Thermal results
System specification
| HEXUS chassis test equipment specification | |
|---|---|
| Motherboard | eVGA 780i SLI FTW |
| Processor | Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6850 3.00GHz, 1333MHz FSB |
| Memory | 4GB (2 x 2GB) Corsair DDR2 PC8500 |
| Memory timings and speed | 5-5-5-18 2T @ 1,066MHz |
| Graphic card | NVIDIA 8800 Ultra 768MB PCIe |
| Power supply | Dark Power PRO 850W |
| Hard drive | Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 160GB (ST3160812AS) |
| Optical drive | Sony SATA DVD-RW |
Thermal results
| Load temperatures at the start of testing | ||
|---|---|---|
| Chassis | HEXUS open test-bed | Cooler Master ATCS 840 |
| Ambient temperature | 23.1 | 22.1 |
| Case ambient temperature | 24.1 | 27.4 |
| Ambient to case ambient delta | 1 | 5.3 |
| CPU temperature | 57 | 61 |
| CPU to case ambient delta | 32.9 | 33.6 |
| CPU to ambient delta | 33.9 | 38.9 |
| GPU temperature | 70 | 79 |
| GPU to case ambient delta | 45.9 | 51.6 |
| GPU to ambient delta | 46.9 | 56.9 |
| MCP temperature | 57 | 57 |
| MCP to case ambient delta | 32.9 | 29.6 |
| MCP to ambient delta | 33.9 | 34.9 |
| Idle temperatures at the end of testing (After being under-load for 3 hours) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Chassis | HEXUS open test-bed | Cooler Master ATCS 840 |
| Ambient temperature | 24.5 | 23.1 |
| Case ambient temperature | 25.7 | 27.5 |
| Ambient to case ambient delta | 1.2 | 4.4 |
| CPU temperature | 48 | 56 |
| CPU to case ambient delta | 22.3 | 28.5 |
| CPU to ambient delta | 23.5 | 32.9 |
| GPU temperature | 68 | 72 |
| GPU to case ambient delta | 42.3 | 44.5 |
| GPU to ambient delta | 43.5 | 48.9 |
| MCP temperature | 57 | 57 |
| MCP to case ambient delta | 31.3 | 29.5 |
| MCP to ambient delta | 32.5 | 33.9 |
| Load temperatures at the end of testing (3 hours under-load) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Chassis | HEXUS open test-bed | Cooler Master ATCS 840 |
| Ambient temperature | 24.5 | 23.1 |
| Case ambient temperature | 25.9 | 28.5 |
| Ambient to case ambient delta | 1.4 | 5.4 |
| CPU temperature | 58 | 68 |
| CPU to case ambient delta | 32.1 | 39.5 |
| CPU to ambient delta | 33.5 | 44.9 |
| GPU temperature | 84 | 88 |
| GPU to case ambient delta | 58.1 | 59.5 |
| GPU to ambient delta | 59.5 | 64.9 |
| MCP temperature | 57 | 57 |
| MCP to case ambient delta | 31.1 | 28.5 |
| MCP to ambient delta | 32.5 | 33.9 |
At the start the temperatures in the ATCS 840 are around five degrees warmer on the CPU and 10 degrees Celsius for the GPU.
The MCP (chipset) is effectively the same temperature on both platforms as the equipment is only accurate to within one-degree Celsius.
The temperature inside the chassis is pretty reasonable at just over four-degrees Celsius higher than the open test-bed.
After three hours' load (3x Prime95 + 3DMark06 @ 1,920x1,200 4xAA 16xAF), the difference has increased somewhat but is still pretty reasonable and none of the temperatures are alarmingly high.
The CPU temperature inside the ATCS 840 is now about 11 degrees Celsius warmer than the test-bed, whereas the GPU temperature difference has decreased and is down to a difference of around five-degrees Celsius.
You may be interested to know why the MCP temperature hasn't increased; the most likely explanation we can give is that it's down to the auto-fan-control for the MCP fan keeping it around that temperature.
On a chassis with inadequate ventilation in that area we'd expect it to increase by a couple of degrees as the fan struggles to keep it cool.
Looking at the idle temps one minute after it had been on load for three hours, it's clear that the heat build-up still hasn't subsided and the CPU and GPU temperatures inside the ATCS 840 are at the same amount higher than they were when under load.
This isn't surprising however as the case ambient temperature has hardly dropped.