Production Lazer3D LZ7 - Quiet Gaming Cube PC Case

[K888D]

I'm currently using the Scythe Kozuti. It's pretty quiet and efficient for its size but then again I am using a 35W processor.

I bought the Kozuti for another system to try and tame an A10-7860K (65W), but it wouldn't fit onto the Gigabyte GA-F2A88XN motherboard, overlapping the ram and motherboard heatsink, and unfortunately the Kozuti mounting system only allows you to fit it in 1 orientation.

I think in this cooler class the Thermalright AXP 100 or Cryorig C7 will be the best

I think your right about the C7, I'd love to get my hands on one of them, also being under 50mm height will give it a bit more breathing room.

I've used the AXP-100 in the past, its got a real nice heat sink, but the fan was quite audible even at low RPMs, although it did do a good job of keeping temps down under heavy load.

LZ7 STRESS TESTING WITH SCYTHE BIG SHURIKEN 2 REV.B
I thought I'd go straight in with the biggest cooler, the Scythe Big Shuriken 2 Rev.B. Its the most expensive of the bunch costing around £40 in the UK, it comes in at 58mm tall and includes a whopping 10 heatpipes and a 120mm slim PWM fan.

It was fairly straight forward to fit, on par with other similar height coolers such as the AR-06. There were no compatibility issues with the motherboard, despite the size of the heat sink covering most the motherboard it cleared the low profile RAM (Corsair Vengeance LPX) and all other motherboard components, it could also be fit in any orientation without issue which is great for planning airflow. Here it is fitted into the LZ7 on the Gigabyte B150N-Pheonix:

One of the reasons I wanted to test this cooler was due to the unique way that the heatsink is lifted off the motherboard by the heatpipes leaving a large gap under the cooler, this is great for the LZ7 in particular because the airflow from the side fan can pass right to other side of the board without being obstructed by the CPU cooler block:

When the SFX power supply is fitted there is about a 10mm gap between the Shuriken fan and the underside of the PSU, although it is worth noting that the PSU only sits above half of the CPU fan, the side intake fan also helps with CPU cooling by pushing cool air into the cooler fan.

TEST SETUP

HARDWARE

• Intel Core i5-6500
• Gigabyte GTX 1070 8Gb
• Gigabyte B150N-Pheonix WiFi
• 8Gb DDR4 2133MHz RAM
• Samsung PM951 256Gb M.2 NVMe SSD
• Corsair SF450 SFX PSU

COOLING CONFIGURATION

• Scythe Big Shuriken 2 Rev.B CPU Cooler
• Thermaltake Luna 14 intake fan (positive pressure setup)
• Dust filter on intake fan side panel
• Dust filter on GPU side panel

The case was tested fully assembled with dust filters on both the intake fan and GPU side panels, ambient room temperature was 22C. The system was stressed using Prime95 for 3 CPU cores, the 4th core was then left free to run Unigine Valley to fully stress the GPU, resulting in 100% usage of CPU and GPU. The system was left to run for 2 hours and results were recorded at the end of the test.

TEST RESULTS
The Big Shuriken 2 is a quiet cooler, but I wouldn't say that it is as quiet as the Noctua NH-L9i at idle speed, you can faintly hear the fan when you put your ear close to the case, whereas the Noctua is inaudible at idle.

Another issue I came across was that the Scythe fan wasn't reporting its RPM to the motherboard software, showing as 0rpm. But the PWM was still working fine as I could hear the fan tone change when I manually adjusted the % control.

On the positive side, this cooler provides tonnes of CPU cooling headroom, temperatures stayed exceptionally low during stress testing meaning the fan could be run at low speeds and still provide impressive temperature figures:

During the full system stress test the Big Shuriken 2 was the quietest active fan component, with the GPU being the most audible followed by the Thermaltake Luna 14 fan and then the Shuriken being barely audible.

CONCLUSION
Even though the Big Shuriken carries a premium price tag compared to other coolers of this class, the performance is definitely there to justify it. I would whole heartedly recommend this CPU cooler for use in the LZ7.

I would like to get hold of an Intel i7-6700k to see what this cooler is really capable of at higher TDP's, I have a feeling it would handle it no problem.

