Cooling/ Testing

Raidmax provides a large amount of space for the fans included and additional front fans, but the grilles are quite restrictive on the front and rear, and the design on the front panel blocks a large amount of air from coming in. The side panel fan is the exception, with only a small “dust filter” made of steel mesh, which really only filters out dust if the bits of it are about the size of bb’s. This design, while counteractive for the users not willing to alter their case, gives a large amount of options to those who wish to modify their case and perhaps cut out the stamped fan grilles and use a wire one in substitution. The dust filters on the front and side are only hot glued on, and can be easily removed for a small but easy increase in airflow.

Test Setup
CPU	AMD Athlon XP 1700+ @ 1916Mhz – 1.7v vcore
Mainboard	Soltek 75FRN-L
Cooling	Thermaltake Polo735
Video	nVidia Geforce Ti4200 128Mb

Room temp: 22.5°C

Raidmax was equipped with 3x80mm intake (2xfront/1xside) and 2x80mm outtake fans



After testing, the design of the Cobra proved to be a little less practicable, as system temps went up across the board in about 3 degrees Celsius at idle, with a marked rise of about 5 degrees at load temps as compared to a modded Foxxconn PC132 case with a 120mm side intake fan and high performance 92mm Papst fan running silently at 7v in the rear. Additional testing was done with this setup in an Antec Sonata quiet case, where the elevated system temperatures were made all the more obvious.


Conclusion

For a low price, consumers can easily obtain a fairly good looking pre-modded case, light enough to take to LAN parties or move around the house, and roomy enough to hold as many parts as you can dream up. But these factors aren't everything, as the cooling tests show. While better component cooling can decrease the temperatures inside this case a few degrees more, it is clearly not designed to house the hottest systems on the market today. A little bit larger investment in a case with better cooling properties, or in spending a little time and money modding an even cheaper case can go a long way.

Thanks to Raidtronics, Inc for supplying this case.

Questions/Comments: forum thread