Next-gen Radeon and Ryzen are… just on the horizon . Zen 3 and RDNA 2 represent some of the most impressive and affordable generational performance improvements that AMD has been promising for years since the launch of the original Zen architecture. They made a fantastic showing last generation for mid-range GPU performance with their Radeon RX 5700XT, which, understandably, made numerous gamers question whether they really needed to shell out the extra dough for immature Ray-Tracing features from Nvidia’s roughly equivalent RTX 2070 Super. Now, builders are facing an even more challenging question. Will RDNA 2 be worth the cheaper price tag in the face of Ampere’s incredible Ray-Tracing support?

DLSS (deep learning super sampling) was honestly a bit of a joke when Nvidia first developed it. Only a handful of games supported Ray-Tracing, and usually with limited application. Depending on the title and implementation, Ray-Tracing only offered minor visual improvements for a significant FPS penalty no matter how robust your build was. DLSS was initially intended to offset this penalty by rendering games at a lower resolution and upscaling them with Nvidia’s AI technology, but it simply wasn’t very effective. However, DLSS 2.0 has grown into a force to be reckoned with. Games like Control, F1 2020, Death Stranding, Minecraft RTX, Wolfenstein: Youngblood, Anthem, Metro Exodus, Battlefield V, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Final Fantasy XV, and Monster Hunter: World, to name a few, all support DLSS and receive insane performance benefits with anywhere from 20-200% higher FPS by merely having it enabled. Whatever your opinion on any of those titles might be, free FPS is always welcome. That’s not even considering the plethora of upcoming games that will also support DLSS, like Cyberpunk 2077 and Call of Duty Black Ops: Cold War.

AMD has discussed RDNA 2’s Ray-Tracing support and their answer to DLSS, but they’ve yet to reveal any official benchmarks compared to Ampere, and, rumor has it, Ray-Tracing may not be the reason you want to opt for Team Red when it comes to the GPU for your next gaming build. Of course, we’ll have to see how things play out when AMD’s new hardware launches over this holiday season, so keep an eye for our latest updates and results!

Regardless of the Radeon RX 6900XT’s Ray-Tracing performance, one thing is certain, AMD is competitive at the high-end again, and for a deep discount. Compared to the $1500 RTX 3090, the RX 6900XT is only going to cost $1000. Translation: for $50 less than the cost of just Nvidia’s top-tier gaming GPU this generation, you can purchase the Radeon RX 6900XT and the Ryzen 7 5800X. We’re going to go out on a limb and say that even if the rumors are true and RDNA 2’s Ray-Tracing performance leaves a lot to be desired, AMD still makes a more compelling offer for the majority of gamers looking to build a new rig this year. Not to mention the uphill battle that Intel is facing in the wake of Zen 3’s reveal!

So, today, we’re going to recommend the best 6900XT build for PC gaming with a budget of $3500. Let’s take a look.

Best $3500 Radeon RX 6900XT Gaming PC Build – The Parts List

Component	Selection	Design	Price
CPU	Ryzen 9 5900X		$550
CPU Cooler	Noctua NH-U12A		$99.99
Motherboard	Asus ROG Crosshair VIII Hero (Wi-Fi)		$379.99
Memory	G.Skill Trident Z Neo 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4-3600 CL16		$178.99
Storage	2TB Samsung 970 EVO Plus (x2)		$599.99
Graphics Card	AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT		$999
PC Case	be quiet! Dark Base 700		$179.99
Power Supply	Corsair AX1000 80+ Titanium		$399.99
Case Fans	be quiet! Silent Wings 3 140mm		$107.60
		Total	$3495.45

CPU

It’s likely that no matter how clever Intel manages to be with 11^th Gen Rocket Lake, another 14nm process is going to struggle to compete with Zen 3 across the board, especially considering AMD’s incredible power efficiency. The top-tier gaming CPU from the new Ryzen lineup will be the $550 Ryzen 9 5900X. Just over $500 is about the tail end of what most gamers are willing to spend for optimal FPS performance if Intel’s Core i9 series has been any indication.

The 5900X is poised to not only trounce the current gaming champion, the Intel Core i9-10900K but with Rocket Lake maxing out at eight cores, the 5900X should still readily compete against the 11^th Gen Core i9 series CPU as well. The new Ryzen 9 5900X sports twelve cores, twenty-four threads, boost clocks up to 4.8GHz by default, and 64MB of L3 cache. With technologies like Smart Access Memory and the new RAGE mode, an auto overclocking feature, pairing Zen 3 and RDNA 2 should see incredible benefits by opting for the beefy, if not slightly overkill for games, 5900X. The best part is that you’ll have more than enough processing power to tackle the most demanding creative workloads as well as max settings in the latest AAA titles at up to 4K resolution, each with buttery smooth performance.

CPU Cooler

Sitting atop our new 5900X will be the Noctua NH-U12A. There’s nothing wrong with liquid cooling, be it a custom open-loop or AIO unit. If you prefer the look of liquid cooling solutions, and if you’re willing to accept the maintenance and potential points of failure that come with them, you’re welcome to dive right in. However, I personally stand by air-cooling considering the level of performance that companies like Noctua, be quiet!, and Scythe can offer. A well-engineered air-cooler brings airflow and thermal performance on par with even some of the best 240mm AIO units on the market, and the 105W TDP of mid to high-end Ryzen Zen 3 CPUs isn’t exactly demanding. Thus, one of the most recent and well-rounded air coolers from the world’s premier heat sink manufacturers seems to make the most sense for our build today.

The NH-U12A essentially brings the thermal and noise performance of Noctua’s renowned dual-tower NH-D15 in a more compact, single-tower package. A dense fin stack, seven heatpipes, and two NF-A12x25 fans virtually guarantee cool CPU temps and spectacular case and RAM compatibility to allow you the most freedom when selecting the other components for your build. Finally, Noctua’s included NT-H1 thermal compound means you don’t have to spend any extra money to ensure you get the most out of the NH-U12A.

Motherboard

Our motherboard today has 60A Power Stages, a 16 Phase VRM (14+2), support for up to 128GB of DDR4-4800MHz memory, 2x M.2 slots, Intel AX200 Wi-Fi 6 + Bluetooth 5.0, Realtek 2.5G LAN, SupremeFX S1220 Audio CODEC, 8x USB 3.2 Gen 2 (1 is Type-C) + 4x USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports, 8x SATA III 6Gb/s ports, an integrated I/O shield, Clear CMOS + BIOS Flashback buttons, a POST code readout, onboard Power + Reset buttons, as well as a BIOS Safe Boot + ReTry buttons! We’re talking about the Asus ROG Crosshair VIII Hero (Wi-Fi).

For nearly half the price, the Crosshair VIII Hero readily competed in VRM thermal benchmarks with the Gigabyte X570 Aorus XTREME and the MSI MEG X570 GODLIKE. That’s a respectable showing from a motherboard with teamed power phases, which was more than capable of handling last generation’s Ryzen 9 3950X. If you plan to see just how much headroom AMD has left with Zen 3, there are few better options for less than $700!

Memory

Just because our focus is gaming doesn’t mean we need to restrict ourselves to 16GB of RAM, especially nowadays. With multiple monitors, dozens of programs running in the background, inefficient browsers, and memory leaks, even if you don’t plan on doing any photo/video editing or 3D rendering, 32GB allows you the freedom to use as much of your machine as possible, simultaneously. Further, since DDR4 has matured incredibly over these past several years, pricing for DRAM has dropped considerably, meaning you have access to 32GB kits of high-performance memory for less than $200!

That is where the G.Skill Trident Z Neo 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 memory kit comes into play. While leaving you space to upgrade down the line should you choose to dabble in more intensive creativity/productivity programs, you’ll have ample memory to push your multi-monitor display setup, games, comms programs, and media consumption at the same time without worrying about memory usage.

Storage

Ding dong, spinning drives are dead… For the most part. Unless you have reason to store massive amounts of documents, photos, videos, and project files, solid-state storage is the way of the future. SSDs have come down so far in price, even for high-capacity (2TB) options, that gamers in particular need to consider making them their primary and secondary storage options for their libraries. Next-gen consoles having SSDs as their standard storage devices means that game developers have already (i.e., finally) started to take advantage of the speeds available with solid-state storage to stream assets directly to the GPU. The best example of this process in action is the Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart trailer, where you see the dynamic duo traversing portals to different, incredibly diverse worlds instantly and seamlessly.

Thus, we have chosen two 2TB Samsung 970 EVO Plus M.2 SSDs for our OS and bulk storage drives. M.2 drives mean no cable management and some of the fastest transfer speeds outside of PCIe 4.0 SSDs. If you don’t play many games at once, utilize cloud storage for most of your general files, or just want to save some money, feel free to pick up only one and worry about upgrading later when you need the extra space!

Graphics Card

The piece de resistance of our build: The Radeon RX 6900XT. Performance comparable to a card that costs $500 more and uses an additional 50W is borderline miraculous, and AMD is rightfully proud. Ray-Tracing aside, RDNA 2 looks to not only be gunning for the performance crown at 4K resolution but also for gamers’ wallets as they offer numbers that some users couldn’t even dream of shelling out for just a short year ago.

The 6900XT comes with 16GB of VRAM, boost clocks up to 2.25GHz, 5,120 GPU cores, 448GB/s memory bandwidth and a Total Board Power (TBP) of only 300W. $1000 isn’t exactly cheap, but again, compared to the $1500 Nvidia is asking for their top-tier SKU, it almost seems tantalizing, even if it ends up bombing in regards to Ray-Tracing benchmarks.

PC Case

Energy-efficient components tend to generate less heat, which means they need less cooling, which means they generate less noise. So, to further maximize the benefits of AMD’s supremely efficient new hardware, we’ve opted for the be quiet! Dark Base 700 ATX Mid-Tower for the ultimate noise optimization.

The Dark Base 700’s modular internals allow for completely inverted ATX builds, riser cards, and storage drive capacity with removable side panels. There’s even a removable panel on the PSU shroud for a bottom intake fan, which we’ll take advantage of in the next section! With two included Silent Wings 3 140mm fans and case-mounted fan controller, thermal and noise performance are great by default. The overall build quality is immaculate with a beautifully machined motherboard tray and exterior, and a tinted tempered glass side panel, making this one of the sleekest cases on the market.

Fans

To fortify our thermal performance and airflow, we recommend picking up four be quiet! Silent Wings 3 140mm High-Speed PWM fans. Two are for additional front intakes, one for the bottom intake below the PSU shroud, which we mentioned earlier, and one is to assist the included rear exhaust at the top of the case. This setup will maximize the performance we get from the NH-U12A and provide ample airflow for all of your components while keeping noise levels down and saturating the included fan controller.

Power Supply

Finally, the delivery of clean and stable power to our enthusiast build will be handled by a Corsair AX1000 80+ Titanium power supply. With the AX1000, we receive full modularity for easy cable management, the highest efficiency rating possible, plenty of overclocking headroom, and a total wattage that should put us in the optimal peak load efficiency range (where your system’s combined TDP equals ~50% of your PSU’s total). The team at PremiumBuilds will always stress just how vital your PSU is to your system. Ensuring a stable and clean supply of electricity to your components should improve their longevity and overclocking results, meaning you should always opt for the best possible option for your power supply. If there are two things you shouldn’t ever skimp on, it’s this and your motherboard. Buying the best you can for each component means that you can use them in builds for years to come, and Corsair’s 10-year warranty means some of you PC parents might be able to hand the AX1000 on to your next generation of enthusiasts!

Closing Thoughts

Ray-Tracing or no Ray-Tracing, RDNA 2 is going to be marvelous, especially if AMD is capable of satisfying their demand even slightly better than Nvidia has been able to since Ampere launched. We might be looking at a typical case of the tortoise vs. the hare, and Nvidia might end up seriously regretting rushing the 3000 series out the door to try and crash AMD’s party. If you’ve got 4K or high-refresh 1440p gaming aspirations, AMD looks like a snack this holiday season !

The post Best $3500 Radeon RX 6900 XT Gaming PC Build for 2021 appeared first on PremiumBuilds.

Today, this one is for the window shoppers and 1%. There might be a handful of builders in the world that genuinely need this level of performance out of a machine, but there’s not a soul who wouldn’t appreciate it.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, we must mention the fact that the RTX 3090 can’t yet claim the title of best high-end GPU until the world can get its hands on AMD’s new RDNA 2 cards. Regardless, the RTX 3090, especially our choice today, is guaranteed to sit amongst the top of any and every benchmark you can throw at it. Starting at $1500, the RTX 3090 manages to be even more jaw-dropping than the last generation’s FPS king, the RTX 2080 Ti. However, even with the RX 6000 purportedly achieving boost clock speeds of up to 2.5GHz, those with enough patience or disposable income won’t have many other options for absolutely top-tier performance from their next GPU.

Here at PremiumBuilds, we pride ourselves on maximizing price-to-performance for every curated build we present. However, as evidenced by Jon’s recent RTX 3090 Gaming Build, that doesn’t mean we shy away from systems with a more premium price tag. Further, all of our parts lists are made to be completely modular. So, if you have more or less money to play with, you can pick from some of the alternatives we offer or decide on your own upgrades/downgrades.

Now without further ado, let’s examine one of the most powerful consumer desktop configurations possible (courtesy of this exciting new age in gaming performance)!

Ultimate $5000 Ryzen 9 5950X + RTX 3090 Command Center – The Parts List

CPU

One of our centerpieces today is the Ryzen 9 5950X, available starting November 5^th of this year.  The 5950X is a shoo-in for this generation’s performance champion based on some recently leaked benchmarks and AMD’s internal testing. The generational improvements coming with Zen 3, including a reworked L3 cache to allow each CPU core direct and simultaneous access, should roughly translate to a 20% instructions per clock (IPC) improvement over Zen 2 while maintaining the same 105W TDP (thermal design power)!

