The SilverStone TJ04-E carries the same “Evolution” designation as the impressive Temjin TJ08-E micro-ATX tower, but this ATX tower fails to match the performance of its smaller predecessor. Addendum 8 Aug 2012: Manufacturer’s feedback on final page.
August 6, 2012 by Lawrence Lee
Product | SilverStone Temjin TJ04-E ATX Tower Case |
Manufacturer | |
Street Price | US$150 |
Last year SilverStone released an interesting microATX tower, the Temjin
TJ08-E. The “E” stands for “evolution,” though it
might have been more apt to use the suffix “R” for “revolution”
as its design was vastly different from previous members of the Temjin line
and most microATX cases in general. It featured an upside-down motherboard orientation,
a massive 18 cm front intake fan, and almost everything inside the case was
easily removable, allowing SilverStone to make it surprisingly compact.
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We expected the ATX-sized Temjin TJ04-E would bear a close resemblance
to the TJ08-E but there aren’t many commonalties aside from the classic SilverStone
look. The TJ04-E is truer to the “evolution” moniker, sporting a more
conservative design that doesn’t veer as far from other quality ATX towers.
With a street price of US$150, it is more affordable than previous members
of the Temjin line, but admittedly, its predecessors were massive all-aluminum
affairs touting luxurious price-tags.
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The TJ04-E is a more modest offering, only 48.9 cm (19.3 inches) tall with
a total volume of 51.2 L. It’s mainly comprised of steel rather than aluminum,
though being a SilverStone case, there is the usual understated, handsome aluminum
facia. It uses traditional 12 cm fans, the motherboard is installed right-side
up, and with the exception of a removable drive cage, the TJ04-E isn’t any more
modular than a typical case.
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The TJ04-E ships with the obligatory manual, screws, and zip-ties (not pictured
above), an internal USB 3.0 to USB 2.0 adapter and some hard drive accessories.
Included are a pair of large, passive heatsinks that can be attached to the
hard drives, and a couple of SATA power expanders that allows users to run devices
off a single connector. The TJ04-E’s main focus seems to center around storage.
Specifications: SilverStone Temjin TJ04-E (from the product web page) | ||
Model No. | SST-TJ04B-E (Black) | |
SST-TJ04B-E (Black) SST-TJ04B-EW (Black + Window) | ||
Material | 7mm aluminum front panel, steel body | |
Motherboard | SSI-CEB, ATX (up to 12” x 10.9”), Micro-ATX | |
Drive Bay | External | 5.25″ x 4 |
Internal | 3.5″ x 9 (optional 3.5” x 8 + 2.5” x 1), 2.5” x 6 | |
Cooling System | Front | — |
Rear | 1 x 120mm exhaust fan, 1200rpm, 21dBA | |
Side | Right:1 x 120mm intake fan, 1200rpm, 21dBA Right:1 x 120mm fan slot (optional) | |
Top | 1 x 120mm intake fan, 1200rpm, 21dBA 1 x 120mm / 140mm fan slot (optional) | |
Bottom | 1 x 120mm fan slot (optional) | |
Expansion Slot | 8 | |
Front I/O Port | USB 3.0 x 2 (backward compatible with USB 2.0) audio x 1 MIC x 1 | |
Power Supply | Standard PS2(ATX) *1 | |
Expansion Card | Compatible up to 17 inches in length * | |
Limitation of CPU cooler | 168mm | |
Limitation of PSU | — | |
Net Weight | 9.6kg | |
Dimension | 214mm(W)x489mm(H)x489mm(D), 51.2 liters |
EXTERIOR
The SilverStone Temjin TJ04-E’s body is constructed primarily of steel while the front bezel is composed of a 7 mm thick slab of aluminum. It weighs 9.6 kg or 21.1 lb and measures 21.4 x 48.9 x 48.9 cm or 8.4 x 19.3 x 19.3 inches (H x W x D) for a total case volume of 51.2 L, approximately the same as the NZXT H2. Its size is modest compared to most of the US$100+ towers we come across.
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INTERIOR
The interior of the TJ04-E has a traditional ATX layout except for an extra 2.5 inch drive cage on the floor behind the power supply. The internal build quality is fairly solid as you’d expect for US$150 case. The US$100 TJ08-E is noticeably flimsy by comparison.
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ASSEMBLY
Assembling a system in the Temjin TJ04-E is a straight forward affair. Our test system consists of an Asus 790GX motherboard, a ZEROtherm FZ120 heatsink with a Nexus 120 mm fan, a WD Caviar hard drive and a Cooler Master 700W modular power supply.
