Maximum PC - UK (2019-12)

98 MAXIMUMPC DEC 2019 maximumpc.com

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Maximum PC (ISSN 1522-4279) is published 13 times a year,

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For more of our component recommendations,

visit http://www.pcgamer.com/hardware/buying-guides/ Approximate Price: $2,536

INGREDIENTS

PART PRICE

Case NZXT H700i $182

PSU 850W E VGA 850 GQ 80+ GOLD NEW $115

Mobo ASRock X399 Phantom Gaming 6 $240

CPU AMD Threadripper 2950X $770

Cooler Corsair Hydro H100i RGB Platinum

240mm AIO NEW

$149

GPU Zotac Gaming GeForce RTX 2070

Super Twin Fan 8GB

$500

RAM 32GB (2x 16GB) G.Skill Sniper X

@ 3,600MT/s NEW

$150

SSD 1TB Samsung 970 Evo M.2 NVMe NEW $170

HDD 2x 3TB Seagate BarraCuda Compute $160

OS Windows 10 Home 64-bit OEM $100

THERE’S A LOT GOING ON in the high-end desktop CPU arena. AMD’s

16-core Ryzen 9 3950X is set to replace second-gen Threadrippers,

while the third gen of Threadripper chips is hot on its heels, too.

By the time you read this, those chips may well be available; watch

this space, because we might finally be swapping out the trusty

2950X. For now, though, second-gen Threadrippers are dropping

in price, saving us $60 on the CPU for our Turbo Build.

With that money on the table, we looked to make improvements

here and there. First up was memory, and while we stuck with

G.Skill, we’re going for a 3,600MHz kit of Sniper X instead of last

month’s 3,200MHz kit. Then we splashed out on a new cooler,

going for Corsair’s Hydro H100i. This should add more flair, as our

previous Fractal Design cooler lacked the H100i’s RGB effects.

Our SSD will likely see a big upgrade in the not-too-distant

future, too. With both Ryzen and Threadripper 3000 CPUs packing

PCIe 4.0, high-speed Gen4 NVMe SSDs will soon be on the menu.

For now, we’re still making a change, taking the savings from the

2950X (and a small saving made by swapping out the PSU to EVGA’s

850 GQ) to upgrade our storage from 512GB to 1TB. This comes

with a caveat: a shift from Samsung’s Pro line to the Evo series,

which will have a small impact on overall drive performance. It’s a

worthy trade-off for doubling our primary drive capacity, though.

UPGRADE

OF THE

MONTH

Yes, it does look as though it was designed by Reaper

from Overwatch. That’s OK, though; at just $170, the MPG

X570 Gaming Plus delivers a lot of high-end motherboard

features, from M.2 heat shielding to server-grade PCB,

and intelligent power delivery systems. It’s the perfect

accompaniment to a mid-range Ryzen 3000 chip, such as

the 3600X, provided you can look past the black and red

design. A tricked-out rear I/O, including HDMI for integrated

graphics and a gen-3.2 USB-C port, is just the perfect cherry

on top. MSI also happens to be one of our favorites when it

comes to straightforward BIOS UIs, so that’s a bonus, too!

$170, http://www.msi.com

MSI MPG X570 GAMING PLUS

©^

MS

I

TURBO