My only criticism of the Big Shuriken 2 is that the Scythe Slim fan isn't as quiet as some rivals, but if you were to upgrade the fan to a higher quality fan then it would be the ultimate silent sub 58mm cooler. Where are those 120mm slim fans Noctua!

FURTHER THOUGHTS ON GTX 1070 PERFORMANCE
It is worth noting that even though the GPU was the most audible component in the system I would not say that it was loud, just a low level hum and wooshing air noise.

The Gigabyte GTX 1070 targets a temperature of 83C and adjusts the fan speed to keep the card running under that temp, the GPU ended up sitting at 80C during the stress test with a respectable fan speed of 1513 RPM, the card also maintained a boost speed of at least 1797 MHz throughout the entire 2 hours of stress testing, sometimes going up to 1840 MHz.

The clock speed of the Founders Edition GTX 1070 is 1506Mhz with a boost of 1683MHz, so for the Gigabyte card to maintain a boost of 1797Mhz for 2 hours is very impressive for an ITX card with a single fan, and to do with a fan speed of 1513 RPM makes it even more impressive.

 

[MarcParis]

nice feedback!
thanks @K888D

 

[paisapues]

Hei, long time lurker here... I'm a big fan of the project and I have a question towards durability
How will the case fare if you put it in a backpack for transportation once in a while? Also, how stable is the GPU in there? Do you take it out for transport to avoid damaging it/the MB?

 

[K888D]

Hei, long time lurker here... I'm a big fan of the project and I have a question towards durability
How will the case fare if you put it in a backpack for transportation once in a while? Also, how stable is the GPU in there? Do you take it out for transport to avoid damaging it/the MB?

Hi, welcome to the forum!

Regarding GPU stability, I would say it's as stable as any standard case because it's basically fixed into the case in the same way. Firstly the GPU is secured into PCIe slot as normal, the bottom of the metal bracket then passes through slots in the bottom of the case, the top of the metal bracket is them screwed into the chassis as you would with any other case.

But, the case is made of plastic, so it won't be as durable as a metal case for example. I've not tried carrying it around in a backpack so I can't say whether or not it would be suitable for that type of use. All things considered it is pretty tough though, there is a picture earlier in the thread with my 3 year old daughter standing on top of the case, I think it's around page 10.

 

[MarcParis]

@K888D why are testing prime 95 with only 3 cores only?

 

[K888D]

@K888D why are testing prime 95 with only 3 cores only?

Good question, but there is a good reason!

Basically when you fully stress the CPU it leaves no processing power left to feed the GPU with enough data to fully stress it. If you only stress 3 out of 4 cores with Prime95 it leaves a spare core to maximise the GPU stress. The CPU will still max out at 100% usage as the 4th core is being used to run the GPU stress software.

As the GPU can be double or even triple the TDP of the CPU it is more important (in my opinion) to make sure that the GPU is fully stressed to really give you the worst case scenario with overall heat and power consumption.

In simple terms: 3 cores with Prime95 + Unigine = greater power consumption (more heat) than 4 cores Prime95 + Unigine.

Another way of explaining it is that the CPU can choke the GPU if it's being fully utilised elsewhere.

 

[CC Ricers]

I bought the Kozuti for another system to try and tame an A10-7860K (65W), but it wouldn't fit onto the Gigabyte GA-F2A88XN motherboard, overlapping the ram and motherboard heatsink, and unfortunately the Kozuti mounting system only allows you to fit it in 1 orientation.

That's what I've discovered with the cooler as well. With Intel CPUs, the copper heat pipes sit above the ram slots if you mount the cooler in a way where the fins run vertically relative to the motherboard. Gotta use horizontal for most ram. But your motherboard is especially troublesome because of the narrow ILM and tall heatsink.

However if you're using an Intel CPU and have very low profile ram it works in all orientations.

 

[MarcParis]

Well for power consumption, personnally, I'm using prime 95 on all threads + furmark....yeah I know it's crasy power consumption..

 

[Andorski]

But, the case is made of plastic, so it won't be as durable as a metal case for example. I've not tried carrying it around in a backpack so I can't say whether or not it would be suitable for that type of use.

Do you think you'll have time to test transporting this case around to see if it can handle the stress? I know you've said and shown that the acrylic sheet and 3D printing material is pretty tough and durable, but the case is comprised of several individual pieces all connected together via several tiny screws. It would be nice to know that it can withstand being moved around while completely filled with hardware. I'd personally be interested in seeing if the top panel can carry the weight of the entire PC while having a run-of-the-mill case handle attached.

