Benchmark

We have a few heat and sound intensive tests lined up for the Kingwin KT-424. 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 23.0 degrees Celsius, during a full system load. The fan speeds on the front rheobus was placed on high. Our test bed consists of:


 Thermometer Positions

Gigabyte GA-7VRX
AMD Athlon MP 2100+
2 x 128 DDR Corsair XMS 2400
ThermalTake Volcano 7
Seagate Cheetah 10000RPM
Inno3D GeForce4 Ti 4200
PCP&C 475W Turbo Cool


The thermal readings for the different components during operation were as follows:


Kingwin KT-424-WM
CPU Video Heatsink Mobo 1 Mobo 2 HD
After 10 minutes 50.7 35.7 35.1 26.3 29.1 27.1
After 30 minutes 51.0 36.3 36.2 27.1 30.0 27.5

ThermalTake Xaser III
CPU Video Heatsink Mobo 1 Mobo 2 HD
After 10 minutes 51.2 34.8 36.4 25.4 24.1 29.1
After 30 minutes 51.7 36.9 37.7 26.2 24.7 30.4

Kingwin KT-436-WM
CPU Video Heatsink Mobo 1 Mobo 2 HD
After 10 minutes 54.0 32.5 38.0 25.0 28.5 27.2
After 30 minutes 54.5 33.3 38.9 26.1 29.0 28.6


Sound is recorded in decibels, 12" away from the closed case in order to replicate a production system most accurately. Ambient noise ran about 21dBA, and the power supply fan was disabled.


dBA
Kingwin KT-424 Aluminum 48
ThermalTake Xaser III Aluminum Fan High 55
ThermalTake Xaser III Aluminum Fan Low 52
Cooler Master ATC-201A Aluminum 53
Kingwin KT-436-BK-WM Aluminum 50


Cooling tests pretty much confirmed what we already knew. The two intakes above the hard drives provide enough airflow to keep the case reasonably cool, but not quite as well as the larger Xaser III or the KT-436. Keep in mind, the older KT-436 has more fans and also a much higher price tag. The lower hard drive speeds are most likely attributed to the vertical stacking of the hard drives, whereas the KT-436 has stacked them horizontally.

The reduced exhaust (1x80mm fan) lowered the noise level slightly. Using some higher quality fans would reduce the noise level significantly, but our loudest item in the case is the Volcano 7 (which we will probably phase out for future reviews). Overall performance was about part for this case. Feel free to check the statistics of some of our older case reviews.

Installation Final Thoughts
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  • Anonymous User - Wednesday, August 20, 2003 - link

    #3 - no need for a grounding cable, remember there's two grounds in the power connector.

    kris - is the typo the only comment worthy of a response from you?
  • KristopherKubicki - Tuesday, August 19, 2003 - link

    Yak,

    Thanks for the typo! I have fixed the article.

    Kristopher
  • yak8998 - Tuesday, August 19, 2003 - link

    On the benchmarks page, under decibel measurements, you list "Kingwin KT-436-BK-WM Aluminum" as the first and last case. I'm assuming one of these should be the 424...?
  • Anonymous User - Tuesday, August 19, 2003 - link

    i want to adress something off topic does anybody know if the case from ocsystem the OCSystem Diamond Warp Super 10bay Tower Case anygood its for 55$ sounds pretty good looking at the specs
  • Anonymous User - Tuesday, August 19, 2003 - link

    Wouldn't the harddrives need grounding cables? (because of the rubber mounting grommets)
  • Anonymous User - Tuesday, August 19, 2003 - link

    you make fun of them for typos, why not fix your own? think? thick? etc...
  • Anonymous User - Tuesday, August 19, 2003 - link

    one thing that would make this review a lot better - higher res pictures. MUCH higher res. just make them clickable to enlarge like the old days of AT
  • aodfan - Sunday, January 6, 2019 - link

    I have had this case for 15 years this month and I still love it. I have managed to have several builds in it and it never fails me. Though I through multiple moves I have been able to maintain most of the parts, but albeit some HDD screws have been lost, but that doesn't really seem to matter at this point since mounting SSD are more flexible. I have even contacted KingWin themselves to see if they have and NOS parts and they were so surprised that I still had one and going strong, that says something for a product that they designed and built so well. I have thought of getting a different case at some point when a new build refresh comes along, but I cannot help but not love the aesthetics of this case. I mean it doesn't seem like they make them like this anymore! I will definitely, even if it does ever get replaced, keep it around.

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