Verdict: A victory of style over substance

The TJ05 is a favoured case of many PC manufacturers (we've also rated it highly in the past), thanks to its huge number of drive bays and fan mounts. Plus, unlike many huge cases, it's actually quite good-looking. However, our new scientific tests revealed a few chinks in this massive chassis' armour.

Our first impressions of the TJ05 were good, as its rear 120mm exhaust fan has a large open grille, and there's also a set of vents in the left side panel. Unfortunately, the intake in the front panel for the 120mm fan is very restrictive. The front panel itself is so curvaceous that it blocks air from reaching the fan directly, so air has to be sucked around either side of the control panel housing the power and reset buttons. The air then has to work its way through a series of holes in the 3.5in drive cage before it can enter the main body of the case. A further three 80mm fan mounts are provided, one on the right side panel and two on the left, which will definitely improve the case's cooling ability, although they'll create lots of extra noise. The TJ05 has four 5.25in and two 3.5in external drive bays, plus eight 3.5in internal drive bays.

With our test components installed, and the PC set up in our test chamber, we set the system running 3DMark06 to heat up all the components. After around 30 minutes, though, the TJ05 proved to be one of the worst cooling cases in this Labs test. During the test run, the CPU peaked at 76ûC, while the Northbridge's temperature rose to a very unpleasant 62ûC, second only to the AOpen Impression. At the end of the test period, the whole frame of the case was so hot that it was unpleasant to touch for more than a few seconds, especially the area around the exhausts for the two graphics cards and PSU. Given that steel is far less thermally conductive than aluminium, it's amazing how hot the steel panels of the TJ05 can get.

The poor cooling performance of the TJ05 is highlighted in the infrared photograph, which shows a nasty heat bloom throughout the entire interior of the case. This is because, although it has a 120mm exhaust fan, little cool air is drawn in via the front of the case, so there isn't enough air flowing through the case to cool everything down. If you look closely at the motherboard, for example, the two DIMMs are almost indistinguishable from the two empty slots next to them, and the Northbridge, VRMs and Molex connector have blended into one. The PSU also ran very hot, as hot air is trapped at the top of the case, even spreading out into the upper 5.25in drive bays at the front of the case.

The TJ05 shows why restricting air intakes and transversely installing the hard disk cage is a bad idea, as it results in inadequate airflow through the chassis. Filling the extra fan mounts will obviously help, but the TJ05 is still best avoided if you plan to build a quiet high-end PC.

• Cases - 21st November 2008
• Motherboards - 24th October 2008
• Gaming Headsets - 26th September 2008
• Dream PCs - 24th September 2008
• Headphones - 12th September 2008
• Media PC components - 22nd August 2008
• PSUs - 14th July 2008

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