PC Gamer Editor Tests 20 Anime Figures in PC Case: Temp Rises Just 1°C

PC Gamer editor Jess Kinghorn recently conducted an experiment to see if cluttering a PC case with collectibles actually hurts performance. She placed 20 anime figures inside a Hyte Y40 case to measure the real-world impact on cooling and gaming speeds. This experiment addresses common concerns among PC builders that non-aerodynamic objects inside a case might restrict airflow and reduce gaming performance.

PC Gamer editor tests 20 anime figures in PC case

The test rig used an RTX 4070 Super GPU and ran in a room with an ambient temperature of 34°C. Kinghorn stuffed the plastic figures into the chassis to observe how they affected heat dissipation during short benchmark runs. The objective was to determine whether the figures functioned as heat sinks or obstructed airflow.

FurMark 2 benchmarks showed that the GPU peak temperature only rose by 1°C, moving from 83°C in an empty case to 84°C with the figures inside. Average frame rates in 1080p dropped slightly from 195fps to 192fps. The test also noted a peak of 198fps when only 8 figures were installed.

These results suggest that short-term gaming performance is largely unaffected by placing dense plastic items in this specific case design. However, the test only covered 60-second benchmark intervals. Longer gaming sessions might cause heat accumulation that could lead to sustained thermal throttling or even melting of the plastic figures.

The experiment confirms that minor obstructions do not immediately crash performance in the Hyte Y40 under these specific conditions. Builders can likely place small collectibles without fearing immediate thermal disasters, though long-term heat buildup remains unverified.