Performance Results

We compare the thermal cooling performance of the Black Pearl with the system fully stressed, comparing with/without extra VGA card.

The rear fan was running at full speed (12v), the is not overly loud but noticeable in a quiet room, but the noise of the rear 120mm fan was quickly overshadowed by the CPU cooler fan on the Intel cooler. Choosing the right components will be crucial for creating a silent system inside a compact case.

Onto the temperature results:



The HDD remained quite cool throughout the test at ~40°C, the CPU was also well within safe limits at 52~54°C. When we installed the 7900GT we set the Zalman VF900 fan to run at 5V, very quiet, and under stress were impressed that the temperature did not go higher than 51°C, very nice!

The 120mm fan at the back and the PSU with its own 120mm fan exhaust all hot air inside the system, keeping it from overheating;

Conclusive Thoughts

Most of the Boogie Bug products are meant to show of your hardware with flashy LED lightening, custom memory heatsinks, fan grills, UV Power connectors, custom fan grills and more. The Black Pearl is quite different as it less flashy and blends in quite well with a plain background.

What might be its strongest feature is the low price, at an estimated retail price of ~€55 this case is almost half the price of most similar cases; while still retaining the quality finishing. The use of aluminum makes the case extremely light weight for its size, the side panels are quite thin and can be flexed easily; the internal structure is more robust.

Overall the Black Pearl is an impressive product for the price, you get a compact cube case which can keep mid-range hardware cool without breaking a sweat. While the compact size does limit expandability options, there is enough space available to build a powerful HTPC.



We thank Bacata for making this review possible. Until next time!