AMD’s RDNA2 launch announcement has put the cat amongst the pigeons in the upper end of the GPU market. Finally, Nvidia has competition on their hands. The entry-level RDNA2 GPU is the Radeon RX 6800. This GPU promises to equal or better the RTX 3070 in 1440p and 4k gaming performance but offers double the VRAM with 16GB instead of 8GB. Retailing at $579 the RX 6800 offers compelling performance for the money. We’re excited that GPUs capable of high FPS 1440p gaming is attainable for less than $600.

In this build guide, we’ve assembled a parts list that seeks to maximise the performance and longevity of the system based around the Radeon RX 6800. We’ve taken care to ensure that the PC will last well into the future without requiring upgrades or expansion. We’ve done this by choosing the current best in class CPU, optimised RAM and 2TB of NVME SSD storage. This PC will provide a top-notch gaming experience for the foreseeable future but packs enough punch to double as a versatile workstation and general-purpose PC as well. Its ideally suited to high FPS 1440p gaming or running a 1440p ultrawide monitor for an enthralling AAA gaming experience. It’s well capable of 4K gaming if you want to bring PC gaming to the living room TV or a dedicated 4K monitor. Let’s run through the parts selection.

Best RX 6800 Gaming PC Build – Our Recommendations

CPU

We’ve opted for AMD’s 8 core part in the new Zen 3 line up for this build, the Ryzen 7 5800X. This CPU has a 3.8Ghz Base clock and boosts to 4.7GHz with ‘Power boost Overdrive’ meaning it has excellent gaming performance. AMD has boasted of a huge leap forwards with their revised Zen 3 Architecture. They’ve enhanced the Cache access for the 8 cores and reduced the latency of the interconnect between cores – traditionally a big performance barrier in the Zen layout. All of this adds up to a CPU that will outperform any current intel CPU in gaming, whilst 8 cores and 16 threads meaning it is both adept at productivity tasks and multitasking but also set to last the course as programmes become more demanding in future. Finally, the RDNA2 announcement offered a few more compelling reasons to opt for an AMD CPU. Combined with the B550 motherboard ‘Smart Memory Access’ gives the CPU broadband interconnect with the GPU VRAM dramatically enhancing framerates at 1440p and 4K. AMD Claim a benefit of 5-10% using this technology, certainly worthwhile. Secondly this CPU is fully PCIe 4.0 compliant allowing faster communication with both the primary GPU and a PCIe 4.0 SSD in future. Overall the $449 Ryzen 5800X is a rock-solid core for this PC and represents best in class technology at a reasonable price point.

CPU Coolers

The Ryzen 5800X isn’t particularly hot running or hard to cool. We’ve chosen a great looking and reliable tower cooler with some added RGB highlights to match the case. This tower cooler – the ID-COOLING SE-234-ARGB, uses 4 heat pipes, and a quiet 120mm PWM tan to draw heat away from the CPU. Its 200W cooling capacity is more than enough for the 105W power draw of the 5800X. It’s simple to install and includes AM4 compatible bracketry. Meanwhile, black anodising and an addressable RGB shroud compliments the styling of the motherboard and case to give your PC a cohesive aesthetic. If you’re not a fan of the RGB, the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Black edition is an equally capable and more discreet looking cooler at the same price. 

Motherboard

MSI has released a strong line up of B550 motherboards in support of Zen 3 and this mid-range Gaming Edge model hits the sweet spot of performance, features and price. The 10+2 phase power supply circuitry is more than capable of supporting the Ryzen 5800X at full speeds and there are heavy-duty VRM heatsinks to help draw heat away from the components. The MSI MPG B550 Gaming Edge WiFi motherboard incorporates Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth for versatile connectivity but also has a 2.5GB Ethernet port powered by a Realtek chipset. The ALC1200 Audio codec is mid-range but allows for excellent audio output and there’s optical SPDIF as well as five 3.5mm audio outputs. It supports PCIe 4.0 and AMD’s ‘Smart Memory Access’ technology to boost the performance of the RX 6800 GPU. Finally, it has a discreet black aesthetic in keeping with the rest of the build.

