Benchmarks & Final Analysis
Core temperatures on our budget quad-core i5-7500 processor running at 3.8 GHz held steady at 42°C over the ambient temperature of 25°C. Keep in mind that more powerful or overclocked systems will likely require extra cooling to keep temperatures in check. GPU temperatures, while not the best we've seen from a a mid-tower ATX chassis with a tempered-glass side panel, were decent at 51°C over the ambient temperature. Overall, this chassis' performance is almost identical to that of the Enermax Ostrog Lite and Dark Base 700.
The large tempered-glass side panel helped muffle system noise and sound generated by the two 120mm fans. Under full load, the Bitfenix Enso performed very well at 35.4dBA. In terms of acoustic performance, this chassis easily beat the other cases we used for comparison purposes, except for the Dark Base 700.
Determining acoustic efficiency, also referred to as cooling-to-noise ratio, is a matter of averaging all five of our tests to determine a base value.
When you look at the performance value chart below, the Bitfenix Enso's $90 MSRP looks great compared to the Dark Base 700, which performs well, but is double the price. The Enso, with its superior noise performance, can't quite match the value of Enermax Ostrog Lite, which retails for $40 less. These two products do equally well on thermal performance. However, when you take into account the tempered-glass side panel, the RGB lighting, and the superior design of the removable fan filters, the true value of the Enso becomes a bit more clear. Ultimately, we'd like to see it retail in the $70 - $80 range, but the current asking price is fair.
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