Finished Build Questions (temperature, FPS, etc...)

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
T

twizzlybear

Reputable
May 10, 2015
27
0
4,530
Hello,

I just completed this build for my 6 year old son. He wanted some bling so I went with a nice case and LED fan setup. I actually bought a few LED fans (and the case came with 3), but there was only a single CPU fan header for the stock Intel heatsink and a single case fan CPU on the mobo:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4130 3.4GHz Dual-Core Processor ($118.00 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M-ITX/AC Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard ($87.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Sniper Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($60.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R9 285 2GB WINDFORCE 2X Video Card ($189.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Corsair Air 240 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($65.99 @ Amazon)
Case Fan: BitFenix Spectre Pro LED 56.2 CFM 120mm Fan ($14.09 @ Amazon)
Total: $717.02
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-05-20 12:45 EDT-0400


I'll write up a review later. In general, I was fine with everything, but the fully wired power supply and after-market fan left a bit to be desired.

OK so here are my questions:


    The case came with 3 fans (1 top and 2 front), the motherboard has only 1 header, so I went with a single top (using the aftermarket LED). The CPU at idle seems to hang around 40 deg C +/-. Does this seem workable? What temperature range is ideal here?

    If I wanted to add some more bling (forgive me, it's for my 6 year old son who loves the light shows), what would you recommend? There are no more headers so...

    I set up Minecraft using the benchmark procedure described here. With full screen, I seem to hang around 120-150 fps. Does this seem about right for this setup? When I turn on VSYNC, the fps drops to 50-60 fps. Does this seem about right?

    What hardware/software test can I run to check if things are running optimally?



Thanks so very much -- me & my son appreciate it!
 
Solution
M

One of my PCs has the i3-4330 with the stock cooler, in a Fractal Design Define R4 (2 intake, 1 exhaust fan, set to the 7V setting on the case's fan controller). With an ambient of 15-17C, at idle, it runs at 23-25C, and at 50-60% load hits 55C.


VSYNC essentially caps the framerate to 60fps (or whatever your screen's native refresh rate is - typically 60Hz), so yes ;)


I guess MemTest for checking the memory, Prime95 for checking the CPU, and I...
Sort by date Sort by votes
Entomber

Entomber

Admirable
Apr 21, 2014
2,752
0
7,960

That temperature is fine for idle, and is to be expected with a stock cooler. Around 40C is normal for idle, the thing you need to worry about is the chip hitting over 80C at any time.


You could add LED strips to the case, either inside or out.

Also, if your son likes flashy lights, you could consider something like a Corsair K70 RGB, which you can download dynamic backlighting profiles for.


Minecraft is not a very demanding game. That FPS seems right.

When you turn on VSYNC, it matches the framerate of the game to the real framerate of your display. Looks like your display cannot show more than 60 frames per second, so having your game run over 60 FPS is pointless.


You could stress test your system, but to be honest you won't need to since you're not overclocking, and there's no real point to you performing a stress test.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
M

martinch

Distinguished
Mar 21, 2014
837
26
19,640

One of my PCs has the i3-4330 with the stock cooler, in a Fractal Design Define R4 (2 intake, 1 exhaust fan, set to the 7V setting on the case's fan controller). With an ambient of 15-17C, at idle, it runs at 23-25C, and at 50-60% load hits 55C.


VSYNC essentially caps the framerate to 60fps (or whatever your screen's native refresh rate is - typically 60Hz), so yes ;)


I guess MemTest for checking the memory, Prime95 for checking the CPU, and I think EVGA PrecisionX has an artefact detector in it (although I'm not sure stress-testing is necessary)..? You could run 3D Mark (free version), and compare results to similar setups?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom