A MOVABLE FEAST (G3258 / R9 285 / PC-TU200)

smallcaps · September 28, 2014

A MOVABLE FEAST was conceived as phase 1 of an OC hobby kit / project toolbox / LAN party / HTPC / emu rig that will be upgraded to phase 2 (OLD MAN AND THE SEA) in 2016. Before dropping big bucks on a high-end CPU and GPU, I wanted to get the hang of overclocking again as I haven't really overclocked since my Celeron 300A days. Most of the parts are new with the exception of the hard drives, which have been inherited from upgraded laptops and PCs. I wanted a balance of portability, performance and silence, so I consider these overclocks adequate with respect to the overall build characteristics. The CPU in particular could be pushed farther, but for a reasonably quiet portable gaming rig that I can bring onto a train as carry-on luggage, this suits my needs nicely.

All prices are in Australian $.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Pentium G3258 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor (Purchased For $79.00)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H90 94.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (Purchased For $125.00)
Motherboard: Asus Z97I-PLUS Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard (Purchased For $192.00)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2400 Memory (Purchased For $209.00)
Storage: Crucial M550 128GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive (Purchased For $119.00)
Storage: Western Digital Scorpio Blue 320GB 2.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive (Purchased For $0.00)
Storage: Western Digital Scorpio Blue 320GB 2.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive (Purchased For $0.00)
Storage: Hitachi Deskstar 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (Purchased For $0.00)
Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 285 2GB Double Dissipation Video Card (Purchased For $260.00)
Case: Lian-Li PC-TU200B Mini ITX Tower Case (Purchased For $180.00)
Power Supply: Silverstone 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (Purchased For $149.00)
Case Fan: Noctua NF-A14 industrialPPC-3000 PWM 158.5 CFM 140mm Fan (Purchased For $35.00)
Other: Arctic Cooling MX-4 (Purchased For $15.00)
Other: SilverStone PP05-E (Purchased For $39.00)
Other: Thermaltake Max 5 Duo SATA HDD Rack (Purchased For $65.00)
Total: $1467.00

Final Overclocks

Intel Pentium G3258 3.2GHz overclocked to 4.5GHz (1.35v)
Min/max CPU temps of 39c-79c
Cache overclocked to 4.1GHz (1.25v)
DDR3-2400MHz (1.675v)
XFX Radeon R9 285 overclocked to 1030MHz core clock and 1450MHz memory clock
Min/max GPU temps of 33c-68c
Stability testing using Idontcare's Overclocking CPU/GPU/Memory Stability Testing Guidelines to the gold standard
Final test using simultaneous OCCT and Valley Benchmark for 3h

Install Tips

The ST65F-G (140mm long PSU) and PP05-E (modular short cables) are perfect for this build
Installed PSU w/ fan facing down towards the CPU as it has to double as exhaust
Considered an SX600-G but opted for the larger fan of the ST65F-G
H90 mounted leaves about 270mm of clearance for GPU (total length including PSU cable headers)
Two of the mechanical hard drives are mounted in a Max 5 Duo
Picked the XFX specifically for its price-to-performance and cooling-to-size ratio
Low-cost alternative considered was the GTX 750 ti and high-cost alternative considered was the GTX 970
Mechanical hard drive mounted on the bottom of the case does not lie underneath the GPU
If you do get a longer GPU with cooling that lies over the HD mount, put an SSD there instead considering heat issues

Phase 2 (OLD MAN AND THE SEA)

i7 Haswell Refresh or Broadwell (if it ever comes)
NextGen AMD or Nvidia 9xx GPU
Saitek X-55 Rhino H.O.T.A.S.
Latest Oculus Rift (I already have a devkit 1, but I am excited to see updated hardware in the coming years)