Memory

RAM prices have dropped consistently in 2020 and 32GB is now a sensible choice for a high-performance PC build. Our own investigations have shown 3600MHz RAM to be the sweet spot in terms of performance and value on Zen 2 CPU’s. Because Zen 3 CPU’s retain the same IO die and ‘infinity fabric’ as Zen 2 we’re confident that 3600MHZ speed will remain the best value option for Zen 3. Whilst this RAM has slightly slower CL18 timings it’s clock speed that really impacts performance by synchronising the CPU’s infinity fabric and RAM frequencies. This 32Gb Team T-FORCE Dark Za Memory Kit comes with a QVL supported one clock A-XMP overclock profile to get it running at optimal speed so you can be confident of compatibility. The Anodised black heat spreader matches the black aesthetic of the motherboard. In 2x16GB configuration you benefit from dual-channel operation and also leave 2 RAM slots free should you ever need to upgrade capacity in future. 

Storage

Games are getting ever-larger and we don’t want to under specify SSD space for a versatile and powerful PC. That’s why we’ve opted for the Adata Swordfish NVMe SSD in 2Tb capacity. At $200 this is a remarkable value. Whilst it is a mid-range SSD with 1,800MB/s read and 1,400MB/s write it’s plenty fast enough for general use and gaming and it will even handle occasional video editing and other storage punishing tasks with ease. We haven’t chosen a PCIe 4.0 SSD because the much higher cost is rarely justified and the benefits of the additional theoretical speed really aren’t made out for most users. The Adata Swordfish, therefore, strikes the best balance of price, performance and 2TB capacity. It ships with a 5-year warranty and 960Tb total endurance rating as well as inbuilt AES 256 bit encryption.

PC Case

The Phanteks Eclipse P400A Digital is an excellent value case including 3 RGB fans and a mesh front panel for optimal airflow. It’s a mid-tower ATX design so it offers plenty of space for components and upgrades but remains more manageable than a full ATX tower. The tempered glass side panel showcases the components within whilst a full suite of dust filters keeps everything clean. Front panel connectors include 2 USB 3.0 sockets and the usual headphone and microphone jack. Build quality is excellent with a PSU shroud, sliding Hard disc trays and good cable management features like tie-down straps and cable channels integrated into the design. A single additional 120MM fan in the top rear position will act as exhaust whilst preserving the 3 fan aesthetic of the front of the case. This Case is a pleasure to build in and look at and provides the airflow to keep everything running cool and quiet.

Power Supply

The total power draw of this system is around 450W peak and we’ve selected a good value and well-specified Power supply to meet these demands. The Antec Earthwatts Gold Pro is a semi-modular design meaning the ATX and EPS cables are permanently connected, whilst you add additional cables to power accessories as required. This build will make use of 2 additional PCIe Cables only to keep the wiring clean and simple. 650W capacity allows headroom for transient loads and also future expansion with a more powerful GPU or additional drives and accessories. It has a quiet operation with a high-quality fan. The PSU uses Japanese capacitors and ships with a 7-year warranty so you can be confident it will last the lifetime of this PC. We’ve been using this Power supply in the Premiumbuilds test bench and have been impressed with its resilience and consistent operation so we have no hesitation recommending it for this build. 

1440P Monitor Recommendation

The RX 6800 is a high-performance GPU and demands a monitor that’s up to task. The Asus TUF Gaming VG27AQ is a 165Hz 1440p IPS panel that benefits from Freesync. The high resolution of this monitor allows sharp images and more detail, really maximizing the power of the GPU for stunning visual fidelity. Meanwhile, it’s able to keep pace with a GPU and CPU that excel in generating fast-paced gameplay. The IPS panel ensures razor-sharp response times and no motion blur, the perfect combination for serious gamers. The panels color accuracy and quality are well regarded in reviews. If you’re planning to make the most of this latest round of GPU’s you really do need a monitor that displays their full potential and the Asus VG27AQ certainly meets the standard. 

Ultrawide Monitor for RX 6800 Alternative

If you’re looking to exploit the power of the RX 6800 for the ultimate AAA gaming experience, or want sims like MS Flight or racing sims to really shine then we’d recommend this 34” ultrawide from LG, the Ultragear 34GK950F-B. The Ultrawide experience wraps around you filling your peripheral vision and immersing you in gameplay. Almost all titles are fully compatible and whilst the previous generation of GPUs required you to spend nearly $1000 to properly drive this demanding resolution we’re now seeing GPUs at under $600 that absolutely excel. This 144Hz panel uses AMD’s Freesync 2 to eliminate screen tearing, smooth framerates and maintain immersion. The IPS panel ensures great colour accuracy and response times. This is a high-end monitor and comes with an integrated USB Hub and a sturdy and ergonomic stand. Reviews praise its image quality and response times. We highly recommend this monitor if you want to take full advantage of the power of the Radeon RX 6800 GPU. 

