XION XON-980 Case Review

Testing:

Testing the XION XON-980 required pushing my hardware to heat things up! Testing involved recording temperatures for the CPU, GPU, chipset, hard drives, and overall system during idle and load phases. Recently OCC has upgraded to the ForceGT 240GB SSD from Corsair and has removed the HDD temps from case reviews. HDTune is no longer a part of the Case benchmarking process.

Load was simulated by running Prime95’s small FFTs, 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 7970
• PSU: Antec TruePower New TP-750
• Hard Drive: Corsair ForceGT 240GB
• Optical Drive: N/A
• OS: Windows 7 Pro 64-Bit SP1

Comparison Cases:

• Corsair 600T
• Corsair 650D
• Thermaltake Overseer RX-I
• COUGAR Evolution
• COUGAR Solution
• Thermaltake Commander MS-I
• Bitfenix Raider
• Corsair 300R
• Corsair 550D
• Enermax Fulmo GT
• Cooler Master HAF XM
• Corsair C70

Results:

Well there's not a whole lot to talk about here. The XION XON-980 performed relatively average when it comes to the GPU and chipset temperatures falling right into the middle to upper-middle of the results. However, one measurement did stand out: the CPU temperature. This case, to put it mildly, heats up your CPU like most cases don't. The idle and load temperatures were up there with the hottest cases we've ever tested. Even the far less expensive Cougar and Thermaltake cases soundly beat out the XON-980 when it comes to CPU temperatures. This is a bit baffling as this case does include relatively loud fans in its stock configuration but after re-running the tests to verify the results there's no disputing them. This case, even if you remember to turn all the case fans on, just doesn’t play nice with your CPU temperatures.