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Review: NZXT S340

by Parm Mann on 7 January 2015, 09:00

Tags: NZXT

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qacne5

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Specification and Test Methodology

NZXT Source 340 specification

Model Number CA-S340W-W1 (White)
CA-S340W-B1 (Black)
Drive Bays External 5.25in: 0
Internal 3.5in: 2+1
Internal 2.5in: 2
Cooling System Front: 2x 140/2x120mm
Top: 1x 140/120mm (1 x 120mm FN V2 Fans Included)
Rear: 1x 120mm (1 x 120mm FN V2 Fan Included)
Filters Front (Included)
Bottom Rear (Included)
Radiator Support Front 2 x 140 or 2 x 120mm
Rear 1 x 120mm
Clearance GPU Clearance With Radiator: 334mm
GPU Clearance Without Radiator: 364mm
CPU Cooler: 161mm
Cable Management: Lowest Point - 17mm; Highest Point 168mm
Dimensions 200mm x 445mm x 432mm
Material SECC Steel, ABS Plastic
Motherboard Support Mini-ITX, MicroATX, ATX
Expansion Slots 7
I/O Ports 1x Audio
1x Mic
2x USB 3.0
Product Weight 7.05 kg
Warranty 2 Years

Test System Configuration

Motherboard Asus Sabertooth Z77
CPU Intel Core i5-3570K @ 4.4GHz
CPU Cooler Arctic Cooling Freezer 13
Memory G.Skill Ripjaws-X 8GB (F3-12800CL7D-8GBXH)
Memory Speed and Timings 1,600MHz, 7-8-7-24-2N
Graphics Cards 2x Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 OC in CrossFireX
Storage 120GB SanDisk Extreme SSD
Power Supply Corsair HX1050W
Monitor Philips Brilliance 272P (2,560x1,440)

Our Z77 test platform consists of an ASUS Sabertooth motherboard, an Intel Core i5-3570K processor overclocked to a modest 4.4GHz, an Arctic Cooling Freezer 13 cooler, 8GB of high-performance G.Skill Ripjaws-X memory and two factory-overclocked Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 OC graphics cards in a CrossFireX configuration.

To find out how well the chassis can cool this particular setup, we record the CPU temperature during a 15-minute stint of the Prime95 small-FFT stress test. In order to provide a stabilised reading we then calculate an average temperature across all cores from the last five minutes of testing.

To get an idea of GPU cooling performance, we then record the highest GPU temperature after 15 minutes of running Aliens vs. Predator with maximum image-quality settings at 1080p.

All chassis are tested only with the standard manufacturer-supplied fans (any/all of which are set to 'silent' in the Asus BIOS or low-speed using a fan controller if present), and to take into account the fluctuating ambient temperature, our graphs depict both actual and delta temperature - the latter is the actual CPU/GPU temperature minus the ambient. For the record, room temperature while testing today's chassis was recorded as 17.6ºC.

Readers should note that chassis noise is usually measured by using a PCE-318 noise meter. Said meter has developed a fault, so we'll provide general noise observations for the time being and will update the review with precise measurements once our noise meter has been repaired/replaced.