expiredVioletDime2033 posted Feb 22, 2024 07:26 PM
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expiredVioletDime2033 posted Feb 22, 2024 07:26 PM
Lenovo Legion Desktop PC Refurb i7-13700KF NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 32GB Ram $1,546.99
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- The bios is less flexible than on a 3rd party mobo, giving you only limited control over fan/power/noise profiles
- The cooler that's included is woefully undersized for the CPU and very noisy at high wattage loads. I replaced it with a Thermalright Frost Spirit 140 which just BARELY fits in the case. Also, because Lenovo in it's case design decided to not include a CPU area cutout in the tray the mobo is mounted on you have to remove the motherboard from the case completely to install it.
- The power supply has an always-on fan without a passive mode
- System stability has been great so far and benchmarks within expected performance given the specs
- Make sure you go into the bios to enable the XMP profile which is disabled by default. Bumps ram speed to 5600mhz.
- The bios is less flexible than on a 3rd party mobo, giving you only limited control over fan/power/noise profiles
- The cooler that's included is woefully undersized for the CPU and very noisy at high wattage loads. I replaced it with a Thermalright Frost Spirit 140 which just BARELY fits in the case. Also, because Lenovo in it's case design decided to not include a CPU area cutout in the tray the mobo is mounted on you have to remove the motherboard from the case completely to install it.
- The power supply has an always-on fan without a passive mode
- System stability has been great so far and benchmarks within expected performance given the specs
- Make sure you go into the bios to enable the XMP profile which is disabled by default. Bumps ram speed to 5600mhz.
One more headache I need to mention. The CPU cooler support bracket on the back of the mobo was attached with double-sided sticky tape. I used a blow-dryer to VERY carefully warm the adhesive and then lift off the bracket using a plastic prying tool. Then replaced it with the bracket provided with the FS 140.
Also, when I said the FS140 barely fits I meant it. I have probably 2 mm clearance to the side glass. And that's after making sure the 140 mm fan is clipped in on the heatsink as low as possible. I went with the FS 140 instead the Phantom Spirit as the FS 140 fans have lower top speeds which helps with noise given the limited control you have over fan speed in the Lenovo Bios/Vantage. It performs pretty well on the 13700KF. I have the system running on the Lenovo Vantage Performance Profile (which tops out at 190W sustained power use) now and don't experience any thermal throttling and CPU temps don't usually go higher than the upper 70-something degrees Celsius range, even in all-core benchmarks at a sustained 190 watts draw. Confirmed via monitoring through the Intel Extreme Tuning Utility. You can also use that to set even higher sustained wattage loads but I didn't see any practical benefit.
One more headache I need to mention. The CPU cooler support bracket on the back of the mobo was attached with double-sided sticky tape. I used a blow-dryer to VERY carefully warm the adhesive and then lift off the bracket using a plastic prying tool. Then replaced it with the bracket provided with the FS 140.
Also, when I said the FS140 barely fits I meant it. I have probably 2 mm clearance to the side glass. And that's after making sure the 140 mm fan is clipped in on the heatsink as low as possible. I went with the FS 140 instead the Phantom Spirit as the FS 140 fans have lower top speeds which helps with noise given the limited control you have over fan speed in the Lenovo Bios/Vantage. It performs pretty well on the 13700KF. I have the system running on the Lenovo Vantage Performance Profile (which tops out at 190W sustained power use) now and don't experience any thermal throttling and CPU temps don't usually go higher than the upper 70-something degrees Celsius range, even in all-core benchmarks at a sustained 190 watts draw. Confirmed via monitoring through the Intel Extreme Tuning Utility. You can also use that to set even higher sustained wattage loads but I didn't see any practical benefit.
Additionally, because of the crappy case mobo tray design, you have to disconnect and reconnect EVERYTHING connected to the mobo (and there's A LOT). Amount of effort involved was not that far off building from scratch. You may want to first live with the stock cooler for a bit and see if it doesn't work out for you. It wasn't completely intolerable, I was just used to better from my previous from-scratch builds. This is my first prebuilt in 25 years or so.
Additionally, because of the crappy case mobo tray design, you have to disconnect and reconnect EVERYTHING connected to the mobo (and there's A LOT). Amount of effort involved was not that far off building from scratch. You may want to first live with the stock cooler for a bit and see if it doesn't work out for you. It wasn't completely intolerable, I was just used to better from my previous from-scratch builds. This is my first prebuilt in 25 years or so.
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I play Star Citizen, which is pretty CPU heavy and gets up to 70% continuous CPU utilization which a) dipped into thermal throttling and b) got WAY too loud for my taste.
I got too old and lazy to build but already decided this will be my first and last pre-built. Apparently I'm too picky about details and too cheap for the really high-end pre-built ones that get all the details right.
That being said with the CPU cooler swap I'm in a fairly content place with this one and will keep it until it ages out or my older daughter decides she needs a gaming rig.
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