The post $1800 RX 6800 Gaming PC Build for High-FPS 1440p Gaming appeared first on PremiumBuilds.

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.

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

The post $3700 Ultimate Liquid Cooled Intel Core i9-10900K Productivity & Gaming PC Build appeared first on PremiumBuilds.

Virtual Reality (VR) has come of age in 2020 and now is a great time to build a VR capable rig. With immersive titles like Half-Life: Alyx, sims with full VR support such as Project Cars II and DCS World and a host of innovative ways to use the immersion of VR there’s a wealth of software to experience. GPU’s have finally become powerful enough to render smooth detailed scenes at a frame rate and resolution that maintains immersion and good quality headsets have become affordable.

In this article, I’ll explain what features make for the best VR experience and recommend entry-level, mid-range and high-end VR gaming rigs to suit any need or budget in 2020.

VR Builds: What to prioritise.

A gaming build capable of VR isn’t hugely different from any other gaming PC. It requires adequate CPU power and RAM for a smooth consistent gameplay experience but the main area to focus on is the GPU: to generate an immersive VR world the GPU must render each frame twice from different viewpoints, one for each eye. Immersion requires smooth consistent frame rates.

Because of these demands, a VR gaming PC should have a higher tier GPU than normally considered adequate for monitor-based gaming. In terms of the PC itself, this is the only additional spend to ensure great VR performance.

The other major expense is, of course, the headset itself. The Oculus Rift S represents an excellent entry point to VR gaming at around $300, whilst the Valve Index is a $1000 cutting edge headset that boasts very high resolution and refresh rate. You can read our VR headset roundup here.

Best Entry-Level VR-Ready PC Build

Experience VR Gaming at $670!

This build represents a fantastic entry point for VR gaming with a comparatively powerful GPU, very capable CPU and adequate supporting hardware. It’ll game well at 1080p alongside demonstrating that experiencing VR in the home needn’t break the bank! With good headsets starting at around $300 you should be able to obtain this set up for under $1000 all in.

Component	Design	Selection	Price
CPU		AMD Ryzen 3 3300X 3.8 GHz	$120
Motherboard		MSI B450M PRO-M2 MAX Micro ATX	$75
Memory		G.Skill Aegis 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory	$65
Storage		PNY CS900 500 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$55
Video Card		Asus GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER 6 GB TUF GAMING OC	$230
Case		Thermaltake Versa H18 MicroATX Mini Tower Case	$55
Power Supply		Thermaltake SMART 650 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply	$70
		Total	$670

CPU

The newly announced Ryzen 3300X is an excellent entry-level gaming CPU. Whilst it has 4 cores multithreading helps pick up the slack in any games that require more CPU threads. Benchmarking shows it performing admirably and it’s on a par with the more expensive Ryzen 5 3600 in almost all titles. Using the supplied cooler helps keep costs down.

Motherboard

The MSI B450 Pro M-2 MAX is an entry-level B450 motherboard but it’s Ryzen 3000 compatible and offers good basic functionality. There are 4 USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports and an additional 2 USB 3 ports. There’s a spare PCIe 1x slot to add a wifi card if you require it but this motherboard will have no problem extracting the maximum potential out of the CPU.

Memory

Given the 2 memory slot capacity of the motherboard, it makes sense to start out with 16Gb Ram which is adequate for almost all current games. This Aegis 2x8GB stick kit from G.skill, and is clocked at 3000mhz.

3600mhz is generally considered optimal but performance gains aren’t going to be apparent in games where the GPU is the limiting factor so we’ve opted for the lower clock speed and $20 savings here.

Storage

A budget 500Gb SSD from PNY, the CS900, gives us plenty of space to get started and costs just $55. It’s DRAM-less which isn’t optimal but it’s still far faster than any Hard Disc. If you have some extra to spend a 1TB Crucial P1 SSD would be a fine upgrade over this at around $100, or else pair this drive with a 2Tb HDD if you need more space.