Zen 3’s power efficiency and relatively tame thermal performance are a testament to AMD’s engineering, and the genius of the Zen architecture. Opting for a chiplet design, opposed to monolithic CPU dies, developing improvements to Zen, and manufacturing the physical product is easier and faster for AMD and TSMC. This is the biggest reason AMD can deliver on their promises of significant upgrades with each new generation of the Zen architecture.

With sixteen cores, thirty-two threads, 64MB of L3 cache, and default boost clocks of up to 4.9GHz, the 5950X aims for the CPU summit this generation. If Zen 3 has also managed to hide some significant overclocking headroom, where Zen 2, by and large, did not, then AMD is almost guaranteed to take home the trophy for workstation and FPS performance.

CPU Cooler

Today’s build is brought to you by the colors black and white, and our first component is Noctua’s legendary NH-D15 Chromax.Black dual-tower heat sink.

By no means is the NH-D15 the only option for premium air-cooling performance, but it is still one of the best even after so many years. Noctua sets itself apart by almost always opting for function over form, and immaculate build quality, which is why it came as quite a surprise when they finally yielded to popular demand and created the Chromax variants for their most popular models. For the longest time, Noctua held fast against criticisms of their notorious brown color scheme until finally offering blacked-out versions of heat sinks like the NH-D15, NH-U12s, and NH-L9a. Now, anyone who may have used the “ugly” brown color scheme as an excuse to stay away from Noctua products essentially has no reason to snag one of the best CPU coolers of all time.

Aside from the slick new color treatment, the Chromax NH-D15 brings the same 240mm AIO level cooling performance with six heat pipes, two 140mm fin stacks, and two of their renowned NF-A15 140mm fans. Considering the unchanged 105W with Zen 3 compared to Zen 2, even if Zen 3 ends up capable of serious overclocking, there’s virtually no reason to opt for liquid cooling outside of a completely custom open-loop. Air coolers will forever remain a preferable option for most builders with better noise performance, roughly equivalent cooling performance, and minimal points of failure. If you’re excited about liquid cooling, then by all means, but if all you care about is performance and reliability, there is no better alternative to a premium air cooler.

Motherboard

Today’s motherboard is the embodiment of the phrase “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” and it keeps with our black and white theme! The MSI MEG X570 Unify returns, as it has been a staple in mid to high-end AMD builds ever since its initial release. The X570 chipset has seen few options as well-rounded and well-designed as the Unify, hence how prolific it’s been as a top-tier pick regardless of who you ask.

The X570 Unify boasts 60A Power Stages, a 15 Phase VRM (12+2+1), support for up to 128GB of DDR4-5000MHz memory, 3x M.2 slots, Intel AX200 Wi-Fi 6 + Bluetooth 5.0, Realtek 2.5G LAN + ALC1220 Audio CODEC, 4x USB 3.2 Gen 2 (1 is Type-C) + 2x USB 3.2 Gen 1 + 2x USB 2.0 ports, an internal USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C header, 4x SATA III 6Gb/s ports, an integrated I/O shield, rear Clear CMOS + BIOS Flashback buttons, onboard Power and Reset buttons, and a POST code readout, all of which are stylishly blacked out.

If Zen 3 can be overclocked, a stellar pick for Zen 2 will be even better! The X570 Unify already has incredible VRM performance; thus, with virtually no change in TDP for Zen 3, $300 even will ensure you extract as much power from the new 5950X as possible!

Memory

AMD’s Zen 2 CPUs performed remarkably well in games, but they were really intended to provide unparalleled productivity performance for consumer desktops. This time around, Zen 3 is coming in guns blazing to not only retain their superior workstation performance but shoot for the top spot in gaming as well. With this in mind, we’ve chosen the G.Skill Ripjaws V 64GB (4x16GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 memory kit to ensure you’ve more than enough memory for gaming and tasks like photo/video editing and rendering.

However, if you’re not interested in anything other than gaming, feel free to pick up the 32GB version (2x16GB) to leave an upgrade path for yourself, still have ample memory for gaming and multi-tasking, and save some money!

Storage

Everything keeps getting smaller, and thanks to solid-state drives, all of your data can now fit on something near the size of a pack of stick gum! Enter the $300 2TB Samsung 970 EVO Plus M.2 SSD, our OS drive of choice. M.2 SSDs are some of the fastest storage devices available outside of even pricier PCIe 4.0 options. They eliminate the cable management that comes with 2.5” and 3.5” drives, are incredibly easy to install and replace, and thanks to the X570 Unify, you have the option to expand with up to two more down the road.

Additionally, we’ve selected a 2TB Samsung 860 EVO 2.5” SSD for our bulk drive. Our build today is an exceptional workstation, but AAA games are getting more and more storage-intensive. More assets need to be retrieved and faster than ever before. Meaning, unless we see some incredible breakthroughs in spinning drive technology, and soon, SSDs will quickly become a requirement for your favorite new games to run at peak performance. That’s precisely why the next generation of game consoles have chosen to include SSDs as their default storage devices. Sony and Microsoft have each developed proprietary technologies to facilitate the transfer of textures and assets from high-speed solid-state drives to the GPU. This means that consoles might be the best way to experience certain games until developers finally start to take advantage of technology that’s been available to PC gamers for years.

Graphics Card

The EVGA GeForce RTX 3090 24GB FTW3 Gaming; our other centerpiece for today’s build. As with most aspects of enthusiast builds, the RTX 3090 is extravagant, it’s overkill, and it’s supremely expensive.

The base price of an RTX 3090 is $1500, but EVGA offers its signature performance, over-engineering, and design flair to bring the FTW3 up to nearly $1750. With a monster-sized heat sink, triple cooling fans, and stylish RGB shroud, this triple-slot beast will be just as ridiculous as and right at home with the rest of our system.

With boost clocks up to 1740MHz, 24GB of VRAM, and a gargantuan 350W TDP, it’s a good thing EVGA has a rich history of high-performance GPU cooling because this guy will surely need every bit of cooling performance EVGA can muster. Alas, our theme isn’t quite perfect due to the RGB fan shroud, but if you genuinely hate the idea of any lights interrupting the pure black aesthetic we’ve chosen, you can turn them off with EVGA’s LED Sync software as part of their Precision X1 overclocking tool.

It remains to be seen just how competitive the next generation of AMD’s cards is. Still, the performance offered by the RTX 3090 allows for astronomical FPS below 4K resolutions and absolutely remarkable performance at and above it, and with every setting cranked as high as possible.

PC Case

For the sake of contrast, we’ve chosen an incredible black and white case from Fractal Design, the Meshify S2.

The Meshify S2 is a hybrid of their incredibly popular Meshify C mid-tower and Define S2 full-tower cases. With the Define series’ internal design and the airflow centric features of the Meshify, the Meshify S2 is essentially a stretched out Meshify C with enough room to accommodate the chunky RTX 3090 and NH-D15.

With three excellent 140mm PWM fans included (two front intake, one rear exhaust), you can rest assured that your parts are getting enough airflow without having to spend any extra money. The Meshify S2 also sports a tempered glass side panel to provide an unobstructed view of our blacked-out internals and the signature angular Meshify front panel to keep things looking attractive on the outside.

Power Supply

In the interest of efficiency, and considering those of you prone to never turning off your PCs, we’ve chosen to power our build with an EVGA SuperNOVA 1000 T2 80+ Titanium PSU. While you could get away with an 850W PSU for a machine like this (which should draw around 615W under load), we want to make sure we’re as close to the “sweet spot” for PSU efficiency (50-60%) while retaining as much headroom as possible for overclocking and external device connections.

AMD might have kept their high-end CPUs at a reasonable 105W TDP, but the RTX 3090’s 350W is no joke, and overclockers who win the silicon lottery might be able to squeeze another 100W out of it thanks to EVGA. Finally, knock on wood, should anything go wrong, EVGA has you covered with their tremendous 10-year warranty and customer support.

Display

Before capping off our crazy command center, another quote seems fitting, “just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.” The RTX 3090 and Ryzen 9 5950X CPU-GPU combo are more than able to demolish plenty of gaming benchmarks at 4K resolutions, but not all of them. Titles with insane graphical fidelity like Jedi: Fallen Order, Red Dead Redemption 2, Flight Simulator 2020, and Horizon: Zero Dawn still cannot break the 100FPS barrier at Ultra 4K settings even with the RTX 3090. So to guarantee 144Hz+ gaming in nearly every game out there, we suggest you pick up a ViewSonic ELITE XG270QG 27” 1440p 1ms 144Hz (165Hz OC) IPS Nano display.

Despite the insane numbers that are possible nowadays, the most popular resolution is still 1080p. 1080p’s continued dominance is due, primarily, to the performance overhead, hence why we’ve chosen a fantastic middle-ground with 1440p. With 1440p, you still get to enjoy more pixels and screen real estate over 1080p, but without hampering yourself in the most GPU intensive games. Because the RTX 3090 is capable of pushing 4K resolutions so hard, 1440p ensures you’ll hit the refresh rate cap of 144Hz/165Hz, and stay there.

A final note, we recommend not using the OC feature to push the refresh rate of the ViewSonic ELITE to 165Hz. Not only is there a point of diminishing returns in perceived smoothness for the majority of gamers between 120-144Hz, but overdrive/overclocking functions for most displays increase the refresh rate at the cost of additional motion blur, visual artifacts, and “ghosting.”

Closing Thoughts

To sum up this generation’s hardware? Just, wow. If this is the sort of machine we can build today, then we cannot wait for whatever tomorrow holds. As always, let us know your thoughts in the comments below, and thanks for reading!

The post Ultimate $5000 Ryzen 9 5950X + RTX 3090 Command Center for 2021 appeared first on PremiumBuilds.

It is quite rare that a new CPU generation hits around the same time as a new GPU generation. We’re of course talking about AMD’s Ryzen 5000 and Nvidia’s RTX 3000 series which both push the boundaries of gaming performance to never before seen levels. The leaps in both processor and graphics performance warrant a great time to build a PC for the next 3 years+ depending on the specs you’ll be getting. Today we will be recommending a high end build around the $2000 price point which packs the highest levels of gaming performance at the end of 2020.

You heard it right, this build can achieve an average of 30 to 35% better FPS than the previous best $2000 gaming build which featured a Ryzen 7 3700X and an RTX 2080Ti; that’s a huge leap at the same price point and consumers like you and me can now enjoy it. The new Ryzen 7 5800X series is an enthusiast’s dream with gaming performance levels exceeding even the Core i9 10900K. These gains on the Ryzen 5000 series come from the huge 19% uplift in IPC, single core performance and core to core latency improvements. In short terms, the 5800X is a beast that sets a new standard in gaming performance.

On the graphics side, we got the RTX 3080 which is the newest effort from Nvidia to push the boundaries of high resolution and high refresh rate gaming performance. With an overall FPS uplift of around 30% above the outgoing RTX 2080Ti model which was the previous top performing single GPU on the market, the RTX 3080 establishes itself as one of the most thought after GPUs at its $700 launch price.

The Ryzen 7 5800X and the RTX 3080 are the highlights of this build but we’re going to follow up with the surrounding components in order to offer you a strong build in all other areas such as storage, cooling and memory capacity. Here’s the specs needed for the system:

Ryzen 7 5800X Gaming Build – The Parts List

CPU: Ryzen 7 5800X

AMD used their October 8th presentation to give us a rather detailed look at their Ryzen 5000 portfolio with the Ryzen 7 5800X launched as the single 8 core / 16 thread model and available on November 5th on shelves worldwide. Their performance improvements surprised everyone and thanks to the architecture overhaul, gaming FPS is a great advantage on the Ryzen CPUs which now are marketed as the best gaming CPUs out there with a 5% or higher margin when compared to competing Intel CPUs. This is a great achievement because gaming performance was still lagging behind the Intel CPUs for the past three Ryzen generations.

Not anymore though. Its safe to say consumers are warmly welcoming this gaming performance uplift with the new Ryzen 5000 series. The Ryzen 7 5800X for example welcomes a 25% average advantage over the outgoing Ryzen 3000 XT models which happened due to the 19% IPC performance uplift and latency optimizations; such a leap in one generation just for gaming performance is impressive and we foresee a very high demand for the new CPUs.

In this build, we still could’ve used a last generation CPU such as the Ryzen 7 3700X and the price would’ve been around $150 cheaper but if we’re going to build a highly capable build that can demolish any resolution at high refresh rates, then there’s no better pairing than that of the Ryzen 7 5800X and RTX 3080 thanks to their stunning performance and good performance per dollar. We’re not going to say this build is affordable for everyone but instead, we’re going to say that bleeding-edge performance has gotten much cheaper with these two new generations of high-performance processors and graphics cards.

CPU Cooler: Dark Rock Pro 4

The Ryzen 7 5800X keeps the 105W TDP of his predecessor, the Ryzen 7 3800X and thus, is as easy to cool. All the CPU coolers that did a great job cooling the latter will up to the task with the 5800X. For a $2000 build that’s aimed at the enthusiast gamer we’d like to recommend one of the best air coolers on the market. The Dark Rock Pro 4 is a dual tower air cooler built using beQuiet!’s solid mantra of “no compromise silence and performance”. You can expect silent utilization during any load and ample rooms for overclocking if you are tweak-happy with the processor.

The heat sink consists of a huge dual tower design with seven 6 mm heat pipes while using 2 x SilentWing fans, one 135 mm and one 120mm, that are virtually inaudible during both idle and load environments. The great combination of performance, quality, value and design makes the Dark Rock Pro 4 an exception offering at its $90 retail price. Mounting this huge cooler is made easy by the simple instructions and the ample room you have in the Lian Li LANCOOL II-X case that we’re featuring in this build.

