Cougar Solution Chassis Review

Testing:

Testing the COUGAR Solution required pushing my hardware to the limit in order to heat things up! Testing involved recording temperatures for the CPU, GPU, chipset, hard drives, and overall system during idle and load phases. Load was simulated by running Prime95’s small FFTs, HD Tune, and 3Dmark Vantage for one hour. The maximum temperatures were recorded using HW Monitor. It is important to note that each case is tested from its factory setup, including location of fans, unless otherwise noted.

Testing Setup:

• Processor: Core i7 2600K @ 4.4 GHz 100 x 44
• CPU Cooling: Noctua NH-U12P SE 1366
• Motherboard: GIGABYTE Z68AP-D3
• Memory: Mushkin 991996 Redline PC3-17000 9-11-10-28 8 GB
• Video Card: XFX HD 6970
• PSU: Antec TruePower New TP-750
• Hard Drives: OCZ Agility 3 120 GB, 2x Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 RAID 1
• Optical Drive: N/A
• OS: Windows 7 Pro 64-Bit SP1

Comparison Cases:

• Corsair 600T
• Corsair 650D
• Thermaltake Overseer RX-I
• COUGAR Evolution

Results:

After comparing the temperatures, the Solution might not be great for cooling with just the one rear fan that comes stock. The idles were about on par with everything else in its category but its load temps were pretty warm. With no fan blowing across the HDD bays, the load temps were impressively high on the HDD. It’s no superstar of cooling but it doesn’t roast your gear either. The case is cheap enough that buying a couple of fans to increase its performance won’t break the bank. As is, it performs well and competes alright with more expensive cases, which is a good motivator for sales.