Our search continues for the one performance-oriented case with the highest-quality fit, finish, features, and materials. A spate of recent arrivals extend our series out into three parts, so today we see if the second round can top the first.
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Test System Configuration
CPU
Intel Core i7-3960X (Sandy Bridge-E): 3.30 GHz, Six Cores O/C to 4.25 GHz (34 x 125 MHz) at 1.35 V Core
CPU Cooler
Coolink Corator DS 120 mm Tower
Motherboard
Asus P9X79 Pro: LGA 2011, Intel X79 Express, Firmware 3501 (03/14/2013) O/C at 125 MHz BCLK
RAM
G.Skill F3-17600CL9Q-16GBXLD 16 GB (4 x 4 GB) DDR3-2200 Benchmarked at DDR3-1666 CAS 9 defaults
Graphics
Nvidia GeForce GTX 580: 772 MHz GPU, GDDR5-4008 Maximum Fan for Thermal Tests, SLI
Hard Drives
Samsung 840 Series MZ-7PD256, 256 GB SSD
Sound
Integrated HD Audio
Network
Integrated Gigabit Networking
Power
Seasonic X760 SS-760KM ATX12V v2.3, EPS12V, 80 PLUS Gold
Software
OS
Microsoft Windows 8 Pro x64
Graphics
Nvidia GeForce 314.22
Chipset
Intel INF 9.2.3.1020
We’ve retained the same hardware through several generations of case testing, allowing you to compare the thermal results from several round-ups. Case technology doesn’t change much, and neither does the heating capabilities of an overclocked Sandy Bridge-E processor.
We’re counting on that overclocked hexa-core CPU to flood each case with heat, and Coolink’s Corator DS is being used to similarly saturate the enclosures with noise as it transfers thermal energy away from the processor.
Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 580 is a great noise maker in its own right, its blower-style cooler spinning at a few thousand RPM at full speed. This reference card idles down to 40%, and we use full and idle speed settings for our load and idle tests.
There are some cases CNC made, you should talk about this indipendent manufacturers. On SweClockers I saw the best mini ITX computer ever made, with 2 ssds, 2 fans, a picopsu and a discrete graphic card with riser card.