 

[K888D]

With Intel CPUs, the copper heat pipes sit above the ram slots if you mount the cooler in a way where the fins run vertically relative to the motherboard. Gotta use horizontal for most ram. But your motherboard is especially troublesome because of the narrow ILM and tall heatsink.

Yeah unfortunately on the Gigabyte A88XN ITX motherboard the Kozuti fouls on the motherboard heatsink and not just the RAM!

Do you think you'll have time to test transporting this case around to see if it can handle the stress? I know you've said and shown that the acrylic sheet and 3D printing material is pretty tough and durable, but the case is comprised of several individual pieces all connected together via several tiny screws. It would be nice to know that it can withstand being moved around while completely filled with hardware.

Your right about the case being multiple panels, however it is a solid little block once its all assembled, each corner has 3 screws so its all held together very firmly.

Testing wise carrying it around, yes I think I will need to do this as a few people have asked about transportation. Primarily I wouldn't say that this is really a case suited to regular transport, mainly due to its cube shape rather than the more slim shaped cases that are suited for backpacks, but it would be nice to know it can withstand it if required.

Do you have any suggestions on what type of bag to get hold of? What would the typical person carry something like this around in?

Also, I am hoping to ship a fully built computer to my brother in a few weeks time so he can do a video review of the case, he has his own YouTube channel. So that should go some way to proving durability.

I'd personally be interested in seeing if the top panel can carry the weight of the entire PC while having a run-of-the-mill case handle attached.

Wat type of handle would you be looking at adding, would you be drilling your own holes for it? The top panel should be strong enough to carry the PC weight, I sometime lift the case when the front panel is off by placing my hand under the top panel. I'll be honest though, it isn't something I have tested yet. There will likely be some distortion/bending of the top panel when the PC is lifted.

 

[paisapues]

Yay! I guess any slightly padded backback will do... or a horizontal bag, something like this
Awesome we get a video review... about when do you think it will be online?

 

[K888D]

I can't make any promises about the video timescale, I've got some testing left to do on the case, then I'll get it shipped to my brother and it's then down to how much spare time he has to get a video done. Hopefully within 4 - 6 weeks sort of time frame.

 

[Andorski]

Your right about the case being multiple panels, however it is a solid little block once its all assembled, each corner has 3 screws so its all held together very firmly.

Testing wise carrying it around, yes I think I will need to do this as a few people have asked about transportation. Primarily I wouldn't say that this is really a case suited to regular transport, mainly due to its cube shape rather than the more slim shaped cases that are suited for backpacks, but it would be nice to know it can withstand it if required.

Do you have any suggestions on what type of bag to get hold of? What would the typical person carry something like this around in?

I wasn't really planning on getting a bag for transportation. I'm planning on making a rig for LAN parties/when I visit my folks. The most arduous transportation I would be doing is just moving the PC from my place -> back seat of my car -> whoever's house I was visiting. In my case a handle would be very useful. I would just carry my PC in one hand and have my TKL keyboard + mouse + cables in my messenger bag.

Also, I am hoping to ship a fully built computer to my brother in a few weeks time so he can do a video review of the case, he has his own YouTube channel. So that should go some way to proving durability.

What type of handle would you be looking at adding, would you be drilling your own holes for it? The top panel should be strong enough to carry the PC weight, I sometime lift the case when the front panel is off by placing my hand under the top panel. I'll be honest though, it isn't something I have tested yet. There will likely be some distortion/bending of the top panel when the PC is lifted.

I've never installed a case handle before, so I was assuming that the four holes you drilled into the top panel were following some standardized case handle measurements. I was looking into a simple handle like this. Though given the picture of your daughter standing on the case and seeing the top panel bending a bit, maybe having a handle that attaches at the center of the panel is not the best idea. If you could design a handle that attaches closer to the corners of the case (like this prior design of yours), then maybe adding a handle would be worthwhile. I know your focusing on just releasing the case though, so I understand if there isn't enough demand from potential buyers to produce one.

 

[K888D]

Time for some more photos, I've carried out some testing with the alternative side panels to what difference there is with noise and cooling performance.