Graphics Card

The GPU is the key to VR performance and we consider a GTX 1660 Super the start point to a consistent and enjoyable VR experience. This GPU has the Displayport output required to run a VR headset such as the Oculus Rift S and benefits from a dual-fan design for quieter operation. The AIB model of the 1660 Super we have opted for is the highly-regarded ASUS TUF Gaming OC.

PC Case

The Thermaltake H18 is a good budget offering with decent airflow and looks at the price point. With a sleek black design that is certainly non-intrusive, a tempered glass side panel and ergonomic cable management make this micro-ATX case a great bargain at just $55.

Power Supply

We’ve stuck with Thermaltake SMART M for the 650W Bronze certified PSU for this budget VR-ready build. Case and PSU availability and pricing have been pretty chaotic in recent months due to trade wars and then the Covid-19 pandemic so it pays to be on the lookout for bargains.

Best Mid Range VR-Ready PC Build

An Excellent VR platform at $1200

In the mid-range territory, a budget of $1200 for the tower gives you a very strong VR gaming PC – thanks to the value and competitiveness of AMD’s CPU and GPU advances over the last year.

Parts List	Design	Selection	Price
CPU		AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz	$172
CPU Cooler		Cooler Master Hyper 212 Black Edition	$39
Motherboard		MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX	$115
Memory		G.Skill Ripjaws V 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600	$84
Storage		Crucial P1 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME SSD	$120
Video Card		Sapphire Radeon RX 5700 XT 8 GB PULSE Video Card	$400
Case		Fractal Design Meshify C ATX Mid Tower Case	$105
Power Supply		Cooler Master MWE Gold 650 W 80+ Gold	$100
		Total	$1135

CPU

At the mid-price point for our VR build, we decided to opt for the much-lauded Ryzen 5 3600 CPU. This 6 core 12 thread CPU redefined what we expected from mid-range CPU’s when it launched. The Zen 2 7nm architecture achieves high clock speeds whilst keeping power consumption and temperatures low, boosting performance. This CPU performs more than adequately across a wide range of titles.

CPU Cooler

We’ve paired the Ryzen 5 3600 with the capable Cooler Master Hyper 212 Black Edition air CPU cooler. This updated version of Cooler Master’s air tower cooler uses heat pipes to dissipate the CPU’s heat. It’s primarily an aesthetic and noise conscious choice over the bundled AMD Wraith Stealth cooler and with just 65W to cool there’s no need to spend more.

Motherboard

The MSI B450 Tomahawk Max has been the go-to recommendation for Ryzen 3000 series CPUs and with good reason. It has strong voltage delivery circuitry and a host of features such as USB-C on the rear panel, and BIOS flashback making updates possible even without a compatible CPU. If you’re looking to utilise PCIe 4.0, it may be worth looking at the newly announced B550 motherboards.

RAM

G.Skill offers their Ripjaws V RAM at 16GB 3600Mhz with tight CL16 timings for a reasonable $84 – the optimum RAM speed and latency for Ryzen builds. This ram allows a 1:1 timing ratio between the RAM and the ‘infinity fabric’ memory controller in the Ryzen 5 3600 lowering memory access latency and optimising performance. At the price, it’s a good way of ensuring you’re getting the most out of your Zen 2 CPU for virtual reality.

Storage

1Tb of SSD storage comes courtesy of the Crucial P1 M.2 NVME drive. At $115 it’s a great all-round NVMe SSD drive and well suited to gaming, workloads and running your OS. It is QLC nand which is slower than the more expensive TLC NAND but the controller masks performance deficits well in day to day use. We consider this drive an excellent choice for a VR gaming machine giving a lot of fast storage at a very reasonable price.

Graphics Card

At the mid-range, the AMD Radeon RX 5700XT makes a compelling case. 8gb VRAM and very high performance combines with great pricing at $400. Sapphire is a well-respected brand and their Pulse model of the 5700XT hits the sweet spot of price, performance and cooling. Whilst initially there was concern over AMD’s drivers these have been well and truly addressed through driver updates now that this GPU is nearly a year on the market so you can buy it confident that it will provide an awesome gaming performance in VR and even driving a 1440p monitor if you choose to.

PC Case

The Fractal Design Meshify C ATX case represents a great choice at $105. It includes a PSU shroud, tempered glass side panel and a mesh front panel for great airflow to help keep the 5700XT cool. It includes magnetic dust filters throughout and provides a pleasant building experience with integrated cable routing and good build quality.

