Ok, It’s been a few days since I built my computer, 2 to be exact, and I have ran tests upon tests on it to make sure that everything is working correctly and that I am getting some great performance right out of the gates. So far this rig has crushed my expectations, I was thinking of it running somewhere around ~11000 3dmark06 before overclocking it but it ran an amazing 13872 3Dmark06 score @ 1680×1050.

Before I tell you more about the performance, I will go over the specs again.

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0 Ghz
Cooler Master Hyper TX2 CPU Cooler
Intel X38 Mobo
4×1GB Mushkin DDR3 Ram
ATI Radeon HD 4870 512 MB GDDR5
Vista Home Premium 64-bit
Segate Baracuda 500gb SATA Drive

Ok, so those are the  basic vitals on my machine. To see more info about it and links to the parts on newegg, you can view my first post in this series about my new computer.

Time for some Benchmarks. These benchmarks reflect how I play games, I play games to win, not to have amazing graphics. Because of this, I hardly ever use any A, but I do keep all my settings on high and all the draw distances maxed out.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
91-92FPS Constant and Max
CoD is amazing on this computer, the game caps out at 91 FPS and my FPS never dips below that, so I probably could run the game at a much higher FPS.

Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning Beta
60-70 FPS in RvR Areas
Given the scale of environments in any MMO, FPS is subject to change. But, in Prague, the PVP middle-city for Empire and Chaos, I was getting 60+ FPS, which is more than acceptable given the intensity of action that was going on. I also had the game on its absolute highest settings, which probably includes some AA, I don’t know because you can’t change things individually right now.

Team Fortress 2
150+ FPS inside, 100-120 FPS outside.
My TF2 frame rates are ridiculous. Enough said, it is so much easier playing this fast paced game when you don’t have to worry about stuttering around with choppy frame rates.

Those are the only games that I have tested right now, but as I play more I will update this list.

How is the system running, hot? cold?
I think that my system is running and an acceptable rate, I would be lying if I said that I didn’t want it to run cooler, because I do, but my CPU is at about 25C idle and 35C under load, temperatures from Real Temp v2.

My graphics card, despite rumored heat problems, is running great. I applied the fan fix, it olny took about 5 minutes to set up my three profiles on Catalyst Control Center, and my temperatures have stayed at around 50C, hitting 57ish while I am playing a game.

Overview
There are still a few things I need to do, like cut down the fan noise so the machine runs quieter (that’s what you get for not buying really good fans) but other than that I am really happy with my machine.