Benchmarking

In the past, we have performed heat and sound tests on the cases that we reviewed to show how they perform against others in their class. The fan speeds were all at their normal operating speeds and the power supply fan was turned off. The heat sink temperature is the actual temperature inside the heat sink and the CPU temperature is the actual temperature, both during normal system operation. Take a look at our results.

Gigabyte GA-7VRX
AMD Athlon MP 2100+
2 x 128 DDR Corsair XMS 2400
ThermalTake Volcano 7
Seagate Cheetah 10000RPM
Inno3D GeForce4 Ti 4200
TTGI 4 Fan 520W


Thermometer Positions


The thermal readings for the key components and points on the motherboard during operation were as follows:

SilverStone SST-TJ03
 System On-Time  CPU  Heatsink  HDD  DDR  Northbridge  Southbridge  Power Supply  System Ambient
10 51.2 35.4 26.9 33.2 38.2 38.1 29.1 28.5
30 52.6 36.8 27.4 35.5 39.5 38.5 31.2 30.1

Kingwin KT-436-WM
 System On-Time  CPU  Heatsink  HDD  DDR  Northbridge  Southbridge  Power Supply  System Ambient
10 54.0 38.0 27.2 - 25.0 28.5 - -
30 54.5 38.9 27.4 - 26.1 29.0 - -

ThermalTake A6000B
 System On-Time  CPU  Heatsink  HDD  DDR  Northbridge  Southbridge  Power Supply  System Ambient
10 55.0 38.1 37.0 - 25.3 30.2 - -
30 55.5 42.4 40.3 - 27.4 32.1 - -

As we can see, the 120mm intake fan improved airflow through the system, keeping all of the tested components a few degrees cooler than Thermaltake's Xaser III Skull. However, the Kingwin KT-424 still leads the pack. We noticed that the temperature readings we took of the TJ03 were lower than the KT-436 as well as the A6000B for the CPU, heat sink, and hard drive, but much higher for the north and south bridges. This difference in temperatures could have been due to the variation of exposure to the air flow from the 120mm intake fan. Since the Northbridge and Southbridge sit on the motherboard, they may not have been receiving proper ventilation. This could have been improved by adding a fan to the side panel, which would exhaust warm air from those areas; or better, an intake that would blow air directly at those components.

When choosing a case, looks and expandability are not the only factors that determine its quality. Noise levels also contribute to the decision. We tested the Nimiz's noise level about 12" away from the sealed chassis and compared it to other cases in its class that we have previously assessed.

 Case  dBA
SilverStone Nimiz Temjin III 53
Kingwin KT-424 Aluminum 55
Thermaltake Xaser III Aluminum Fan Low 52
Cooler Master ATC-201A Aluminum 53
Kingwin KT-436-BK-WM Aluminum 50

Though not the quietest of our last five aluminum cases, the noise rating of the Nimiz is lower due to the inclusion of the 120mm fan. This large fan produced lower frequencies, which we perceived to be quieter than the small 80mm fans. This phenomenon also occurred with the Ahanix dBox that we reviewed back in January of last year with its 120mm intake.

Installation Final Thought
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  • lbmcleod - Tuesday, February 8, 2005 - link

    Nice case, except for the fact that yet again the drive bays have been rubbishly constructed -just a peice of bent alu without even guide platforms machined out. Even cheap cheiftecs and aopen cases have better drive bay construction
  • Zepper - Thursday, March 18, 2004 - link

    The UL file number on the silverstone PSU is listed as Enhance, which makes decent PSUs.
    .bh.
  • Zepper - Thursday, March 18, 2004 - link

    The price is around $250. on newegg.
    .bh.
  • TrogdorJW - Wednesday, March 17, 2004 - link

    Forget the Silverstone cases. I'm just not that interested in a light aluminum case. What I would like to know is how their power supplies perform. Any word on that? Specifically, I'm wondering if the 120mm fan is really quieter and if the power supplies are a good alternative to the 350W Antec PSes that I usually get.
  • puravsanghani - Wednesday, March 17, 2004 - link

    #5-#6: The links are put at the top of the page by the marketing company. We passed on to them information about the error and have removed the link.
  • hirschma - Wednesday, March 17, 2004 - link

    #5 - Oops, they have the wrong price listed. Anyone know how much this thing actually costs?

    And yes, I think that my Lian-Li is worth every penny. It comfortably houses my Tyan Dually Opteron board, as well has 7 hard drives, and is quiet and cool. Like this case, you can upgrade to one of those neato redundant/hotswap power supplies. It was very difficult to find anything that would do the trick.

    Jonathan
  • hirschma - Wednesday, March 17, 2004 - link

    Why is this case expensive at $85?

    I just bought a Lian Li PC-75 for a big server I'm building. It is an excellent case, but missing some nice features that this case has - and it goes for over $220. The two are directly comparable.

    What am I missing here?

    And yes, Aluminum is the way to go with the big cases, unless you want to damage yourself lifting the machine once you've built it :)

    Jonathan
  • Schadenfroh - Wednesday, March 17, 2004 - link

    crap, i just ordered a sonata, this thing looks cooler, darn, should have waited 1 more day
  • araczynski - Wednesday, March 17, 2004 - link

    >personally< i don't understand the fascination with aluminum cases. the only benefit of them is weight reduction, other then that, its all prepubescent hype with a higher price tag

    my >personal< taste (if i wanted to bleed money) would be to get an IBM industrial PC case (anyone that worked/works in the automation industry might know which i'm referring to). If you know the older IBM AT keyboards and love(d) them, you would drool over these things. They're about the only thing that has ever impressed me from IBM, and quite frankly the ONLY case that has ever impressed me. solid design/engineering.

    anyway, since working with these cases a few years back, almost everything else since then has felt/looked cheap in comparison, and i would put these aluminum cases in that same (cheap) category.

    maybe i'm just 'old school' ;)
  • decptt - Wednesday, March 17, 2004 - link

    It's cool. I love 03 but too expensive for me.

    to webmaster, Anandtech deal shows wrong model 'TJO1' instead of review 'TJ03'

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