Computer Shopper - UK (2019-08)

ISSUE 378|COMPUTER SHOPPER|AUGUST 2019 59

COMPONENTS

INTELCorei9-9900K

★★★★★

£470•www.amzn.to/2KYuQtF

AMD Ryzen72700X

★★★★★

£270•www.amzn.to/2JvaEyCk

Intel’s 9th-gen chips see it

finally joining the octa-core

club,including the flagship

Core i9-9900K. With Turbo Boost speeds hitting 5GHz

straight out of the box, it’s just as potent in single-core gaming as it

is in serious multithreaded workloads.

AMD’s second generation of

Ryzen processors gets off to

an auspicious start with the

mighty Ryzen 72700X. It’s faster than Intel’s

equivalent Core i7-8700K at stock speeds, despitebeing cheaper,

and temperatures staylow even when overclocking.

SOCKETLGA1151•CORES (^8) • FREQUENCY3.6GHz•INTEGRATEDGRAPHICSIntelUHDGraphics
(^630) • WARRANTYThreeyearsRTB•DETAILSwww.intel.com•PARTCODEBX80684I99900K•
FULLREVIEWJan2019
SOCKETAM4•CORES (^8) • FREQUENCY3.7GHz•INTEGRATEDGRAPHICSNone•
WARRANTYTwoyearsRTB•DETAILSwww.amd.com•PARTCODEYD270XBGAFBOX•
FULLREVIEWAug2018
THERMALTAKEView37
★★★★★
£108•www.scan.co.uk
Aspacious, feature-rich chassis
forboth ATX- and EATX-based
builds, the View 37 comes with a
gull-wing side window that’s perfect forshowing
off your handiwork.
CASETYPEMid-tower•MOTHERBOARDTYPEATX,EATX,microATX,Mini-ITX•SUPPLIED
FANS2x140mm•MAXDRIVEBAYS7x3.5in,11x2.5in•DIMENSIONS525x261x538mm•
WEIGHT11.8kg•WARRANTYThreeyearsRTB•DETAILSwww.thermaltake.com•
PARTCODECA-1J7-00M1WN-00•FULLREVIEWDec2018
HYPERXAlloyElite
★★★★★
£96•www.currys.co.uk
This is abrilliant do-it-all gaming
keyboard; the agile Cherry MX Red
keyswitches provide astrong foundation,
upon which HyperX has built acomfortable,detachable
wrist rest, dedicated media keys and customisable red backlighting.
The USB pass-through port is handy,too.
KEYBOARDSHAPEFullsize•NUMBERPADYes•CONNECTION2xUSB2•MEDIAKEYSPause/
play,mute,skip,volume•USBPORTS1xUSB2•WARRANTYTwoyearsrepairandreplace•
DETAILSwww.hyperxgaming.com•PARTCODEHX-KB2RD1-UK/R1•FULLREVIEWMar2018
MSIGeForceRTX2070Armor8G
★★★★★
£450•www.ebuyer.com
MSIMPGZ390GamingEdgeAC
★★★★★
£140•www.scan.co.uk
Whereas the RTX2080
and RTX2080 Ti charge
exorbitant amounts fortheir fancy ray-tracing and
anti-aliasing tech, the RTX2070 delivers the same features at amuch
more reasonable price.Itcan also handle 4K gaming without much
fuss, and MSI’s version stays very cool under load.
From built-in 802.11ac Wi-Fi
and Bluetooth to high-end audio
connectivity,the MPG Z370 Gaming Edge
AC is stuffed with features. Addinagood price,easy overclocking and
awell-designed BIOS, and it’s perfect forpremium Intel-based builds.
GPUNvidiaGeForceRTX2070•MEMORY8GBGDDR6•GRAPHICSCARDLENGTH155mm•
WARRANTYOneyearRTB•DETAILSwww.msi.com•PARTCODERTX2070Armor8G•
FULLREVIEWMar2019
PROCESSORSOCKETLGA1151•DIMENSIONS305x244mm•CHIPSETIntelZ390•MEMORY
SLOTS (^4) • PCI-Ex16SLOTS (^3) • PCI-Ex1SLOTS (^3) • PCISLOTS (^0) • USBPORTS2xUSB2,2xUSB3,
1xUSB3.1,1xUSBType-C•VIDEOOUTPUTS1xHDMI,1xDisplayPort•WARRANTYOneyearRTB

• DETAILSwww.msi.com•PARTCODEMPGZ390GamingEdgeAC•FULLREVIEWApr2019

gg

udio

Gaming Edge

01

As with Intel motherboards, you’ll

need to make sure you match an AMD

processor with acompatible motherboard.

This is relatively simple forAMD hardware,

as most of its recent chips use the same

AM4 socket, and the most recent second-

generation Ryzen processors are backwards-

compatible with first-generation chipsets,

such as the X370 and B350.

02

Budget APU and aminority of Ryzen

processors have integrated graphics,

so to make use of this, ensure that your

motherboard comes with video outputs such

as DVI, HDMI and DisplayPort. ForRyzen

chips that lack integrated graphics, or if

you want more graphics power,install a

dedicated graphics card intoone of your

Choosingan... AMDmotherboard

motherboard’s PCI-E x16 slots. This also has

the benefit of providing agreater range of

video outputs to choose from.

03

Normaltowercasescanaccommodate

ATXmotherboards, which provide the

most expansion slots. AmicroATX

motherboard will let you build your PC in a

smaller case,but if you opt foramicroATX

board, make sure it has all the features you

need built in, as there won’t be much room

forexpansion cards.

04

If you want to install lots of

expansion cards, look fora

motherboard that offers plenty of PCI and

PCI-E x1 slots. Some motherboards also

have PCI-E x4 slots and extra PCI-E x16

slots. PCI-E x1 and x4 cards also work in

PCI-E x16 slots. If you need alot of storage,a

motherboard with plenty of SATA2and

SATA3ports is essential. SATA2isfine for

optical drives and hard disks, but to make

the most of an SSD,you need SATA3.

05

All motherboards have built-in audio

chipsets, but some support only 5.1

surround sound rather than 7.1. If you’re

connecting to older surround-sound

amplifiers that don’t have HDMI, look for

an optical or coaxial S/PDIF output.

All motherboards have Ethernet ports and

most have the faster Gigabit version. You

mayalso find it useful to buy aboard with

built-in Wi-Fi so you don’t have to use up a

USB port or PCI slot with an adaptor.