Motherboard: ASUS TUF Gaming X570-Plus (WiFI)

The gamer inside you will not need the extensive extra features of a very high-end X570 motherboard and this is why the ASUS TUF Gaming X570-Plus Wi-Fi is such a great fit for this gaming build. Its VRM design is shared with the much more expensive Maximum XI Hero motherboard and at this price point, its one of the most capable motherboards that can run any Ryzen 5000 chip even with heavy overclocking thanks to its strong hardware features.

With a stellar BIOS layout and frequent updates, you’ll feel like the X570 will leave nothing to be desired. Features include the PCIe 4.0 standard which will aid our RTX 3080 and storage device to stretch their wings, 14 Phase VRM, 128GB 4400MHz support through the 4 RAM slots, 2x M.2 slots one of which is passively cooled and a great Realtek ALC S1200A Audio CODEC. The TUF is also pretty generous with its I/O; the 3x USB 3.2 Gen 2 (1 x Type-C) + 4x USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports and 8x SATA 6Gb/s ports are most likely enough for any gaming enthusiast or streamer out there. For new AMD builders getting ready for their first gaming machine, the TUF Gaming X570-Plus WiFi is a great option that doesn’t break the bank and offers all the key features and configurability of AMD’s AM4 platform.

Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16

With DDR4 slowly approaching the end of its life and thanks to the high level of competition in the memory market, we can afford to splurge towards the 32 GB of RAM. Many would argue that 16 GB is enough for a gaming build and that is very true with mainstream and high end builds; you are not going to exceed 10-12 GB of memory usage in any of the latest titles but you are going to cut it close with the 16 GB. If you’re one of those PC users that like to keep open tons of applications or browser tabs or even someone who would like to use their PC as a rendering and editing machine then 16 GB would induce a bottleneck into this great gaming build and we would like to avoid it at all costs. It’s very cheap to do so with the extra 16 GB of high-performance system memory.

This build is also crafted to last you for many years and 32 GB of RAM will surely take care of your needs for its full lifetime. The low 8.889 memory latency of this G.Skill DDR4-3600 CL16 RAM kit will also aid overall performance and snappiness of your system and will pair well with the Ryzen 7 5800X. If you like tweaking then you will be able to tune this memory kit’s clocks and CAS latency to even higher performance levels in order to bring even more improvements to the Infinity Fabric speed of the Ryzen CPU. The Dual Channel (2 sticks) nature of this RAM kit is also mandatory in order to benefit from the full bandwidth of the AM4 platform. We like this kit very much thanks to its performance and affordability but you can also check our articles on different RAM kits if you’d like more options to choose from at different price points.

Storage

Its mandatory that such a fast gaming system will need to run on a solid piece of storage in order for you to enjoy lag free application opening, installations and game loading. We will be going with a storage combination between a very fast PCIe 4.0 NVME device in the form of the Sabrent Rocket 4.0 500 GB and a 1 TB Crucial P1 M.2 in order to have the OS and most frequently used applications on the main Sabrent device while the more rarely used apps and general file storage can sit on the Crucial P1. This way, we are ensuring great speeds and enough capacity without breaking the bank. If these two devices don’t offer enough capacity for your needs then feel free to upgrade to bigger M.2 sizes.

Storage 1: Sabrent Rocket 4.0 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME

The OS drive will be powered by the Sabrent Rocket 4.0, a rather new drive that uses the Phison E12s controller, a 96 layer TLC flash by Micron and the new PCIe 4.0 interface in order to ensure snappiness and a performance edge to your transfers and file access. The DRAM chip is there to offer a massive performance uplift for random writes; it brings a very fast temporary storage for the drive’s internal mapping tables so that it doesn’t slow down during sustained load. The device is also very hard to throttle because even though it heats up, the slow downs are well masked and avoided by the inclusion of a copper foil over the M.2 drive that acts as a heat spreader thus handling the extra heat. Sabrent is claiming this foil helps the drive run at max speed 4 times longer than without it.

Storage 2: Crucial P1 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME

We will also be using a very popular M.2 drive that may be not as fast as the Sabrent but it offers a very good value for capacity. The Crucial P1 provides excellent value for people that need very fast and cheap storage. The only occasion where this drive slows down is when you’re doing transfers bigger than 50 GB at a time because of its limited QLC cache. That will happen almost never in everyday use and besides that, the drive is lightning fast; it features speeds of up to 2,000 MB/s read and 1,700MB/s write – much faster than your usual SATA SSD. If you are in need of even more capacity on your system then a 2 TB version of the Crucial is also available at a very competitive price.

Graphics Card: RTX 3080

The RTX 3080 delivers very impressive performance especially when it comes to higher resolutions like 4K. The generational improvement over the RTX 2080 Super and top-end RTX 2080 Ti is very welcome for people that want to experience more with more graphically intensive games and Ray Tracing. Real-time ray tracing is running smoothly on a single RTX 3080 and what’s more impressive is that the card is around 25% better in rasterization when compared to the RTX 2080Ti while being a lot cheaper, at $699 launching price. Third-party cards may retail for a slightly more expensive price though.

This card is an excellent performer in any of the new Triple-A, VR and eSports titles and does it at a respectable but slightly high TDP of 320W – this is why we’ll be including a great PSU to go with the build; we want to ensure your system and gaming experience won’t be affected by any spikes in power consumption. Nvidia has set the bar very high for AMD to catch up with their new RX 6000 series but until then, the RTX 3080 is the card to have for gamers if you can get one. With its 10 GB of GDDR6X memory, any current title should be able to run at max settings without the worry of going over the max memory.

Thanks to the Ryzen 7 5800X in the system, the RTX 3080 will be able to spread its wings and perform very well not only in 4K but also in 1440p or even 1080p high refresh rate games where previously, many CPUs would bottleneck such a high performing graphics card.

PC Case: Lian Li LANCOOL II-X

The Lancool II belongs to Lian Li’s mainstream lineup but there are lots of impressive features about it. The chassis is designed from scratch in order to ensure easy building, cable management and maintenance, the aesthetics are very nice with premium looks and the thermal characteristics are great with the additional included fans in our build. Lian Li has managed to pack a lot from their more expensive lineups in a design and feature set that doesn’t look like its compromising much. They have taken every popular priority that consumers are asking for in a high-end case and stripped everything else that is rarely needed. For the $90 retail price, the case is definitely fit to home a high end build such as the one we’re designing.

This ATX case also comes with a lot of extra features that are cost options. Hot swappable drive bays, USB Type C I/O and a vertical GPU mount are some of them with a ton of additional accessories and customization possible. The stock configuration is easy to build in thanks to its dual-hinge doors, many tie-down points and PSU shroud. The cooling for the case is not great when using just the three included fans and that is why we’re going to use a third party pack of Cooler Master SickleFlow 62 CFM 120 mm fans. You can do a setup with intake fans at the bottom and front and exhaust fans at the back and top in order to ensure equal pressure and sufficient airflow for your components. The additional three fans are not mandatory but you’ll obtain a much cooler and silent system if you decide the $49 on the additional fans.

Ultimately, we are big fans of how Lian Li has built the Lancool II-X as a fantastic blend between aesthetics, price and performance and that is why we’re sure it will go very well with the rest of the components in this build.

Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G1+ 750 W 80+

The total max power draw of this Ryzen 7 5800X gaming PC build sits around 450 to 550W during a 100% CPU and GPU utilization under render loads. That is a very rare occurrence but we’ve prepared the build for that with the EVGA SuperNOVA G1+ which is a very high tier PSU from a world class trusted brand. The PSU can easily handle any power swings during the diverse loads you’re going to put the system through and will do it silently and stress-free.

Being a fully modular power supply, the G1+ will allow you to just use the cables that you really need for this build. Building this way you’re going to leave the case uncluttered and ensure a more easy way to do maintenance or upgrades on your full build; storage, RAM swaps or regular cleaning has never been easier with such good cables and case layout. Their cables also have a premium bend feel to them and thanks to their dark sleeving, you can arrange them inside the Lian Li case in order to obtain a very clean look. The RTX 3080 graphics card comes with a bundled 12 pin power connector that you can use for the PCIe cables but EVGA also takes care of this with their own version of the 12 pin connector. If your G1+ has been manufactured before the RTX 3000 series then EVGA will send you the added 12 pin connector for free; this is proof that EVGA cares about the latest needs for their customers.

The G1+ ranks S tier (the highest tier) in popular PSU ranking lists for its excellent protections against surges and excellent build quality; at the $120 price point, we’re finding the G1+ perfect for this enthusiast gaming build and any upgrades that you may be inclined to add in the future.

Bottom Line

Let’s focus a little on the price you’ll be paying for this build and the performance you are extracting from it. Less than 1 month ago, $2000 would have got you a Ryzen 7 3700X & RTX 2080Ti PC which indeed offered a great amount of performance but now, with the Ryzen 7 5800X & RTX 3080 overall performance at this price point is an estimated 30 to 35% better; this is a huge leap in value for money in just one CPU & GPU generation and its why we’re so excited for this build. The most amount of money in this build is going towards the CPU & GPU which amounts to ~$1150; before this, the 3700X + RTX 2080Ti would amount to a whopping ~$1500. The $300 saved from past generation’s components to the 5800X + RTX 3080 was used to spec the build with more high-end additional components such as the X570 motherboard, beQuiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 air cooler and greater storage performance.

The build offers class-leading gaming performance at any resolution and refresh rate. If you are looking for a monitor to pair this build with, our colleagues have drafted a list of the best monitors for such a Ryzen 7 5800X + RTX 3080 build. We are thrilled to recommend this build as the best $2000 gaming PC that you’ll be able to build at the end of 2020 and if you have any additional questions, we’re happy to answer in the comment section below; the FAQ can also help you with more general questions. Happy building!

The post $2100 Ryzen 7 5800X Gaming PC Build for 2021 appeared first on PremiumBuilds.

AMD’s initial Zen 3 lineup has finally been revealed, and it may very well have the new gaming CPU champion among its ranks! The Ryzen 9 5900X is shaping up to be a serious contender for gaming enthusiasts and users in need of some powerful productivity performance. Across the board, Zen 3 processors enjoy the benefits of AMD’s new architecture and unified L3 cache and core complexes (CCXs). These two changes allow for boost clocks up to 4.9GHz, and up to eight cores to share simultaneous access to 32MB of L3 cache within a single CCX.

Translation: Zen 3 brings a 19% boost in instructions per clock (IPC) and, according to AMD, a 26% performance uplift over Zen 2, all while remaining at or below the TDP of Zen 2. Even if you’ve recently procured yourself a Zen 2 processor, Zen 3 offers compelling upgrades to what could be the best CPUs on the market for quite some time. Furthermore, if Zen 3 is capable of even slightly more overclocking than Zen 2, Intel may have a rough time even trying to compete in gaming performance, which they’ve been clinging to for so long.

The fact of the matter is that AMD has had Intel’s feet to the fire for nearly two years, and it’s only been getting hotter. Thanks to Team Red, there has never been a better time to upgrade your current system or build a brand new one. While we may not yet have an idea of what’s in store for their upcoming Big Navi Radeon GPUs, Zen 3 is a safe bet to make while we await new technologies like DDR5 memory, Quantum Dot displays, and a process from Intel smaller than 14nm .

Best $2600 Ryzen 9 5900X Build – The Parts List

CPU

Today’s crown jewel: The Ryzen 9 5900X. Poised to sit atop most gaming benchmarks with its older brother, the 5950X, the $550 5900X is likely the more sensible option for the majority of builders to still crush performance in multiplayer arenas as well as in scrubbing through chunky timelines. With 12 cores, 24 threads, a 105W TDP, a 4.8GHz boost clock, and the improvements offered by AMD’s Zen 3 architecture, the 5900X earns its slight price uptick in our book.

Zen 3 will be the last series of processors to drop into the AM4 socket (barring any refreshes), so if you’re looking to make the most of your build and avoid upgrades for the next several years, it might be wisest for you to save up and spring for a Ryzen 9. Worst case scenario, AMD refreshes the 5000 series sometime next year, and your build ends up a half step down from the top! You’ll still have a beastly processor with incredibly tame thermal performance. Unless Intel can work some genuine technological wizardry, there’s not likely to be much competition in the CPU market from the elderly 14nm process.

CPU Cooler

Again, here’s to AMD and their ability to keep TDPs very much inline despite the beefy performance uplift with Zen 3. With such a relatively low 105W power draw expected from the 5900X, most users’ best bet will be air cooling, and when it comes to air cooling, there are few better options than Noctua. Today we’ll be recommending the Noctua NH-U12A, a nifty little heat sink that’s capable of competing with the monstrous NH-D15 dual-tower unit within a few degrees while also ending up a few decibels quieter.

With two of their specialized NF-A12x25 Sterrox© bladed fans, seven heatpipes, and a compact fin stack with an impressive amount of surface area, the NH-U12A has the cooling capabilities of even most 240mm AIOs in a 140mm single-tower. Unless you’re dead set on liquid cooling, there are very few other air or liquid coolers that can compete with the thermal and noise performance on top of this level of hardware compatibility. You shouldn’t have trouble fitting this beauty in nearly any compact, mid-sized, or full-sized ATX PC enclosure.

Motherboard

Now, if we’re still talking regal headwear, the MSI MEG X570 Unify is the crown that holds your 5900X gem. At this stage, the X570 Unify is one of the most tried and true AM4 motherboards released to date. While you might see some new entries from companies like Asus with the new ROG Crosshair DARK HERO and STRIX B550-XE, the X570 chipset is going to be the best home for your new Zen 3 CPU. Updates and refreshes are always welcome, but that doesn’t suddenly deprecate the long-standing benchmarks for build quality and performance, which the X570 Unify most certainly is.

