Digital Trends

Hy-Tek Tek Panel 300

May 17th, 2004 | by Jeff Fila

Noise and Cooling

Cramming all this high-end equipment into a relatively thin case with an integrated display is hard enough, but Hy-Tek also had to make it quiet while running at acceptable temperatures. They did a good job with this too.

LCD displays typically give off less heat than plasma displays of the same size and this is one of the reasons why LCD was a good choice for this particular application. The case has plenty of venting for the well-placed fans. Even the processor fan is precisely placed such that it draws air directly from outside the case. This ensures that only room temperature air is being used to help cool the processor, rather than warmer air that may be circulating inside the case. To help exhaust the warm air from the unit, there is a small case fan located in the lower left-hand corner of the back panel. The top panel is also perforated with small holes throughout to allow heat to rise out of the case.

We used the on-board temperature sensors and Motherboard Monitor 5 to record the temperature of the CPU and motherboard, first idling, with no applications running and then later after gaming for over an hour. We did not see much of a rise in temperatures from the processor, which was somewhat expected, but good to see considering the confined spaces of the Tek Panel case. This is also a testament to the smart design of the processor fan placement mentioned above. For the motherboard, we did see a bit more temperature increase after gaming, but that is nothing out of the ordinary.

Temperatures after cold boot:

• CPU temperature after cold boot with no applications running => 42.5C/108.5F
• Motherboard temperature after cold boot with no applications running => 41C/105.5F

Temperatures after 1 hour of gaming:

• CPU temperature after gaming for 1 hr => 43C/110F
• Motherboard temperature after gaming for 1 hr => 49C/120F

The Tek Panel 300 was also surprisingly quiet. We were very pleased with the noise level, considering this was designed to be a high-powered gaming system. Although we did not get to measure the exact level with a sound measurement device, it was comparable to what you would hear coming from a typical retail PC. At a comfortable viewing distance, the fans were barely audible and certainly did not interfere with DVD watching, gaming, or regular PC usage.