NZXT H2 Cooling Performance

To give the cases that we review a good workout, we updated our test kit to include an ATI Radeon HD 5870 2GB Eyefinity 6 graphics card and an Intel Core i7-870 CPU, which has been overclocked from 2.93GHz to 3.4GHz using a vcore of 1.305V and a CPU PLL of 1.9V. While this is a modest overclock, our test kit will spend most of its life under high load, so pushing it to within an inch of its life isn't in anybody's interests. More importantly, some poorer-performing cases top a CPU temperature of 80°C, so even this overclock will prove to be too much for some cases.

The CPU is cooled by a Gelid Tranquillo CPU cooler with a Noctua NF-S12B ULN 120mm fan. The NF-S12B ULN is a low-airflow fan, so it will highlight cases with poor cooling for the CPU. We also locked the fan speed on the graphics card to 30 per cent to prevent the automatic speed control interfering with the results, making them inconsistent. After some experimentation, 30 per cent proved to be fast enough to keep the graphics card cool enough in poorly performing cases, while giving better cases the chance to shine.

We recorded the temperature of the CPU using RealTemp, noting the temperature of the hottest core, and used GPU-Z to log the temperature of the graphics card. Having recorded the ambient temperature in front of the main air intake of each case, we were then able to calculate the delta T - the difference between the ambient temperature of our lab and the temperature of the hardware.

As we don't test in a temperature-controlled lab, this allows for small changes in ambient air temperature, which renders absolute temperature measurements of the hardware useless. To load the system, we used a combination of the Canyon Flight benchmark in 3DMark06 and the smallfft test in Prime 95. We looped each test for a minimum of 30 minutes, or until the temperatures plateaued, and recorded the highest temperature in the log files. The combined test represents a worst-case scenario, with both the CPU and graphics card under sustained high load.

  • CPU: Intel Core i7-870 CPU overclocked to 3.4GHz
  • Graphics Card: ATI Radeon HD 5870 2GB Eyefinity 6
  • Motherboard: Biostar TPower I55
  • RAM: 2x 2GB OCZ 1,866MHz DDR3
  • Hard Drive: 160GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.9
  • Heatsink: Gelid Tranquillo with a Noctua NF-S12B ULN fan
  • Power Supply: Seasonic M12D SS-850EM


Case performance - CPU Delta T

Arranged by CPU Delta T

  • SilverStone Temjin TJ11 (Full speed)
  • SilverStone FT02R-W (Full Speed)
  • SilverStone Temjin TJ11 (minimum speed)
  • Antec Dark Fleet DF-85 (Full Speed)
  • SilverStone FT02R-W (Minimum Speed)
  • Antec Twelve Hundred (Full Speed)
  • Lian Li PC-V1020
  • Antec Dark Fleet DF-85 (Minimum Speed)
  • NZXT Phantom (Full Speed)
  • Antec One Hundred (Full speed)
  • SilverStone Raven RV02 (High Speed)
  • Cooler Master HAF X
  • SilverStone Raven RV02 (Low Speed)
  • Antec Twelve Hundred (Minimum Speed)
  • Cooler Master CM 690 II (Full Speed)
  • Xigmatek Utgard (Full Speed)
  • In Win Ironclad
  • Lian Li PC-8FIR
  • Antec One Hundred (Minimum speed)
  • Fractal Design Define R3
  • Cooler Master HAF 912
  • NZXT Phantom (Minimum Speed)
  • Cooler Master CM 690 II (Minimum Speed)
  • Lian Li V2120
  • Corsair Graphite 600T (minimum speed)
  • Xigmatek Utgard (Minimum Speed)
  • Corsair Graphite 600T (maximum speed)
  • Antec LanBoy Air (Full Speed)
  • Antec LanBoy Air (Minimum Speed)
  • NZXT H2 (Maximum speed)
  • BitFenix Survivor
  • NZXT H2 (Minimum speed)
  • BitFenix Colossus (Full Speed)
  • BitFenix Colossus (Minimum Speed)
  • Sharkoon Rebel 9 Aluminium
    • 42
    • 37
    • 42
    • 37
    • 43
    • 39
    • 43
    • 38
    • 44
    • 37
    • 45
    • 40
    • 45
    • 40
    • 45
    • 38
    • 46
    • 39
    • 47
    • 40
    • 47
    • 40
    • 48
    • 36
    • 48
    • 40
    • 49
    • 43
    • 49
    • 41
    • 50
    • 40
    • 50
    • 40
    • 50
    • 42
    • 51
    • 43
    • 51
    • 42
    • 52
    • 41
    • 52
    • 42
    • 53
    • 44
    • 53
    • 41
    • 54
    • 47
    • 54
    • 42
    • 54
    • 46
    • 55
    • 41
    • 58
    • 42
    • 59
    • 44
    • 62
    • 47
    • 66
    • 47
    • 69
    • 43
    • 73
    • 45
    • 74
    • 42
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
°C, lower is better
  • CPU Delta T
  • GPU Delta T

