Thermaltake’s full tower Chaser MK-I takes the heat from QuadFire and Bulldozer

The Final Build and the Cooling Test

For our case cooling test, we used AMD’s Bulldozer FX-8150 which has a stock core speed of 3.6 GHz and which we overclocked to 4.4GHz previously in our review of it.  This time we managed 4.6GHz with a massive increase in heat just at the edge of thermal stability.

We actually conducted two separate tests. The first was conducted with HD 69×0 CrossFire-X3 Tri-Fire which is two high-end video cards working together in tandem; the HD 6990 uses two GPUs and the HD 6970 uses one for a total of 3 linked adapters.

For the second case temperature test, we used the same setup plus we added a third card – the HD 6950-flashed-to-HD 6970 – for 4 GPUs running together with 3 video cards all jammed together in close proximity.  This extreme setup will heat your case and Tri-Fire or QuadFire (and especially coupled with and overclocked Bulldozer CPU) are a real test of any case’s ability to move cooling air past your hardware.   As you can see, there are now four linked adapters.

We looped the Crysis GPU benchmark to get our maximum temperatures over 30 minute periods and we also ran Vantage tests continually to get instant peak GPU temperatures on the top (hottest) GPU of the HD 6990.

Test Configuration – Hardware

• AMD FX-8150 (reference 3.6 GHz; overclocked to 4.6 GHz), supplied by AMD
• ASUS CrossHair V RoG AM3+  (latest BIOS, PCIe 3.0 specification; CrossFire/SLI 16x+16x; onboard audio), supplied by AMD.
• Kingston HyperX 4 GB DDR3-PC1600 RAM (2×2 GB), supplied by Kingston
• AMD HD 6990 (2 GB, reference clocks, also overclocked to 880/1330MHz); used for PhysX, supplied by AMD
• AMD HD 6970 (2 GB, reference clocked at 880/1330MHz), supplied by AMD
• AMD HD 6950 (2 GB, flashed to HD 6970 clocked at 880/1330MHz), supplied by AMD
• Thermalright UltraExtreme120/Scythe 120 mm fan
• AMD Liquid Cooling CPU cooler, supplied byAMD
  
• 500 GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 hard drive
• Philips DVD writer
• 775 watt Thermaltake ToughPowerXT power supply unit (supplied by Thermaltake)
• 850 OCZ PSU
• Thermaltake Chaser MK-I (Supplied by Thermaltake)
• Radio Shack dual digital thermometer
• Kill-A-Watt meter

The temperature sensor is placed below the DVD drive 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 69×0-X3 TriFire and for the second part of the test, we added a third card in the form of HD 6970 for X-4 Quad-Fire.

The Cooling Test

First, we started off Tri-Fired HD 69x0s inside our Chaser MK-I and with the hardware completely ‘cold’ and compared the ambient temperatures near the case with the sensor’s reported temperatures from inside the case. A little variation is to be expected in the reported temperatures, and we started testing with our room at 72 F. It was rather cool outside as it is Winter but all of the room heating was caused by the PC components.

On the digital thermometer, “outdoor” is the sensor inside the case and “indoor” is our ambient room temperature just outside of the case.  Ambient and inside temps are approximately 72 degrees Fahrenheit at the beginning of the test, a cool test room.

We ran a half hour of continuously looping Crysis‘ GPU test using HD 69×0-X3 TriFire.  At its highest point, we recorded our case temperature (below).  Notice that in 1/2 hour, the room temperature went up by nearly 1.5 degrees F,  but the delta between the inside case and the outside temperature was only 3-1/2 degrees F!  The Chaser MK-I is doing a spectacular job of keeping the components cool – and this is only with the 3 stock fans and without an optional side case fan!

We also checked our GPU temperatures.  The hottest that we could manage in Crysis was 87C – here we recorded 86C

The overclocked FX-8150 CPU temperatures also stayed in the 50sC, manageable.  The hottest temperatures that we could read from our top GPU was 89C in looping Heaven 2.0.  This is very reasonable for a fairly extreme system putting out a lot of heat.

Afterward, we did something that we would recommend to no one.  We stuck in a third hot-running HD 6970 right in-between the HD-6990 and the flashed-to-HD 6970, for Quad-Fire-X4.  In effect, we were almost smothering our middle card and heating up the top HD 6990.  And we did this without using any optional side case fan!

We ran Crysis again for 1/2 hour more and noted our highest case and increasing room temperature.

Things are starting to get a little toasty inside.  The case temperature is now over ten degrees warmer than the outside temperature which has risen another degree in one-half hour.  The CPU is starting to hit mid-60s and even the top GPU’s temperature is blipping 100C and so we decided to quit although there was no sign of instability.

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 now noticeably warmer room but unlike with other cases we have tested, the Thermaltake Chaser MK-I is completely up to the task of cooling our hottest hardware components.

If we wanted to further cool our QuadFire setup for day to day running, we would watercool the videocards or at the very least, add a side case fan to our Chaser MK-I.  For additional case fan recommendations we’d suggest that Thermaltake case fans as they are not only inexpensive but very quiet and efficient.  And a 200 mm ColorShift fan would definitely add to the light show for the Chaser MK-I as well as for keeping the graphics cards cooler.

Watercooling

We didn’t originally plan to watercool our Chaser MK-I but decided that with so much room, it might be cool (pun intended) to try out the AMD liquid CPU cooling system for Bulldozer that AMD sent to us and that is made for AMD by Asetek Cooling.   It’s our first experience with water cooling and we are not terribly impressed, so far.  To be fair, we have only started to evaluate it, but the instructions included with the kit were difficult to follow and it quite hard to actually hold the pieces together so as to screw the cooler down into the motherboard’s backplate.

Worst of all, watercooling noise is evidently very dependent on the fans that are used, and the Everflow fans used by the AMD are quite noisy when on high rpm.  We are going to test air cooling versus watercooling this week and we will also substitute the Everflow fans for a pair of Noctua NF-F12 PWN fans and report our results in a separate article.  In the meantime, here is AMD’s liquid cooling system installed in the top of the Chaser MK-I.  The AMD logo lights up in red.

We moved the DVD optical drive down two slots to accommodate the AMD liquid cooler’s radiator and two fans.  The air is drawn in from above the case and passes through the radiator to be exhausted back into the case but the heat is easily removed by the 200 mm fan on top and the 140 mm fan at the back of the case.  An alternative is to place the radiator where the back exhaust fan is now.   Here is the AMD liquid CPU cooler radiator’s top intake fan as viewed from the top of the case.  There is plenty of room.

To fit this particular AMD-branded liquid CPU cooler, we had to drill out case threads so that the screws could pass through the fans to screw directly to the radiator.  However, this Chaser case has so much room, it is easy to place just about any hardware inside and install it relatively easily because your fingers are never cramped.

Filters

How effective are they?  Well, we think they are great. This image was taken only after a few days of use.  It’s definitely better to clean the dust trapped in the filter where it is easily removed and cleaned rather than stuck inside your precious hardware where it is difficult to remove and where it builds up and causes thermal issues.

Let’s head for our conclusion.