SilverStone Precision PS07: Temjin For Less?
by Dustin Sklavos on January 3, 2012 12:20 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- SilverStone
- MicroATX
- Mini-Tower
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 power supply clearance constraints of the TJ08-E, SilverStone provided us with a slightly different PSU for testing.
| 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 | Corsair AX850 80 Plus Gold Modular 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.
- Thank you to Corsair for providing us with the AX850 80 Plus Gold power supply.
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DanielW - Tuesday, January 3, 2012 - link
If you spend the money and time, two 120mm fans can be significantly quieter than the air penetrator.JMS3072 - Tuesday, January 3, 2012 - link
What are your thoughts on getting the PS07, and then spending a bit more to upgrade the fans to quiet models?ezorb - Tuesday, January 3, 2012 - link
I wish Noctua would make a 180mm fan, I would buy 3 for my FT02, I think that the 180 size is perfect, but the Silverstone is too loud and unreliable I have had 2 fail on me.SunLord - Tuesday, January 3, 2012 - link
I can't even hear the 180mm fans in my FT02 the 6870 in it masks all the noise in my case save the dvd drive.. I did notice a few weeks ago frozencpu has a non-silverstone 180mmx25mm fanSamus - Tuesday, January 3, 2012 - link
I agree, the 180mm fans in my FT01 are amazingly quiet for moving over 150CFM of air each. Unfortunately the factory-included models both broke after a few years (the motor separated from the housing because of the startup-torque) and forced me to replace them with newer models that hopefully have a corrected design. $30/ea for basic 180mm fans is not what I'd call cheap.Morg. - Thursday, January 5, 2012 - link
I have tested a few 180mm fans, and the best one I've seen is this :http://www.aquatuning.de/product_info.php/info/p11...
Really nice and silent.
I also bought the Silverstone (just for testing) . and it was a bit worse.
For the long term I have no clue as I haven't been running those full-time.
Morg. - Thursday, January 5, 2012 - link
Oh and . the case showed here is a piece of crap that's overpriced . you don't get vga cooling and it's just overall worse than an Antec one hundred that costs much less.antef - Tuesday, January 3, 2012 - link
Hi all,I haven't read the whole article yet, but I just wanted to post since I JUST bought this case and assembled a system in it over the weekend. I chose it because I wanted a nice mATX case, and was afraid the Temjin would be a little too loud with the large fan and open front grille. With the shipping cost on Newegg, I actually paid the same thing the Temjin would've cost with free shipping, but I don't mind because I wanted this case with the 2 front 120mm fans instead.
It's a GREAT case, very high quality all around, and the manual explained things well. I did have a hard time routing some cables. It was a tight fit behind the motherboard, and certain cables like the main motherboard power wouldn't fit at all with the hard drive cage in place due to the sleeving and not a lot of flexibility so I just removed the cage. It's not the cleanest cable job in the world but it's fine. But I think it's a good, really nice looking case.
Regarding acoustics, it's not really too loud, but not whisper quiet either. I don't know if the Temjin would've been any quieter on the low fan speed setting. I added one Scythe Slipstream 120mm fan in the rear. I'm not sure yet if I want to replace the front fans with anything quieter. I could buy two and end up hearing pretty much the same thing. Or maybe I don't even need two front fans at all? My hard drive is also pretty audible, but I don't hear it much because my primary is an SSD. I was considering hard drive suspension somewhere, but maybe this is just as quiet as this drive's going to get.
Anyway, if anyone has any questions about this case, feel free to ask.
Morg. - Thursday, January 5, 2012 - link
if you wanted silence you should've taken a sonata.However. slipstreams around 1k rpm are silent enough, and a green drive would be silent (WD caviar green or samsung spinpoint ecogreen).
GL -
Next time, buy antec 100 or Sonata .. this case is a piece of crap (never had to remove a hdd cage, and you have no Gfx Fan (helps with the noise).
antef - Thursday, January 5, 2012 - link
I wanted mATX, and a small one at that, not an mATX only in name that's actually just as large as an ATX mid-tower. The cases you listed are too big.