CCL Athena Aura (i5/1070) System Review

1. Introduction2. CCL Athena Aura3. Testing Methodology and Configuration4. SiSoft Sandra5. Cinebench R156. Handbrake Video Encoding7. SSD & HDD Performance8. USB 3.0 Bandwidth Testing9. 3DMark 1110. 3DMark11. VRMark12. Grand Theft Auto V (1080p, 1440p and 4K)13. Rise of the Tomb Raider (1080p, 1440p and 4K)14. Ashes of the Singularity (1080p, 1440p and 4K)15. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (1080p, 1440p and 4K)16. Ghost Recon: Wildlands (1080p, 1440p and 4K)17. Thermal Dynamics and Acoustics18. Power Consumption19. Closing Thoughts20. View All Pages

Thermal dynamics

To measure idle temperatures, a reading was taken after having Windows open on the desktop for 30 minutes. A reading under load was taken with Prime 95’s SmallFFt test running alongside 3DMark Fire Strike.

Ambient: 20C

The CPU peaking at 64 degrees is to be expected considering the chip has not been overclocked. A peak of just 65 degrees for the GPU is particularly impressive, though, and is definitely a testament to the Strix card's cooling solution.

Acoustics

The Athena Aura does idle slightly louder than I would like as it is audible at all times, though it is not overly loud or offensive. The flip-side of that is it hardly gets any louder when gaming, so overall its acoustics are just fine. Perhaps a slightly smarter fan curve would've eliminated some of the idle noise, but I can't complain too much.

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