Ahanix Black Knight X195

Benchmarking

When benchmarking the X195, we tested the temperatures of key components, including the actual CPU temperature, the actual temperature inside the heatsink, the temperatures of the DDR, Northbridge, Southbridge, HDD, PSU, and the ambient temperature inside the case, all during normal operation. For a system to operate efficiently, the components need to stay at a specified temperature to avoid system crashes, or worse, hardware damage. A well designed case should have an air flow system that is effective in keeping the hottest running components at a constant and stable temperature for optimal performance. During our testing, the PSU and CPU heatsink fans remain on to measure temperatures during normal system operations.

Gigabyte GA-7VRX AMD Athlon MP 2100+ 2 x 128 DDR Corsair XMS 2400 ThermalTake Volcano 7 Seagate Cheetah 10000RPM Inno3D GeForce4 Ti 4200 TTGI 4 Fan 520W

Thermometer Positions

We took temperature readings of the components at 10 and 30 minutes of system operation time. Compare the results from our past 2 case reviews below.

Ahanix Black Knight X195
System On-Time	CPU	Heatsink	HDD	DDR	Northbridge	Southbridge	Power Supply	System Ambient
10	51.9	35.3	25.3	35.1	38.4	39.1	29.2	28.2
30	52.5	36.2	26.1	38.4	40.0	39.9	30.8	29.6

Lian Li PC-6070
System On-Time	CPU	Heatsink	HDD	DDR	Northbridge	Southbridge	Power Supply	System Ambient
10	52.5	36.8	26.2	35.3	39.9	39.7	29.4	30.2
30	53.8	37.7	26.9	39.5	41.6	40.2	31.6	33.4

SilverStone SST-TJ03
System On-Time	CPU	Heatsink	HDD	DDR	Northbridge	Southbridge	Power Supply	System Ambient
10	51.2	35.4	26.9	33.2	38.2	38.1	29.1	28.5
30	52.6	36.8	27.4	35.5	39.5	38.5	31.2	30.1

The result tables show that the X195 comes very close to the performance of the SilverStone TJ03's cooling system. It did perform a little better than the Lian Li PC-6070, most likely due to the choice of two 120mm fans. This combination of large fans provided a higher volume of air flow throughout the system, cooling all the key components. We were especially surprised to see the hard drive temperatures lower than those read from the TJ03. The front mounted 120mm intake cooled the hard drives mounted directly behind it effectively. Temperatures for the drives mounted in the upper three 3-1/2" bays were slightly higher at an average of 31.6 at 10 minutes of operation and 32.9 at 30 minutes of operation. Since these bays were mounted above the intake fan, they did not receive any air to cool them.

We have learned in the past that using 120mm fans as opposed to the smaller 80mm fans help keep noise levels down due to lower RPMs resulting in lower sound frequencies. We measure the decibel level of the case 12" from the sealed chassis with the power supply fan and CPU heatsink fan turned off. Take a look at how the X195 performed in the noise level category.

Case	dBA
Ahanix Black Knight X195	50
Lian Li PC-6070	44
SilverStone Nimiz Temjin III	53
Kingwin KT-424 Aluminum	48
Thermaltake Xaser III Aluminum Fan Low	52

The X195 performed at mid-level compared to the others as far as the noise levels went. The two 120mm fans along with the steel construction helped keep noise levels as low as possible. One feature that we would like to see in more cases is the use of sound dampening foam like Lian Li used in its PC-6070. This would further reduce noise in any configuration, even one with a loud CPU fan.