The MSI X570 Unify boasts 60A Power Stages, a 15 Phase VRM (12+2+1), support for up to 128GB of DDR4-5000MHz memory, 3x M.2 slots, Intel AX200 Wi-Fi 6 + Bluetooth 5.0, Realtek 2.5G LAN + ALC1220 Audio CODEC, 4x USB 3.2 Gen 2 (1 is Type-C) + 2x USB 3.2 Gen 1 + 2x USB 2.0 ports, 4x SATA III 6Gb/s ports, an integrated I/O shield, Clear CMOS + BIOS Flashback buttons, onboard Power/Reset buttons, and a POST code readout for $300. For the most part, there’s not too much reason to look outside of the X570 Unify for mid to high-end Ryzen builds nowadays. MSI essentially created the perfect AM4 motherboard at damn near the perfect price. While it may not exactly be cheap, you’re buying one of the sleekest and most well-rounded options on the market with extremely competitive VRM performance and stellar component/build quality. (Plus, it’s a nice change of pace to have an option without the superfluous RGB lighting that’s all too common nowadays ).

Memory

For our system memory, we have chosen a G.Skill 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4-3600MHz CL16 kit, which should be available for about $145. Not the bleeding edge of memory performance, but as Jon discovered in the PremiumBuilds Test Lab for Zen 2 memory performance, there is a point of diminishing returns. Thus, 32GB of 3600MHz DDR4 allows us speeds that are plenty fast enough for gaming, with enough capacity for serious multi-tasking in addition to some relatively hefty productivity workloads. Whether you’re gaming with dozens of browser tabs and other programs open on your second display, or if you end up needing to do a bit of photo/video editing, 32GB in a 2x16GB kit gives you room to breathe and the opportunity to upgrade in the future should you so choose.

Storage

The end is nigh for spinning drives in gaming machines, folks, especially if the next generation consoles are any sort of barometer for the future. Game developers are beginning to actually take advantage of storage transfer speeds for things like streaming game assets directly from the drive. In fact, consoles might even perform tasks like that better than PCs for a while, thanks to some proprietary hardware that’s been developed to facilitate such operations. Regardless, you’re going to want to consider not only investing in SSDs for most of your storage (especially for games) but also setting aside some money for PCIe 4.0 SSDs as they continue to mature and come down in price.

That said, we’ve chosen two storage devices for today’s build: a 1TB Samsung 970 EVO Plus M.2 SSD for your OS and favorite games/programs and a 2TB Samsung 860 EVO 2.5” SSD for your bulk library storage. There’s not much to say when it comes to SSDs; there are many fantastic options, but the most fantastic tend to come from Samsung. Programs, and especially games, seem to be getting bigger and bigger, so not only do you want the fastest storage devices possible, but you want as much space as you can get for a reasonable price. Thankfully, SSDs have long since fallen from their astronomical highs a few years ago and only start to get ridiculously priced past 2TB or with PCIe 4.0 support. However, if you’re concerned about price, or perhaps just don’t need quite so much space, consider dropping the additional 2.5” SSD and investing that money in a stack of premium case fans or some new peripherals!

Graphics Card

Consider this the halo above your aforementioned crown, the EVGA RTX 3080 FTW3 Ultra Gaming. (IMPORTANT NOTE: We strongly recommend holding out on purchasing any 3000 Series RTX cards for the moment. There’s a good chance that Nvidia is planning to release updated 3070s and 3080s with double the total VRAM to compete with AMD’s upcoming Big Navi Radeon cards).

The 3080, despite Nvidia’s slightly troubled launch thus far, is a truly magnificent specimen, and the EVGA 3080 FTW3 Ultra Gaming pushes it to the bleeding edge. Where the reference TDP for an RTX 3080 is a mindblowing 350W, the EVGA FTW3 can easily hit 420W () with enough metal and fan speed to spare. EVGA has done a phenomenal job in taming this particular power-hungry beast and has undoubtedly crafted one of the most competitive third party overclocking cards to date. If ever you were considering gaming at 4K but held off due to concerns of performance? The one-two punch of a 5900X and RTX 3080 should properly dash any last reservations and will scream through any gaming benchmarks you can throw at it. If you plan to game at less than 4K? Forget about it; you’ll be stomping on 2080 Ti performances all day, and at a massive discount. Just a final reminder, do your best to hold off until Nvidia confirms they’ll be releasing an updated version with 20GB of VRAM!

PC Case

Next, we’ll look at the bones of your new beautiful beast: the Lian Li LANCOOL II-X ATX Mid-tower. Lian Li has been responsible for some great enclosures over the years, and the LANCOOL II-X is no exception. Simple, clean, a tasteful amount of RGB, and the premium build quality and materials many of you might be familiar with.

The Lancool II has hinged tempered glass side panels, cable shroud panels to hide your nest on the underside of your motherboard tray, a shrouded PSU and hard drive basement, well-thought-out cable management throughout, not to mention excellent ventilation and a reasonable amount of RGB lighting for the front panel. If you’ve been struggling to pick out your next case, or maybe you’ve grown just a little weary of my incessant Fractal Design recommendations, then the Lian Li LANCOOL II-X is an outstanding choice.

Power Supply

To wrap things up for our 5900X build, the PSU: the EVGA SuperNOVA G3 850W 80+ Gold. Your power supply is the most crucial component of your computer, and we’re just now starting to come out on the other side of severe availability issues due to recent global events. Prices are beginning to normalize, and the more reliable picks are becoming more readily available.

Enter the SuperNOVA G3 850W. EVGA has earned its reputation for more than just GPUs, with many of their power supplies being the affordable go-to choices thanks to their excellent build quality, performance, and warranty/customer service that’s second to none. For clean and stable power and stable power where you need it most, EVGA is always an excellent option!

Closing Thoughts

Zen 3 has raised the bar for consumer electronics relatively high from the looks of AMD’s initial lineup. With so many new technologies on the horizon, we can’t help but reiterate that there won’t be a better time to upgrade your machine or build a new one after Zen 3 finally launches this winter. Today’s build should get you pretty close to the cream of the crop for a reasonable sum and leave you plenty of breathing room to upgrade down the road. Are you planning on buying a Zen 3 CPU? Are you excited to see what kind of performance you can squeeze out of the new RTX cards? As always, be sure to let us know your thoughts in the comments down below, and thanks for reading!

The post $2600 Ryzen 9 5900X Gaming Build for 2021 appeared first on PremiumBuilds.

The following article will focus on an enthusiast-grade workstation build which is up to date with late 2020 standards. Such a PC will fit very well in a developer/artist/producer/content creator or streamer’s arsenal as its both CPU and GPU strong in any application you may want to throw at it. Fast, plenty and upgradeable amounts of RAM and storage are some of the other highlights here which make this build or other PCs based on these same parts the most powerful build the mainstream workstation market has

Among the most important performers of this build, we have the Ryzen 9 3950X which is AMD’s 16 core 32 threads consumer CPU based on their Matisse microarchitecture. This is simply the most powerful desktop CPU that can fit on a consumer socket, namely AM4, and is also priced accordingly to its level of performance. Bringing the ultimate performance to the mainstream market has been a long pursued endeavor of AMD’s and they managed to break all expectations with this industry-leading chip while also introducing new exclusive feature sets like bandwidth doubling PCIe 4.0. Built on a very efficient and dense 7nm process, the 3950X not only offers never seen before levels of single and multi core performance but also upsets Intel’s position in high-end desktops and disrupts their extreme HEDT in the process.

The other hero in this build is Nvidia’s newly launched RTX 3090 Graphics Card based on the Ampere architecture. Apparently, this will be the Titan of this generation and rightly so at the steep price of $1,499. Availability of this GPU will begin on the 24th of September and stocks are going to be low at first. Though, don’t let that discourage you because the RTX 3090 is a serious piece of engineering as its aimed to the workstation PC market more than the gaming market (though find our RTX 3090 gaming PC build here).

Ryzen 9 3950X+ RTX 3090 Workstation PC Build – The Parts List

CPU

The 16 Core Ryzen 9 3950X Processor

In the past, people had to decide between building a mainstream PC or a high-end workstation PC because historically, its been very clear cut; if constrained by a budget and interested in gaming then a consumer would opt for a mainstream CPU. if a user is otherwise looking to get into high compute work and have the budget for it, they would definitely look into high-end desktop, namely HEDT. AMD has been blurring this line over the course of recent years by bringing more cores and multi-threaded performance to the mainstream market. With the Ryzen 9 3950X, that line has disappeared almost completely. This is what we are building here today, a high-performance desktop PC with a CPU capable of HEDT performance; coincidentally, this processor also belongs to the mainstream market and that’s great news!

Not everyone needs 32 processing threads but some definitely do. People will put their dollars in what gives them the best gaming performance if that’s their focus. On the other hand, users that want to edit, create or use ML/training are going to look at content creation focused hardware. There’s also added incentive in the business world thanks to the ability to gain a return of investment in the time used to compute certain tasks. Take for example a video editor who would very much love to spend 30-40% more on a CPU that is able to halve his render times, thus paying off in long term.

The Ryzen 9 3950X is an exceptional CPU and one of the stars of this highly focused workstation build. Don’t be fooled by our workstation talk though as this processor can also put out some of the best gaming frame rates on the market, especially when paired with the other star in this build, the RTX 3090.

CPU AIO Liquid cooler

ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 280

This AIO cooler presents one of the best value and performance levels on the market. Outperforming much more expensive and flashy liquid coolers like the NZXT Kraken X62, this product is aimed at people who want a very capable CPU cooler in their system with very acceptable noise levels and good warranty; and oh boy does it deliver! The Liquid Freezer II has integrated cable management within fully sleeved tubes for a clean look in your PC’s case. Its also thicker than other solutions thanks to its 317 x 138 x 38 housing dimensions.

With a simple installation thanks to the wiring being hidden inside the tube sleeve, cable management is a breeze and the only cable you can see is the 4-pin fan connector thus leaving your case uncluttered. For this very affordable solution that provides stellar cooling results and silent operation you get a nice, sleek-looking, liquid cooler without RGB functionality. A not so big drawback is that you can’t monitor the exact RPM of the fans because the pump and VRM fan are linked together.

Here at PremiumBuilds we’re all about performance and you can know for a fact that we’re not going to recommend something that has more form than function; this is why this chart-topping LCS makes our recommended list for this build. In testing, it blew our mind and impressed us in every aspect and even if this Liquid Cooler’s MSRP sits around $80, it does still make a lot of sense to buy even if you can’t find it for that price.

Motherboard

The MSI MPG X570 Gaming Pro Carbon

As its name probably suggests, the MSI MPG X570 Gaming Pro Carbon includes a black carbon design with a chipset heatsink, standard to the X570 motherboards; two more heatsinks are fitting the two M.2 slots. There are four RAM slots in the top right-hand corner of the PCB with support for up to 128 GB DDR4-4400 memory. 6 SATA ports, 4 of which are right-angled and 2 straight angled complete the ample storage capabilities. PCIe 4.0 capable slots are also a great selling point for AMD’s X570 boards since they operate at double the throughput of PCIe 3.0, allowing for insanely fast storage or GPU devices to be present.

The RTX 3090 graphics card that we’re using in this build recommends the use of a PCIe 4.0 capable motherboard and this is why this combo is such a great fit for a workstation. This board is WiFi-6 ready and MSI included Intel’s new AX200 802.11ax Wi-Fi adapter with speeds capable of up to 2.4 Gbps; antenna ports are included on the rear panel.

The ample I/O consists of 3 x USB 3.1 G2 Type-A, 1 x USB 3.1 G2 Type-C, 2 x USB 3.1 G1 Type-A and 2 x USB 2.0 ports. Besides those, MSI includes a BIOS Flashback buttons, mainly useful for users who like to have peace of mind when tweaking their system to its limits; this feature allows the BIOS to be reverted to a safe backup if something goes wrong while tweaking.

RAM

32GBs of high performance 3600MHz CL16 DDR4 memory

Especially because its workstation focus, this build clearly needs the capacity and speed of a high RAM kit in order to provide the necessary performance in any high load situation, be it rendering, developing, machine learning or powering several Virtual Machines. The amount of memory needed for such a build will definitely vary from user to user but we’ve found a nice sweet spot with the Trident Z Neo Dual Channel RAM kit. 32GBs of capacity should be enough for the largest percentage of workstation enthusiasts while the 3600MHz CL16 stock values will aid the CPU with the low latency of 8.889ns. This kit can be further tuned to achieve even better latencies but that counts as overclocking; it’s definitely nice to also have great out of the box performance.

Content creation, rendering, gaming while streaming and other various multi-core applications will eat memory like crazy and this RAM kit will definitely make sure there’s always some free capacity in order for the system not to slow down. For very focused builders that know the memory needs of specific applications that they will be using, we recommend getting an even bigger RAM kit if 32GBs is running it too close for comfort. 64GB or even 128GB kits are supported on the X570 motherboard chipset, should you need the extra horsepower.

Storage

The base storage needs for such a high end system

The Sabrent Rocket M.2 1TB is targeted at more demanding users who want higher performance across all use scenarios. It uses the highly popular Phison E12s controller paired with a 96-layer TLC flash made by Micron. A DRAM chip is available which is used as very fast temporary storage for the drive’s internal mapping tables. This allows for a massive performance difference for random writes and it impresses in tests that write a lot of data, even at low queue depths which are typical for today’s consumer workloads, making it a great performer as both an OS drive and main applications drive. Sabrent also includes a copper foil on its M2 that acts as a heat spreader; this helps throttling by quadrupling the time this drive can operate at max speed before lowering its performance by a bit.

