Benchmarking

When benchmarking the X-Mask, we test the temperatures of key components including the actual CPU temperature, the actual temperature inside the heatsink, the temperatures of the DDR, Northbridge, Southbridge, HDD, PSU, and the ambient temperature inside the case, all during normal operation. During our testing, the PSU and CPU heatsink fans remain on to measure temperatures during normal system operations.

Gigabyte GA-7VRX
AMD Athlon MP 2100+
2 x 128 DDR Corsair XMS 2400
ThermalTake Volcano 7
Seagate Cheetah 10000RPM
Inno3D GeForce4 Ti 4200
TTGI 4 Fan 520W
Atlas FP-350WE


Thermometer Positions


The thermal readings for the key components and points on the motherboard during operation were as follows:

Super Flower X-Mask
 System On-Time  CPU  Heatsink  HDD  DDR  Northbridge  Southbridge  Power Supply
(TTGI)
 Power Supply
(Atlas)
 System Ambient
10 54.3 37.5 28.1 34.5 39.9 38.8 26.2 26.6 32.8
30 55.9 38.4 29.5 36.1 40.5 40.1 27.1 27.7 34.2

Lian Li PC-V1000
 System On-Time  CPU  Heatsink  HDD  DDR  Northbridge  Southbridge  Power Supply
(TTGI)
 System Ambient
10 50.1 31.2 24.3 33.2 35.6 34.5 25.1 25.4
30 51.3 33.1 25.1 35.1 36.8 35.9 27.5 26.6

Opus Technologies, Inc. MT-200
 System On-Time  CPU  Heatsink  HDD  DDR  Northbridge  Southbridge  Power Supply
(TTGI)
 System Ambient
10 52.5 37.5 28.8 34.3 39.1 39.3 29.3 29.7
30 53.7 39.0 29.5 36.8 40.2 39.9 31.2 30.4

The X-Mask performed at about the level of the NZXT Guardian. The temperatures were a bit higher due to the placement of the case fans. The X-Mask lacked the fans on the backside of the case, which the Guardian had, yet the X-Mask did have twin 80mm fans at the front of the chassis to cool the HDDs.

Since the X-Mask lacked the back side fans, we found that in many of the other cases where we predicted the noise levels to be much lower than the competition. We measured the noise level of the X-Mask 12" away from the closed chassis with the power supply fan turned off. Take a look at our results.

 Case  dBA
Super Flower X-Mask 51
Lian Li PC-V1000 46
Opus Technologies MT-200 56
NZXT Guardian 49
Ahanix Black Knight X195 50

As you can see, the X-Mask performed at the same level as the Guardian and the Ahanix Black Knight. This is mainly due to the number of fans in each chassis.

Installation Final Thought
Comments Locked

21 Comments

View All Comments

  • wicktron - Friday, May 21, 2004 - link

    that is quite possibly the most horrid case i have ever seen in my life.

Log in

Don't have an account? Sign up now