Tests
Tests
Airflow :
Additional ventilation takes the form of a Thermaltake Riing 14 and a Silverstone 120 slim fan, positioned opposite the CPU cooler and graphics card respectively.
CPU airflow, original ventilation then completed :
Let’s start with the CPU temperature. We’ll keep the front and top of our test case. Let’s see if the airflow is sufficient to cool the Ryzen 7 1700X.
Compared to Corsair’s 2000D Airflow, Ssupd’s Meshroom S performs better on our CPU temperatures. As you can see, by default, our Ryzen 7 1700X stabilizes below 60°C, at 57.6°C. In spite of its proximity to the mesh panel, the ventilation performed well, unlike its Corsair rival, whose panel was further away.
On the other hand, the completion of the ventilation doesn’t really help to cool the processor. The fan on our cooler is so tightly glued to the side panel that it doesn’t manage to capture the air projected from the front panel.
Original CPU airflow without front panel or top :
In order to ascertain the limiting factor in the story (and by how much), we remove the top as well as the front of the case. The aim here is to show the raw performance of the integrated ventilation.
Furthermore, to check just how restrictive the mesh was for cooling, we removed the side panel to let our Cryorig C1 breathe. Despite the fact that it’s mesh, the airflow is still constrained, since we lose just over 4°C by removing the panel.
GPU airflow, original ventilation then completed :
We repeat the operation, but with measurements taken on the graphics card. Here, we test with original ventilation and supplemented ventilation.
Meshroom S, 2000D Airflow, the same battle when it comes to cooling our graphics card. As you can see, our HD 7970 suffers greatly from the lack of ventilation. What’s more, it’s still a blower card incapable of drawing fresh air through the mesh panel. With a more recent card equipped with two or three axial fans, the results would probably be much better.
On the other hand, adding a fan in front of the graphics card can drastically reduce its temperature… But this solution is not as effective as the 2000D Airflow.
GPU airflow original ventilation without front panel ortop:
We’ll run the same test again, but with the front panel and top panel removed. Let’s see how this affects card temperatures.
By removing the panel facing the graphics card, the latter breathes more freely and stabilizes at 88°C. In fact, we find ourselves in temperatures equivalent to those obtained in the 2000D Airflow.
Insulation :
Here, we’re simply measuring the noise emitted by our configuration when running the CPU and GPU cooling very fast.
Clearly, a case made entirely of mesh panels doesn’t do much for sound insulation – quite the opposite, in fact. During our test, we recorded 61 dB, which, give or take a few thousandths, corresponds to the noise emitted by our bare-bones configuration. In other words, insulation is non-existent.
Original ventilation noise :
This time, we measure the noise emitted by the case’s original ventilation. To do this, the configuration is run in idle mode ( CPU and GPU fans at minimum), while readings are taken successively at 5V, 8V and 12V on the case fan.
Of course, without fans installed as standard, the case noise test amounts to an insulation test at low rpm. And under these conditions, it doesn’t fare very well, with 32.5 dB recorded. But let’s not forget that we don’t have the quietest components on the market.
To sum up :
To sum up, by default, the Meshroom S is clearly not the best performer for cooling a graphics card, let alone a blower. However, after adding a fan right in front of it, it helps a lot. Nevertheless, the CPU part fares better, even if, in our case, it benefited less from additional airflow.
However, if you have components that are quite old or tend to be rather noisy, don’t count on the natural insulation of this case. The mesh panels don’t trap noise at all.
