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Benchmarks & Final Review
Compared to similar cases such as the NZXT H700i, the Bitfenix Enso, the be quiet! Dark Base 700 and the Antec P110 Luce, this chassis falls right into the middle of the pack. We chose these cases for comparison purposes because they are of like size and feature set, and all have tempered-glass side panels.
The combination of three 120mm intake fans and a single 120mm exhaust fan provided more than enough airflow to keep system temps in check. Fan speeds were manually set at 1,400 RPM. Under full load, CPU core temperatures on our budget quad-core Intel Core i5-7500 processor running at 3.8GHz peaked at 40°C over ambient temperature (25°C) during testing. Graphics-card temperatures benefited the most from the airflow provided by the trio of 120mm intake fans. GPU temps leveled off at 51°C over ambient temperature.
System noise was kept to a minimum, thanks in no small part to the sheer amount of tempered glass on this chassis. In fact, the CMT510 has an acoustic profile almost identical to that of the Dark Base 700, the quietest case we've tested to date. If keeping noise levels low is at the top of your list of priorities, you'd be hard-pressed to find a quieter chassis.
Cooling efficiency and noise levels are both ways to measure performance. Determining acoustic efficiency, also referred to as "cooling-to-noise ratio," is a matter of averaging all five of our tests to determine a base value.
Normally, this is the point in the review where we tell you that our value chart doesn’t take features into account. But it should be obvious by now that, in addition to its solid thermal and acoustic performance, in the FSP CMT510 you are getting a whole lot of case for the $90 asking price.
Indeed, the CMT510 is an interesting beast. It features tempered glass galore, good performance, and whisper-quiet operation. And it provides enough LED fans to satisfy the most ardent proponents of RGB case lighting. Overall, this is a great chassis for the money.
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