The Thermaltake Luna 14 fan is quieter than the Prolimatech Vortex 14 for the same RPM, but the Vortex pumps far more air than the Luna. For this reason the Prolimatech fan was used for the testing.

GPU SIDE PANEL
For the GPU side panel it was found that the slotted side vents contribute to fan noise and the GPU is noticeably quieter at the same RPMs with the open panel and a dust filter fitted as below, this configuration was used for testing:

SYSTEM FAN PANEL
For the 140mm intake fan the quietest setup was found using the open panel with a fan guard fitted (see photo below), this configuration also offered by far the best airflow. Adding a dust filter instead does not increase noise by much, but airflow does reduce. In last place was the slotted design, this panel caused major fan turbulence dramatically increasing noise even at low RPM's turning a silent fan into a noisy fan, I don't think I will be offering the slotted vent design for the 140mm side panel!

Here is the configuration used for testing:

INTERNAL SETUP
When the front panel is removed you can see the Storage Drive mounting panel which slots into the base and is held in place by the corner joints:

The mounting panel can fit 2x 2.5" drives up to 15mm thick. There are 2 alternative hole positions for each drive to improve compatibility with some motherboards:

In front of the SFX PSU you can bundle up all the excess cabling leaving free space for airflow across the top of the motherboard and CPU cooler. In the photo below the the CPU has been fitted with the Scythe Big Shuriken 2, I found at idle RPM the Scythe fan was quite audible so I swapped it for one of THESE Akasa 120mm slim fans. The Akasa fan reduced idle noise to practically silent and actually improved the overall cooling performance as well:

In the photo below you can see the alternative slotted vent 140mm side panel, this design also has a Vandall power switch fitted. Also shown with the Thermalright 140mm slim fan, this configuration was very noisy!

You may also see from the photo above that I'm using a different motherboard (Gigabyte Z170N) that I had temporary access to, it was fitted with an Intel i7-6700 and the Silverstone AR-06 cooler. The cooling performance was OK, but not great, the i7-6700 hit 80C during Prime95 8 thread stress testing with the AR-06 running above 90% PWM.

I have a feeling that the AR-06 was hindered by the underside of the SFX PSU starving it of cool air, a lower height cooler would likely perform better, such as the Cryorig C7 or Noctua NH-L9i. In comparison the Scythe Big Shuriken offers tonnes of cooling potential thanks to its 120mm fan that I think would work well with this 65W TDP i7, unfortunately I didn't get chance to test this combination.

SIZE COMPARISON
The Raidmax Element is a very compact ITX gaming case with space for a full length GPU, full size Optical Drive or 240mm Radiator, an ATX power supply and decent CPU cooler height compatibility at a very cheap price!

However, I found 2 downsides to the Raidmax case, firstly the GPU runs quite hot when loaded due to limited intake and lack of direct exhaust, but also the PSU is located in the front of the case with the exhaust being partially blocked/restricted, I found that after prolonged use the PSU got very warm with the fans ramping up to compensate.

The Raidmax Element case is 16 litres in volume, here is the LZ7 sat next to it measuring 7 Litres:

TRIPLE MONITOR SETUP
Excuse the poor photo taken on my phone in my basement, it's not a great setup but I just wanted to test the the GTX 1070 card with a triple monitor setup:

I've not had chance to test the setup with a game that makes use of the triple monitor yet, hoping to do so soon. But I did spend a few hours playing Star Citizen with my brother, the game was maxed out graphically and running at 1080p, when I checked the monitoring software I found the GPU was only running at about 45% usage. The system was running practically silent sat next to me on the desk, just a very low hum from the Prolimatech side fan.

FULL SYSTEM STRESS TESTING
Here are the results of full system stress testing with the above dicussed setup (metal grill over side fan and dust filter over GPU).

The first screenshot shows the temperatures and fan RPMs of the system in idle (click to enlarge photo):

In the next screenshot the system was under full stress with the fan profiles set to quiet/silent:

In the following test the fans were set to auto and standard profiles to provide much higher RPM cooling, I wanted to see what the system was capable of if you don't mind a bit of extra fan noise:

The Big Shuriken did an outstanding job of cooling the i5 CPU, maintaining a temperature of 50C with the fan spinning at only 900 RPM, when pushed up to 1550 RPM the Shuriken got that temp down to 45C with a fully loaded system.

