Arctic Cooling Silentium T2 ECO 80 ATX Case Review

Cases & PSU/Cases by jmke @ 2008-06-20

Arctic Cooling, well known for their low noise CPU and VGA coolers, has developed their own Silentium ATX case series some time ago. We take a look at the latest incarnation, the T2 ECO 80 which comes with a high efficiency 550W PSU, HDD noise absorption system and decoupled low noise case fans. Can this case live up to their high standards? Let us find out.

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Look inside & Cooling

Look inside & Cooling

On side panel of the T2 is removable, and comes off easily enough by use of two thumbscrews which will hang on to the side panel so you can’t lose them!

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When we first removed the side panel we saw this:

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The cooling fan of the power supply was loose inside the case; Arctic Cooling must have known that this could happen, because they included a set of new soft mounting rubber plugs in an envelope. Simply taping the fan to the chassis would resolve this issue and prevent the fan from coming loose during transport.

So take #2:

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We can see the rather weird location of the PSU at the front of the case; the PSU cables are kept short to reduce cable clutter. The unique HDD mounting system sits above the PSU unit.

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At the back there are 2x80mm fans which act as an exhaust for hot air. So what does the PSU fan do?

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This 120mm fan with its current orientation acts as an out-take also; all three fans are decoupled using Arctic Cooling’s own soft rubber mount system.

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In the photo above on the left you can see the pass-through cable for the PSU; next to it you see the tool-less mounting system for add-on cards. The area at the back covering the CPU location is completely open; allowing fresh air inside in the case. But the fans at the top are out-take… so fresh air is immediately expelled… that’s no good.

To help the air from reaching the correct areas AC included the following goodies with the Silentium T2:

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  • Two different air ducts, one for Tower CPU cooler, the other for reference Intel/AMD coolers
  • Clear and descriptive installation manual
  • Power cable
  • Plastic/Metal rail system for the drive bays
  • Mounting gear for the HDD, with aluminum heatsink.

    Let’s see out how it’s all installed ->
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    Comment from Henrik1967 @ 2008/07/31
    I recently bought an Arctic Cooling Silentium T3 ECO 80 ATX Case - also with loose PSU fan.
    But in my case, there wasn't included a set of new soft mounting rubber plugs in an envelope.

    I've contacted Arctic Cooling via their form on their homepage - no answer.
    Where can I buy these unique rubber plugs?

    Local dealer won't help me, unless I return the whole cabinet (longer story).

    Kind regards,
    Henrik - Denmark
    Comment from jmke @ 2008/07/31
    hello Henrik, can you email me your details (full name, address) and I will contact my AC PR contact to have them send you a set!

    jmke@madshrimps.be

     

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