BeanTech, ClearPC, SunBeam, and Logisys: Another Look at the Acrylic Arena

Heat Benchmarks

When we test the performance of cases, we usually focus on how well they move cool air into the case and warm air out. Air flow is a huge factor in this and is affected with the number, types and sizes of the fans included with the case as well as where they are mounted. It doesn't stop there. The hardware used also makes a big difference on how well a case performs as far as heat goes.

As time goes on and technology advances, standards change with it. Our previous test bed seemed to hold for a while, but we thought it was time for an update. And what better to introduce a new test bed than clear acrylic.

The hottest running component in a PC is the CPU. We have chosen the Athlon 64 3200 for our new test bed, which is cooled by a Zalman CNPS7000 copper heatsink fan. For our motherboard, we have chosen the AOpen AK86L with the VIA K8T800 VT8237 Chipset. Our new power supply is the 520 Watt OCZ PowerStream. Since SATA is slowly making its way to desktop PCs, we are using a 120GB Seagate Barracuda in the SATA flavor. Finally, no PC is complete without a video card. To switch things a little from our previous test bed VGA card (the GeForce4 Ti4200), we are now using ATI's 9700 Pro 8x AGP with 128MB. And now to the tests!

As with our previous test bed, we measure heat dissipation in Celsius from the CPU, Heatsink, HDD, DDR memory, the Northbridge and Southbridge, the temperature of the power supply as well as the ambient temperature inside the case. All readings are taken with the power supply fan as well as the heatsink fan turned on to simulate normal system operation.

AOpen AK86-L AMD Athlon64 3200 OCZ PC3200 Zalman CNPS7000 Copper Seagate Barracuda SATA ATI 9700Pro 8x OCZ 520W PowerStream

Logisys CS888CL

System On-Time	CPU	Heatsink	HDD	DDR	Northbridge	Southbridge	Power Supply	System Ambient
10	57.2	43.2	28.2	37.6	41.3	40.9	29.3	31.5
30	59.1	44.9	29.3	38.5	42.5	42.6	31.2	32.6

ClearPC Secret Agent

System On-Time	CPU	Heatsink	HDD	DDR	Northbridge	Southbridge	Power Supply	System Ambient
10	56.7	42.5	29.9	38.5	41.2	40.9	29.1	31.9
30	58.1	43.6	30.8	39.9	42.7	42.9	31.0	32.9

BeanTech BT-85

System On-Time	CPU	Heatsink	HDD	DDR	Northbridge	Southbridge	Power Supply	System Ambient
10	58.1	43.6	26.2	37.4	41.9	40.4	29.6	32.1
30	59.6	45.1	27.6	38.2	42.8	42.1	31.7	33.4

SunBeam Technologies LAC-UVT

System On-Time	CPU	Heatsink	HDD	DDR	Northbridge	Southbridge	Power Supply	System Ambient
10	56.4	42.6	28.1	37.4	41.1	40.2	28.8	31.8
30	57.6	43.9	29.1	38.2	42.2	41.9	30.1	32.4

As you can see from the results, each case performed about the same with the BT-85 and the LAC-UVT being the floor and ceiling, respectively. Since the LAC-UVT did not come with case fans, we used five 80mm fans rated at 2000rpm for our heat tests. With five fans, the LAC-UVT exhausted warm air better than BeanTech's 4 fan rig.

The Secret Agent did equally as well compared to the LAC-UVT, most likely due to its smaller size and the use of its 120mm case fan. And since the Secret Agent had machined out slots directly above the CPU, warm air from that area would be exhausted completely.

Another huge factor that could have kept temperatures high was the acrylic. When we have aluminum cases, the aluminum material absorbs some heat and dissipates it on its own. But with acrylic, heat is trapped inside, similar to a greenhouse effect in the acrylic case. Now, we usually do not have sunlight shining on the cases at all times, but heat is not easily dissipated through plastics like acrylic.