Testing:
Due to the standoff issue with the available motherboards, a system will not be fully installed for testing. Testing will be conducted with the motherboard resting on the motherboard backplate, somewhat loose in the chassis, with the following additional equipment:
» AMD X2 4200 AM2 processor
» Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe
» 2GB (2x1024MB) OCZ DDR2 8500 SLI RAM
» 2 eVGA 7900GTO cards in SLI with Zalman VF-700 Coolers
» Tagan TurboJet 1100W Power Supply
» 1x 80GB Hitachi Deskstar SATA 3Gbps hard drive (in Kingwin removable chassis)
» 2x 120GB Seagate 7200.9 SATA 3Gbps hard drive
» 2x 400GB Seagate 7200.9 SATA 3Gbps hard drives
» 1x 250GB Seagate 7200.9 SATA 3Gbps hard drive
» 1x 120GB Maxtor 7200 IDE hard drive
» Memorex DVD/CDRW
The above system was previously installed in the Thermaltake Eureka Super Tower case. This case is designed so that it can be used as a home server system, while still maintaining a sleek gaming computer feel. While I really like this case, the biggest complaint is that the front intake fan filter is difficult to clean.
Each system had the listed equipment installed for thermal testing, and a digital thermal probe was placed in the middle of the case, not in the direct line of a fan, or next to a high heat device. The load temperatures were obtained by running SiSoft Sandra 2007's Burn-In Wizard and Folding@Home for several hours. After the load test, I would let the computer sit for an hour with just Windows running before taking the idle temperatures. Each reading was done several times, and the averages are listed below.
As shown by the data in the chart, the Maxtop 4U ICX-4830B-20BX Rackmount Chassis cooled the components slightly better than the Thermaltake Eureka. While the thermal difference is fairly insignificant and may be attributed to the location of the exhaust fans, etc., it does show that the case has the potential to cool well.
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