Powering on; Thermal and Acoustic Properties

Now that everything is nestled snugly inside the case, let’s throw the side panels on and take it for a short test flight to get an idea of how the B2 performs under day to day operations. This isn’t intended as a full fledged battery of tests, simply a quick look.

Flashing up #1 engine (ok, that’s enough of the aircraft talk thank you very much) we’re pleased to report that while the ARX ceramic bearing fans may not be able to provide us with a true “stealth” acoustical footprint, the noise levels they put out don’t detract from day-to-day usage. These aren’t silent fans, but noise levels are more than acceptable considering the amount of airflow they are providing through the case.

With the power on, the first obvious question is how well the cockpit style front door works, and here IN-WIN’s presentation falls a bit flat. The “auto sensing switch” works flawlessly, and the mechanism opens and closes smoothly, but the sound of the motor as it raises the door is quite loud which somewhat spoils the effect. Strangely enough, the closing motion is almost whisper quiet which makes us wonder if the noise as it rises is engineered into the system. Either way, whether the noise is intentional or not, it is a blemish on what has up to now been an almost perfect score sheet for the B2.

With the slightly disappointing results from the door operation behind us, we’re anxious to see how well the B2’s other unique feature performs. The “Turbo Cooling System” looks great on paper, but it’s going to have to function in real life if it wants to get a thumbs up from us.

In order to quickly assess the cooling abilities of the VGA tunnel we checked out idle temperatures on the passively cooled HD 3450 both with the case side off, and then with the case side on and cooling system in place. We’re happy to report that idle temperatures on the card dropped from 65c with the case side off to 45c under the “Turbo Cooling System”. A 20c drop in temperatures is a clear indication that this cooling system is more than just case bling, but keep in mind that a passively cooled card is going to benefit much more from airflow than one with active cooling. At the very least, it’s safe to say that the system is able to provide fresh air which will allow active cooling to best do its job.

In order to test CPU temperatures, Orthos was allowed to run for 15 minutes providing a load on our overclocked E1200. Temperatures after 15 minutes were recorded with the case side both off and on. CPU temperatures rose from approximately 50c with the side off to 55c with the side on. By posting a rise of only 5c with the case side on, the B2 once again demonstrated that case airflow is more than adequate.

Setting aside the noisy door mechanism, we were quite impressed with the B2's thermal and acoustic properties. Airflow is obvously well designed, and sound levels put out by the ARX fans are well within what we are used to from quality stock fans.