Power Supply

The power supply is again a Cooler Master unit but we opted for the gold-rated MWE Gold 650W PSU on this occasion. It’s fully modular for a clean build and ships with a 5-year warranty.

Best Enthusiast VR-Ready PC Build

Ready for the most demanding VR titles for $2000

Parts List	Design	Selection	Price
CPU		AMD Ryzen 7 3700X	$295
CPU Cooler		NZXT Kraken X53 240mm AIO	$130
Motherboard		Asus TUF GAMING X570-PLUS (WI-FI)	$190
Memory		G.Skill Ripjaws V 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600	$154
Storage – NVME OS Drive		ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME SSD	$150
Additional Storage - SATA		Crucial MX500 2 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$230
Video Card		EVGA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER 8 GB KO GAMING	$710
Case		NZXT H510 Elite ATX Mid Tower Case	$150
Power Supply		Cooler Master MWE Gold 650 W 80+ Gold	$100
		Total	$2109

CPU

The Ryzen 7 3700X brings huge power to this build. The 8 cores with simultaneous multithreading ensure a consistent experience in even the most demanding titles whilst also excelling in productivity and workstation tasks for demanding users. Whilst higher core count AMD CPUs are on offer and may make sense for power users the 3700X hits the sweet spot of value and will remain capable for years to come.

CPU Cooler

We’ve opted to pair it with the NZXT Kraken X53 240mm AIO cooler. This unit fits perfectly with the case for a hassle-free build and has ample cooler capacity for the relatively efficient CPU.

Motherboard

Asus’s TUF line of motherboards adds features and aesthetics without the very high cost of their ROG Strix X570 motherboard line up. The TUF Gaming X570 is Ryzen 3000 compatible and offers native Pcie 4.0 support, strong voltage delivery circuity and inbuilt Wifi and Bluetooth. It also has gigabit LAN and USB 3.2 Type-C support on both the rear panel and via an internal header for the Case USB-C port. This is a fully-featured motherboard that will support expansion in the future, but delivers excellent performance now.

Memory

As stated 32Gb RAM can be a requirement for complex simulation games and also provides ample resources for video editing and other productivity work. Here we’ve opted for G.Skill Ripjaws V 32GB 3600Mhz CL16 RAM in 2x16gb sticks. Again this configuration allows for dual channel operation and a 1:1 Memory controller and Infinity fabric clock ratio optimising Ryzen performance.

Storage

This build boasts a two-tier storage set up. The Adata SX8200 Pro gives 1Tb of exceptionally fast and durable NVME storage for the Operating System and key programmes. The additional 2Tb SATA SSD from Crucial’s MX500 line up is plenty fast enough for game and data storage. Whilst the motherboard supports PCI-e 4.0, the price premium for compatible NVME SSD’s isn’t justified for anything less than full workstation builds – so we’ve kept prices down but maintained performance here.

Graphics Card

Finally, the GPU which is the cornerstone of this enthusiast VR-ready build. Whilst it’s always tempting to opt for the highest-end card spending over $1000 on an RTX 2080 Ti isn’t necessary for a truly high-end VR experience. Instead, we’ve let our head overrule our heart and chosen the $700 RTX 2080 Super.

With 8Gb VRAM and full RTX Turing capabilities, this GPU defines high-end performance. It’s capable of 4k AAA gaming or driving multiple displays at high refresh rates for flight sims or racing games, and rock-solid VR performance is just a party trick to it. The EVGA RTX 2080 Super KO variant offers EVGA’s well-regarded customer support which is always important for a $700 component. The iCX cooler and twin fan design ensure quiet operation when not gaming whilst over 3000 Cuda Cores ensure top-level performance.

PC Case

For our high end build we’ve opted for the clean lines and integrated RGB of the NZXT H510 Elite. This recently refreshed case features USB C on the front panel, RGB fans and lighting strips and a straight forwards build with the compatible and matching NZXT cooler we’ve selected.

Power Supply

Powering the system is the Cooler Master MWE Gold 650W PSU due to it’s attractive pricing when other PSUs have risen in price or disappeared from the shelves.

I hope that this article has demonstrated that VR is now well within reach for those considering a new build in 2020 and given you some inspiration to go hunting for your own Premium VR build!

If you have any questions or want any feedback on your upcoming VR-ready PC build, feel free to get in touch with us here and we will do our best to help out!

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