Sound and Temperature Levels

System Setup

AMD Phenom II 810 AM3
Sapphire PC-AM2RS790G AM2+ 790GX
4GB OCZ Reaper DDR8500 DDR2
ATI Radeon X1800XT
Western Digital 300GB SATAII Hard Drive

As always, our audio levels were monitored using an Extech Sound Level Meter Model 407732 at a distance of 1 foot. Temperatures were read using a Raytek Minitemp gun. We ran 3DMark06 on a continuous loop for 15 minutes to allow for system temperatures and noise levels to normalize, then took readings. To ensure accurate results, we did this 3 additional times and took the average results.

Notes

On both fronts, the Element faired pretty well, keeping our system both cool and relatively quiet despite the Radeon X1800's known history of high noise levels. The 230mm top fan only runs at 750RPM's, but moves more than enough airflow to keep cool air moving over all the components. The chipset area was kept nice and cool and the GPU fan never ramped up past 40%, helping to keep noise down. Overall case noise was at excellent levels and we did not hear any instances of rattling or hard drive prattle.