exhaust vents. If there were more than one fan, the highest temperature was used.
So, what's exactly the best way to interpret these results? First off, we just want to state that all of these cases are remarkably quiet. But even so, one case stands out: the Mstation not only delivers some of the lowest noise levels, but consequently also the highest temperatures. Subjectively speaking, the HT-1100 was even quieter from the front side than even what these numbers can illustrate, as the meter only went up half a decibel from our ambient noise floor when we turned the PSU to "quiet mode". The case was simply barely audible, and a perfect reminder of what all case manufacturers should strive for, especially in an environment like the HTPC application.
Unfortunately, while quietness is certainly wonderful, we simply can't recommend running components at temperatures this high, day in and day out. A GPU getting to 93 degrees centigrade is approaching water's boiling point, and while our rthdribl demo continued to run without artifacts at this temperature, the GPU's life could be substantially reduced if running in this warm of an environment for too long.
The next quietest case was the Overture, thanks for the most part to the huge 120mm fan keeping the PSU extra cool. The great news is that the components were still very cool in this case as well - it tied with the PC-800 for the coolest CPU under load; the PC-800 has a fan situated directly above the CPU heatsink.
Subjectively, the Lian-Li was just barely louder than the Tenor, which itself was just barely louder than the Overture. Unfortunately, the PC-800's noise was due to the higher pitch of its two main exhaust fans. However, with the dedicated top-mounted fan, it did pull off very nice CPU temperatures that were quite a bit lower than the Tenor's. The temperatures were, overall, very cool in the Lian Li, but not on the hard drive, which was up against the edge and received little to no air flow. If hard drive life is exceptionally important, the Tenor and Overture deserve recognition as they kept the drive's temperature particularly low.
To get as meaningful a comparison as possible between the different cases, we installed the same set of hardware into each one. Our new standard ATX test bed is as follows.
| ATX Test Bed | |
| DFI LanParty UT 915P-T12 Pentium 4 530 Prescott 3.0ghz OCZ 512MB DDR2 x 2 Thermaltake Golden Orb II Seagate 120gb SATA - or - Maxtor 80gb IDE Hard Drive Chaintech Geforce 6600GT MSI DVD-CD/R/RW Combo drive - or - Other 5¼" Optical Drive |
 |
With the new test bed comes some new measurements, so we have compiled the results of all the heat and noise testing into two charts now. The only case in this particular roundup that came with an adjustable-speed fan was the Antec Overture II, and that was tested with the fan set to medium. The GPU Amb. column refers to a sensor located on our 6600GT video card that's not directly on the GPU core; the MOSFETs column refers to the motherboard sensor located near the voltage regulators, and the System column refers to the temperature of the air coming out of the unit's main rear exhaust vents. If there were more than one fan, the highest temperature was used.
| Heat Comparison Chart | ||||||||
| Case | Component Temperatures (in degrees Celsius) |
Exhaust Air Temperature (in degrees Celsius) |
||||||
| ( Idle / Full Load ) | ||||||||
| CPU | GPU | GPU Amb. | Chipset | MOSFETs | HDD | System | PSU | |
| Mstation | 34 / 60 | 53 / 93 | 48 / 69 | 38 / 44 | 42 / 58 | 28 / 32 | 27.8 / 29.6 | 24.7 / 36.5 |
| Overture II | 30 / 49 | 45 / 82 | 41 / 59 | 34 / 39 | 32 / 46 | 26 / 31 | 27.8 / 31.7 | 27.1 / 27.5 |
| PC-800B | 29 / 50 | 45 / 83 | 40 / 60 | 33 / 40 | 32 / 45 | 29 / 50 | 25.3 / 29.4 | 31.2 / 37.1 |
| Tenor | 35 / 56 | 47 / 83 | 42 / 60 | 37 / 44 | 36 / 52 | 26 / 30 | 29.5 / 34.7 | 30.5 / 40.9 |
| Noise Measurements | |
| Case | 6" from Front, Subjective rating, 12" from above |
| Mstation | 41db , 2/10, 44db |
| Overture II | 42db , 3/10, 47db |
| PC-800B | 46db, 4/10, 55db |
| Tenor | 46db, 4/10, 53db |
So, what's exactly the best way to interpret these results? First off, we just want to state that all of these cases are remarkably quiet. But even so, one case stands out: the Mstation not only delivers some of the lowest noise levels, but consequently also the highest temperatures. Subjectively speaking, the HT-1100 was even quieter from the front side than even what these numbers can illustrate, as the meter only went up half a decibel from our ambient noise floor when we turned the PSU to "quiet mode". The case was simply barely audible, and a perfect reminder of what all case manufacturers should strive for, especially in an environment like the HTPC application.
