Big Airflow – Fractal Epoch XL PC Case Review
Thermal Performance
Fractal Epoch XL Thermal Testing
Thermal performance is an essential factor for any PC case. Your system may look great from the outside, but all that is for nought if your PC has the internal temperature of an oven. Your PC case needs enough airflow for your components to remain cool under load and to prevent any form of thermal throttling. For our test, we used the following hardware, using fixed fan speeds (so that only the case and its fans can influence thermal performance).
Intel i9-9700K @4.8GHz at 1.2V
ASUS ROG Strix Z370-F Gaming @ 100% Current Capacity/ LL lvl16
Cooler Master Hyper 212 Black Edition @ 9V via Fan Speed Reducer
Nvidia GTX 980 Reference @ 60% Fixed Fan Speed
Corsair LP Vengeance LP (Grey) @ 3200MHz
Corsair MP500 M.2 NVMe SSD
Corsair RM550X Power Supply
The graph below showcases Delta temperatures with a controlled ambient temperature of 20 degrees Celsius.
1,000 RPM Fan Testing
When testing the Fractal Epoch XL, we added two Valkyrie 120mm fans to the case. These fans were at the top and rear of the chassis, creating an ideal airflow scenario for our system’s CPU cooler.
At 1,000 RPM fan speeds, the Fractal Epoch XL outperformed every other PC case we have tested, and its GPU thermals are solid. Clearly, this case includes 140mm Momentum 14 fans that can push a lot of air, and Fractal’s mesh designs are well-optimised. You need both to be great to get these kinds of results.
1,500 RPM Fan Testing
At 1500 RPM, we continue to see great results. CPU and GPU thermals remain excellent.
Max RPM Fan Testing
At our maximum fan RPMs, Fractal’s Epoch XL continues to deliver excellent results. CPU thermals remain second to none, and GPU thermals are decent. That said, cases with bottom-mounted fans have an edge when it comes to GPU thermals.
