The Best Chassis for Steambox/HTPC Style Gaming Systems

Performance

First testing the CPU cooling performance we can obviously see that the Lian Li Test Bench has the best results, this is an open-air chassis and gives us a good base result to compare each chassis with. At load, the CPU clocked in at 60c above ambient which seems a little high, but keep in mind that I’m using a low-profile CPU cooler, not some high-end water cooling unit, as I want to ensure the cooler is compatible with a wide range of chassis’.

As I expected, the Silverstone SG09 dominates the CPU cooling performance, no doubt thanks to that huge air penetrator fan bringing cool air right down onto your hardware. The Thermaltake SD1 Performed really well too, it’s got great airflow and the two 80mm fans in the back are great for getting heat out of the system.

Performance of the Silverstone GD05 and the Corsair 250D is about on par, which is interesting given their very different shape and size.

The Elite 130 performance is a little worse than the others, but keep in mind this is also one of the smallest and cheapest chassis we’ve tested so that’s really a pros and cons scenario. As for the Phenom, things could be better!

The graphics card maxed out at 33c above ambient on our test bench, and to make things nice and easy you’ll notice that the chassis’ ranked in the same order as our CPU benchmarks. The SG09 and SD1 are still doing great, while the Elite 130 and Phenom are noticeably warmer, but still within perfectly acceptable levels.

Things look great in terms of acoustic performance, with the SG09 and the SD1 are once again proving their worth with quiet performance. The Phenom M may not be the coolest, but it’s thick panels and enclosed design does mean it’s pretty quiet and the budget friendly Elite 130 holds up really well too.