GPU wise the Gigabyte card managed to maintain a boost clock of 1810 MHz with the fan spinning at a quiet 1530 RPM on the silent profile. When the fan profile was set to Auto the RPM increased to 2000 dropping the GPU temp down to 69C and pushing the boost clock up to 1848 MHz.

M.2 temperature performance wise, when the system was idle the drive was sitting at 48C, this rose to 56C when the system was fully stressed under low RPM fan settings. The drive temp dropped to 53C under the same stress settings when the fans were set to auto/standard.

 

[MarcParis]

thx @K888D for these new pictures.

Personnally I don't like at all filter on gpu side panels.
Also compared to your monitors, lz7 seems big...I guess it's an optical effect..

 

[Phuncz]

I was worried the vents would cause noise. It does look the nicest but it does probably introduce quite some turbulence. What will you consider for both sides, as standard or as an option ?

 

[K888D]

Personnally I don't like at all filter on gpu side panels.

Yes I agree the windowed slot vent panel showing off your GPU looks much better, but it depends on what your priorities are as to which setup suits your needs. Some people prioritise dust protection over aesthetics, and other people (such as myself) prioritise a quieter system over aesthetics.

The dust filter doesn’t look as good, but it provides dust protection and lower fan noise at the same time. The good thing about using standard 140mm mounted filters is that you could always look for a different one that you prefer the look of, I think Silverstone do some with coloured accents.

The great thing is though that its up to the end user which side panels to use, there are different options depending on your needs.

Also compared to your monitors, lz7 seems big...I guess it's an optical effect..

I see what you mean about it looking big in that picture, perhaps it’s the perspective as the case is the closest object to the camera!

I was worried the vents would cause noise. It does look the nicest but it does probably introduce quite some turbulence.

Yes the vents do contribute to the fan noise, but don’t get me wrong the GPU is still quiet when running at 1500 RPM, it’s just even quieter without the slotted vents.

However, on the opposite 140mm fan side panel, the slotted vents make a huge difference to noise, a much bigger difference than on the GPU side. I think the reason for this is the proximity of the fan blades to the actual vent slots, on the GPU side there is probably about 4 – 5mm gap, whereas on the 140mm panel the fan is screwed into the panel leaving probably less than 1mm gap between the fan blades and the slots.

Pushing air through the panel slots (negative pressure setup) doesn’t add any real fan noise, but sucking air through these slots does (positive pressure setup) increases noise significantly. Swapping these slotted vents for the open panel with dust filter or metal fan grill drops fan noise back down to near silent levels at low RPMs.

What will you consider for both sides, as standard or as an option ?

The original goal of this case was to take the cube form factor as small as possible whilst remaining quiet under heavy usage.

I don’t feel that the slotted vent pattern on the 140mm side panel achieves this goal, so by default the case will be supplied with the open panel and a 140mm dust filter, with the option to choose a metal fan grill instead for maximum airflow.

One thing to note is that the fan grill can only be attached through the 120mm mounting holes, so you will need to pick a fan with 120mm mounting holes to use the grill, most 140mm slim fans use the smaller 120mm hole positions anyway. The Thermaltake Luna 14 however uses 140mm mounting holes, so this fan can only be used with a 140mm dust filter option.

For the GPU side the slot vent performance is ok for noise so the windowed slot panel version will be supplied as standard, but it can be upgraded to the dust filter version if the end user want the quietest system possible.

 

[MarcParis]

I guess @K888D you will need to find an easy way to propose all the possible options without getting customer confused..

 

[XeaLouS]

Hi K888D.

Could you try flipping the CPU cooler fan so it exhausts into the sfx psu?

This should help temps a lot as the psu and cpu fan wont be fighting each other.

 

[Phuncz]

Although that's indeed a good solution to improve airflow, be wary that some PSUs aren't happy with 40°C or warmer air being fed into them. This doesn't mean when the CPU (core) temp reads 40°C but much higher.
The SX700-LPT specifically has an issue that doesn't allow the fan to turn on below a certain load. When it gets fed warm air,it heats up the PSU straight into its Over Temperature Protection. I would only try this with high-end PSUs that have been tested in a hot-box setup (some sites do this).