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For our testing today we are using a Core i7 920 D0 system which we will overclock to 4.1ghz later.
Chassis: Xigmatek Utgard
Processor: Intel Core i7 920 D0
Motherboard: ASRock X58 Extreme 6
Cooler: Arctic Cooling Freezer 13
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Tracer (thanks to Crucial as always for this)
Storage: GSkill 60GB Sandforce SSD
Graphics: HD5870 modified Arctic Cooling Accelero XTREME
Power Supply: Thermaltake ToughPower 750W
Windows 7 Ultimate Edition 64bit
Thermal Diodes
Raytek Laser Temp Gun 3i LSRC/MT4 Mini Temp
Digital Sound Level Noise Decibel Meter Style 2
Firstly let us have a look at the chassis design and airflow, as it comes ‘out of the box’.
The Utgard follows a traditional front to rear flow design which has been proven to work well. There are two 120mm fans, one at front acting as an intake with the other at the rear performing duties as an exhaust. The 170mm top mounted fan acts as a vertical exhaust directly in the vicinity of the CPU cooler. We are not using the 120mm and 140mm Noctua fans which we fitted to the side panels for this part of the testing. Fans were set to a mid way point between low and high with the control knobs.
Thanks to the decent airflow from the dual 120 mm and single 170mm fans, the system remains almost at ambient temperatures across all of our diode testing.
Now we want to overclock the 920 D0 to 4.1ghz to see how this will effect not only CPU temperatures, but ambient flow.
Diode 3 & 5 rose a single degree over sustained stress testing and the CPU peaked around 78c.
Now we will add the 120mm and 140 Noctua fans, with the 140mm acting as intake and the 120mm acting as exhaust.
With the extra fans, ambient temperatures in the center and rear of the case dropped by several degrees and this also helped to cool the graphics card and expel radiated heat. Motherboard temperatures also dropped by a couple of degrees. CPU temperatures were basically unaffected.
Again, hard to fault with the price. Just never understood their weird naming conventions.
They are from the netherlands, as far as I know. which would explain the fantasy style nonsense they always factor into their designs.
Actual product seems pretty solid for the cost. about same price as thermaltake armor cases and I think this looks better
Great review, love the cooling tests on this site.
Overall design is good, why two esatas? not that im complaining, but that is really weird to see on a front panel.
I quite like it, but I agree with the side panel concerns. that looks a mess without it being populated.
It has a bit of a feeling of ‘coolermaster HAF’ about it. not sure if thats just me tho. I quite like it. the orange accenting looks cool.
Great timing for this, our local store has these on sale for £49.99 and I had no idea if it was crap or not. The box looks terrible and I thought it was a chinese knock off.
They really need to work on their box artwork. I shall pick this up tomorrow.
Nice too see them putting so much front panel connecivity in place. i hate it when a case comes without ports at front. I have about 4 devices I have connected most of the time. I never use esata tho. but it cant hurt.