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TESTING
System Configuration:
- AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition
processor – 3.2 GHz, 45nm, 125W - ZEROtherm Zen FZ120
CPU cooler with Nexus 120mm fan - Asus M4A78T-E motherboard
– 790GX chipset - Crucial memory – 2x2GB, DDR3-1333
- ATI Radeon HD 4870 1GB
graphics card - Western Digital Caviar Black
hard drive – 1TB, 7200 RPM, 32MB cache - Coolermaster
Silent Pro M700W – modular ATX power supply - Microsoft
Windows 7 operating system – Ultimate, 64-bit - ATI
Catalyst 11.1 graphics driver
Measurement and Analysis Tools
- CPUBurn
processor stress software. - FurMark
stability test to stress the integrated GPU. - GPU-Z to
monitor GPU temperatures and fan speed. - SpeedFan
to monitor system temperatures. - Seasonic
Power Angel AC power meter, used to measure the power consumption
of the system. - Custom-built, four-channel variable DC power supply, used to regulate
fan speeds during the test. - PC-based spectrum analyzer:
SpectraPlus with ACO Pacific mic and M-Audio digitalaudio interfaces. - Anechoic chamber
with ambient level of 11 dBA or lower - Various other tools for testing fans, as documented in our
standard fan testing methodology.
System temperatures and noise levels were recorded with SpeedFan and GPU-Z
at idle and on load using CPUBurn (K7 setting) and FurMark, an OpenGL
benchmarking and stability testing utility.
Baseline Noise
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Stock Fan Noise Level | |||
Fan | SPL @1m (dBA) | ||
7V | 9V | 12V | |
Top | 12 | 15~16 | 23 |
Rear | 14 | 17~18 | 24 |
Front | 16 | 20 | 25 |
Combined | 19 | 24 | 29 |
Measuring mic positioned 1m at diagonal angle left/front of case. |
The Temjin TJ04-E ships with three identical 120 mm fans with the model number “HA1225L 12SA-Z,” which we’ve seen before most recently in the Fortress FT03 and Raven RV03. It’s a 3-pin, 0.33A model with a nominal speed of 1200 RPM. It’s not particularly quiet and emits a tiny amount of bearing chatter, but overall, it has a very nice, smooth sound.
Though the front fan is on the opposite side of the case from our mic, it measured
the loudest at 25 dBA@1m at 12V. The rear fan was moderately quieter, and the
top panel fan was quieter still. The quality of the noise didn’t noticeably
vary between the three positions. The combined noise level was a reasonably
quiet 19 dBA@1m at 7V, 24 dBA@1m at 9V, and 29 dBA@1m at 12V.
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Hard Drive Vibration
More often than not we run into cases with a hard drive vibration problem.
Typically this happens when the hard drive cage is not sufficiently secured
to the rest of the chassis or if the side panels are loose; in the case of the
TJ04-E, it’s a combination of both. Upon turning on our test system, we could
feel and hear the left side panel vibrating, but it disappeared when the panel
were braced with our hands.
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The vibration issue wasn’t a complete surprise given how the HDD cage has complete
support on one side, and we’ve definitely encountered a lot worse in the past
(the TJ08-E was terrible in this regard). Applying some styrofoam to the hard
drive cage to brace the side panel helped dissipate much of the vibration.
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Acoustic analysis showed a small improvement in acoustics; the ~120 Hz tone produced by the rotation of the drive decreased by 5 dB, resulting in an overall noise reduction of ~0.5 dBA.
Test Results: Radeon HD 4870 System
System Measurements (HD 4870) | ||||
System State | Idle | CPU + GPU Load | ||
System Fans | 7V | 9V | 9V (top fan changed to exhaust) | |
CPU Temp | 32°C | 48°C | 47°C | 49°C |
SB Temp | 46°C | 55°C | 57°C | 55°C |
HD Temp | 29°C | 30°C | 29°C | 29°C |
GPU Temp | 75°C | 87°C | 85°C | 84°C |
GPU Fan | 860 RPM | 1950 RPM | 1850 RPM | 1810 RPM |
System Power (AC) | 117W | 315W | 315W | 315W |
SPL@1m | 22~23 dBA | 29 dBA | 29 dBA | 28~29 dBA |
CPU fan set to 100% speed. Ambient temperature: 22°C. |
With the stock case fans running at 7V, our HD 4870 test system idled with
measured noise level of 22~23 dBA@1m, slightly higher than we typically see
with this configuration. On load, the internals heated up by a reasonable amount,
+16°C for the CPU, +11°C for the southbridge, while the overall noise
level settled at a loud 29 dBA@1m, a good portion of which was generated by
the GPU fan spinning at 1950 RPM.
