Maximum PC - UK (2020-01)

maximumpc.com JAN 2020 MAXIMUMPC 71

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WHILE WE’RE GOING TO BENCHMARK this system against our usual
selection of 1440p gaming PC zero-points, we’re also going to try out
some VR tests. To that end, we have an original Oculus Rift and an
Oculus Quest equipped with Facebook’s beta Oculus Link software.
We’re not including those in the price, though, as there’s a few VR
headsets that you could choose, and they’re all priced very differently.
In terms of the physical hardware, we’ve got a Ryzen 7 3800X and
a Zotac Gaming GeForce RTX 2070 Super, bringing octa-core CPU
performance and high-end graphics together to make a gaming
powerhouse. Cooling is handled by the surprisingly good Wraith
Prism air cooler packaged with the 3800X, but there’s the potential
to spend more and snag a more powerful cooler. Those components
are backed up by 16GB of high-speed Sniper X RAM, courtesy of
G.Skill, all mounted on an MSI MEG X570 Unify motherboard. Don’t
forget to enable the A-XMP profile in the Unif y’s BIOS to make sure
you’re squeezing maximum performance out of that memory.
That’s a mobo equipped with PCIe 4.0, so we’re going to be
using a fourth-gen M.2 drive: the excellent Corsair MP600 1TB.
That means our transfer speeds will be as fast as it gets, making
sure our games load ultra-quick. The MP600 comes with its own
heatsink, but you’ll want to remove that before getting started.
All that hardware is being powered by Fractal Design’s
awesome Ion+ 760P power supply, a competitively priced offering
with a fully modular design; useful, considering that the case we’re
using comes with plenty of its own cables. That case is the XPG
Battlecruiser, a beefy case that comes equipped with four of XPG’s
own 120mm RGB fans. It’s got glass panels on four sides, magnetic
dust filters, and numerous mounts for SATA drives. And lastly, as
always, we’ll be installing Windows 10 Home as our OS.

WE’RE STRIPPING DOWN THE CASE even more than

usual. Both glass side panels of the Battlecruiser and the

roof remove with thumbscrews; under the roof panel,

there’s a magnetic dust filter that lifts off, revealing the

screws that secure the upper radiator bracket—as we’re

not using liquid cooling, we removed that, and the two

plastic drive mounts behind the mobo plate. There’s also

an HDD mount on top of the PSU shroud, which can go.

WITH ALL YOUR COMPONENTS READY, place the

motherboard atop its box (or a dedicated workbench),

and slot in the 3800X after lifting the metal retention

arm. Next up is the memory; open the clasps, and fit the

Sniper X sticks into slots A2 and B2. Simple. You need

the Corsair SSD next, so pick a slot and plug it in after

removing the relevant heatsink. Don’t forget to remove

the plastic cover from the sticky pad on the heatsink, too.

Now mount the motherboard inside the case and screw it

down. The rear I/O shield comes pre-attached, so that’s

one less thing to worry about, and the Battlecruiser’s

size means it’s easy enough to fit the board beneath the

rear c as e f an. T ime to move on to the bigger component s.

OPEN AND SHUT CASE GET IT TOGETHER

INGREDIENTS

PART STREET PRICE

Case XPG Battlecruiser $180

Motherboard MSI MEG X570 Unify $300

CPU Ryzen 7 3800X $400

CPU Cooler AMD Wraith Prism (stock cooler) $N/A

Memory 16GB (2x 8GB) G.Skill Sniper X DDR4-3400 $130

GPU Zotac Gaming GeForce RTX 2070 Super

Amp Extreme 8GB

$580

PSU Fractal Design Ion+ 760P $128

SSD Corsair MP600 1TB $190

HDD WD Black SATA HDD 6TB $228

OS Windows 10 Home 64-bit $100

Tot al $2,236

PHYSICAL REALITY