Super Flower X-Mask: Mild-Mannered or Superhero?

Benchmarking

When benchmarking the X-Mask, we test the temperatures of key components including the actual CPU temperature, the actual temperature inside the heatsink, the temperatures of the DDR, Northbridge, Southbridge, HDD, PSU, and the ambient temperature inside the case, all during normal operation. During our testing, the PSU and CPU heatsink fans remain on to measure temperatures during normal system operations.

Gigabyte GA-7VRX AMD Athlon MP 2100+ 2 x 128 DDR Corsair XMS 2400 ThermalTake Volcano 7 Seagate Cheetah 10000RPM Inno3D GeForce4 Ti 4200 TTGI 4 Fan 520W Atlas FP-350WE

Thermometer Positions

The thermal readings for the key components and points on the motherboard during operation were as follows:

Super Flower X-Mask
System On-Time	CPU	Heatsink	HDD	DDR	Northbridge	Southbridge	Power Supply (TTGI)	Power Supply (Atlas)	System Ambient
10	54.3	37.5	28.1	34.5	39.9	38.8	26.2	26.6	32.8
30	55.9	38.4	29.5	36.1	40.5	40.1	27.1	27.7	34.2

Lian Li PC-V1000
System On-Time	CPU	Heatsink	HDD	DDR	Northbridge	Southbridge	Power Supply (TTGI)	System Ambient
10	50.1	31.2	24.3	33.2	35.6	34.5	25.1	25.4
30	51.3	33.1	25.1	35.1	36.8	35.9	27.5	26.6

Opus Technologies, Inc. MT-200
System On-Time	CPU	Heatsink	HDD	DDR	Northbridge	Southbridge	Power Supply (TTGI)	System Ambient
10	52.5	37.5	28.8	34.3	39.1	39.3	29.3	29.7
30	53.7	39.0	29.5	36.8	40.2	39.9	31.2	30.4

The X-Mask performed at about the level of the NZXT Guardian. The temperatures were a bit higher due to the placement of the case fans. The X-Mask lacked the fans on the backside of the case, which the Guardian had, yet the X-Mask did have twin 80mm fans at the front of the chassis to cool the HDDs.

Since the X-Mask lacked the back side fans, we found that in many of the other cases where we predicted the noise levels to be much lower than the competition. We measured the noise level of the X-Mask 12" away from the closed chassis with the power supply fan turned off. Take a look at our results.

Case	dBA
Super Flower X-Mask	51
Lian Li PC-V1000	46
Opus Technologies MT-200	56
NZXT Guardian	49
Ahanix Black Knight X195	50

As you can see, the X-Mask performed at the same level as the Guardian and the Ahanix Black Knight. This is mainly due to the number of fans in each chassis.