Test results: cooling

Materials and methods

We put the CM 690 through our usual series of cooling benchmarks. The configuration used was slightly different than the other tests, the Radeon HD 2900 XT having replaced the Geforce 8800 GTS

* Processor : Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 @ 3,3 GHz * Memory: 2 x 1 Gb of DDR2-800 Corsair Ballistix * Graphic card : ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT 512 Mb * Hard drive : Western Digital Raptor 74 Gb * Motherboard : Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3

The temperatures were taken using Speedfan and ATI Tool after 70 minutes running two simultaneous of BurnP6, IO Meter and a Village Mark.

Good for service

We compared two different ventilation configurations. The first was simply a fan at the front and one at the back. The second had an additional fan, (the one that was supposed to go on the door) mounted in a high position.

All these fans were hooked up to the motherboard and therefore thermo-regulated in order to maintain a minimal noise level. Only the ventilator behind the face was permanently connected to a 12V. Its cable was too short to connect it to the motherboard.

We can see that the hard drive is kept perfectly cool. This is the direct consequence of a dedicated cooling system. Don’t try to disconnect the fan on the face for fear of seeing the temperature go up a good ten degrees.

We also see that the temperature of the CPU is quite high, while that of the GPU is quite low (for a GPU that’s so power hungry). The overall consumption of our machine was 355 W on the mains, so 284 real W (assuming a load of 80%).

The comparison we made between the two ventilation setups were the same we had come to with the Cosmos: the addition of fanss that take air in at the top of the case is not always beneficial. Here, it decreases the temperature of the CPU (-4°C) but that of the GPU increases to the tune of 3.5°C.

These results are of course susceptible to variation in function of the components installed but keep in mind that more fans do not always mean lower temperatures.

If we compare these results with the results of the Cosmos, with a near equal configuration, we see that its senior does not overshadow the small CM 690. It is 7.5°C at the GPU, but keeps the CPU 4°C cooler and the hard drive 3°C cooler! Not bad for a case that is €140 cheaper!