Cougar Challenger Case Review: Is Competitive Performance Enough?
by Dustin Sklavos on October 29, 2012 12:01 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- Cougar
- ATX
Noise and Thermal Testing, Stock
My misgivings about the Cougar Challenger's somewhat garish aesthetic and abnormally staid internal design culminated around one central thought during the entire assembly process: "I really hope this case performs." So far Cougar hasn't offered a case that's actually bad (assuming the looks don't bother you), but they haven't offered anything that's really exceptional either. Yet there's promise in the cooling design, with the beefy 200mm intake fan. As it turns out, that promise is mostly fulfilled.
Ambient temperature during testing was between 22C and 23C; Indian Summer and fall are duking it out here in California.
Thermal performance at stock settings was actually very good. The Challenger produces very low temperatures on both the CPU and the graphics card, easily competitive with the best mainstream cases we've tested.
Fan speeds tell the same story. Airflow is not a problem with the Cougar Challenger, as the CPU and graphics card fans don't have to work too hard to keep their components cool.
Unfortunately, this is where you see the sacrifices. Thermal performance is great, but the Challenger isn't the quietest case in the shop. That front fan is basically running full bore the whole time, and though the copious ventilation is great for temperatures, it's lousy for containing noise.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
40 Comments
View All Comments
CCrunnernb - Monday, October 29, 2012 - link
Who would put this on a desk and let others see it?Chaitanya - Monday, October 29, 2012 - link
not me.cknobman - Monday, October 29, 2012 - link
Agreed, this case is one of the ugliest cases I have ever seen.I don't even think I would hide this under my desk for fear of visitors accidentally looking under it and seeing this thing.
deject - Monday, October 29, 2012 - link
Yeah, this is one of the ugliest cases I've seen in a long while.Grok42 - Monday, October 29, 2012 - link
We keep saying this every new case review. Are we just a vocal minority? Are there lurkers who really like these cases? Is there some bet with the reviewer that they can't possibly find an even uglier case to review. I'm hoping we have finally hit bottom.BrianDustin - Tuesday, October 30, 2012 - link
like Margaret answered I'm stunned that people able to earn $7483 in 1 month on the internet. did you read this(Click on menu Home more information)http://goo.gl/9uuys
MxxCon - Monday, October 29, 2012 - link
Is there really a market for cases that look like Transformers' abortions? :/deneb - Monday, October 29, 2012 - link
There is, for people with a lack of eyesight. Really, this is one of the ugliest cases I've seen as well.OCN's_3930k - Monday, October 29, 2012 - link
hahahgeniekid - Monday, October 29, 2012 - link
I was going to say...that thing better ACTUALLY transform.