Benchmarks: Temperature and Noise
These are the numbers we really wanted to see. Can you cram a quad-core Intel CPU and a GPU with 4K gaming potential in an ultra-small chassis without turning it into a small nuclear reactor? The answer is yes, you can, though you do need to give it some thought.
Chillblast's use of a liquid cooler and a modified Raijintek Metis chassis seems to be working a treat. CPU temperature under load is well within the limit, and though the GPU rarely gets close to full speed, it is able to keep within the 75ºC target courtesy of the chassis' custom top vent.
How about noise? Our sound meter recorded a quiet idle reading of 33dB, and though that rises to a clearly audible 39dB for CPU-intensive workloads, it isn't particularly loud. If there's a catch, it's that the Radeon R9 Nano isn't quiet. Noise levels rise to 43dB when gaming, and it isn't just the noise of the fan, which ramps up considerably, but also a frustrating amount of coil whine that we also observed when reviewing the card separately.