Is all that noise and cooling necessary? Does it really help out all that much to warrant the purchase of such an item." Well kiddies, here are some numbers to let you in on what we already know is a good thing. The lower the temp, not only are components going to live longer, but it might give you that last bit of edge in an OC'ing project to hit peak performance while remaining stable. Let's start off with some system configuration specs, and then some temps shall we...
PIII 550e Slot 1 Coppermine @ 825mhz (150x5.5 @ default voltage)
Global Win VOS-32 SECC2 Slot 1 Cooler
Aopen AX64 Pro Apollo Pro 133a w/onboard sound
64MB PC133 SDRAM
Elsa Gladiac GeForce GTS 2 32MB AGP
Intel 10/100 Pro NIC
Western Digital 10GB ATA66
Quantum Fireball 3GB UDMA33
Aopen 40X CDROM
What I did for the temp readings is, with my trusty self modified Radio Shack indoor/outdoor thermometer recorded the highest and lowest readings of ambient temperature outside the case (roughly 4" from nearest panel, no nearby heat or cold source), as well as internal temperature (approx. 2" suspended off removable side panel above the vid card, below the CPU). Also used was the latest version of MBM to watch CPU temp via the thermal diode of the PIII. The testing consisted the Passmark Burn In utility, and of course MBM running as well. Here's the numbers...
At System Idle for 15 min's
| |
High |
Low |
Average |
| Ambient |
72.5 |
72.1 |
72.3 |
| Internal
Case |
77.7 |
77.4 |
77.5 |
| CPU Temp |
87.6 |
78.8 |
79.7 |
At Full Tilt for 15 min's
| |
High |
Low |
Average |
| Ambient |
72.5 |
72.1 |
72.3 |
| Internal
Case |
78.7 |
77.7 |
77.9 |
| CPU Temp |
87.8 |
86 |
86.9 |
Not bad at all. Idle the case temp was a whopping 5.2f over room temp. Even when the CPU crept up to a respectably cool 86.9, the case temp by average only came up .35f. That means the case is doing one hell of a job at removing heat buildup.
OK, so we have points in favor of
this case not only in looks, but cooling, and the allowance for preference of
hardware in floppies. Now that isn't all that we few the proud DIY'ers are
looking for.
We are usually the ones that are always in one way or another either
tinkering with motherboards, video cards, or anything else that might benefit
performance wise with some hands on tweaking inside a case. That translates to
ease of access to those components that we feel MUST be fooled with in order to
push the so-called designated limitations set forth by manufacturers. I speak
for us all when I say, "To hell with specs damn you, what can it really do!"
So what can the AMK offer us in the course of our malady? How about a nice side panel, that with a twist of an included thumb screw pops right off. What of the killer addition of a slide-out mainboard tray, that with quick removal of cables and other assorted connections would render the entire board and expansion cards open to our torturous antics. Both a plus for the hardcore enthusiast that must, and will always find a way to tweak, alter, and otherwise reverse engineer hardware to fit our desires.
With some of the projects at hand as we speak, and others
previously reviewed here at DeezTech, all of the above mentioned selling points
of this enclosure have come in quite handy. The peep's up at AMK can also help
customize some of the cooling options to suit your current dilemma.
For the moderate, and even up into the maniacal OC'er this case is going to fit the bill with effective cooling, nicely thought out and implemented options, and as always the room to expand. All in all, a case well worth the purchase price sure to please for quite some time.
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