NZXT Tempest 410 Elite Review

1. Introduction2. Unboxing3. NZXT Tempest 410 Elite Exterior4. NZXT Tempest 410 Elite Interior5. System Build and Cable Routing6. Testing Methodology and Performance7. Final Thoughts8. View All Pages

To test the Tempest 410 Elite the test system will consist of the AMD Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition CPU instead of the Phenom II X6 1090T that is usually the processor in our test system.

After checking out the current hardware stats accumulated by the Steam online game service, close to 47% of users are running a 2 core CPU compared to the 1.56% that were running a 6 core CPU. We opted for the Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition because we were confident we would be able to reach the 4 GHz mark. The AM3 board we had available was the Biostar MCP6P3.

We added 8GB of Mushkin DDR III 1333, and the Sapphire Radeon 6950 2GB PCI-e graphics card.  While these components are far from the high end of the enthusiast market, they are all well within the specs of many mid range systems run by the majority of users today.

Test System

• Chassis: NZXT Tempest 410 Elite

• Processor: AMD Phenom II X2 555BE @ 4.02 GHz

• Motherboard: Biostar MCP6P3

• GPU: Sapphire Radeon 6950 2GB (1536 unified shaders)

• Cooler: Evercool Transformer 4

• Memory: 8GB Mushkin DDR3 1333 (9-9-9-24-1T)

• Storage: Samsung 150 GB SATA II

• Power Supply: Silverstone Strider Plus 850 Watt

For our temperature tests, we are using the 64bit Prime95 and Furmark to load the system for 15 minutes, we then record the results.  After restarting the system we let it idle at the desktop for 15 minutes and record the result.  The ambient room temperature was maintained at 22c for the duration of the tests.

Validation Link

Considering the fact that the Tempest 410 Elite is only configured with 3 fans, we were pleasantly surprised with the results of our testing. The motherboard sensor only reached 34 degrees Celsius when running Prime 95 and our Phenom II 555BE (that is overclocked to 4.02 GHz) only reached 40c, which is impressive. The temperature of the Radeon 6950 fell right in line with similar cases we have tested in the past, peaking at 78c during our Furmark tests. There was very little fluctuation with hard drive temperatures.

The fans that are included with the Tempest 410 Elite spin at approximately 1,200 RPM and have a noise level rating of 25dBA.

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