Test Results
Just the CPU and PSU fan
When I first put the system together I tried it without a case fan. With only the CPU fan and PSU fan the system heated up quite a bit. Intel Prescott CPU cores begin throttle performance down when they reach 80C to keep from overheating. At full load for 2 hours the CPU reached 61C which is slightly high but still acceptable by Intel's specs. The motherboard reached 55 which is a bit out of my comfort area. Intel recommends 38C for the max ambient temperature but I have yet to see anything but noisy tower servers reach that temperature -- Not even Intel's spec system reached below 38C, it was 42C. Nevertheless, I wanted to see it below 40.
Adding a case fan
I contacted SilverStone who sent out two of their 80mm FM84XW variable speed fans. Although the LC04 only comes with screw holes on the left side for mounting a single case fan, there are air vents on the right side that are perfect for another 80mm or 92mm fan. After running tests with only the left fan, I did make four new screw holes on the right side in just a few minutes and continued testing various fan configurations and speeds to see what else could be done with this case (SilverStones has been considering making screw holes on the right standard so keep your eyes open.)
I spent many nights over the course of three weeks running the case through over 40 tests. Since I was using a Prescott Core CPU, I wanted to at least give the LC04 a decent chance at showing what it could do, regardless of what I put it through. :) It did well...
Test notes
The fan Speed of Max is 5500RPM and 72CFM; fan speed of Min is 1300RPM and about 17CFM; fan speed of 20% is when the fan becomes audible to the ear at 3 feet and 1900RPM and about 24CFM. System Idle was about 5% CPU usage. System Max included running the graphics card under a full 3D load, CPU running several CPU load applications to fully work both sides of the Prescott Core and the hard drive was running disk performance software constantly. All test were done with an ambient temperature of 21C-22C.
| System Idle |
| Fan Location | Fan Speed | Motherboard Temp | CPU Temp |
| Left In, Right Out | Max | 23 | 35 |
| Left In | Max | 24 | 38 |
| Left Out | Max | 27 | 31 |
| Left Out, Right Out | Max | 27 | 32 |
| Right In | Max | 30 | 41 |
| Left Out | Max | 31 | 33 |
| Right Out | Max | 32 | 36 |
| Left Out, Right In | 20% | 31 | 37 |
| Left In, Right Out | Min | 31 | 41 |
| Left Out | 20% | 33 | 33 |
| Left Out, Right In | Min | 32 | 38 |
| Right Out | Min | 33 | 39 |
| Left Out, Right Out | Min | 34 | 35 |
| Left In, Right In | 20% | 35 | 41 |
| Right In | Min | 35 | 42 |
| Left In | Min | 35 | 45 |
| Left Out | Min | 37 | 37 |
| Left In, Right In | Min | 37 | 41 |
|
| System Maxed |
| Fan Location | Fan Speed | Motherboard Temp | CPU Temp |
| Left In, Right Out | Max | 23 | 47 |
| Left Out, Right In | Max | 25 | 48 |
| Left In | Max | 25 | 53 |
| Left In, Right In | Max | 26 | 51 |
| Left Out, Right Out | Max | 27 | 44 |
| Left Out | Max | 30 | 44 |
| Right Out | Max | 31 | 50 |
| Left In, Right Out | 20% | 31 | 52 |
| Right In | Max | 34 | 55 |
| Left Out, Right Out | 20% | 35 | 47 |
| Left In, Right Out | Min | 35 | 56 |
| Left In, Right In | 20% | 36 | 56 |
| Left Out, Right Out | Min | 40 | 51 |
| Left Out, Right In | 20% | 40 | 52 |
| Left Out, Right In | Min | 41 | 54 |
| Right In | Min | 43 | 58 |
| Right In | 20% | 44 | 58 |
| Left Out | 0% | 45 | 53 |
| Right Out | 20% | 45 | 55 |
| Left In, Right In | Min | 48 | 58 |
| Right Out | Min | 48 | 58 |
Making sense of the results
It took me a while to make sense of the trends that came along with this case. I found that a critical key to keeping the case cool was to use the fan(s) in a way that pulled air in through the vent above the CPU and in from the vent above the rear motherboard panel. SilverStone did mention that the taller the CPU heat sink and fan and the closer to vent you can get it, the more cool air the system will bring in and the cooler it will run. This is especially true with a Prescott Core.
In Vs. Out
I also found that like with most cases, pushing air out results in better temperature control than pushing air in. Running with just the left fan did almost as well as having any right fan because it gave the CPU a good source of cool air and then pulled the medium temperature air out faster.
The best configuration to me was running both fans pushing air out of the case. The reason is the CPU gets fresh air from the top vent and also the back vent above the motherboard rear panel. Although the motherboard temperatures were slightly higher, the CPU ran much cooler.
CPU Fan Notes
Since most CPU fans are variable speed based on temperature, and since CPU fans are often the noisiest fan, the cooler the CPU the quieter the system. Anytime the CPU ran over 50C and especially 55C you could notice it from more than a few feet away.
Putting it in a closed cabinet
For another good test I placed the case inside a stereo cabinet and close the front door (So the only vent was an open back). Running both fans out heated the cabinet up quite a bit and rose the temperatures 7 degrees. I changed the right fan to push air into the case, make the heat outputs from the case towards the back and this improved airflow in the entire cabinet and only increased the case and CPU temperatures by 3C which was very acceptable for this setup.
For those not going to run a Prescott
If you are not running such a hot CPU, your temperatures will be much lower, 5C-10C and maybe even without a case fan.
There are so many little conclusions about various setups that I won't go over them, but if you're interested you do have all the test results above to make your own conclusions.
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