134 PCWorld DECEMBER 2020HERE’S HOW BUILD A PS5 OR XBOX SERIES X PC
4 option, which is the
Sabrent Rocket model.
The GPU is the only
question mark, as covered
above, and so the RTX 3070
stands in as our placeholder.
It may turn out to be overkill,
but we don’t want to use an
older-generation card. You’ll
pay more for less
performance, and that
doesn’t seem fair to
PC-building for this project.
A 3070 isn’t a huge stretch,
anyway—it’s a 4K/60 card, and until we know
how frequently to expect (or not expect)
4K/60 from the consoles, it’s a reasonable
place to start. Down the road, a Radeon RX
6800 could take its place, or perhaps even an
as-yet-unannounced lower-tier card. We have
to wait and see.
For the power supply and case, we went
with a 750W PSU, which provides more
wattage than we need but can accommodate
an RTX 3080 if one is required. We then
chose the most attractive of the affordable
white ATX mid-tower cases available. The
case doesn’t accommodate optical drives,
but that’s all right. You won’t find a 4K Blu-ray
drive in this build—we’re matching the digital
edition of the PS5. PC gamers should find this
a natural fit, since game distribution on PC
went digital long ago.
As for the operating system, we managedto get a Windows 10 Pro license at a heavy
discount. The PCWorld online shop (go.
pcworld.com/shpc) periodically offers sales
on licenses, and in anticipation of this build, I
snagged a key. Keep an eye out for this
discount to reappear to avoid dropping a full
$120 on a Windows 10 Home license.
Finally, I accounted this time for the cost of
a controller. Usually we don’t include
peripherals like a keyboard and mouse in a
build—and frankly, since we’re not trying to
match the PS5 or Xbox Series X on price, it
doesn’t matter for this project. But I’ve
included a DualSense controller anyway to
allow everyone to rest peacefully at night.
Whether or not games will provide support
for the controller’s adaptive triggers on PC
remains to be seen though, so you can save
some cash by choosing a DualShock 4
controller. (Not only is its MSRP $10 cheaper,You don’t need a small PC to imitate the consoles in specs and output.