NZXT Lexa S Review

Testing:

To test the NZXT Lexa S, temperatures will be recorded for the CPU, GPU, chipset, hard drives and the overall system temperature during load and idle phases. Load will be simulated by Prime95 small FFTs and HD tune for 1 hour, with maximum temperatures recorded by RealTemp. The GPU load will be the maximum value recorded by Rivatuner after five loops of 3DMark06’s Canyon Flight test. Fan configuration is front and side 120mm intakes, and top (140mm) and rear (120mm) exhausts. The data collected from other cases will have the same fan configuration if applicable.

Testing Setup:

• Processor: Intel i7 920
• Motherboard: MSI Eclipse SLI
• Memory: Mushkin HP3 12800 7-7-7-20
• Video Card: Nvidia Geforce 8800GTS 320MB
• Power Supply: Mushkin 800w Modular Power Supply
• Hard Drive: Seagate 1TB SATA
• Optical Drive: Lite-on DVD-RW
• OS: Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit
• Ambient Temperature: 25° Celsius
• CPU Heatsink: Stock Intel

Comparison Cases:

• Inwin Metal Suit GD
• Cooler Master Elite 310
• Cooler Master Gladiator 600

The NZXT Lexa S performed very well in all areas, except chipset temperature, where it performed quite poorly compared to the other cases. This is most likely due in part to the position of the side intake fan, which did not provide any air movement over the chipset cooler on the motherboard. When cooled passively, the X58 northbridge can become very hot. If the side intake fan were positioned to provide airflow across the Northbridge heatsink, this case would have outperformed all of the other cases in every area.