Increasing the system fan speeds helped somewhat, lowering temperatures a
bit and allowing the GPU fan to spin 100 RPM slower, but the overall noise level
was the same. Flipping the top panel fan to blow outward was more beneficial,
improving the thermal conditions of both the southbridge and GPU, though it
caused the CPU to run a bit hotter.
When acting as an intake, the top fan provides the CPU heatsink with a stream
of cooler air from outside, which is then evacuated by the back panel exhaust
fan. This allows the CPU to run cooler but it seems to interfere with the heat
radiating upward from the video card.
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HD 4870 Configuration Comparison (Load) | ||||
Case | SilverStone Raven RV03 | Antec P280 | Corsair Obsidian 550D | SilverStone TJ04-E |
System Fans | top, bottom @9V/low | top, rear, front @low | rear, front @9V | top, rear, front @9V |
CPU Temp | 39°C | 45°C | 44°C | 49°C |
SB Temp | 51°C | 52°C | 54°C | 55°C |
HD Temp | 36°C | 28°C | 32°C | 29°C |
GPU Temp | 83°C | 85°C | 86°C | 84°C |
GPU Fan Speed | 1680 RPM | 1950 RPM | 1890 RPM | 1810 RPM |
SPL@1m | 25~26 dBA | 27 dBA | 27 dBA | 28~29 dBA |
CPU fan set to 100% speed All temperature results adjusted to 22°C ambient. |
Even with the reversed top panel fan, the TJ04-E is a somewhat disappointing
performer. Compared to similarly price towers, the TJ04-E has poorer CPU cooling
and is bit louder. It is easily bested by the Silverstone
Raven RV03, Antec P280,
and the Corsair
Obsidian 550D.
Test Results: 2 x Radeon HD 4870 (CrossFireX)
System Measurements ( 2 x HD 4870) | ||||
System State | Idle | CPU + GPU Load | ||
System Fans* | 7V | 9V | 12V | |
CPU Temp | 33°C | 53°C | 51°C | 48°C |
SB Temp | 59°C | 68°C | 67°C | 66°C |
HD Temp | 29°C | 30°C | 30°C | 29°C |
GPU #1 Temp | 78°C | 90°C | 90°C | 89°C |
GPU #1 Fan Speed | 1120 RPM | 2250 RPM | 2280 RPM | 2260 RPM |
GPU #2 Temp | 72°C | 85°C | 85°C | 83°C |
GPU #2 Fan Speed | 1000 RPM | 2000 RPM | 1950 RPM | 1770 RPM |
SPL@1m | 24 dBA | 34 dBA | 34 dBA | 34~35 dBA |
System Power | 191W | 524W | 524W | 521W |
*Top fan changed to exhaust. CPU fan set to 100% speed. Ambient temperature: 22°C. |
A second HD 4870 hraphics card put considerable extra strain on the system’s
thermal and acoustic properties. The upper GPU fan had to spin about 260 RPM
faster, and combined with the 1000 RPM speed of the lower GPU fan, the idle
noise level increased to 24 dBA@1m with the stock fans at 7V. On load, the system
measured 34 dBA@1m with the southbridge approaching 70°C and both GPU fans
passing the ,2000 RPM mark. Once again, the stock fans at 9V seemed to be the
sweet spot, giving the best combination of noise and cooling.
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CrossFireX Configuration Comparison (Load) | ||||
Case | SilverStone Raven RV03 | In Win Dragon Rider | Antec P280 | SilverStone TJ04-E |
Fans Speeds | top @12V, bottoms @9V/low | top, rear, sides @9V, front @5V | top, rear, front @low | top, rear, front @9V |
CPU | 41°C | 35°C | 45°C | 51°C |
SB | 66°C | 46°C | 64°C | 67°C |
HD | 34°C | 31°C | 28°C | 30°C |
GPU #1 | 87°C | 85°C | 89°C | 90°C |
GPU #1 RPM | 2140 | 1890 | 2440 | 2280 |
GPU #2 Temp | 81°C | 82°C | 84°C | 85°C |
GPU #2 RPM | 1820 | 1680 | 1950 | 1950 |
SPL@1m | 31~32°C | 32 dBA | 32~33 dBA | 34 dBA |
CPU fan set to 100% speed. All temperature results adjusted to 22°C ambient. |
Housing our CrossFireX HD 4870 configuration, the Temjin TJ04-E’s relative
performance is similar. The Antec P280, In
Win Dragon Rider, and Raven RV03 defeat it easily, particularly
in CPU cooling. The three competitors also generated significantly less noise
(due to the logarithmic nature of the decibel scale, slight increases in dB
are substantial at this level). Significantly, the TJ04-E did not have a single
measured parameter that bested the others.
