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Installation & Testing
Right up front I want to say that I added an
80mm Blue LED fan to the side window and a liquid lighting tube, also made by
Sunbeam Tech, as I really can’t see anyone using this case without installing
a fan there. The Sunbeam lightning tube was just for kicks…and the window just
looked wrong without enough lighting. But remember that these two items are
NOT included with the Samurai.
I was also lucky to have enough hardware around to set this system up…most
folks do not have all the screws and standoffs just lying around to assemble
their new system with. Assembly went well aside from the hardware glitch, but
if you’re living with this system I’ve found that this type of fan box on the
exhaust can get in the way if you’re replacing a power supply or need to get
at the CPU cooler. The tool free system worked flawlessly, and is one of the
better types on the market today.
As always, I ran the system with no load for a few hours to establish an idle
baseline, and then took the temp with a probe, using MBM 5 to verify my
readings. I then ran the SiSoft SANDRA Burn-in Wizard for another hour, then
took the temp again for a load reading. Both measurements were taken at 25°C,
+/- .5°C. For comparison, I’ve included our measured temps from the NZXT
Guardian, a case that shares an identical fan layout to give you a comparison
of the intake systems. Remember that the Guardian’s ambient temp was a bit
lower, at 22°C.
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Idle |
Load |
| Sunbeam Samurai |
31.6ºC |
33ºC |
| NZXT Guardian |
27.4ºC |
27.7ºC |
Surprising as it might be, the larger holes in
the intake of the Samurai do not provide a significant decrease in case
temperatures, with a difference of five degrees for the Guardian and six
degrees for the Samurai. That might change with the addition of an intake fan,
as neither these cases did not have one in the front 80mm slot when these
measurements were taken.
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