SilverStone Grandia GD05 Case
Dec 16th, 2010 | By SimonHere’s a breakdown of everything I’ve installed.
- CPU: Intel i5 661 with Intel Stock HSF
- MB: MSI H55M-ED55
- RAM: Crucial 4GB (2GBx2) DDR3 PC3-10600 Memory (CT2KIT25664BA1339)
- Video: Onboard
- PSU: OCZ StealthXStream 2 600W PSU
- HD: Seagate 500GB 7200.12
- ODD: Plextor PX-B940SA Internal 12X BD Writer
- OS: Microsoft Windows 7
- Comparisons
- SilverStone Grandia GD05 – no 120mm fans
- SilverStone Grandia GD05 – three 120mm fans
- Open air (no case)
To get load temperatures I started the PC up and fired up OCCT for 2 hours to get the load temperatures. After the first hour the temperatures had stabilized. The temperatures were recorded from CPUID Hardware Monitor.
When the system is idling, you can see that with any case, you need to have fans running to move the air around. If you don’t, it’s just gets bottled up in the case and starts to slowly heat everything up. This is particularly important with a desktop case where all the heat rises and heats the top of the case a few inches away. Once we turn on the three fans, the temperatures take a big dive. We’re able to circulate the air much faster than regular heat dissipation in a caseless open air setup.
When the system is fully loaded, the addition of the three fans really boosts performance. The motherboard temperature is significantly lower as is the CPU. The specific core temperatures don’t change too much between 3 fans and caseless but the stagnant air in no fan operation pushes the mercury up.
With all of the vibration dampening features in use, the case itself runs incredibly silent. Using the stock heatsink, I could barely hear the case running with all three fans going. SilverStone took the time to pair the case quality fans and included great noise reduction additions.
Overall, I’m very pleased with the performance of the Grandia GD05. The three 120mm fans push a significant amount of air to keep your hardware cool.