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PCSpecialist Cobalt Spark R Prebuilt Review (i3 + RX 6600)

In terms of CPU thermals, the compact PCS FrostFlow air cooler had zero issues dealing with the i3-14100F. During an all-core Cinebench workload, the CPU drew less than 60W package power and it didn't even hit 70C, while we saw similar thermals during a 30-minute stress test in Cyberpunk 2077.

The GPU is also nothing to worry about, with the hot spot hitting just 72C, while the memory ran at just 64C, so it goes to show what happens when you put low-power hardware in a chassis with three intake fans – thermals are very, very good.

Noise levels are no problem either, in fact the fans barely spin up even when under load, as I measured noise of 36 dBa from a 30cm distance. It is just about audible while idling but the fans would easily be drowned out by even light music from a speaker set.

Lastly, power draw is also very low indeed. At full whack in games we saw about 210W at the wall, and this was 90W lower when only loading the CPU in Cinebench. Considering a 650W PSU is installed, that leaves ample room for an upgrade to both the CPU and GPU down the line, which we always like to see.

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