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An anemometer is a device that measures air speed. I measured air speed at 9 points around the exhaust vent and multiplied the average by the approximate area of the vent openings to get an airflow number in CFM. It's not perfect, but it will get us some ballpark numbers.
Whoa! This is awful. CPU performance has tanked, and GPU temps are through the roof. The Air Temp tells the story here: even with an exhaust fan, the case is not able to get the hot air out. However, you can fit a PC in here. There’s no AIO support, nor air filtration. So yes, there are sacrifices, but it offers among the easiest build processes – chances are you’ll be done building within the hour and have a very tidy end result. It will also happily fit huge triple-slot graphics cards, despite its ultra-compact 12-litter frame, and with a fancy ‘Cobalt’ PCIe 4.0 riser cable, there’s hardly a thing about this case that isn’t ultra-premium. It even has a carrying handle. There are two other cooler options recommended by the community: Scythe Big Shuriken 3 Rev. B and the Thermalright AXP120-X67. Both of these have top mounted 15mm fans, but a 25mm fan can also apparently fit, closing the gap to the shell with a little more wiggle room.
The Louqe Raw S1 is more than just a case – it’s arguably a functional work of art.
What sets the Louqe Raw S1 apart from the crowded world of PC cases is that it isn’t afraid to go in a totally different direction and limit your options. There is no tempered glass, no watercooling support, no RGB, nothing that falls into the typical trends of today’s day PC case design. And that, I applaud. It takes courage as designers to swim against the current and try something like this. Despite the added pain, the extra fan definitely improves things. The CPU is nearing maximum performance. When I tested the extra fan in open air, though, the difference was minimal. This tells us that the real benefit to having the extra fan is not improving static pressure through the heatsink, but rather cool intake air! With such a tight fit, the extra fan basically acts as a gasket for the CPU cooler. Once that's all done, I'm going to test the other two coolers I mentioned above, and add an intake duct for the GPU. The new RAW S1 promises full gaming PC power in one of the smallest chassis currently available. Its thin, minimum aesthetic is also unique; the popular Corsair One and Ghost S1 are two of the only other thin cases of this size. Outside of these options, it is rare to find other models that can also support powerful components. In an already limited category, LOUQE aims to situate itself as the best option.
Louqe's CPU Cooler Test and their support recommend adding an A12x15 fan on top of the NH-L12 GE cooler to achieve silent performance. You can get extra 120mm fan clips from Noctua for free to mount it, and you should get "silent" full performance! Is it perfect? From one point of view, no. It doesn’t have air filtration. There’s no real front IO, and no room for expansion. But none of that is what the Louqe Raw S1 is about. Extra fans, filtration, and expansion space would make the chassis bigger and more complex, entirely defeating the point. Aesthetically, the Raw S1 has a unique look that blends a modern style with aggressive, “gamer”-esque patterns and details. Red details on the interior, sand-blasted aluminum, and interesting cooling lines accentuate the look. However, most of the build is a simple sheet of aluminum. LOUQE has masterfully balanced these aesthetic choices with performance thanks to small features like a floating top plate and uni-body construction. It is extremely similar to the Corsair One in size, while their designs differ dramatically. Both are slim, vertical cases that are 12 liters in volume that can fit almost anywhere.My guess is that the GPU cooler moves enough air that some of it happens to escape through the top. I don't have a great explanation for the CPU; I suspect the vent changes some internal turbulent flow pattern that keeps hot air closer to the CPU/mobo. The smallest DIY PC cases from just a few years ago have often been thwarted by the increased cooling needs and size of today's components – particularly graphics cards like Nvidia's RTX 4090. But at 10.4 liters, the Mini-ITX Fractal Design Terra case has (just) enough room for most big GPUs, while delivering eye-catching aesthetics thanks to an aluminum exterior with some real wood trip up front. As compact cases go, this is one of the prettiest around. top exhaust fan - I, and many others on Discord thought this fan mounts on the interior of the case. It doesn't. You have to remove the top lid and mount the fan on top of the shell, which ruins the looks of the case (did anyone really buy this case for a reason other than looks?). It's also a giant pain to wire up because you either have to connect it after the shell is on or have a really long cable. The reason feels deceptive is that none of their pictures show it! They all have the top lid on. Now is a good time to mention my goal: maximum performance with silent fans. That means running all fans at around 50%. Eventually I'll set up a proper fan curve, but for now, and most of the rest of the tests, the fans are all just pegged at 50%. There's only a slight performance reduction here, again indicating sufficient airflow, and this is our CPU thermal performance target. Despite its unique design, the case’s thermals do not suffer. LOUQE has tested temperatures in the chassis with two different GPUs. Using the 3D-mark Firestrike extreme benchmark, the Nvidia RTX 3080 FE (2-slot) reached 70 °C with the case closed. In the same test, an EVGA RTX 2070 FTW3 Ultra (3-slot) reached just under 60 °C. The Raw S1’s ability to fit 3-slot graphics cards is a nice step-up from some competitors. It supports triple-slot GPUs up to 145 x 65 x 320 mm in size. For comparison, the Ghost S1 fits dual-slot GPUs up to 143a x 45 x 305 mm.
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