Installation
Installing the test rig into the TJ09 was very simple. The removable motherboard tray made it a snap.
Even the tall Noctua NH-U12P cleared the frame. The build is almost complete in the image above–only the optical drive and the header connections are missing. Cable management was definitely the biggest challenge I faced building in the TJ09. There is simply nowhere to hide the PSU cabling. Long cables are also necessary to make it to the top portion of the board–especially the 8-pin CPU power connector, which is often located at the top left. It definitely requires some patience and creativity. Depending on the SATA port locations, longer SATA cables may also be required due to the distance between the board and drive cages. For our testing purposes, this should be sufficient, but I think I need to spend some quality time in the TJ09 with some velcro and cable ties.
Testing Methodology
Since this is Icrontic’s first case review in some time, I spent a bit of time revamping our standard testing methodology. Although having a good looking, practical case is important, no one wants their shiny new case leaving them numerous hot spots and other thermal woes.
For comparative purposes, a very simple case will be used as our thermal reference. It will remain unnamed, but it is a very common layout—single 120mm intake at the lower front of the case, and a single 120mm exhaust at the upper rear. The PSU is mounted at the top of this reference case, and it has a removable hard drive cage that receives airflow from the front 120mm fan. The fan grilles are stamped and the entire case is heavy gauge steel. There are no dust filters installed. The fans used in the reference case are quiet Noctua NF-P12 fans.
Our hardware configuration consists of the following:
- CPU: Intel Core2Quad Q6600 @ 3.0GHz (9×333 and 1.30V)
- Motherboard: Asus P5K-E, P35 Chipset
- CPU Heatsink: Noctua NH-U12P w/Scythe S-FLEX 1600RPM fan.
- Memory: 2x1024MB Buffalo Firestix PC2-6400 @ 1000MHz and 5-5-5 timings
- Graphics Card: BFG 8800GTS OC 640MB (Default frequencies)
- Hard Drive(s): 1x Maxtor Diamondmax 10 SATA Hard Drive
- Optical Drive(s): 1x Pioneer 212D SATA DVD drive
- PSU: Corsair TX750
Ambient temperature was maintained at 19.5°C during all tests and was not permitted to deviate more than +/- 0.5°C.
All idle temperature measurements were taken after the system was running, but left at the windows desktop for 30 minutes. Full system load is simulated by running four instances of Prime95 large in-place FFT tests and the 3D ‘fuzzy cube’ rendered by ATITool. In my experience, this puts far more load on the system than any game or real-world scenario. Measurements are taken after 30 minutes for the full-load scenario as well.
CPU and Memory VRM temperature measurements are taken with ASUS PC Probe. Hard Drive and GPU temperatures are taken with SpeedFan 4.33. The PSU exhaust temperature is taken using an external temperature probe.
Two fan configurations were tested in the TJ09. The first is with the retail fans in their default locations. The second test populates all of the additional optional fan locations in the case. For the second test, two Noctua NF-P12 fans were installed at the top vent in the case and one Scythe S-FLEX 1600RPM fan was installed in between the hard drive cages.
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