Intel's Long Awaited BTX Form Factor

Thermals Desktop ATX

We tested our D915GUX board and Pentium 550 CPU in Ahanix's D.Vine 5 HTPC chassis, the successor to the D.Vine 4 we reviewed last month, since it had the size of a typical mid tower case yet took on the form of a flat lying desktop case like the B300 to give a better idea of how this hardware performed in a case with sizes we are used to. Unlike Opus Technologies, Ahanix has a great deal of products, many of them cases which is their main focus. The first case we reviewed from Ahanix was their Black Knight. The Black Knight performed well in our thermal benchmarks while averaging at 50dBA in sound We again measure temperatures of the ambient air inch by inch to show how each component affects various areas of the case.


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It is evident that the warmest region in our desktop ATX system is between the CPU, Northbridge, and PCIe VGA card followed by the power supply. We also notice how the rear exhaust fans are pulling the warm air towards them to the outside. The D.Vine 5 has an extremely large footprint, 17" in width by 18" in depth, so there are many areas which are not being exposed to warm air such as the front corners as well as the left side of the case.


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We see here that the CPU, Northbridge heatsink and the PCIe VGA card are the hottest components in the system. The Southbridge also ran extremely hot at 54 degrees, but it is too small to have as great of an effect on the ambient air around it as did the other three. The power supply, on the other hand, measured to be 34 degrees which had a great affect on its surrounding air.


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Again, since the D.Vine 5 lies flat instead of upright like the TT-501 does, heat pockets mainly occur over the equipment giving off the heat instead of at the top of the case (the right side in this case) near the power supply.