Thermal Performance Testing
As with every KitGuru case we review thermal performance is important, therefore, we shall measure this by running a series of tests to record CPU and GPU temperatures under load.
To fully stress test the system, we will run AIDA64 for 20 minutes stressing CPU, FPU, Cache and GPU with the case in various configurations. With this data, we can compare how each scenario affects thermal performance.
We will compare the system’s thermal capabilities with a liquid-cooled solution for the CPU, using a Deepcool Castle 280EX 280mm AIO and using the graphics card stock cooling solution.
During thermal performance testing, only stock case fans will be used unless otherwise specified. All fans and pumps (where applicable) will be set to their standard fan curve profile as controlled by the motherboard.
All temperature measurements are presented as Deltas – the ambient temperature has been deducted from the CPU/GPU temperature giving us a Delta.
The following configurations will be used to test the effect they have on thermal and acoustic performance:
- Default configuration;
- Front panel removed;
- Two 120mm fans installed in the top panel.
Test System
- Processor: AMD Ryzen 7 3800XT
- Motherboard: Gigabyte B550 Aorus Master
- CPU Cooler: Deepcool Castle 280EX 280mm AIO
- Memory: 16 GB (2 x 8 GB + 2 dummy modules) Aorus RGB Memory DDR4-3600
- Graphics: Aorus RX 5700 XT
- Power Supply: Deepcool QD850 M-V2L 850W 80+ Gold
- Storage Drive: 50 GB Corsair MP600 PCIe Gen4 M.2 NVMe SSD
- OS: Windows 10 version 1909