Noise and Thermal Testing, IGP

SilverStone includes a small fan control switch recessed on the right side of the face of the Temjin TJ08-E that can be used to set the 180mm intake fan between high and low speeds, and so we tested with both settings. More and more I'm beginning to appreciate fan controls as just a way to make the case quieter rather than actually improving the airflow and temperatures, as you'll see in our results.

Right off the bat the TJ08-E puts in a hell of a showing. Such a good showing, in fact, that it even embarasses SilverStone's FT03. Switching between high and low fan speeds doesn't seem to do much to change thermal performance appreciably; however...

...the low fan speed certainly helps to reduce noise level, with the high speed being the loudest Mini-ITX/Micro-ATX case we've tested. On the other side of the chart, at the low fan speed, the Temjin is the quietest of the cases we've tested. 41dB may seem like a bit much, but our testing cooler has a tendency to run a bit loudly and unfortunately the Zotac board's fan controls are anemic at best. Still, the directed wind tunnel cooling design seems to pay off well when we're using the IGP in our Intel Core i3, but let's see how well the TJ08-E handles the substantially increased thermal load brought by our Zotac GeForce GTX 580.

Testing Methodology Noise and Thermal Testing, GeForce GTX 580
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  • BoloMKXXVIII - Thursday, August 4, 2011 - link

    Why doesn't the lack of an audio line in port rate as a negative? Does it save that much money or is it pressure from the RIAA?
  • YukaKun - Thursday, August 4, 2011 - link

    CoolerMaster's Elite 335? http://www.coolermaster.com/product.php?product_id...

    That's one hell of a Mini Tower! It's amazing for it's price and it' kinda good looking too. Could you guys do side by side or something with already proven cases when a new one pops? Specially some offerings from CoolerMaster (they're always cheap :P)

    Cheers!
  • antef - Thursday, August 4, 2011 - link

    See my post above about the Elite 341 - it has a similar look and is even smaller since it's specifically microATX.
  • YukaKun - Thursday, August 4, 2011 - link

    Actually, I did read your comment, but couldn't find the 341 at CoolerMaster's page.

    Going to look again.

    And I forgot to thank the review! Nice review as usual!

    Cheers!
  • Termie - Thursday, August 4, 2011 - link

    Just saw this on Newegg this week and thought it looked awesome. It's great you were able to get it into test so soon after release.

    Pretty sure this is the way I'll go with my next build. Time to update (and downsize) from my Antec 900. I'd been considering the FT03 as well, but that seems like more form over function. It's quite expensive, it really isn't all that compact, and from your testing, it doesn't perform as well as the TJ08.
  • ebolamonkey3 - Thursday, August 4, 2011 - link

    Quick question, do you need an adaptor to use the USB 3.0 headers w/ a USB 2.0 port on the motherboard? Aren't they the same form factor, and you can just plug them in?
  • Dustin Sklavos - Friday, August 5, 2011 - link

    You do need to use an adaptor (the TJ08-E comes with one); the USB 3.0 motherboard header has at least twice as many pins as a USB 2.0 motherboard header.
  • zero2dash - Thursday, August 4, 2011 - link

    You're complaining about cramped size yet you're building a mITX system in a mATX case. Seriously?

    Anyone with common sense knows that building a SFF system has size issues; that's inherent with the design and the size of the form factor. If you're not prepared to cable manage and optimize in some ridiculous ways - don't build a SFF system.
  • fujii13 - Thursday, August 4, 2011 - link

    They might exist but I've never seen a Mini-ITX board with four expansion slots. Seems like a lot of extra unnecessary space for something that could fit into a LIAN LI PC-Q08B (that can hold some 7 drives and has two expansion slots). I can only see this case being useful for Micro-ATX setups.
  • Death666Angel - Thursday, August 4, 2011 - link

    Not sure what exactly you are referring to, but if you mean that this case has enough PCI-slots (those things at the back of the case where you connect your display and network cables) to accommodate 4 different cards, you might also keep in mind that this is a micro ATX compatible case. Micro ATX boards are very much able to have 4 different cards on them. :-)
    As for the case, it looks nice. Although I like cube cases in that space region more. I have a Lian Li V-252-B myself and am interested in the Sugo 02-06 series from Silverstone in the future (depending on how the CPU and GPU sizes and energy consumption goes).

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