Secondary Storage

For the secondary storage device, we will be using another popular SSD, in the form of the Crucial MX500 1Tb; we like this device a lot for its inexpensive fast storage that never slows down thanks to its DRAM cache. Again, like the case with the memory capacity, certain people will need more storage in their systems for various niches or applications. Depending on that, you should adjust your storage needs based on what you want from your system but these two devices will work very well together for a workstation build and the majority of builders will find their speeds and capacity suiting for them. We can’t know for sure what your storage needs are so we’re just recommending what most users will use for an enthusiast PC.

Graphics Card

The RTX 3090 Graphics Card

This newly launched graphics card is based on the new Ampere architecture and promises to deliver the highest levels of performance in the consumer sector. The large GA102 graphics processor has a die area of 628 mm² and 28,000 million transistors, features 10496 shading units, 328 texture mapping units and 112 ROPs. Its a behemoth of a card with a suitable price tag of $1,499 MSRP. Its 328 improved tensor cores and 82 ray tracing units can be used to heavily accelerate various applications through the CUDA platform. NVIDIA has paired 24 GB of cutting edge GDDR6X memory connected through a 384 bit memory interface which may come in very helpful in many VRAM hungry software suites.

A beefy cooling solution has been attached to this card in order to combat its rather high power draw of 350W, supplied through the 12 pin power connector. This is why this build will include a high wattage and high tier PSU that will be able to handle this beast at any load levels.

Available September 24 2020, the RTX 3090 is truly a powerhouse for a workstation build and will come in both Founder’s Edition and AIB models. Availability won’t be great and some hunting is recommended if you want to get your hands on this GPU, especially at launch.

PC Case

One of the best airflow cases on the market right now: The Lian Li Lancool II Mesh RGB

Combining the Lian Li Lancool II Mesh case’s front mesh panel, the 3 included PWM front fans and the 2 additional case fans in this build, you’ll have one of the best cases for airflow on the market. Silent operation and building ease are some of the great focuses of this build and it truly delivers to its word. It doesn’t feature any fancy design elements aside from the Lian Li logo at the bottom of the mesh panel but the slick looks and great lines are enough to make it stand out.

The tempered glass panels swivel outwards and are hold closed firmly with magnets making opening your system dead simple; it also screams quality. The Lancool II Mesh also has a very thoughtful internal layout, making it easy to accommodate all sorts of hardware combinations. The main motherboard compartment doesn’t bring any surprises, and there is room to install two 2.5-inch drives behind the motherboard tray along with three 3.5-inch drives in the HDD caddy under the PSU shroud.

Overall, this premium case ticks all boxes needed for such a capable workstation build; it has great airflow, its ready for our recommended hardware combination and its also beautifully designed!

Dimensions: 478 x 229 x 494 mm (D x W x H)
Compatibility : CPU Cooler Max height 176 mm | GPU Max length 384 mm | PSU Max length 210 mm
Included Fans: Included 3 x 120 mm Front RGB PWM.

Power Supply

The Corsair RMx 850W: A proper high tier PSU for this build’s powering needs

Its no easy task to make something as high quality as this PSU is and keep perfecting it with every revision but Corsair managed to do it with the RMx 850W. It competes with the likes of EVGA’s Supernova G3 which is also a very high tier PSU. The final result is fully satisfactory, achieving higher performance in the cooling and safety department while also being smaller by the previous revision. It is very quiet and its full modularity means you’ll be able to just use the cables you strictly need for this build; that is a great plus for cable management.

Among other PROs of this unit are the well sleeved cables, the compact and good build quality and the ultra high 10 year warranty, making it a very reliable Power Supply for multiple builds during its lifetime.

Dimensions: 152 x 87 x 162mm (W x H x D)
Weight: 1.66 kg
Form Factor: ATX12V v2.4, EPS 2.92
Cooling: 135mm Rifle Bearing Fan

Conclusion

This section concludes our enthusiast workstation build which hosts a mighty Ryzen 9 3950X & RTX 3090 combo. Absolutely no corners have been cut in the making of this build though the ~$3300 price can be discouraging for some. If you have the means to use all the power of this build, you’ll be very happy with how this build will literally make your work a breeze; technology is advancing generation by generation and together with it, the ability to leverage more and more of our work to a system thus making our creation process easier and faster; also, multi-core performance and CUDA capability are at the highest levels.

The RTX 3090 build is more than an all-rounder. We are living in great technology times thanks to the ample competition in the market and this system’s components push every boundary forward. It would be easy to go overboard on price with an enthusiast build while reaching much steeper prices but we feel that this list ticks every box with its carefully chosen components. Its truly accessible for the people that can use it and it would be a real challenge to find a better performing PC at this price point; that’s right, anywhere else in the market.

If you have any questions about the components and choices in this build, we love to answer questions in the comments section below. The RTX 3090 may be hard to get, especially at launch but all the other components are already established on the market; sales for them are already present within many markets, including the 3950X which is now down in price in anticipation of the new Ryzen 4000 series.

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Nvidia’s Ampere release presentation on 1^st September sent hype levels stratospheric. Not only are they releasing the RTX 3070 at just $499 whilst claiming that it out-performs the $1200 RTX 2080 Ti, but they previewed their new fastest ever GPU.

Cheekily codenamed the ‘BFGPU’ the RTX 3090 is the absolute new king of the hill. Sporting 24GB VRAM and 10496 shader cores, there will be nothing that can touch this graphics card. Indeed ‘graphics card’ doesn’t really do it justice: This is a supercomputer on a PCIe slot, and creative industries and researchers will find it unrivalled in generating 3D effects, machine learning and computational power. That said Nvidia was happy to demonstrate it to a clutch of streamers showing 8K gameplay. This is a GPU which can leverage advanced AI technologies such as ‘DLSS’ to render game footage at incredible detail without harming frame rates. Be under no illusions, if you want the best and have $1499 to spare this GPU will set the gold standard in graphics performance for the foreseeable future.

To take advantage of this GPU you’ll need an absolutely top-flight PC with no weaknesses. You’ll also need a high-performance 4K monitor to put the power of this GPU on display. In this article, we’ll demonstrate PremiumBuild’s Ultimate RTX 3090 Intel-based Gaming PC for 2021

Best Intel RTX 3090 Gaming Build – The Parts List

CPU

The Intel Core i9-10900K CPU reigns supreme at present with gaming performance that bests anything AMD Zen 2 has to offer. It’s a 10-core part with hyperthreading making it an excellent all-rounder. Whether you’re looking to stream, multi-task or produce videos this CPU has your workload covered. It uses Intel’s ‘Thermal Velocity Boost’ algorithms to push clock speeds as high as 5.3GHz where temperature and power supply allows. With the RTX 3090 capable of extremely high frame rates even at 4K you’ll want the best possible CPU to underpin your system’s performance and as of now, the i9-10900K is it.

CPU Cooler

The i9-10900K is a notoriously power-hungry chip and all; that energy needs to be dissipated by your cooler. That’s why we’ve opted for a 360 MM AIO with the Asus ROG STRIX LC 360 RGB. This closed-loop cooler uses a pump, liquid coolant and a large radiator to carry heat away from the CPU. The ASUS ROG branded pump head matches the motherboard whilst the RGB fans can be controlled via Aura sync, Asus’s control software. With a huge surface area and three fans there’s ample cooling capacity and noise can be kept to a minimum. This is a simple to fit and highly capable cooler in keeping with the theme of the overall PC build.

Motherboard

The motherboard forms the core of the system and the i9-10900K warrants a premium option. The Asus ROG Maximus XII Hero is a Z490-chipset board packed full of features. It has one of the most robust voltage delivery systems available meaning you’ll be able to run your CPU at full capacity without worrying about the thermal impact on your components. This takes the form of a 14+2 phase power stage utilising 60Amp FETs for huge power capacity.  There’s a host of overclocking features including on board reset and power switches, debugging code display, and dual EPS connectors to supply power to the CPU. It has three M.2 slots and a host of connectivity options including Dual LAN (1Gb and 5Gb) and Wifi 6 and Bluetooth, as well as the usual adornment of the various specification of USB ports. The audio solution is very high end using the S1220 codec chip and ROG Supreme FX 7.1 sound. Aesthetically the board is on point with M.2 drive covers and a slick discreet anodised finish and a prominent ROG logo. This board gives you all the functionality and connectivity you need to allow the rest of the components shine.

RAM

We’ll admit to a slight weakness for a stack of four sticks of RAM with synchronised RGB: G.Skill Trident Z DDR4 3200Mhz Cl16 ram is Asus AuraSync-compatible and has addressable RGB to really set the build off. It has high speeds enabled via an XMP profile, and importantly it is validated on ASUS’s motherboard compatibility list so you’re ensured to run at rated speeds. Intel doesn’t gain significant performance benefits from faster ram and since prices increase greatly for 32Gb ram at faster timings, this is component where we’re balancing price with performance and looks.

Storage

A premium gaming rig deserves top-end storage but we’re not just specifying the most expensive option here: The Adata SX8200 Pro is a very well regarded SSD with speeds indistinguishable from the more expensive offerings like the Samsung 970 Evo. PCIe 4.0 doesn’t carry benefits to gaming (at least not any that outweigh the benefit of higher core speeds on an intel CPU) and so this drive hits the sweet spot of 2 TB of very high-performance NVME SSD space. All your games can be ‘on the fast drive’ for reduced loading times and stutter-free streaming of textures and data in the game world.

Case

The case defines the outwards look of your PC and for this build, we’ve opted for something showy. InWin has a long history of ‘out there’ PC cases including their yearly works of art, PC cases costing thousands, at E3. We haven’t pushed things quite this far here: the InWin 925 is a relatively conventional mid-ATX tower but uses lush 4mm brushed aluminium and thick tempered glass to define its robust industrial look. It supports multiple cooling options with routing and radiator configurations aplenty, and this cooling flexibility means you’ll have no issues keeping the GPU and CPU cool. You can vertically mount your GPU – although we’d only recommend that if you use a custom water block to keep it cool as it can stifle airflow to the GPU. It’ll hold GPU’s up to 420mm long and has 8 PCIe slot depth, so you have absolutely no worries about even the monstrous RTX 3090 fitting inside. Even the RGB Inwin logo is Asus Aura Sync compatible meaning there’s no additional bloatware just to control and integrate your RGB lighting. Fear not, if this case isn’t up your street you can select any full tower ATX case that you prefer, but do pay close attention to the dimensions for the graphics card and it’s cooling capability. Those are the two features that lead us to recommend this case from InWin. 

Power Supply

For this build we’re pairing one of the most power-hungry CPU’s currently available alongside the most powerful GPU available. The PSU needs to be up to task. The BeQuiet StraightPower 11 is a Platinum-rated PSU with 1000W output capability. It’s fully modular so that you can specify custom cables to really make the build stand out. This PSU has six PCIe power connectors so there will be no issues feeding the RTX 3090’s 350W TDP, and of course, being a BeQuiet it uses a quiet 135mm fan for minimal noise output. Construction uses all Japanese 105C rated capacitors and DC-DC conversion for maximum stability and efficiency. This is a PSU that offers the performance and stability that the highest end components demand and you can be confident it’ll power your whole system with ease. 

Monitor

Finally, we come to the monitor: The RTX 3090 is nothing without a display to show off its unrivalled abilities. This is a GPU capable of 4K output at high FPS and few monitors are equipped to display that. The Acer Predator X27 stands out as the best of them. This 27” 4K panel has a 144Hz refresh rate and G-Sync to match up the monitor refresh to the GPU frames output rate. The IPS panel is bright with vibrant colours and has fast response rates. It’s HDR-enabled and shows one of the best implementations of this technology currently available using 384 backlight zones to brighten and dim the image locally where required. Ultimately when you’re looking for a 4K 144Hz monitor there are very few options capable of displaying the RTX 3090’s capabilities in all their glory: The Acer Predator X27 is the best of them.

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The RTX 3080 has been announced and we’ve been able to absorb the specifications and potential performance of this latest series of GPUs from Nvidia. If the promises made in the keynote presentation are even close to met this GPU will define a new standard in graphics card capability. This is a $699 card that significantly outperforms the $1,200 RTX 2080 Ti launched just 2 years ago. The release date is scheduled for 17^th September so now is the time to get your order placed and consider the rest of the PC you’ll need to support this epic GPU. 

The RTX 3080 specifications indicate that it will be capable of high-framerate 4k gaming with settings on Ultra. The Tech demos and gaming demos show unprecedented detail and fidelity, all the while retaining smooth frame rates. NVidia has doubled the shader core, ray tracing core and tensor core performance over the outgoing Turing series RTX cards, whilst memory capacity is 10GB of GDDR6X VRAM.  Nvidia has made great strides in their DLSS 2.0’ algorithms and using AI to achieve the next level in gaming graphics. The 7th most powerful supercomputer in the world, Nvidias ‘Selene’, is fed 16K resolution static renders of scenes from games: This trains a neural network that forms part of the driver package for RTX GPU’s. When you’re playing the game the Tensor cores use the neural network to upscale a lower resolution output to a native 4K image, and the output is actually higher quality than the native resolution would be. It also runs at a higher frame rate because of the lower computational loads for the GPU rendering at the lower initial resolution. This is truly next-generation technology and allows for jaw-dropping effects and post-processing without dropping frame rates. 

To experience the full potential of the RTX 3080 you’ll need a high end supporting system capable of delivering information to the GPU and producing high frame rates. We’ve considered all the options in concert with the anticipated performance demands of the RTX 3080 and this is the result: PremiumBuilds Best RTX 3080 Gaming PC Build Guide.

