Testing Methodology

For testing Micro-ATX and full ATX cases, we use the following standardized testbed in stock and overclocked configurations to get a feel for how well the case handles heat and noise.

ATX Test Configuration
CPU Intel Core i7-2700K
(95W TDP, tested at stock speed and overclocked to 4.3GHz @ 1.38V)
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-Z68MX-UD2H-B3
Graphics Card ASUS GeForce GTX 560 Ti DCII TOP
(tested at stock speed and overclocked to 1GHz/overvolted to 1.13V)
Memory 2x2GB Crucial Ballistix Smart Tracer DDR3-1600
Drives Kingston SSDNow V+ 100 64GB SSD
Samsung 5.25" BD-ROM/DVDRW Drive
CPU Cooler Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo with Cooler Master ThermalFusion 400
Power Supply SilverStone Strider Plus 750W 80 Plus Silver

Each case is tested in a stock configuration and an overclocked configuration that generates substantially more heat (and thus may produce more noise). The system is powered on and left idle for fifteen minutes, the thermal and acoustic results recorded, and then stressed by running seven threads in Prime95 (in-place large FFTs) on the CPU and OC Scanner (maximum load) on the GPU. At the end of fiteen minutes, thermal and acoustic results are recorded. This is done for the stock settings and for the overclock, and if the enclosure has a fan controller, these tests are repeated for each setting. Ambient temperature is also measured after the fifteen idle minutes but before the stress test and used to calculate the final reported results.

Thank You!

Before moving on, we'd like to thank the following vendors for providing us with the hardware used in our testbed.

Assembling the Nanoxia Deep Silence 1 Noise and Thermal Testing, Stock
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  • Grok42 - Thursday, November 29, 2012 - link

    What are you thoughts on the Nanoxia's door? I like the split door compromise.

    I personally have moved from loving doors for providing a clean look to wanting cases with no external bays and no door for the same clean look. However, given the size of the Nanoxia I can't fault it for some external bays as cases of typical size typically have 5 or more bays. If you scaled up most mid-ATX cases up to the Nanoxia's size they would have 20 5.25" bays.
  • johnsonjohnson - Tuesday, November 27, 2012 - link

    Looks like the Define R4's twin. If only they could merger into one..
  • johnsonjohnson - Tuesday, November 27, 2012 - link

    ..which they did to become the DS2. I'm sure Dustin will be looking at that one too. I wonder how it would fare against its future twin (R5) though.
  • vhx - Tuesday, November 27, 2012 - link

    Looks more like an Antec P280 to me.
  • martyrant - Tuesday, November 27, 2012 - link

    First off, well written and informative review Dustin.

    Second, sans the things you already mentioned (that were of course quite minor) the only major flaw I see that was not mentioned is the lack of a SD/card reader. They're already eating up the top 5.25" bay with the fan controller/reset button, there's obviously room to put at the very least a SD card reader there, which would mean most likely people would not need the 5.25" to 3.5" adapter.

    Thanks for this review, I hadn't heard of this case before and would very much like it to come to the States in time for Haswell!
  • FragKrag - Tuesday, November 27, 2012 - link

    Doesn't really seem like that big of a flaw to me... I don't know any cases off the top of my head that come with an SD card reader
  • martyrant - Tuesday, November 27, 2012 - link

    NZXT has one I believe, and if you already have almost everything perfect, there's no reason to not attempt pure perfection.
  • Death666Angel - Tuesday, November 27, 2012 - link

    It would for some people. :D
    I personally don't need a card reader and don't want one either. All my stuff is handled by a USB cable to the necessary device (camera, phone, tablet...). If this had a reader, it would take away from the clean look and give me something ugly that's never getting used.
  • martyrant - Tuesday, November 27, 2012 - link

    Are your eyes not working? Ignorant? Not read the article or look at the case at all?

    The card reader would be behind the top front door...and would not effect aesthetics at all.
  • Death666Angel - Wednesday, November 28, 2012 - link

    Wow, you clearly have no issues with criticism.
    It would not destroy the aesthetics, except when I use anything that is behind the top front door....

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