Check out these thermal images taken by the UK's Custom PC Magazine showing heat buildups in a PC case.

After approximately 40 minutes of running 3DMark06, the temperature inside the Impression seemed to have stabilised, although it was extremely high. The CPU had skyrocketed from 51°C at idle to 82°C, the Northbridge from 45°C to 66°C, the hard drive from 36°C to 50°C, and the GPUs from 68°C to 110°C. This means that the Impression cooled our test PC less than any other case in this Labs test. It compares very poorly with the best cooling cases, the Akasa Mirage and Antec P180, which, on average, cooled each component to 10°C lower than the Impression. The CPU temperature is very disappointing, considering that the CPU air guide on the left side panel is supposed to vent cool air directly into the CPU HSF.

The infrared photograph also reveals how hot air is trapped at the top of the case, which heats up the PSU. Fortunately, we selected a Seasonic S12-600 PSU precisely because it's very efficient, and runs cool compared with most other PSUs, so it wasn't adversely affected by the high air temperature. A lesser PSU's outputs may drop or fail altogether, however.

Despite the side-mounted CPU air guide, the restrictive front intake and restrictive 3.5in drive cage means that air finds it very hard to pass through the Impression. As our testing proves, the Impression fails to keep components as cool as other cases, so it really can't be recommended for a high-end PC. The Oven would be a more appropriate name for this case.