• Related: Best CPUs for RTX 3080 Builds

RTX 3080 Gaming PC Build – The Parts List

CPU: Intel Core i7-10700K

The RTX 3080 is undoubtedly going to set new levels in gaming performance so we’ve gone to the high-end Intel CPU’s to ensure that the System has the processing power to keep up. The Core i7-10700K is an 8=core CPU with multithreading and a 5.1GHz boost clock. The per-core advantage of Intel means that these CPU’s offer significantly more headroom over their AMD equivalents and when a GPU as powerful as the RTX 3080 exists, that performance gap matters. Whilst it lacks PCIe 4.0 and the RTX 3080 is PCIe 4.0-ready this isn’t an issue as the PCIe specification is both forwards and backwards compatible. Nvidia has confirmed that their innovative ‘RTX I/O’ storage technology that allows the GPU to access data on SSD’s directly doesn’t require on PCIe 4.0. This CPU gives excellent performance and will ensure the RTX 3080 has all the game data it needs to produce spectacular results. 

CPU Cooler: NZXT Kraken X53

The i7-10700K is still a 14nm process chip, and with high clock rates its power demands are large. This necessitates a strong cooler for the 10700K and the NZXT Kraken X53 fits the bill well. This 240mm AIO uses a liquid coolant and pump to draw heat away from the CPU. The cold plate head uses NZXT’s infinite mirror surface and is gorgeous to look at with configurable RGB and the NZXT logo. The cold plate itself uses copper for maximum thermal conductivity. This CPU cooler has both the looks and performance to do this build justice.

Motherboard: Gigabyte Z490 AORUS Ultra

The i7-10700K is a power-hungry chip and needs a solid underpinning motherboard to ensure it can run at full speeds. The Gigabyte Z490 Aorus Ultra brings an attractive feature set and high-performance voltage delivery circuity at a $290 price point. It has a true 12-phase design omitting doublers and uses 60 Amp power stages to ensure it can deliver ample current without overheating or voltage instability. The VRMs are cooler with finned heat sinks and a heat pipe. This is essential in allowing the i7-10700K to maintain high boost clocks or an overclock. Additional features include Wi-Fi 6, 2.5GB Lan, and a high-quality ALC 1220 Audio codec chip. A word of caution regarding the LAN: Intel’s I225V 2.5GB Ethernet controller had problems with poor connection quality in the first revisions. This has now been corrected with a 3^rd revision so ensure you’re getting recent stock of this motherboard and you won’t have issues. The board includes 3 full-length PCIe 3.0 slots and three M.2 slots SSD’s. Aesthetically this board is highly attractive with near full shielding with integrated RGB and a backplate for structural rigidity. 

Memory: Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory

A build of this potency needs 32Gb RAM to ensure there are no performance issues even with the most demanding upcoming games. As open-world games expand and become more complex to take advantage of next-generation cards like the RTX 3080, demands on RAM will only increase. Microsoft Flight 2020 recommends 32Gb currently. We’ve chosen Corsair’s Vengeance RGB Pro due to the simple and clean RGB light bar on the rear and guaranteed compatibility with the motherboard. The 3200MHz speed represents a sweet spot of price to performance, with limited memory scaling on Intel CPU’s.

Storage: ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro 2TB

Games are getting ever bigger but thankfully fast NVMe drives are becoming more affordable. This 2Tb drive from ADATA, the XPG S8200 Pro, matches the speeds of the very highest performance drives through the use of TLC NAND memory and the Silicon Motion SM2262EN controller, but significantly undercuts them on price. It has an endurance of 640TBW, and 5 years warranty so you can be assured it is long-lasting. Now all of your games can be ‘on the fast drive’, and it’s equally suited to video editing and other disc intensive workloads so if your PC is more than just a games machine we have that covered too.

Case: Lian Li PC-O11 Dynamic

A build with high-quality parts deserves to be showcased. That’s why we’ve opted for the Lian Li PC-O11 Dynamic. This innovative case places the Motherboard and GPU in one compartment, and the power supply and drives hidden in a separate side compartment for the cleanest looks. Cooling is provided by vents through form the showcase side so the NZXT AIO will take pride of place. Tempered glass construction displays the build from all angles and build quality is exceptionally high with Lian-Li being class leaders in their choice of materials and manufacturing processes.

Power Supply: Corsair RMx (2018) 750W 80+ Gold

Nvidia specifies a 750W power supply to cope with the 320W power demand of the RTX 3080 plus additional components. We’ve specified a very high tier unit, the Corsair RMx 750W. This is a gold-efficiency rated PSU with a fully modular construction: you only attach the cables your build needs. Combined with the Lian-Li case this allows you to specify full custom cables to really personalise the look of your PC – Corsair even sell their own cable packs in a variety of styles. This PSU fully populates the 2 EPS connectors on the Gigabyte motherboard to ensure the i7-10700K has ample power supply. The GPU power adaptor cable is supplied with the RTX 3080, or else the partner boards have retained the standard PCIe power cable sockets. Fan stop technology ensures silent operation when the PSU is under light load and the Corsair RMx is backed by a 10-year warranty for peace of mind.

Monitor: Asus ROG Strix XG27UQ 27.0″ 4K 144 Hz Monitor

Finally, we come to the monitor for this RTX 3080 Build. 4K gaming has been promised for years now but the RTX 3080 is the first consumer GPU that truly delivers. For that reason, we’ve opted for the ASUS Rog Strix XG27UQ, a top tier 4K monitor with 144hz refresh rates and Adaptive Sync. The IPS panel combines the benefits of fast response times and vibrant colours. This monitor carries DisplayHDR 400 and Professional colour gamut certification as a hallmark of its panel quality. With 1ms quoted response time and 144hz refresh rate, you can finally enjoy high FPS 4k gaming with minimal lag, at maximum settings. This is a monitor that will truly do justice to the immense capability of the RTX 3080.

Conclusion

The RTX 3080 looks set to bring 4K gaming into the mainstream. This $699 GPU promises to achieve what products at nearly twice the price haven’t managed up until now. With this PC build you’ll be able to enjoy next Gen titles like CyberPunk 2077, Assassins Creed Brotherhood and Death Stranding as they were envisaged by their creators: Glorious 4K, RTX on, full effects and at buttery smooth framerates. You’ll be at the forefront of this generation leap in graphics technology thanks to the prodigious power of the RTX 3080, and the supporting system we’ve recommended for you.

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The latest iteration of Microsoft flight 2020 releases on the 18^th August 2020 and it looks like it’ll be huge. The developers Asobo Studios have pulled out all the stops to make this the definitive flight simulator. Technologies include live terrain mapping using over 3 Petabytes of global imagery, the most advanced flight modelling currently available, real-time weather and of course flight sim requirements like accurately modelled aircraft and cockpits. If you don’t quite ‘get it’ then we strongly recommend that you have a look at the feature discovery series on YouTube to whet your appetite for this landmark sim. And lest you think Microsoft is feeding us their highlights reel, an army of private alpha and beta testers have been producing eye-watering gorgeous screenshots of aircraft and locations all over the world. Flight 2020 is going to be fantastic!

But will you need a monstrous PC to run it? 

Well, yes and no. There is no doubt that experiencing this game at its best will require heavyweight hardware but Microsoft and Asosbo have clearly kept their eye on the specifications to make this game inclusive for all. A mid-range gaming PC at around $1000 will allow you to enjoy this huge flight simulator experience. Delving into the recommended system specs however, indicates that this is a game that will utilise the latest hardware to its fullest and scale well with more powerful CPUs and GPUs. There’s also the streamed global data to consider; it’s recommended that you have a 50Mbs internet connection an unlimited data cap so that should be one of your considerations to enhance your experience of this game.

In this article, we’ll recommend 3 PC builds that will make the most of your budget to deliver the best possible experience in Microsoft Flight 2020. They aren’t just one-trick ponies though: A PC that runs Flight 2020 well will excel with a wide catalogue of games. We’ll also recommend pairings with monitors and flight sticks appropriate to the budget that will extract the full potential of these powerful PC builds. 

Entry-level Flight Simulator PC Build – The Parts List:

Get flying without spending like you’ve bought an actual aircraft

This system is aimed at getting you the core Flight 2020 experience without breaking the bank. It meets or exceeds recommended specifications in all areas and includes some quality of life features such as Wifi and Bluetooth and a 1Tb of SSD storage.

CPU

AMD’s most recent Zen 2 CPU the Ryzen 5 3600 is an excellent value 6-core CPU with great gaming performance. Multithreading and high single-core speeds helps ensure it can keep pace with complex physics modelling. It is supplied with a cooler and thermal paste which keeps costs down.

Motherboard

The motherboard is from ASUS with their Prime B550M-A WiFi and is a B550 chipset board meaning it is fully Ryzen 3000 compatible. It has inbuilt Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth and six USB ports at the rear, important for connecting peripherals like flight sticks. Dual M.2 drive slots make future upgrades simple.

RAM

32GB of G.Skill Trident Z memory satisfies Flight 2020’s RAM demands and is approved on the Motherboard compatibility list. 2x16GB sticks at 3200Mhz means excellent memory transfer speeds thanks to dual-channel operation. Whilst 3600mhz ram is optimal for Ryzen 2 CPUs the cost of QVL certified ram in 32GB capacity becomes prohibitive at this price point, and the performance impact is minimal.

Storage

Storage is courtesy of a 1Tb NVME SSD with the Crucial P1. This drive uses denser ‘QLC’ NAND for data storage so it’s not as fast as more expensive thoroughbred SSDs but it’s plenty fast enough for gaming and means your storage is entirely on SSD. This has significant performance benefits across the system as a whole.

GPU

To enhance the spectacular visuals of MS flight we’ve opted for the Nvidia RTX 2060 and we’d suggest that this is the sensible entry point to running this game well. With lifelike cockpits, landscapes and weather to render all at once you want a top tier graphics card in your system. The RTX 2060 has consistently impressed at 1080p even in demanding AAA titles.

Case & Power Supply

Wrapping this build up there’s a good quality compact micro-ATX case from CoolerMaster with the NR400, and a quiet, high-efficiency, 600W power supply in the form of the Be quiet! Pure Power 80+ Gold.

Recommended Accessories

Monitor

We’d suggest pairing this budget MS2020 build with the LG 29UM69G-B for a wrap around 29” gaming experience in ultrawide. This 75hz monitor uses FreeSync to smooth out frame rates and will deliver rich vibrant colour thanks to its IPS panel, and is well matched to the RTX 2060 graphics card.

Flight Stick

The Thrustmaster T.Flight HOTAS X is a $65 throttle and stick with all the features you need to get flying. You can separate the two components to find your most comfortable positioning and with a multitude of customisable buttons as well as Z axis rotation on the stick and a simple 8 way thumb hat it gives you full control as you embark on your journey to flight.

Mid-Range Flight Simulator PC Build – The Parts List:

Getting the best from Flight 2020 without a phone call to the bank manager

This PC strikes the balance between performance and price. It comfortably exceeds the ‘ideal’ specifications and can be relied upon to give excellent performance. It comes in at under $2000 with a high quality flight stick included. This system will impress in Microsoft Flight 2020 and any other games you care to try.

CPU

The ideal specs for Flight 2020 strongly hint that an 8 core CPU is optimal, and with complex physics simulations being performed it’s easy to understand why. The Core i7-10700K is Intel’s high performance ‘Comet Lake’ 10^th gen CPU and excels in high frame rate gaming. The i7-10700K uses hyperthreading to provide 16 logical cores meaning it can process complex tasks in parallel at great speed. It is overclockable allowing you to squeeze even more performance from it although we’re confident it will perform excellently right out of the box.

CPU Cooler

The Intel Core i7-10700K is a power-hungry processor and that means there’s heat to be dissipated. The Dark Rock Pro 4 is a high quality cooler from Be Quiet! Has a 200W cooling capacity and blends discreet looks with a very low volume operation thanks to a single 135mm fan. A tower cooler provides excellent reliability and lower noise than a comparable liquid cooler.

Motherboard

Gigabyte made their reputation in the last generation with very solid motherboards well suited to getting the most out of Intel CPU’s. The Gigabyte Z490 Aorus PRO AX continues this legacy with a 12+1 phase voltage delivery circuitry with 55Amp MOSFETS and VRM heatsinks ensuring the i7 CPU can run at full capacity. It also has inbuilt Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth, a high quality ALC1220 audio codec chip, and a good range of input/output options on the backplate.

RAM

We have again opted for 32GB of DRR4 3000Mhz RAM to meet the recommended specification. The Trident Z kit from G.Skill – which we opted for – includes RGB heat spreaders for a touch of visual flare.

Storage

The 1Tb Western Digital SN550 is an NVME drive that utilises TLC NAND memory and a high-performance controller chip to deliver full NVME speeds. The attractive price belies the speeds on offer here, whilst TLC memory eliminates any concerns over performance and longevity. This drive ensures the game will run sweetly without constraints from slow storage.

GPU

To experience the gorgeous visuals offered by MS2020 you’ll need a top-flight graphics card. The RTX 2070 Super has earned its place as the preferred 1440p gaming GPU. Utilising Nvidias current ‘Turing’ core and 8Gb VRAM the RTX 2070 Super packs a few tricks under its sleeve with real-time ray tracing cores and ‘tensor’ cores aimed at optimising AI workloads. This EVGA version carries their strong reputation for customer support as well as three DisplayPort outputs for controlling multi-screen setups.

Case & Power Supply

To ensure good cooling we’ve opted for the mesh fronted Phanteks P400A case. This mid-tower case has good build quality and comes with a pair of case fans for cooling. On the power supply side, the Cooler Master MWE 650W Gold is a high-efficiency PSU with modular cables to reduce clutter and a 5-year warranty gives peace of mind.

Recommended Accessories

Monitor

This PC is aimed at 1440p resolution so this 1440p monitor, the ASUS TUF Gaming VG27AQ, is a perfect fit. It offers excellent picture quality and very high refresh rate along with adaptive sync to remove tearing and improve fluidity.

