The latest hardware from the Swedish company is a case for Mini-ITX boards. However, thanks to the sensible interior layout, it is also possible to mount larger components. Their cooling is taken care of by the ubiquitous perforation of the outer plates and two 140 mm fans. With or without them? You’ll have to decide what you want to cool more effectively. We measured four different scenarios in our tests.
Test methodology
In addition to the two 140mm Aspect fans, the case has the option to install three more 80mm fans on top. These are from Noctua with the NF-A8 PWM designation. Although with a significant limitation from the graphics card, we managed to fit these fans in a combination of 2× intake or 1× exhaust. When fitting two pieces on the exhaust (see photo) the blades of the rear fan collided with the heatsink of the graphics card and so could not be used. There were no difficulties with the rear position in the intake position.
In the tests we will compare if there is a difference, and if so, how big, when adding additional fans to the ceiling, to those already fitted from the factory. We will also test how the case can cool the hardware without system fans. We will only test these alternatives in 42 dBA noise mode. They will no longer be shown in comparisons with other cases.
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.
JIndividual 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.
Noise mode levels:
- 36 dBA
- 39 dBA
- 42 dBA
| Test setup | |
| Processor | AMD Ryzen 7 3700X |
| Motherboard | Asus ROG Strix X470-I Gaming |
| CPU cooler | Noctua NH-L9x65 SE-AM4 |
| 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 SF750 |
I wonder how the thermals of an exhaust only setup will look like. So three 80mm exhaust fans, with the two 140mm fans removed. That would be a negative pressure setup which I think will provide the best balance of CPU and GPU thermals, though it will severely limit GPU options.