System Build and Testing

My favorite part of building a system is the satisfaction of doing a good job, the more effort you put into it the more satisfaction you will get from it. Knowing that you built it yourself with your own two hands and knowing that you did a good job makes it all worthwhile in the end.

When going for a neat and tidy install its always a little difficult to decide on what to install first, I generally start with the motherboard and then the PSU, removing them where necessary to route cables in the most efficient way possible. Now that I have a 3.5" HDD installed I am not overly keen on the HDD rack, I like things to be hidden as best as possible but that's just me.

Even though it will never be seen I like to keep my cables tidy, there is nothing worse than sifting through a tangled mess of wires just to upgrade one piece of hardware, so tidy is the way forward people. The Shinobi comes with a nice big cut-out for access to the CPU backplate but on my Intel 1156 motherboard it seems just that bit too small. Cable management is made very easy thanks to the numerous cable tie down points and cable routing cut-outs, there is still room for improvements but I am not complaining.

This is where it all pays off, careful planning and placement and a few hours of your time can lead to much gratification. After all it is your system and you must make it personal to yourself, sure you could have someone else do it for you but that defeats the object, it's called a personal computer for a reason.

Testing and Results

Testing Methodology

In the following tests I will be putting the BitFenix Shinobi Window case through its paces to see if it performs as good as it looks. I will be measuring three of the most important components inside the case and these are CPU, VGA and HDD. To test the CPU I will create a load using prime 95 and to test the GPU I will create a load using FurMark v1.9.1. To test the hard drive I submitted it to a barrage of various benchmarks and I monitored all of the temperatures using CPUID HWMonitor. All tests were run simultaneously for 30 minutes to stress the system to its fullest and get some real world numbers.

Test System

• Motherboard: ECS P55H-AK (Intel P55)
• System Memory: OCZ Blade ST 2000MHz 4GB Kit
• Processor: Intel Core i5 760 OC @ 4.0GHz
• CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14
• Video: MSI N560GTX-Ti Hawk
• HDD 1: OCZ Vertex 2 60GB
• HDD 2: 1TB Seagate SATA 7200rpm
• HDD 3: Seagate Constellation 160GB 7200rpm 32MB cache
• ODD: TSSTcorp SATA DVD-RW Combi
• PSU: Corsair HX750W Modular
• Monitor: HKC 2219A 22" Widescreen
• Operating System: Windows 7 ultimate x64

The screen shot of CPUID HWMonitor (below) shows minimum temperatures (system idle) and maximum temperatures (system load). The value column is representative of the temperatures at the time of taking the screenshot and shows the variance (if any) in the temperatures during my tests. The ambient room temperature during testing was 25°C.

The temperatures inside the case are a little high but nothing major. The main worry I had with the case to start with was the restricted intake air flow but it seems that it might not be such an issue after all. My CPU is running at 4.0GHz with just under 1.4V vCore and the Noctua is doing a great job keeping it tamed. Looking back at the N560GTX-Ti Hawk article that I wrote not too long ago, I had this video card installed inside the Lancool PC-K63 case (which has better airflow) and the difference is only around 3~4°C between the two cases, so that's a good point in favor of the Shinobi Window. HDD temperatures didn't fluctuate much and 2°C increase is nothing to worry about especially considering tha none of my two mechanical hard drives were in any direct airflow anyway.

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