Testing and Results

We've now standardised our test kit for media PC chassis reviews so we can build up a catalogue of graphable results to compare them with one another. However, as the Grandia is the first case to use the standardised test kit, we don't have comparative results for it as yes which is why it's in the graphs all on its lonesome. We followed our standard case testing methodology, as detailed in our previous heatsink and case testing article, and fitted the following hardware into the case, doing our best to hide and tidy cables to ensure as few airflow restrictions as possible. Here's a low-down on the hardware we use.

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 2.13GHz
Graphics Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 4550 passive cooled
Motherboard: MSI G41M
RAM: 2 x 1GBMB Corsair Dominator DDR2 memory
Hard Drive: 1 x 250GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.9
Heatsink: Zalman CNPS8000 with a Zalman Fanmate 2 at minimum.
Power Supply: Be Quiet! Straight Power CM 480W PSU

While this isn't representative of current ultra high-end hardware, the equipment we use is specifically selected to kick out a decent amount of centigrades using kit that you might expect to see in a media rig. Many people might use the onboard GPU of their media PC motherboard but opting for a passively-cooled, discreet card means that we can get a second reading from the case and a better idea of how it's coping in general. The fanless heatsink means that the GPU temperature is dictated more by the case's ability to create airflow.

In our experience, a CPU stress test is a good way of indicating a case's ability to exhaust hot air and the GPU stress test is a better indicator of a case's intake ability. This is because the GPU is generally further from the exhaust fan and so its operating temperatures rely more on case airflow.

Following feedback from the bit-tech Community, we've changed the way we display case thermal performance. We've removed ambient and case temperatures from our graphs and just left the more important values of GPU and CPU Delta T – the differences between the ambient temperatures and the component's temperature. We feel this provides a much clearer representation of a case's cooling ability where it counts, as well as producing results that are much easier to digest.






Read Cooling Analysis to see what these results mean