Thermaltake's Xaser III Skull Series - A Case For the Tough Guy
by Purav Sanghani on March 11, 2004 4:20 PM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Benchmarking
We have a few heat and sound intensive tests lined up for the ThermalTake Xaser III Skull. The Heatsink reading is actually the temperature inside the heatsink. CPU temperature is recorded as a separate measurement. All temperature is recorded in degrees Celsius. The heat tests were each performed inside the closed case with the external temperature of 24.0 degrees Celsius, during a full system load. The fan speeds on the rheobus were all placed on high. Our test bed consisted of:Gigabyte GA-7VRX |
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The thermal readings for the different components during operation were as follows:
| System On-Time | CPU | Heatsink | HDD | DDR | Northbridge | Southbridge | Power Supply | System Ambient |
| 10 | 52.1 | 37.3 | 28.9 | 34.2 | 39.2 | 39.1 | 29.4 | 29.9 |
| 30 | 53.4 | 38.9 | 29.7 | 36.6 | 40.4 | 39.9 | 31.6 | 30.4 |
Another important number when it comes to system cases is the noise level. A good case will have a very low decibel level on the outside. The ambient noise level was at about 51 dBA with the power supply fan disabled. We measured noise levels of the case combined with this ambient noise level 12" away from the case. Provided in the table are noise readings of cases that we have reviewed in the past.
| Case | dBA |
| Thermaltake Xaser III VM3000A - Skull | 55 |
| Kingwin KT-424 Aluminum | 55 |
| Thermaltake Xaser III Aluminum Fan Low | 52 |
| Cooler Master ATC-201A Aluminum | 53 |
| Kingwin KT-436-BK-WM Aluminum | 50 |
The 4 case fans seemed to increase the noise levels inside the case, but could barely be heard when the VM3000A was sealed. Though the included fans were extremely quiet, the CPU fan that we used boosted the noise level about 15 dBA. The motherboard was disconnected to allow us to measure the true ambient noise level inside the case.
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JKing76 - Friday, March 12, 2004 - link
Cheese. 100% cheese.Orchid1 - Friday, March 12, 2004 - link
Looks terrible, pc case design has come a long way since the beige box, but in this case I'd rather have a beige box any day.Skulls? is his being marketed at 15 year old Goth Rock fans?
nastyemu25 - Friday, March 12, 2004 - link
guess i wasn't the only one who thought this thing was incredibly uglyaraczynski - Friday, March 12, 2004 - link
that has got to be the single most butch ugly implementation of a side window in a case i've ever seen, obviously a last second throw in with no thought or planning. disgusting.CtK - Friday, March 12, 2004 - link
why dont you show pics with the case fully installed with parts??BenSkywalker - Friday, March 12, 2004 - link
Reading through everything in the review it seems like this is a lower end case then the original XIII line, was that your impression Purav?Less fans, less space and sharp edges- sounds like a step back for TT here.
diehlr - Friday, March 12, 2004 - link
This case is the most hideous thing I have seen in a long time. What is the deal with PC case designs? Nearly every one of them is tacky and looks flat out cheap.clarkmo - Thursday, March 11, 2004 - link
This is the same as the Enermax Titanium case. I don't know who the oem is. Mobo attaches with studs vey easily. Hopefully a new trend.Just pop it right in. It's only noisy if you have noisy fans. I have a 120 mm in the lower area. The psu is very tight buy my slk900a on my 8rda manages to fit. http://www.case-mod.com/store/product_info.php?pro...Adul - Thursday, March 11, 2004 - link
congrats Purv :)mostlyprudent - Thursday, March 11, 2004 - link
You mention the inconvenience of having to remove add in cards to remove the motherboard tray, but why bother completely removing the tray unless I'm replacing the motherboard - hence removing the cards anyway? Of course, I've never had a removable tray that was easy enough to remove to justify taking it out for memory or even CPU changes.