Cooling Performance

As this is a very different case to any of the mini-ITX and micro-ATX cases we've reviewed recently, we're only able to offer up results for the ST-FC5S EVO WS. We'll hopefully be adding more cases over coming weeks though. Our test kit is fairly indicative of the kind of PC that most people will be opting for and we also carried out tests in an enclosed TV cabinet, in the open and while streaming HD content on Netflix to give you some idea as to the impact these situations will have given the case is passively-cooled.


Our test kit comprised the following:

• Intel Core i3-2100
  
• MSI H61 mini-ITX motherboard
  
• OCZ Vertex SSD
  
• 2 x 1.5GB Western Digital Cavier Green hard disks

We used Prime95 to push our CPU to the max to see how the cooling system fared in a worst-case scenario, recording the CPU temperature using Core Temp . Due to the fact the official recommended PSU is only rated at 150W, we didn't install a discrete graphics card as this would likely push it beyond its limits.