Thermaltake Element G – a great case for gamers!

The Final Build and the Cooling Test

For our case cooling test, we used Intel’s Core i7-920 which has a stock core speed of 2.66 GHz and which we overclocked to 3.80 GHz. We actually conducted two separate tests. The first was conducted with HD 5870 CrossFire which is two high-end video cards working together in tandem. For the second case temperature test, we used our GTX 480 plus a second card – GTX 280 in NVIDIA’s PhysX configuration. Either video card will heat your case and together they are a real test of a case’s ability to move cooling air past your hardware. To make matters far more difficult, we used up to twenty minutes of FurMarks “Hot-as-Hell” burning test at 2560×1600 with 2xAA and every detail maxed to get our GPUs cooking and we saw 110 degrees Centigrade on the GTX 480 temperatures when it finally throttled!

Test Configuration – Hardware

• Intel Core i7-920 (reference 2.66 GHz; overclocked to 3.8 GHz, turbo off)
  
• Gigabyte EX58-UD3R (latest BIOS, PCIe 2.0 specification; CrossFire 16x+16x; onboard audio).
• Kingston HyperX 6 GB DDR3-PC1800 RAM (3×2 GB, tri-channel)
• Nvidia GeForce GTX 280 (1 GB, reference clocks); used for PhysX
  
• Nvidia GeForce GTX 480 (1.5 GB, reference clocks)
  
• Noctua NH-U12P SE2 CPU cooler
  
• 250 GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 hard drive
• Philips DVD rewriter
  
• 775 watt Thermaltake ToughPowerXT power supply unit (supplied by Thermaltake)
• Thermaltake Element G Black (Supplied by Thermaltake)
• Radio Shack dual digital thermometer
• Kill-A-Watt meter
  

As you can see the temperature sensor is placed below the DVD rewriter in a relatively cool portion of the case. It will read the inside temperature of our closed case while we compare it with the ambient (room) temperature. First we started with HD 5870 CrossFire and for the second part of the test, we used GTX 480 and added the GTX 280 as a PhysX card as shown below.

First, we started off CrossFired HD 5870 inside our Element G and with the hardware ‘cold’ and compared the ambient temperatures in front of the case with the sensor’s reported temperatures from inside the open case. A little variation is to be expected in the reported temperatures, and we kept our room at 78-79 F for the entire duration of our test.  It is rather warm as it is Summer. On the digital thermometer, “outdoor” is the sensor inside the case and “indoor” is our ambient room temperature just outside the case and near our HP 3065 LCD.  Here is the start of our HD 5870 CrossFire test.  Ambient and inside temps are each 77 degrees Fahrenheit at the beginning of the test, a warm room.

Now it is time to run FurMark’s “hot-as-hell” multi-GPU test with HD 5870 CrossFire. Here you will load your GPUs like no real world game can and it will register absolutely worst case temperatures.

If you look closely at the time you can see it has been running for quite a few minutes and yet the temperatures inside the case are only 1.4 degrees warmer than the starting ambient temperatures.  In fact, the thermometer outside the case has heated up even more simply by being in close proximity to the 30 inch monitor.  So clearly HD 5870 CrossFire will not raise our Element G’s temperature even paired together with a hot overclocked Core i7-920.  So let’s try a hotter GPU, GTX 480 plus GTX 280 instead of HD 5870 CrossFire..

Since we could not raise the inside temperatures over ambient temperatures using Furmark and CrossFire, we next try with GTX 480 and GTX 280 as a PhysX card to see how high we can raise inside temperatures (and this time we also used Centigrade).

Then, with our overclocked CPU and two hot video cards pumping heat into our closed Thermaltake Element G case, we registered the maximum temperatures on each sensors – inside vs. outside. Please note that this test is run with only the Thermaltake Element G’s included four cooling fan on “performance” (highest RPMs) mode;  the 120 MM intake fan in back, the 200 mm fans in front and on top and the 230 mm fan in the case’s side panel. We had a warm Summer night in our desert testing location and the ambient temperature hovered steadily around 77 F – 79F, plus or minus a couple of tenths. Here is what we saw after running FurMark continuously and just before the GTX 480 throttled around 110C:

Amazing!  The inside case temperatures in all cases is basically the same as the ambient temperatures.  The Element G passes our two thermal tests with flying colors (yes, pun intended).  You can be confident that the Element G case will keep the hottest hardware running cool.  And if you are completely “extreme” with a full case of hardware, you can customize your Element G to suit whatever you need.  We also noted that our overclocked Core i7-920 at 3.80 GHz stayed cool during this and other tests.

Now you must also realize that as your ambient temperatures climb, your inside case temperatures will also tend to climb a bit faster as in our rather warm room but unlike with other cases we have tested, the Thermaltake Element G is completely up to the task of cooling our hottest hardware components. Our additional case fan recommendation, should you wish them, would be to buy Thermaltake case fans as they are not only inexpensive but very quiet and efficient.