Maximum PC - UK (2020-03)

(Antfer) #1

98 MAXIMUMPC MAR 2020 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: $2,674

INGREDIENTS

PART PRICE
Case NZXT H700i $170
PSU 850W Corsair RM850 80+ GOLD $128

Mobo Gigaby te X399 Aorus Pro NEW $316
CPU AMD Threadripper 2950X $690

Cooler Enermax Liqfusion 360mm
ELC-LF360-RGB AIO NEW
$110

GPU MSI GeForce RTX 2080 Super Ventus 8GB $680

RAM 32GB (2x 16GB) G.Skill Ripjaws V Series
@ 3,600MT/s NEW
$140

SSD 1TB Sabrent Rocket NVMe M.2 PCIe SSD NEW $180
HDD 2x 3TB Seagate BarraCuda Compute HDD $160

OS Windows 10 Home 64-bit OEM $100

THE RTX 2080 SUPER GPUS are still dropping in price, almost
alarmingly so. But we’re not complaining; $680 for the 2080 Super
Ventus from MSI is a fantastic deal that we recommend to anyone
building a high-end system. We’ve made a few changes to our
Turbo build this issue, starting with a shift over to Gigabyte’s X399
motherboard—the Asus Prime model we had last issue leapt back
up in price—and another memory shift, going to G.Skill’s Ripjaws V
memory, but sticking with the same specs. Hopefully soon we’ll be
able to buff up the memory in these systems.
We’ve also changed up the cooling. We’re sticking with AIO, of
course, with a three-fan radiator to deal with the Threadripper’s
heat generation. Specifically, we’re using Enermax’s Liqfusion
360, a solid AIO cooler with some sweet-looking RGB ring fans and
an illuminated water block. It’s a great, inexpensive cooler that
comes with a little RGB controller, or can be synched with your
ARGB software of choice. The Turbo build has also been peeking
at the Mid-Range’s notes, as we’re going with Sabrent’s 1TB model
of its Rocket SSDs, currently on sale. At the time of writing, it’s
the cheapest 1TB M.2 drive that can hit those kick-ass fourth-gen
PCIe write speeds, and we can’t recommend it enough. You can
skip the slightly pricier model that comes with a heatsink, as the
X399 Aorus Pro mobo comes with a heat shield for an M.2 drive.

©^

MS

I

Six hundred and eighty bucks!? It’s almost ridiculous how
good value this model of Nvidia’s excellent RTX 2080 Super
is. This is the card that makes 4K gaming more viable; or
1440p ultra, with ray tracing on. Don’t get us wrong, it’s still a
lot of money for a GPU, but right now it’s hard to recommend
anything else for powerful gaming systems. With 8GB of
VRAM at 15.5Gb/s and a tasty 1,830MHz boost clock, this is a
powerhouse card that is edging closer and closer to half the
price of its big brother, the still-ludicrously-expensive RTX
2080 Ti. It’s great, and it’s never been better value.
$680, http://msi.com

MSI GEFORCE RTX 2080
SUPER VENTUS 8GB

UPGRADE OF THE MONTH


TURBO

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