Recently, Fractal Design has been introducing cases like clockwork. Today, a model from the well-established Meshify 2 series has come out. The new product is with the RGB attribute, but also noteworthy is a cut-down version with the Meshify 2 Lite (RGB) designation with a cheaper price. What the original version had to give up to create the Lite version, we’ll show you in a comparison of the two cases.
Test methodology
Circulation of air in both cases is handled by four fans in 140 mm format. In the full-size Meshify 2 version, they are over two-thirds faster at maximum power, and with that, they make more noise. But we are interested in cooling performance at equivalent noise levels. In addition to seeing what cooling performance the cases deliver between the models we’ve already tested, it will be interesting to see if the hardware temperatures also differ between the two newcomers. Especially if they are nearly identical cases with minimal differences in design.
Both cases have the ability to mount up to nine fans in different positions, but for testing purposes we’re leaving them in their original position.
Testing is done in a home environment where I strive for the most accurate results possible. In the room during testing, the air temperature in front of the case is 23 degrees Celsius and the minimum noise level I can measure with the Voltcraft SL-100 noise meter is 32.4 dBA. The sensor of the noise meter is aligned to the center of the top of the case at a distance of 10 cm, for the best measurement of the speed difference of the fans, which I change using the motherboard. For easy comparison to other cases, they are always regulated to fixed noise levels.
Individual components are heated for 10 minutes in FurMark synthetic stress tests and with Prime95 (custom settings) at the same time. This time is long enough to allow all components to warm up sufficiently. There are then 15-minute cooling breaks between tests, during which the component temperatures (and the case air temperature as well) are brought back to default.
Modes noise levels:
- 36 dBA
- 38 dBA
- 39 dBA
| Test setup | |
| Processor | AMD Ryzen 7 3700X |
| Motherboard | ASRock X570 Taichi |
| CPU cooler | Scythe Fuma rev. 2 (single fan) |
| Thermal compound | Noctua NT-H2 |
| Graphics card | Asus RTX 2060 Super Dual |
| RAM | Patriot, 2× 8GB, 3600 MHz/CL17 |
| SSD | Western Digital Blue 500GB (2280) |
| Power supply | Corsair RM750X |