Flight Stick

The Thrustmaster T.1600M FCS HOTAS is a flight stick and throttle combination that doesn’t cost the earth provides full 4-axis functionality including a sliding throttle and 16 action buttons with an 8-way hat on the stick itself. The stick twists to give rudder control although there is a model with included rudder pedals if you prefer the full set up. 

High-end Flight Simulator PC Build – The Parts List:

Experience MS Flight Simulator 2020 at its very best.

If you’re looking for a no-compromises build that delivers the absolute best performance from current leading edge technology, this is it:

CPU

Intel may be facing a strong challenge from AMD but they still hold the gaming crown. The 10^th generation Core i9-10900K is a 10-core self-overclocking monster of a chip and there is no CPU with higher gaming performance on the market today. Rest assured it will provide astounding performance not just in Flight 2020 but in any game you care to test it with.

CPU Cooler

One side effect of the power of this CPU is the amount of heat it dissipates. We’ve covered that with a 360mm water loop from Corsair with their H150i Pro XT cooler. This all-in-one cooler integrates with our chosen case and delivers maximum cooling power to keep the CPU cool and fast running. 

Motherboard

The MSI MEG Z490 Unify is a high-end Z490 motherboard with excellent voltage delivery circuitry to support the CPU. With 90 Amp power stages and 16 phase VRM the i9 will not want for power. It supports a wide variety of connectivity options with Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth, 2.5Gb Lan and high-speed USB, whilst 3 M.2 slots and 6 SATA ports cover storage options. It boasts high-quality sound output.

RAM

Whilst 32GB of RAM is adequate flight sims are ripe for modification. 64GB ensures that you can run the highest textures and most complex mods with ease, as well as guaranteeing a smooth multi-tasking experience. This G.Skill Trident Z kit is fast at 3200mhz with tight timings to lower memory access latency. The RGB helps set the case and motherboard off (but you can switch it off if you like). If you don’t want to bust the budget we’re confident you can drop this to 32Gb without adverse effect on core gameplay.

Storage

We’re nearing the end of the mechanical hard disc era and with NVMe SSD’s like the Adata SX8200 Pro on the market it’s easy to see why. This 2Tb drive performs amongst the very best SSD’s and has huge capacity. There’s no need to choose which games or software gets the fast drive here: they all can. The price at $240 is actually very reasonable considering the most basic 1Tb SSD’s cost around $100.

GPU

Right now there is still no GPU to challenge the RTX 2080 Ti. If you want the best possible visuals in a game as gorgeous as MS Flight 2020 you need a GPU of this calibre. With 11Gb of VRAM and an unrivalled 4352 CUDA cores rendering in parallel, this is the fastest gaming GPU on the planet. This GPU boasts the latest graphics processing technology Nvidia has to offer with hardware ray tracing and ‘tensor’ AI cores. It will excel at 1440p or 1440p ultrawide in even the most demanding AAA titles, Microsoft flight 2020 included. 

Case & Power Supply

We’ve opted for the Corsair Obsidian 500D to house this build. This is a premium case with tempered glass hinged sides. It integrates with the Corsair CPU cooler perfectly and lends a high-quality monolithic look to this build. The power supply is a well-reviewed 750W unit from Seasonic with the FOCUS 750W Gold 80+. It’s fully modular to keep cable clutter to a minimum and ease install and has a 10-year warranty signalling Seasonics faith in their build quality.

Recommended Accessories

Monitor

A high-resolution ultra-wide monitor is ideal for flight sims: this 34” monitor from LG, the LG 34GN850-B, has wrap-around screen that gives a wide field of view and enhances immersion. It isn’t as demanding of desk space or GPU power as three 1440p screens and eliminates distracting bezels. There’s a vibrant IPS panel and 144hz refresh rate to really wow, whilst adaptive sync technology eliminates tearing and smooths out the gameplay. This monitor is an excellent pairing with the RTX 2080 Ti ensuring gorgeous visuals at high frame rates.

Flight Stick

The Logitech GX56 HOTAS throttle and stick combination takes a step up from the entry-level Thrustmaster to offer better build quality and more functionality. Its festooned with mappable buttons and has 2 analogue control thumbsticks – ideal for looking around at the world laid out beneath you from the cockpit.

Conclusion: Get ready to take flight!

With two weeks until launch there’s still time to get your fantastic rig in order for Flight 2020. In this article I’ve demonstrated three builds that are sure to handle the rigors of this demanding game and reward you with unlimited flight possibilities, whether you’ve got $1000 or $4000 to spend. Happy flying!

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Intel has risen to the challenge of AMD’s onslaught on the CPU market. They have long since boasted of producing the ‘best gaming CPUs’ and so the new flagship CPU, the i9-10900K, pulls out all the stops to retain that accolade. This CPU has 10 cores and 20 threads with hyperthreading enabled. It boasts new technologies in the form of Thermal Velocity Boost and Turbo Boost Max 3.0 to enable peak core speeds of 5.3Ghz. Turbo Boost max acts to identify the highest quality cores in your CPU and ensure they are utilised in the most demanding tasks. On top of this ‘Thermal Velocity Boost’ acts to add 100mhz clock speed boost where the CPU temperature is under 70C and power delivery allows it. Intel is still stuck on the now ageing 14nm ‘core’ architecture so it takes this kind of optimisation to eke out their advantage – similar technologies have been deployed by AMD in the form of Precision Boost Overdrive and eXtreme Frequency Range to ensure that the end-user gets the best out of their CPU with minimal effort. 

There is a downside to forcing a 10-core CPU on a 14nm architecture to run this fast and that’s power draw and consequently heat: This is not an efficient CPU. Whilst it’s listed as 125 Watt thermal power design that refers to the continuous power load. When conditions demand it, different power limits are defined by intel and implemented by the motherboard manufacturers, and of course, if you’re an enthusiast overclocker you can throw those limits in the trash and draw as much as you want. The CPU will happily draw 180W in the high demand ‘PL2’ state, whilst if you’re looking for an all-core overclock approaching 5.3Ghz then testing indicates the CPU alone can draw well over 300W in total. Those are huge numbers and indicate the need for an excellent cooling solution as well as a motherboard and Power Supply with capacious power delivery limits. Indeed looking at the high-end motherboard options in the compatible Z490 chipset it’s evident that the manufacturers have heeded the demands of this generation of Intel CPUs. You’ll see them adorned with power stages that wouldn’t be out of place in a power grid distribution facility with ranks of 14 and 16-phase voltage regulation MOSFETs with up to 90 amp capacity. 

So what does this mean for our build? Well, to obtain the maximum benefit from this class-leading CPU, we’ll need to ensure that cooling and power delivery are up to scratch. We’ll also need a class-leading GPU to ensure that we’re generating as many frames as possible with current technology, and supporting parts that demonstrate the current cutting edge of technology and leave the CPU free to perform optimally. 

So let’s take a look at the PremiumBuilds ultimate i9-10900K gaming & productivity build, showcasing the best parts currently on offer and maximising the potential of this class-defining CPU.

10900K Liquid Cooled All-Rounder Build

Component	Selection	Design	Price
CPU	Intel Core i9-10900K		$529
CPU Cooler	EVGA CLC 360		$142
Motherboard	MSI MEG Z490 ACE		$389
Memory	G.Skill Trident Z RGB 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-4000 CL18		$552
Storage	ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro 2TB NVMe SSD		$259
Graphics Card	EVGA RTX 2080 Ti FTW3 Ultra Gaming		$1575
PC Case	Lian Li PC-O11 Dynamic		$150
Power Supply	Thermaltake Toughpower GF1 PE 850W 80+ Gold		$160
		Total	$3756

Motherboard

As outlined above the motherboard is critical to unlocking the performance of the i9 CPU. This high-end offering from MSI, the MEG Z490 Ace, straddles the line between extreme overclocking and all-round enthusiast performance. The power stages are a best in class 16 phase 90 AMP set up ensuring the CPU never wants for clean voltage, whilst MSI’s heritage boasts of extreme memory overclocking results. It has an understated and classy aesthetic, with heavy heatsinking and a bracing backplate strengthening the board. I/O is good, with dual 2.5G LAN and Intel Gigabit LAN and Wifi 6 integrated to the board as well as a host of high-speed USB connectivity and 3 M.2 slots of which we will populate just one: that makes future upgrades easy. A high current CPU pump header, CPU fan header, and 6 additional PWM chassis fan headers give the full control over the cooling solution.

CPU Cooler

The i9-10900K needs a top tier cooling solution to deal with its prodigious heat output: here we’ve taken advantage of the 360mm radiator capacity of the Lian-Li case to fit the EVGA CLC 360 all in one cooler. Three fans provide a 75 cubic feet/minute throughput to pull heat out of the coolant and keep the CPU performing at its best, and testing shows the EVGA CLC 360 performing equal to or better than counterparts like the Corsair H115i and NZXT X72. The neat branding matches the GPU and RGB helps set the look of this build. The fans can be swapped for RGB fans if desired, depending on if you want to turn the Lian Li Case into an RGB showcase or keep it discreet and functional.

RAM

For a high-end gaming system capable of streaming, gaming, and productivity work, 32Gb RAM ensures this all-rounder 10900K build can tackle it all. We’ve opted for 4 matched sticks of G.Skill Trident Z RAM with RGB to really highlight the build. This kit uses SK Hynix produced RAM and is listed on the QVL compatibility chart of the MSI Z490 MEG Ace motherboard meaning it’s guaranteed to run at the rated speeds, and enabling the overclock is no more trouble than selecting the XMP profile in BIOS and the motherboard handles the rest.

Storage

For storage we’ve opted for one f the eager competitors to Samsung’s throne: The Adata SX8200 Pro 2TB is a high-performance NVME drive using PCIe x4 lanes for read speeds in excess of 3,000Mb/s. The Silicon Motion SM2262EN 8-channel controller handles all tests with ease and despite the attractive pricing this drive performs alongside the very best available. The use of TLC nand means there’s no concern over longevity: This drive has a 1,280 Terabyte write endurance and a 5-year warranty. 2Tb gives ample space for the Operating system, day to day programmes, and a host of AAA titles to show the systems full potential.

Graphics Card

When you’ve opted for the highest performing gaming CPU available, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Ti. the only other component holding you back is your choice of GPU: This is still the component that makes the most impact on gaming performance. For that reason, we’ve brought out the big guns: the EVGA RTX 2080ti FTW3 Ultra Gaming.

With SLI officially dead in the water circa 2020, a single top tier GPU is the path to gaming bliss. This GPU uses the Turing TU102 GPU die with an unrivalled 4352 CUDA cores acting in parallel to provide the most rendering performance ever packed into a consumer graphics card, whilst opting for the FTW3 gets you a binned GPU that will hit a higher overclock. Whilst EVGA state that the boost clock is 1755Mhz on this card, that’s conservative: We’ll place money on you not being able to find an FTW3 card that won’t hold 2Ghz stable with an OC Scanner derived overclock curve. EVGA uses a gigantic 3 -slot, 3-fan cooler to keep this GPU cool (and like the CPU it can pull over 300W when overclocked) whilst ICX technology carefully manages fan speeds to ensure it never sounds unruly.

This aftermarket RTX 2080 Ti card is backed by an industry-leading 3-year warranty, extendable to 5, meaning you can enjoy this GPUs’ power for years to come. It’s also part of EVGA’s ‘step up’ programme, so if they release a superior GPU within 90 days you can part-exchange this card against whatever is waiting in the wings. That peace of mind means you can get to gaming right away and still own cutting edge technology as soon as it’s released.

PC Case

The Lian Li O11 Dynamic is fast becoming the favourite high-end PC case of the discerning builder. Few cases can boast a layout as well thought out as this: The PSU sits behind the motherboard in a separate compartment whilst the Motherboard and components sit in a glass houses showcase. A 360mm Radiator mount point acts as a partition between the halves, ensuring that exhaust air is carried directly away from the GPU and CPU. Cable management is a dream with an entire compartment to work within, whilst fan and radiator options are multitudinous: You can use AIO radiators as we have here, build full custom loops with discreet radiators for CPU and GPU, in short, let your mind run free with innovative cooling options to support whatever components and overclocking regime you choose.

If you happen to exceed the capacity of one PSU, there’s space for a second meaning you can feed GPU’s and CPU from separate power sources if you desire. The front panel boasts a USB 3.1 Type C connection and the case benefits from dust filters throughout, to keep that impressive interior clean. The case is built from steel with brushed aluminium accents to complete the premium look. Given its unrivalled specification, it’s clear to see why this case is so popular with those building high-end systems.

Power Supply

The PSU market has suffered more turmoil than almost any other over the last 6 months, making choosing a PSU harder than ever. Many of the industry stalwarts are out of stock or selling at hyper-inflated prices, but that doesn’t mean you can’t build your PC: There’s plenty of excellent options so long as you’re prepared to step away from the usual suspects. For this 10900K, build we’ve selected the Thermaltake Toughpower GF1 850W. This is a Gold efficiency rated fully modular power supply with specifications that match those from the likes of Corsair, EVGA and Seasonic, but it has the advantage that’ it’s actually available for purchase. It operates in zero fan mode for silence at idle but exhibits clean and consistent power delivery even under extreme load. The 850W rated output provides ample headroom for our 300W a piece CPU and GPU combination. The unit is backed with a 10-year warranty to give peace of mind.

Monitor Recommendations

The system we’ve created is capable of driving modern games to very high framerates whilst generating gorgeous visuals. To do it justice you need a worthy monitor. We’re proposing two options depending on your preference: 1440p 16:9 or else 1440p 21:9 ultrawide.