AUDIO RECORDINGS
These recordings were made with a high resolution, lab quality, digital recording
system inside SPCR’s own 11 dBA ambient anechoic chamber, then converted to
LAME 128kbps encoded MP3s. We’ve listened long and hard to ensure there is no
audible degradation from the original WAV files to these MP3s. They represent
a quick snapshot of what we heard during the review.
Each recording starts with ambient noise, then 10 second segments of product
at various states. For the most realistic results,
set the volume so that the starting ambient level is just barely audible, then
don’t change the volume setting again while comparing all the sound files.
- SilverStone Temjin TJ04-E – Baseline – top, rear and front fan at 1m
— 7V (19 dBA@1m)
— 9V (24 dBA@1m)
— 12V (29 dBA@1m)
- SilverStone Temjin TJ04-E – Radeon HD 4870 test system at 1m
— idle, stock fans at 7V, CPU fan at 12V (22~23 dBA@1m)
— load, stock fans at 9V, CPU fan at 12V (28~29 dBA@1m)
- SilverStone Temjin TJ04-E – 2 x Radeon HD 4870 test system at 1m
— idle, stock fans at 7V, CPU fan at 12V (24 dBA@1m)
— load, stock fans at 9V, CPU fan at 12V (34 dBA@1m)
FINAL THOUGHTS
The first SilverStone “Evolution” case we reviewed, the Temjin
TJ08-E, impressed us with its modular design and clever use of space
that didn’t compromise its cooling proficiency. We were hoping the Temjin
TJ04-E would bring more of the same to the ATX space but this isn’t the
case. The TJ04-E’s design is fairly pedestrian, with most of the “improvements”
focused on hard drive cooling. It’s not necessarily a bad thing to concentrate
on one aspect of case design but keeping drives cool isn’t a particularly hard
thing to do — generally they only need a little bit of airflow blowing
over them to be kept happy.
SilverStone bought into this idea heavily and went in the odd direction of
screwing heatsinks directly on to the hard drives, designing the case to work
around this notion. To maximize the heatsinks’ effectiveness, they had to be
mounted to the sides of the drives, so a big portion out of the hard drive cage
was left out, leading to reduced sturdiness and increased susceptability to
vibration.
To optimize HDD cooling, the intake fan placements were placed on the side,
rather than the front, a decision which seems to have resulted in a lack of
direct intake airflow to the rest of the system and subpar cooling. The HDD
heatsink prevents individual drives from being easily removed, a big no-no if
the case is to be utilized as a file server, the one application for which the
TJ04-E might have been well-suited.
Externally, the Temjin TJ04-E is attractive, but for US$150 we expect
more, particularly if it doesn’t run cooler or quieter than the competition.
Much of the cost seemed to be in the thick aluminum front bezel, the hard drive
heatsinks and the included daisy-chain SATA power cables. With no other extras,
there aren’t any compelling reasons to purchase it over the likes of the SilverStone
Raven RV03, Antec P280,
or Corsair
Obsidian 550D. These are more balanced designs, delivering superior
performance, yet slightly more affordable. Oh, well, you can’t win them all.
SILVERSTONE’S COMMENT: THE FUTURE IS SMALLER 8 Aug 2012: Silverstone’s Tony Ou clarifies the design goals that I like to give you some additional information about the TJ04-E and KL04 Somewhat similar to what you wanted to promote when you started a few With the goal of maximizing the available space in a mid-tower design Even with a longer card such as those with extension brackets (or if The biggest PSU that will fit in the TJ04-E without relocating the 2.5” I also attached a PDF If you look at the chart closely, you can clearly see that as the hard Results for cooling performance from a couple of sites look good thus Hopefully that covers it and if you still have questions or comments, |
Our thanks to SilverStone for the Temjin TJ04-E case sample.
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Silverstone Fortress FT02 Revisited
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