Testing
Test Rig
Component |
Name |
Cooling |
Motherboard |
Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P |
|
Processor (CPU) |
Intel C2D E8500 3.16GHz |
Scythe MUGEN |
Memory (RAM) |
Team Xtreem PC2-6400 CL4 |
|
Graphics card (GPU) |
MSI ATi Radeon HD5850 1GB |
Zalman VF900-cu + Stock plate |
Hard drives (HDDs) |
2x WD 250GB 16MB Caviar SE |
|
Power Supply Unit (PSU) |
Zalman ZM600-HP |
|
Methodology
While as well as installing my own hardware into the case, I also took temperature readings of different areas of the PC under idle and load conditions.
Temperatures are measured in Degrees Celsius (°C) at a room temperature of 20,5 °C
Results
The program that I used to bring temperatures up to a reasonable level was the well-known game World of Warcraft. Put up to the highest settings where even a HD5850 and a 3.16GHz C2D get a hard time, thus producing heat at a reasonable load level. The reason why I don’t use Burn-in programs for case testing is that they do not represent any form of real world use.
The temperatures are all fine, if not optimal. The GPU memory temperature tends to be high in general, but an extra fan in the side panel would certainly fix this with the extra airflow.
The Define R2 case is designed to be very quiet, which indeed is the "case". The provided fans are inaudible but slight HDD working noise could be heard under load. This was not an annoying loud sound, though.
Pricing
Fractal Design does not give a price indication for the Define R2 series. Retail it can be found at (Dutch) webshops for €90.- upwards which may be a bit too much for the benefits this case has over a standard, cheap, ATX case.
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