The Riotoro Prism CR1280 Case Review
by E. Fylladitakis on April 26, 2016 9:01 AM ESTTest setup
Professional testing requires the emulation of real-world situations but with repeatable results; thus, a perfectly controllable test setup and environment are required, especially for comparable results. Testing the thermal performance of any case with a typical real-world setup technically limits the comparability of the results to this setup alone, as an active system interacts with its environment and the change of a single component would alter myriads of variables. As such, we developed synthetic loads that emulate the thermal output of real systems, which however are passive, steady and quantifiable. As such, the thermal testing now displays the thermal capabilities of the case alone, as if it would have to deal with the entire thermal load by itself, regardless of the system that would be installed inside it. Laboratory data loggers are being used to monitor the PT100 sensors and control the safety relays, which are fully accessible via our custom software. Three such loads have been developed; the ATX version simulates a 200W CPU, 50W VRM, 30W RAM and 4 × 120W GPU card thermal load. Finally, three 3.5" HDD dummy loads have also been created, with each of them converting 30 W of electrical power to thermal, bringing the total thermal load of the ATX test setup up to 850 Watts. As such, the thermal load is immense and only the best of cases will be able to handle it for more than a few minutes, we are also performing a test with a thermal load of 400W, with all of the aforementioned components except the HDD drives at about 42% power, which is more suitable for the majority of cases.
Thermal testing has been performed with all of the case's stock fan operating at maximum speed. Noise testing has been performed with a background noise level of 30.4dB(A). Advanced noise testing is also being performed, in order to assess the ability of the case to dampen the noise of the components installed inside it. This includes the installation of two noise-generating sources (strong fans) inside the case, one positioned approximately over the first expansion slot and one over the CPU area, which generate ≈ 44.2 dB(A) when unobstructed. During the advanced noise test, all stock cooling options of the case are entirely disabled.
Results and discussion
Considering the size and design of the Riotoro Prism CR1280, its thermal performance was foreseeable, yielding results very close to other similarly sized designs. Using the stock cooling fans, the Prism CR1280 performs slightly worse than the Phanteks Enthoo Pro and the Corsair Graphite 760T. However, the stock cooling fans of both of these cases are superior to those of the Prism CR1280, as the company strangely installed 120 mm fans only. Therefore, the Prism CR1280 is not thermally inferior as a case design, but the significantly lower airflow of the stock cooling fans does not allow it to properly compete with many rivaling offerings.
The use of 120 mm fans has another side effect - noise. With its fans at their maximum speed, the Prism CR1280 is a loud case, with our instruments reading 40.9 dB(A) coming from the stock fans alone. Although this is not a very bad result, it will be annoying for a very significant percentage of users. We generally like to see figures below 38 dB(A) here, which is an audible but generally comfortable result. With the speed of the fans reduced down to 50% though, the Prism CR1280 does turn silent, with a reading of just 33.2 dB(A). This indicates that the bulk of the noise does not come from the engines of the fans themselves, but it is aerodynamic noise, a side effect of trying to push a lot of air through a limited radius. Larger fans would help dramatically, as they would maintain the same airflow at much lower noise levels.
With so many vents and openings, the Prism CR1280 is clearly not a case designed to dampen the noise generated by the system. Our second test using the dummy test source held no surprises either, as the sound dampening capabilities of the Prism CR1280 were proven to be very low. The sound pressure generated by our dummy noise source was reduced by just 1.4 dB(A), from 44.2 dB(A) to 42.8 dB(A). This is a very small difference, indiscernible for a human ear.
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SaolDan - Tuesday, April 26, 2016 - link
Neat!!Olaf van der Spek - Tuesday, April 26, 2016 - link
You might be able to set the BIOS to power on after power loss and then use the switch on the PSU or an external switch.plopke - Tuesday, April 26, 2016 - link
Speaking about cases , anyone know of a 5.25"front panel expansion with a new power button/reset button. I know Lian li and Scythe used to have some models but either very hard to get or extremely expensive because comes with lot of extras.<rant on>
Maybe I am just unlucky, or it is Antec but goddammit do power button on cases get crappier and crappier these days and every time I look at a review of cases these days the words "flimsy/weak" tend to be used or quality is ignored. On the plus side cooling and noise are properly reviewed.
Also quiet common to find the problem on the internet with following solutions :
-get new front panel if the case still made
-get new case("I GO UUURGRH inside")Speaking about cases , anyone know of a 5.25"front panel expansion with a new power button/reset button. I know Lian li and Scythe used to have some models but either very hard to get or extremely expensive because comes with lot of extras.
<rant on>
Maybe I am just unlucky, or it is Antec but goddammit do power button on cases get crappier and crappier these days and every time I look at a review of cases these days the words "flimsy/weak" tend to be used or quality is ignored. On the plus side cooling and noise are properly reviewed.
Also quiet common to find the problem on the internet with following solutions :
-super glue
-horrible mess because the enteir panel is one big hump of glued together plastics
-get new front panel if the case is still made
-get new case("I GO UUURGRH inside")
So in the end I was thinking of drilling a hole in a 5.25"bracket and putting for example one of these in it
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Phobya-system-cabinet-but...
Sometimes I wishes the reviewer of a PC case put a robot on the button until it breaks :P.
PS Luckely it isn't all bad , there actually still cases to be bought where the idea is not look as a neo lighted up brothel with a stealth fighter crashed into it.
<rant off>
Sorry I will stop being grumpy now , I tend to get grumpy when a easy problem turns into a day of googling !
So in the end I was thinking of drilling a hole in a 5.25"bracket and putting for example one of these in it
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Phobya-system-cabinet-but...
Sometimes I wishes the reviewer of a PC case put a robot on the button until it breaks :P.
PS Luckely it isn't all bad , there actually still cases to be bought where the idea is not look as a neo lighted up brothel with a stealth fighter crashed into it.
<rant off>
Sorry I will stop being grumpy now , I tend to get grumpy when a easy problem turns into a day of googling !
plopke - Tuesday, April 26, 2016 - link
Woepsplopke - Tuesday, April 26, 2016 - link
I kinda went a bit crazy with copy paste after logging inMurloc - Tuesday, April 26, 2016 - link
yeah it kinda makes you look cray-cray.I don't push the button more than once a day but I've never had or heard of any issues with cooler master cases.
fluxtatic - Wednesday, April 27, 2016 - link
That would have been pretty much exactly what I would have suggested, drill a hole in one of the 5.25" blanks and put in vandal-resistant switch.On another note, I think it's you - I've never had a problem with a power switch in any case I've ever owned.
JohnMD1022 - Saturday, June 4, 2016 - link
I only power off/on once a month or so.Valantar - Tuesday, April 26, 2016 - link
Any idea if Riotoro will expand distribution to Europe in the near future? For my next platform upgrade, I want a smaller chassis, and their CR1080 seems to be the _only_ compact, full ATX + full length ATX PSU case out there that doesn't look like utter sh*t. I don't mind moving to mATX, but the selection there isn't that much better, tbh. The Kimera Cerberus looks awesome, but it's not available (yet, perhaps ever), and $250 is a lot for a case.britjh22 - Tuesday, April 26, 2016 - link
Wow, having just built a system in a Zalman H1, I really wish I had seen this case first. I love the placement of the 2.5 & 3.5 drives.