Case performance - GPU Delta T

Arranged by GPU Delta T

  • Cooler Master HAF X
  • SilverStone Temjin TJ11 (Full speed)
  • SilverStone FT02R-W (Full Speed)
  • SilverStone FT02R-W (Minimum Speed)
  • Antec Dark Fleet DF-85 (Minimum Speed)
  • Antec Dark Fleet DF-85 (Full Speed)
  • SilverStone Temjin TJ11 (minimum speed)
  • NZXT Phantom (Full Speed)
  • In Win Ironclad
  • SilverStone Raven RV02 (Minimum Speed)
  • SilverStone Raven RV02 (Full Speed)
  • Lian Li PC-V1020
  • Antec One Hundred (Full speed)
  • Antec Twelve Hundred (Full Speed)
  • Xigmatek Utgard (Full Speed)
  • Cooler Master CM 690 II (Full Speed)
  • Cooler Master HAF 912
  • Antec LanBoy Air (Full Speed)
  • Lian LI PC V2120
  • Antec LanBoy Air (Minimum Speed)
  • Xigmatek Utgard (Minimum Speed)
  • Fractal Design Define R3
  • Sharkoon Rebel 9 Aluminium
  • NZXT Phantom (Minimum Speed)
  • Lian Li PC-8FIR
  • BitFenix Colossus (Full Speed)
  • Antec One Hundred (Minimum speed)
  • Antec Twelve Hundred (Minimum Speed)
  • Cooler Master CM 690 II (Minimum Speed)
  • NZXT H2 (Maximum speed)
  • BitFenix Colossus (Minimum Speed)
  • Corsair Graphite 600T (Full speed)
  • BitFenix Survivor
  • Corsair Graphite 600T (Minimum speed)
  • NZXT H2 (Minimum speed)
    • 48
    • 36
    • 42
    • 37
    • 42
    • 37
    • 44
    • 37
    • 45
    • 38
    • 43
    • 38
    • 43
    • 39
    • 46
    • 39
    • 50
    • 40
    • 48
    • 40
    • 47
    • 40
    • 45
    • 40
    • 47
    • 40
    • 45
    • 40
    • 50
    • 40
    • 49
    • 41
    • 52
    • 41
    • 55
    • 41
    • 53
    • 41
    • 58
    • 42
    • 54
    • 42
    • 51
    • 42
    • 74
    • 42
    • 52
    • 42
    • 50
    • 42
    • 69
    • 43
    • 51
    • 43
    • 49
    • 43
    • 53
    • 44
    • 59
    • 44
    • 73
    • 45
    • 54
    • 46
    • 62
    • 47
    • 54
    • 47
    • 66
    • 47
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
°C, lower is better
  • CPU Delta T
  • GPU Delta T

Discuss this in the forums
YouTube logo
MSI MPG Velox 100R Chassis Review

October 14 2021 | 15:04

TOP STORIES

SUGGESTED FOR YOU