It was finally decided that a new case was needed for my computer components and after some research I went for the Xclio Wintunnel case. So here it goes.
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The side panel
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The front panel and side vents
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The Specifications
Dimensions: 560mm x 240mm x 560mm (Depth*Width*Height)
Motherboard Form Factor: Micro ATX, Standard ATX, Server (12' x 13')
Drive Space: 5.25' x5 (External), 3.5' x2 (external), 3.5' x6 (internal)
Cooling: 2 x 25cm fans, 1 fan targeting the Motherboard, AGP/PCI-E Slot, and Ram Modules, the other fan targeting the 5.25' and 3.5' Bays, 1 x 12cm Intake (Optional) and 1 x 12cm Exhaust (Optional).
The Package:
Everything is neatly packaged in it's big box. The package contains the case with manual and tool-less clips.
The Case:
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A clearer view of the side panel and fans
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The two 250mm side fans
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The most noticeable parts are the 2 250mm side fans which keep the inside cool. It has a lot of vents which keeps the air flowing constantly with little need of an exhaust fan. On the side there are also a headphone and microphone jack, 2 USB ports and 1 Firewire port. On the top one can see a vent as well for more ventilation. The backside is the usual expected one although a nice feature is that there are holes for 3 sizes of fans that can be mounted, 80mm, 92mm and 120mm. On the front there is a spot for another 120mm intake fan, I don't think even more intake is needed with those 250mm fans but it still is there.
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The front panel opened up
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The inside
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On the inside there is a lot of room and is very comfortable to work. Installing the components was easy and everything fits very fine with a lot of breathing space.
Another noticeable feature is the temperature display. There is a thermal probe which can be fit almost everywhere to know the temperatures of where it is put.
Mounting the Hard Disks and Optical Drives is completely tool-less. The hard disk was very easy to install but the optical drive was a bit of a pain in the neck to get in, but it finally did.
So here's the finished product and the case in action. Now we can move on for some testing
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The top vents
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The Wintunnel mounted up and running.
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The thermal probe
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Testing:
So here we are for the part most of you people like. As usual here are the Rig specifications for testing.
Motherboard: Abit Fatality FP-IN 9 SLI
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
Ram: Team Elite 2GB DDR2 800Mhz
PSU: Xclio Greatpower 650Watts
VGA: Nvidia Gainward 8800GTX
Software that is going to be used:
Cpu Stressing: Stress Prime 2004
VGA Stressing: 3Dmark 06
Temperature monitors: Speedfan, Nvidia Monitor and Rivatuner
In the tests the temperatures which are going to be stated are the CPU, System and Northbridge temperatures in tests 1 and 2 and VGA,System and Northbridge temperatures in tests 3 and 4.
First of all some of the temperatures from the old case to this dropped drastically. The VGA temperature dropped by 5-7C and system temperature dropping by 10-15C. The CPU Temperature also dropped by about 3 to 4C on idle.
The tests that are going to be:
1. CPU Stressing on Stock Speeds with side fans off and on
2. CPU Stressing Overclocked with side fans off and on
3. VGA stressing on Stock Speeds with side fans off and on
4. VGA Stressing Overclocked with side fans off and on
Note: The CPU test are going to be held with a Zalman CNPS 9700 Cooler. A review of that can be found here.
The room temperature was measured at 29C
CPU Test No. 1
For the CPU tests we used SP2004 which is a very good cpu stresser. For this test we tested the temperatures at CPU stock speeds and here are the results:
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CPU test 1 Fans OFF
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CPU Test 1 Fans ON
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As you can see the fans do not make much difference for the CPU but it does for the Northbridge which drops by 10C.
CPU Test No. 2
In this test we overclocked the CPU up to 3.5Ghz with 390Mhz Bus Speed on 1.55v and the northbridge voltage was also increased from 1.2v to 1.5v to support the overclock. So the results:
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CPU Test 2 Fans OFF
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CPU Test 2 Fans ON
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Same as the first test there is not much difference in the CPU Temperature but a lot in the Northbridge which drops from 74C to 60C
VGA Test No. 1
For the VGA tests we used 3D Mark 06. Altough this also has CPU Test it's more intensive on the VGA and there are better programs for the CPU.
Here are the temperatures:
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VGA Test 1 Fans OFF
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VGA Test 1 Fans ON
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As in the results here the VGA temperature drops by 6C on idle and by 7C when on load. The Northbridge once again drops by 10C and the System temperature also falls by 5C
VGA Test No. 2
For this test apart from the CPU the VGA was also overclocked slightly from the stock 575Mhz core and 1800Mhz memory to 612Mhz core and 2100Mhz Memory and here are the results:
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VGA Test 2 Fans OFF
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VGA Test 2 Fans On
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Here you can see that there is a good fall in the VGA temperature as it drops from 85C to 74C when on load. Here we see the biggest Northbridge temperature drop which drops by 18C and the System temperature also drops by 9C
Conclusion:
As a conclusion I must say this case impressed me when it came to temperature and noise. So here are my ratings:
Design: 90%
Cooling: 95%
Noise: 95%
Portability: 70%
Overall: 87.5%
Hope you enjoy!
Hauptmann/Rittmeister Icevid
