Moneual Sonamu G100: Back to the Future
by Dustin Sklavos on June 7, 2011 12:01 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- mid-tower
- Moneual
Testing Methodology
For testing Micro-ATX and Mini-ITX cases, we use the following standardized testbed in its stock configuration and a Zotac GeForce GTX 580 in cases that support it to get a feel for how the case handles heat and noise. Due to the Moneual Sonamu G100's eight inches of expansion card clearance, we were unable to provide additional results using the GTX 580.
| Mini-ITX/Micro-ATX Test Configuration | |
| CPU | Intel Core i3-530 (73W TDP) |
| Motherboard | Zotac H55ITX-WiFi |
| Graphics Card | Intel HD Graphics (IGP) |
| Memory | 2x2GB Crucial Ballistix Smart Tracer DDR3-1600 |
| Drives |
Samsung 5.25" BD-ROM/DVDRW Drive Kingston SSDNow V+ 100 64GB SSD Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB SATA 6Gbps |
| CPU Cooler | Zalman CNPS8000A with Cooler Master ThermalFusion 400 |
| Power Supply | Included Logisys 350W PSU |
A refresher on how we test:
Acoustic testing is standardized on a foot from the front of the case, using the Extech SL10 with an ambient noise floor of ~32dB. For reference, that's what my silent apartment measures with nothing running, testing acoustics in the dead of night (usually between 1am and 3am). A lot of us sit about a foot away from our computers, so this should be a fairly accurate representation of the kind of noise the case generates, and it's close enough to get noise levels that should register above ambient.
Thermal testing is run with the computer having idled at the desktop for fifteen minutes, and again with the computer running both Furmark (where applicable) and Prime95 (less one thread when a GPU is being used) for fifteen minutes. I've found that leaving one thread open in Prime95 allows the processor to heat up enough while making sure Furmark isn't CPU-limited. We're using the thermal diodes included with the hardware to keep everything standardized, and ambient testing temperature is always between 71F and 74F. Processor temperatures reported are the average of the CPU cores.
For more details on how we arrived at this testbed, you can check out our introductory passage in the review for the SilverStone FT03.
Last but not least, we'd also like to thank the vendors who made our testbed possible:
Thank You!
We have some thanks in order before we press on:
- Thank you to Crucial for providing us with the Ballistix Smart Tracer memory we used to add memory thermals to our testing.
- Thank you to Zalman for providing us with the CNPS8000A heatsink and fan unit we used.
- Thank you to Kingston for providing us with the SSDNow V+ 100 SSD.
- Thank you to CyberPower for providing us with the Western Digital Caviar Black hard drive and the optical drive.
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Myrandex - Tuesday, June 7, 2011 - link
Loved the lolwatts, someone needs to come up with a formula to go from lolwatts to actual watts :)bobbozzo - Tuesday, June 7, 2011 - link
ILS ratings work well too... "If Lightning Strikes"Colin1497 - Tuesday, June 7, 2011 - link
I have one on my home theater that I have set up to turn off several things when the TV is switched off, and on my PC it turns of some accessories when the PC goes off or into standby. No extra switch touching required, and I think the difference in cost wasn't that much from a similar UPS without the functionality.jdonnelly - Tuesday, June 7, 2011 - link
http://www.amazon.com/Smart-Strip-Protector-Autosw...And you could get a better case for the remaining $110.
Icabus - Tuesday, June 7, 2011 - link
Looks more like a gaming console than a computer case to me.mlcloud - Tuesday, June 7, 2011 - link
I'm just surprised the editor didn't snap halfway through and start raging over the case. Glad he kept his cool.Dustin Sklavos - Tuesday, June 7, 2011 - link
You weren't there when I was working on the review. My personal Facebook is littered with...well, take a guess and then make it twice as graphic.Gabriel Torres - Wednesday, June 8, 2011 - link
I made a in-depth review of the power supply that comes with this case. The efficiency is between 71% and 78% and it can deliver only up to 220 W, above that the unit burns. A real piece of junk... So much for a "green" case. Check it out:http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Logisys-PS3...
Zap - Friday, June 10, 2011 - link
Thanks, Gabriel. I'll go read it for the lulz.Seriously though, the actual layout of the chassis isn't too terrible. I have two similar cases that I purchased through Athena Power a decade ago that are almost the same layout except with two differences. One is that they were aluminum (with plastic face). The second is that nothing blocks the slot area, so you can use however big a graphics card as you can find an SFX PSU to power. At one time I was running a GeForce 7900 GTO in mine, with an Enermax 320W SFX PSU (20A +12v continuous, 24A peak) and an overclocked Athlon 64 4000+.