Cougar Challenger Case Review: Is Competitive Performance Enough?
by Dustin Sklavos on October 29, 2012 12:01 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- Cougar
- ATX
Noise and Thermal Testing, Overclocked
Given that the Cougar Challenger offers excellent thermal performance at a noise level that I still consider pretty reasonable when using stock components, I'm fairly optimistic that it'll continue to acquit itself well with our overclocked testbed. Cases that focus more on dampening noise and less on ventilation tend to wind up hurting the most here, when airflow becomes much more important. I expect the Cougar's middling acoustics to seem less harsh.
Thermal performance continues to be strongly competitive, though the Challenger does slip a little bit. Its main competitor turns out to be Corsair's budget-oriented Carbide 300R. That's bad news for Cougar, because the Carbide is hanging out at roughly the same price tag with a window in place and a good $10 cheaper without.
Fan speeds are essentially competitive. The Challenger holds a negligible lead on the Carbide 300R, mostly within the margin of error.
Idle noise is among the worst we've tested, but load noise is comparatively not so bad. This is one place where the Challenger does boast a substantial lead on Corsair's Carbide 300R; load noise is a good 3dB lower for roughly the same performance.
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CCrunnernb - Monday, October 29, 2012 - link
Who would put this on a desk and let others see it?Chaitanya - Monday, October 29, 2012 - link
not me.cknobman - Monday, October 29, 2012 - link
Agreed, this case is one of the ugliest cases I have ever seen.I don't even think I would hide this under my desk for fear of visitors accidentally looking under it and seeing this thing.
deject - Monday, October 29, 2012 - link
Yeah, this is one of the ugliest cases I've seen in a long while.Grok42 - Monday, October 29, 2012 - link
We keep saying this every new case review. Are we just a vocal minority? Are there lurkers who really like these cases? Is there some bet with the reviewer that they can't possibly find an even uglier case to review. I'm hoping we have finally hit bottom.BrianDustin - Tuesday, October 30, 2012 - link
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MxxCon - Monday, October 29, 2012 - link
Is there really a market for cases that look like Transformers' abortions? :/deneb - Monday, October 29, 2012 - link
There is, for people with a lack of eyesight. Really, this is one of the ugliest cases I've seen as well.OCN's_3930k - Monday, October 29, 2012 - link
hahahgeniekid - Monday, October 29, 2012 - link
I was going to say...that thing better ACTUALLY transform.