Test spec and thermal results
| HEXUS chassis test equipment specification | |
|---|---|
| Motherboard | ASUS P6X58D Premium |
| Processor | Intel Core i7 965 Extreme Edition ES |
| Cooler | Intel Core i7 980X reference |
| Memory | 6GB (3 x 2GB) Corsair DDR3 1,600MHz CL8 |
| Graphics card | NVIDIA
GeForce GTX 480 Sapphire Radeon HD 5850 |
| Power supply | Corsair HX1000W |
| Hard drives | Corsair Nova V128 SSD Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB |
| Optical drive | Sony SATA DVD-RW |
| Fans | All active and set to maximum performance in BIOS |
To get an all-round feel for a chassis' cooling ability, we record the chassis' ambient internal temperature, along with the temperatures of the CPU and GPU. To get an idea of how the Corsair Obsidian Series 700D compares, we also housed our test equipment in the Corsair Obsidian 800D and a SilverStone Temjin TJ09 - both of which underwent identical tests. The Corsair Obsidian 700D was equipped with its three default fans, no additional cooling was installed.
A high-end PC's graphics subsystem is the largest polluter in terms of heat and power-draw. We ran with both a GeForce GTX 480 and Radeon HD 5850 for the tests - although not concurrently, of course.
Ambient temperatures during testing ranged from 19.2°C to 20.6°C.
Thermal results
After idling for 20 minutes.| Chassis | CPU | Radeon | GeForce | |
| Corsair 700D | 25.2 | 42 | 34 | 42 |
| Corsair 800D | 25.4 | 42 | 35 | 41 |
| SilverStone Temjin TJ09 | 26.8 | 43 | 35 | 40 |
There's very little in it between the chassis when idling. The SilverStone has directed airflow over the graphics card(s) which helps keep temperatures in check. Evaluated in terms of pre-fitted fans, all cases can be considered reasonably quiet.
After 20 minutes of load, which is defined as running Prime95 torture test on four of the eight CPU cores along with Battlefield: Bad Company 2 at 2,560x1,600 4x AA and 16x AF.
| Chassis | CPU | Radeon | GeForce | |
| Corsair 700D | 28.6 | 66 | 63 | 94 |
| Corsair 800D | 29 | 66 | 62 | 93 |
| SilverStone Temjin TJ09 | 27.1 | 68.5 | 61 | 95 |
Again, very little in it between the chassis. Ultimate performance is just one facet of a chassis' appeal, so let's sum it all up in the conclusion.