Installation & Testing

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I gutted my AMD gaming rig out of the old MGE Viper to install it into the Ninja 2. I managed to cut my left thumb up a little working with the knock off 5.25” covers - after their removal. They don’t break off very cleanly, so it’s something to keep in mind while working with this case.

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One thing that peeves me when reading some case reviews is that sometimes the reviewer writes the whole thing without actually installing a system in it. The Ninja 2 clearly demonstrated the need for this when I got around to installing the PCI cards. The screws are set far enough back into the case that it is impossible to get a standard screwdriver to them in a straight line. I still managed, with the screwdriver canted out at about a 10 degree angle, but that’s almost threatening to strip out the screw head.

 

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Other than those gripes, the installation went well. There was lots of room to work with, and getting all the headers hooked up right was much easier with the removable motherboard tray.

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I let the Ninja 2 sit at idle on my test bench for a day, then took a measure of the ambient air (sensor hanging out the back of the case and below the bottom) and the temperature inside the case (sensor taped just below the rear 92mm fan mount). I then loaded the system up with SiSoft SANDRA’s Burn in Wizard, and let it run for a couple of hours, then came back and took a second set of measurements.

The Ninja 2 did not demonstrate a lot of cooling power, but with only one 80mm fan in the stock configuration this was not that surprising. The way the 80mm fan is mounted in the front almost prevents it taking in any air except from the small slits in the front of the case, so repositioning it to the inside of the case will probably yield some slightly better numbers. It should also be pointed out that this particular system is rather compact…there’s not a lot of components here that are creating much heat. A 92mm fan should absolutely be on your list if you buy this case, so be sure to factor that into the overall cost.

Idle

Load

I also ran a quick load test using the SANDRA Burn-In Wizard, utilizing every benchmark the software could run. I only had superficial differences between my load and idle measurements that were well within tolerance, but given the little AMD system I was not all that surprised to see this. I honestly wouldn’t expect to see that many power hungry P4 systems in one of these, given the price range. For a small rig though, this unit should do the trick.

Next: Conclusions