27” WQHD: ASUS ROG Swift PG279QZ 

The ROG Swift PG279QZ is the update to the hugely popular PG279Q. This 27” 1440p 165hz monitor has an IPS panel for the best balance of colour vibrance and response times, whilst G-Sync ensures that you’re getting the very best adaptive sync technology to match frame rates to the panels refresh rate. Reviews highlight excellent panel quality and low input lag. The resolution is well within the GPU’s capability to drive it to high refresh rates, giving you the competitive advantage in online gaming.

34” Ultrawide: LG 34GK950F-B

Meanwhile, if you want a more immersive experience with a curved ultrawide monitor, the LG 34GK950F-B has your needs met. This 21:9 aspect display won’t reach the heady refresh rate highs of a 16:9 monitor, but does offer more workspace for productivity and works fantastically well with AAA titles and sim games with the additional screen space filling your peripheral vision. A 144hz refresh rate pairs with Freesync 2 technology (now compatible with the Nvidia GPU) to smooth out framerates and deliver a stutter-free gaming experience.

So, in this article, we hope that we’ve demonstrated a cost-effective and very high-performance gaming PC build that will allow you to get the most out of Intel’s new flagship gaming CPU, the i9-10900K.

Related Builds

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In the following build article, we’re going to be doing what we do best; more precisely, we’re going to suggest an updated ~$2000 Gaming PC build that we believe is best for the price range.

Yes, we know that $2000 may be a bit steep for many in the community and that not everyone needs such a machine to game on – the job can usually be done on less expensive components as well – but we’ve been requested to keep an updated database of builds at all price ranges so here it is!

As always, we are focusing on giving the potential buyer and builder a great component list to just go ahead and buy without all the fuss of doing the research; we’ve already done it extensively for your ease. If this list is out of your price range, you don’t need to worry because Premium Builds has you covered on many other competitive builds, just check out the other articles because we are constantly updating them.

Performance and parts compatibility is a top priority for us so expect that the following build will be the best performing one in this ~$2000 budget.

After finishing reading this building guide you will know exactly what to buy and what to expect out of this dream machine so let’s get right into it!

$2000 Gaming PC Build – The Parts List

One of our other primary focuses here at PremiumBuilds is to also make you understand the decisions we took in each and every one of our building lists. We’re not leaving you in the dust with some scattered information that you may or may not find informative; we’re here for the whole journey of helping you plan and accomplish your dream build so stick with us further!

Component	Design	Selection	Price
CPU		AMD Ryzen 7 3700X	$289
Motherboard		MSI B450 Tomahawk Max	$114
Memory		G.Skill Ripjaws V 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200	$124
Storage		Crucial P1 1 TB NVME SSD	$119
Video Card		MSI RTX 2080 Ti Gaming X Trio	$1209
Case		Phanteks Eclipse P360X Mid Tower Case	$79
Power Supply		Cooler Master MWE Gold 750 W	$119
Case Fan (x3)		Corsair AF120 LED (x3)	$30
		Total	$2083

Selecting the components for our $2000 Gaming PC build

You may be an experienced builder or someone that is doing this for the first time, it doesn’t matter because we’ll take the easiest route anyway. A gaming PC will need both CPU and GPU horsepower in order to function properly in the most intense situations. Getting too much processing power will overwhelm the graphics card and we will get what is called a GPU bottleneck; we don’t want that because it means we needlessly spent too much on the CPU. The other way around is also true; spending too much on a very high performance GPU and not backing it up with a powerful CPU will result in the processor sweating during the gaming process, an issue that grows into an overall system processor bottleneck.

This is why its best to plan ahead of time and have knowledge about what you will be doing with your system. The build we’re trying to do here is ready for the highest levels of gaming performance in the most modern and recent titles. We are constantly researching and collecting numbers from the most popular game engines in order to make sure our builds are indeed prepared to handle any load in those titles. Its also a great idea to make sure the CPU will have leftover resources for running the background applications in your system, resources that are not used during gameplay; this way, your experience is going to be smooth and stutter-free.

CPU

The AMD Ryzen 7 3700X

We’ll start with the primary component in this build that is going to be the firm ground of the PC. This 8 core and 16 threads CPU is worthy of this build because of all the previously outlined reasons; it has enough horse power for the chosen GPU, its easy to cool thanks to its cutting edge 7nm (nanometers) fabrication process and the majority of newly released titles are already taking advantage of these many cores and threads. This CPU is able to easily power through even the most intensive game scenes also thanks to its stellar single core performance coming from its high 4.4GHz clock speed and class-leading IPC (instructions per clock).

If this was 2016 and we still had game engines not knowing what to do with more than 4 cores, we’d be using a cheaper CPU but this is 2020 and the value the Ryzen 7 3700X brings to consumers in undeniably fascinating; a behemoth of a CPU that comes for under $300 with an included cooler and an unlocked multiplier that allows overclocking, all in a price segment that not many years ago only had 4 core CPUs. 6 core/12 thread CPUs are the norm in 2020 but if you plan on having that extra performance for the future then the 3700X is the way to go.

It may not hold the crown for the fastest FPS numbers in games but its within 5% of the best and its the best processor for a gaming build that you can buy together with a NVIDIA RTX 2080 Ti in order to have budget for the remaining parts of the build without cutting any corners. If we were to choose the 9900K over the 3700X, we couldn’t have afforded the RTX 2080 Ti which would result in a slower gaming build with the next best graphics card, the RTX 2080 Super.

While the Ryzen 7 3700X is great in a gaming environment, it can also handle rendering, streaming and multitasking better than any CPU in its price range and far better than the competition. The system you’ll be getting will not just be just another gaming build; you’ll be able to easily stream to your favorite platforms with high quality, edit your game play footage and render to your hearts desire if you wish to become a content creator or just someone who wants to remember his/hers gaming adventures.

We got the CPU part sorted out and explained, let us go ahead and discuss what motherboard we’ll be pairing this processor with!

Motherboard

The MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX

The motherboard we decided to pair the Ryzen 7 3700X with is coming from MSI, a company that reportedly produced one of the best quality motherboards for Zen processors. Great compatibility all around, quality VRMs for extensive over clocking, good BIOS updates and stellar I/O; this is the recipe on what the MSI B450 Tomahawk was born.

Even if this motherboard debuted for the previous generation Zen+ processors, MSI updated it for the current Ryzen 3000 lineup with the B450 Tomahawk MAX edition; it features a larger storage for the updated BIOSes and comes compatible out of the box with any 3rd generation Ryzen CPU.

This ~$115 board punches well above its weight in the performance category because it is all you need in order to run a Ryzen 7 3700X with all its features; sure, other more expensive X570 motherboards might look better and have some fancy lighting but we’re telling you, the Tomahawk MAX is all you need in order to get maximum performance of the chip. MSI is saying support for this board continues, thus making the board suitable even for future upgrades.

Memory

32 GB of Fast, Dual Channel RAM

You may have heard other articles or talk around that 16GB is enough for gaming today and that’s partially true; it is indeed enough for gaming and daily activities but we are building something elite at a $2000 price point that will hold its class-leading performance many years to come.

DDR4 RAM is cheap nowadays and it makes no sense to limit yourself at 16GB if you have the budget for more. Besides other component areas where being overkill is not a brilliant idea, RAM capacity will only come with advantages for the system. The PC we are recommending comes with substantial power in other areas besides gaming and the 2 x 16GB of fast 3200 MHz memory, the G.Skill Ripjaws V, will certainly help with keeping a system smooth while doing heavy tasks such as gaming + streaming + rendering at the same time.

We are also certain everyone forgets closing browser tabs and small background applications and those can eat a lot of precious RAM, impacting your smooth gaming experience; 32GB of memory will make sure none of that will happen and it will certainly help in other areas such as editing/rendering large files, virtual machine resources and software developing.

We are going for 3200 MHz RAM because we believe it is worth the price premium over the lower clocked modules. Yes, slower RAM can be overclocked to such speeds with higher voltage but stability problems may interfere during system use and you don’t want that; out of the box performance is amazing with these and your 1% and 0.1% minimum FPS values in games will thank you for this kind of memory. In addition, we went for the CL16 timings as we found it to be the optimum memory setup for Ryzen 3000.

Also, a single 32GB stick for the memory should be out of the question since it compromises the performance of your build. You may find a cheap offer for these but we testify for the superiority of a Dual Channel memory setup. Single-channel RAM causes frame rates to be all over the place because you’re sacrificing half the bandwidth; while in cheap $500 builds, Single Channel can be acceptable, Dual Channel memory is a must in this build and especially at this price point.

Storage

The Crucial P1 – 1Tb of very fast read and access storage

We will be using an M.2 drive that is popular among PC builders thanks to its amazing speeds and great price. The Crucial P1 provides excellent value for everyday use in its price range if you are not looking to do transfers bigger than 50GB at a time; that’s when this M.2 drive slows down during the transfer because of its limited QLC cache. But don’t let that worry you, only professional video editors who move a lot of large files may have this problem and may need to look for a different primary storage device – for everyday use, the drive is lightning fast and won’t slow down featuring speeds of up to 2,000MB/s read and 1,700MB/s write which is much faster than your usual mid-range SATA SSD.

If you are in need of extra storage for your system, you may want to add some cheaper SATA storage besides this M.2 SSD. Go ahead, your case and motherboard certainly supports it. For this build though, the generous 1TB of space and great speeds that this drive offers will be sufficient for most people.

Graphics Card

Yes, you heard it right! This build features a NVIDIA RTX 2080Ti with a great cooler implementation!

No one can argue about the current best consumer GPU on the market right now, its certainly the RTX 2080 Ti and it will stay that way until the new generations from AMD and Nvidia will drop later this year. Until then, no SLI configuration or other will beat it at sustained gaming performance. Of course, you need to be prepared to pay a lot of money for it but this build that we’re planning here certainly affords to pay the premium price for it. Its a perfect fit here because our chosen CPU, the Ryzen 7 3700X is able to handle it in any current fast paced or Triple A game.

The RTX 2080Ti is a card for setups that focus on 4K 60+, 1440p 144+ fps and VR in the heaviest of titles so the performance is enough to provide the most immersive of gaming experiences across the board. Later in the article we will compile a list of games with their respective FPS averages, 1% minimums and 0.1% minimums so stay tuned!

You’re also not getting the cheapest 2080Ti out there because the MSI RTX 2080 Ti Gaming X Trio is actually regarded as one of the best put together graphics cards out there and the performance is there to show it. Featuring a higher boost speed and much improved VRM modules over its competitors, this 2080Ti is actually around 7% faster than a Founder’s Edition 2080Ti; all this performance is consistent and the card’s temperature is kept in check thanks to its fantastic cooler setup. You probably also won’t mind the RGB lights and controls of this graphics card and even if you don’t like them at all, they can all be turned off.

The only small downside of this graphics card is the fact that it is huge which may prove to be an advantage in the cooling department but not many cases can comfortably fit it. We made sure the PC case and case fans of this build can easily and silently handle the RTX 2080 Ti. The rather big power consumption of this card requires a beefy PSU and that’s what we’ll be talking about in the following section.

Power Supply

The Cooler Master MWE 750W

This build may reach a peak power draw of 500W in the heaviest rendering and gaming situations and most of that is due to the beefy RTX 2080Ti that we’re using but that is rarely hit and usually the build will pull around 200-300W in most gaming situations. Because of this, we need a good PSU that is able to handle this beastly build during both its best and worst so we chose the Gold Rated Cooler Master MWE 750W.

The power supply is a top tier piece of hardware that can consume as little as 0.5W during standby but at the same time provide constant power to a powerful build while staying silent at the same time. The price also fits very well with the type of build we’re planning out here.

Together with the great warranty Cooler Master offers, the elegantly braided cables and full modularity of the PSU (allowing you to use only the cables you need), the CM MWE 750W has its rightful place in our build. Its overall color scheme is also perfect for the case we chose.

PC Case

The Phanteks Eclipse P360X

Essentially one of the most beautiful and easy to build in ATX mid tower cases. We can recommend this P360X for a wide array of builds thanks to its excellent building room space, air filters, integrated PSU shroud and slick looks. In our experience, the case has a very sturdy build while leaving enough space for RAM clearance and even radiators to be mounted frontally or at the top. Cable management is also an easy task thanks to the multiple tie down points present behind and on the side of the bays. Airflow is excellent even if the front panel is not a mesh design thanks to its well thought out air intakes.

The only minor downside of this case may be the presence of only one included case fan but that can easily be fixed with the three 120mm silent fans at the end of the list thus resulting in a very capable two for intake / two for exhaust fan setup which is a rightfully popular cooling composition for such a build.

Expected gaming performance from this $2000 Gaming PC build

All around smooth gaming experiences should be the norm for this build. The Ryzen 7 3700X CPU is one of the best consumer processors out there handling everything thrown at it while asking for more; it will pair very well with the Nvidia RTX 2080Ti GPU and will certainly make the GPU work for those precious framerates!

As promised, we compiled a short list of games that we benchmarked with this system in order to provide you with solid performance numbers. We will be looking into average FPS, 1% lows and 0.1% lows which are stellar as you’re probably already guessing based on how we’ve planned this build. Here we go:

Keep in mind that this is a very strong showing since all these games were tested with all their settings cranked up to the highest possible.

Conclusion

We very much love how this build turned out and we vouch for it as a high performance system that is going to hold its own in many years to come. For $2000 you are getting both the experience of building something that you feel like you own and a PC that not only games with no compromises but also holds its own in all rendering and streaming scenarios. The build is also a sweet spot for high gaming performance because you’d need to pay much more money to get systems that will only prove to be 5 to 10% better in most extreme gaming cases.

We hope that the sections in this article have been informative enough for you to go ahead and make your dream PC come true. Any further questions can be easily addressed in the comment section below.

We will also be doing complete building video guides in the future so stay tuned for that!

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