Performance

CPU temperatures at stock speeds were kept at decent levels throughout testing, and cooling an overclocked CPU also proved to be well within the abilities of the Guardian 921. The fan on the X1800 rarely ramped up beyond 50%, which means that thermal dissipation from the video card was excellent. The chipset temperatures, one of the hardest areas to provide adequate cooling, were well within a tolerable range. Using the thermal gun, no dead spots were found, meaning that airflow was evenly distributed throughout the entire case. Case noise was good as well, thanks to use of 120mm fans and smart fan placement throughout the Guardian 921. The fans were never overbearing and provided good airflow across all components.


The charts above show the temperature readings from the LCD versus readings taken from a Raytek mini-temp temperature gun. The LCD turned out to be surprisingly accurate, with there rarely being more than 2 degree difference between the thermal gun and LCD readout. Once overclocked however, you do start to see a bigger gap, up to as much as 4 degrees. The case was tested multiple times, with similar results. What does this mean to the average user? The LCD should only be used as a general guide for determining internal temperatures. While it’s fairly accurate at stock speeds, a higher overclock, and the resulting temperatures, might be creating spikes that take time to register on the front panel.