Custom PC - UK (2020-08)

Welcome

Custom PC Issue 203

EDITORIAL

EDITOR

Ben Hardwidge

[email protected]

FEATURES EDITOR

Edward Chester

[email protected]

MODDING EDITOR

Antony Leather

GAMES EDITOR

Rick Lane

CONTRIBUTORS

Gareth Halfacree, James Gorbold,

Mike Jennings, Phil Hartup, Richard

Swinburne, Rys Sommefeldt,

Tracy King

PRODUCTION EDITOR

Julie Birrell

SUB EDITOR

Nicola King

PHOTOGRAPHY

Antony Leather, Brian O’Halloran,

Fiacre Muller, Gareth Halfacree

PUBLISHING

PUBLISHING DIRECTOR

Russell Barnes

[email protected]

This magazine is printed on paper sourced from

sustainable forests. The printer operates an

environmental management system which has been

assessed as conforming to ISO 14001.

Custom PC magazine is published by Raspberry Pi

(Trading) Ltd., Maurice Wilkes Building, St. John’s

Innovation Park, Cowley Road, Cambridge, CB4 0DS.

The publisher, editor, and contributors accept no

responsibility in respect of any omissions or errors

relating to goods, products or services referred to or

advertised. ISSN: 1740-7443.

DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME The information in

this magazine is given in good faith. Raspberry Pi

(Trading) Ltd cannot accept any responsibility for

loss, disruption or damage to your data or your

computer that may occur as a result of following or

attempting to follow advice given in the magazine.

If things do go wrong, take a break.

T

herearemanycriticismsyoucouldlevelatIntel lately.
Supplyproblems;thebizarreKabyLake-Xlaunch; the
lackofPCI-E4 support;overlyhighprices;still being
stuckona 14nmfabricationprocess.It’snosecretthatIntel has
beenstumblinglately,whileAMDhasbeena massivesilicon
Godzilla,scoopingupIntel’smarketshareandstuffing it down
itsfatPCI-E4 gullet.
Butforallthesecriticisms,youcan’tgetawayfromthe fact
thatSkylakeis a superbCPUmicroarchitecture,evennow. The
latestCometLakeCPUs(seep16)mightbebasedonanaging
microarchitecture,andbuiltona 14nmprocess,whileAMD is
makingitsZen2 chipletsonTSMC’s7nmprocess,butthey’re also
reallyfast.
It says‘world’sfastestgamingCPU’onthecover,and the new
Corei9-10900Kis indeedupto13fpsquickerthantheRyzen
9 3900XinFarCryNewDawn.Andyes,youwon’tseethis
performancedifferenceinmostgames,andAMD’sCPUs are
quickeratheavilymulti-threadedworkloads,butIntel’s five-year-
oldSkylakemicroarchitectureis stilla forcetobereckoned with.
It’salsogreattoseeIntelfinallyenablingHyper-Threading
acrossthewholeCometLakeCore-brandedproductstack.
IntelhasbeenseverelydentedbyAMDnotonlyoffering more
coresthantheequivalent-priceIntelchips,butalsoenabling
SimultaneousMultithreadingacrossmostofthem– it resulted
inthelastCorei7andCorei5CPUsgettingpummelledby AMD’s
Ryzenchipsinourmulti-threadedtests.Thismovemakes Intel
muchmorecompetitive.
TheCorei5-10600Kis oncemorea decentbudgetoption,
especiallyforgaming.Theonlyreasonwe’renotrecommending
it ontheElitelistyetis thelackofbudgetmotherboards that
supportit.Again,that’sa validcriticismofIntel,which James
Gorbolddiscussesonp114.If youwantthefastestgaming CPU,
though,andyouhavethemoney,there’sstillonlyonechoice and
that’sIntel.

Intelisstillthefastest

forgaming DESIGN
criticalmedia.co.uk
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Lee Allen
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ISSUE 203

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EDITION

ISSUE 203

EDITOR

BenHardwidge

[email protected]

@custompcmag

/ FROM THE EDITOR