DinoPC Troodon Review

Performance Analysis

Comparing the PCs in our graphs is a little haphazard as they're spread over three different operating systems and use different drivers, but that's just something we'll have to live with. Even so, the Troodon was clearly a super-fast machine that had a clear advantage over GTX 980 PCs we've tested - the GTX 980 Ti really is quite a bit faster, especially thanks to the massive overclock DinoPC has applied.

For instance, in Battlefield 4, its minimum frame rate of 67fps at 2,440 x 1,440 was 17fps faster than the GTX 980-equipped Utopia Pandora. 4K here was no problem either - it managed a minimum frame rate of 44fps and average of 65fps. It was a similar story in Crysis 3, with only the SLI-wielding Overclockers UK Infin8 Nebula - a £3,000 system, able to better it. The minimum frame rate in this demanding game bottomed out at 31fps, with the average at 38fps - still perfectly smooth, and the Trooodon performed similarly against the competition in Unigine Valley as well, just falling short of the 5,000 point mark at 2,560 x 1,440 with 0xAA and Ultra quality.


It was the 2D tests where the Troodon's massive CPU overclock came into play though, and in both PCMark 8 tests and the Terragen 3 rendering test it managed the top spot. Only when the additional cores of X99 systems such as the Overclockers UK Titan Wave's Core i7-5820K were added did the PC struggle against the competition - it was otherwise a match for everything else we've tested. Power consumption was pretty high at 470W under load, but this is still well within the PSUs limit of 650W.

The storage performance graphs speak for themselves - the Samsung SSD 950 Pro managed a huge read speed of 2,288MB/sec in the sequential test and had a clear lead in the 4K random test too. It seems that PCMark 8's storage trace tests don't scale well above 500MB/sec though - many of the faster systems we've tested perform very similarly here.

Noise-wise, the PC just creates a dull airflow noise that's in no way intrusive. It's a compact machine with just one double 120mm-fan radiator dealing with a massively overclocked CPU and GPU so it's never going to be silent, but even sat on your desk next to you, noise won't be a problem. The cooling system did a good job of dealing with the heat too, with the CPU delta T sitting at 68°C in Prime95 with the absolute temperature in Core Temp never breaching 90°C. The GPU sat at a delta T of 38°C, with the GPU-Z reported temperature staying under 60°C the whole time

Conclusion

As always with a pre-built PC, you have to weigh up the options of building the system yourself. In terms of raw value, the Troodon is a couple of hundred pounds more expensive than buying everything yourself - a quick total-up saw us come to a figure of around £2,100-2,200. However, there are several things here that are missing from that price.

Firstly, there's the customisation. The vinyl actually looks great and has been expertly applied. Cable management is superb throughout, and building the PC would likely take the best of us at least a day - more if you factor in thoroughly leak-testing it and that's before you get to overclocking and installing the OS. In addition, you get a comprehensive three-year warranty. Is all that worth a couple of hundred pounds? We're of the opinion that the answer to that is a resounding yes, even if you're just talking about the time involved. The end result is a stunning PC that's extremely fast and easily capable of 4K gaming too, plus it has some seriously drool-worthy components.