Testing:

The test system installed inside of the NZXT Lexa Blackline Performance Midtower ATX Case consisted of the following components:

» AMD X2 6000 AM2 processor
» Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe @210x15
» Asus Arctic Square 92mm Vapo Bearing CPU Cooler
» 4GB (4x1024) Patriot PC2-6400 Low Latency DDR2 RAM
» eVGA 8800GTS 640MB
» OCZ 1000W Power Supply
» 2x 80GB Hitachi Deskstar SATA-II hard drive
» 1x 120GB Seagate 7200.9 SATA 3Gbps hard drive
» 1x 400GB Western Digital 7200 SATA 3Gbps hard drive
» SATA DVD ROM
» Fans: 2x120mm Red LED, 1x120mm, 1x80mm


The chart below details the idle and load temperatures measured from the CPU using Lavalys Everest Ultimate Edition 2006. These values were compared to those indicated by the Lexa Blackline thermal probes, and were found to be nearly identical. The idle condition consisted of letting the system sit at the Window's desktop with no other applications running, and the load condition consisted of running 3DMark06 and the Sisoft Sandra Burn-In Wizard for 60 minutes. All testing was conducted while an ambient temperature of approximately 26C was maintained.


Running with the default fans, the case cooled very well. The temperature difference without a side panel and with the side panel was less than 1 degree Celsius at idle, while the load temperature was actually about 1.5 degrees Celsius cooler with the side panel on!

The final consideration was the noise level. Removing the sound from the power supply and video card, the fans in the case were found to be nearly silent. In addition to the case fans producing minimal sound, the noise level from the other system components was now a little quieter and muffled more than in my previous case, a Thermaltake Eureka.