Unfortunately, while quietness is certainly wonderful, we simply can't recommend running components at temperatures this high, day in and day out. A GPU getting to 93 degrees centigrade is approaching water's boiling point, and while our rthdribl demo continued to run without artifacts at this temperature, the GPU's life could be substantially reduced if running in this warm of an environment for too long.
The next quietest case was the Overture, thanks for the most part to the huge 120mm fan keeping the PSU extra cool. The great news is that the components were still very cool in this case as well - it tied with the PC-800 for the coolest CPU under load; the PC-800 has a fan situated directly above the CPU heatsink.
Subjectively, the Lian-Li was just barely louder than the Tenor, which itself was just barely louder than the Overture. Unfortunately, the PC-800's noise was due to the higher pitch of its two main exhaust fans. However, with the dedicated top-mounted fan, it did pull off very nice CPU temperatures that were quite a bit lower than the Tenor's. The temperatures were, overall, very cool in the Lian Li, but not on the hard drive, which was up against the edge and received little to no air flow. If hard drive life is exceptionally important, the Tenor and Overture deserve recognition as they kept the drive's temperature particularly low.
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Tamale - Tuesday, November 22, 2005 - link
The 'POS' power supply happens to deliver steadier voltages to the highest-end gear I've gotten my hands on (and no, the P4 test bed isn't the most powerful thing I've tested it in) than anything else that's passed through my hands, and that includes over a dozen power supplies by high-end manufacturers. I'm no reviewer of power supplies yet, as we're still working on that, but I guarantee you that this is a fine unit, especially for the area of case reviews, because in quiet mode it does a fantastic job of staying silent enough to hear the case fans and still provides rock-solid voltages to a stressed-out system. It also gets warm when in quiet mode in the cases that don't ventilate the power supply well enough, which is another good measure of a case. Perhaps most important however is the modular nature of the unit, and even though I've tried other modular units none were as quiet as the MadDog.Secondly, the thermaltake golden orb II at full voltage is quieter than any of zalman's coolers at full voltage. While I understand that the zalman will probably get lower temperatures, It is absolutely essential that the CPU cooler in my test bed make as little noise as possible, and the golden orb II does just that.
The recurring theme in your post seems to me to be that you want 'the perfect HTPC', but the whole idea of a case review is to isolate everything but the case as much as possible, and sometimes hotter components do a better job of illustrating the deficiencies of units than the latest and greatest.
Trust me on this one, if we used the absolute best gear available the comparisons would be much muddier.
As for the subjective comment, my scale of 1-10 can be thought of as a scale of tolerance.. with 5 basically being the threshold... anything higher than that really is 'too loud for the given application' and anything lower than 4 is 'acceptable'. It's not meant to be a numerically accurate scale of any sort. I felt very comfortable with the final subject ratings I gave these cases, because the Tenor and PC-800B just barely passed my personal threshold test, and I believe most users will agree.
tayhimself - Tuesday, November 22, 2005 - link
I hope you realize other PSUs are likely quieter and more efficient than "Mad Dog". Sure the may be quiet to your ears, but thats too subjective to really mean anything. Sadly, you rate the modular nature as being an important issue when it is not. The PSU getting warm in quiet mode may be a sign of a PSU not getting enough airflow.And you say "its silent enough to hear case fans". While that can be true, the PSU and Tt golden orb noise signatures can drown out subtler differences between the cases in terms of noise of the case fans. This is almost obvious from your review as you dont perceive the difference of 9 dB to be significant. Its better to use quality quiet components so you can tell what the case is contributing to the noise spectrum. Since this is about making case buying decisions, the other factors are best isolated.
Avalon - Tuesday, November 22, 2005 - link
Get crackin'.mrgq912 - Tuesday, November 22, 2005 - link
to tired to read the article but first post.mrgq912 - Tuesday, November 22, 2005 - link
okay now that I have that out of my system. How come you guys never review stuff from alienware or voodoopc. Those guys make HTPC's aswell. I never every heard of the players in this review making HTPC's untill today. Well nice to know i have options.Would buy one if i could, untill then i will live with my ati tv wonder elite.
ksherman - Tuesday, November 22, 2005 - link
uh, cuz Alienware and Voodoo are over priced peices of DooDoo... and because this site is more geared around people that build their own machines...