PC Gamer Presents - PC Hardware Handbook - May 2018

ROUND-UP

GPU

MOBO

All that aside, the recent launch of the

GTX 1080 Ti has made GPU prices

across Nvidia’s range plummet,

making it a perfect time to pick up

this 1440p, 4K dominating GPU.

Asus’s A8G comes with a super

quiet tri fan design, with integrated

RGB lighting, and impressive

performance. It’s hard to argue

just how much of an upgrade

ASUS

GEFORCE ROG

STRIX GTX 1080 A8G

http://www.asus.com £550

Welcome then to the first in a new

iteration of chipsets from Team Red,

X370. Featuring support for all of the

latest Ryzen processors, M.2 PCIe

SSDs, dual slot graphics cards, native

USB 3.1 support, and a plethora of

SATA support, Asus was first with a

new motherboard. With a crisp

design, solid performance and

only minor memory niggles, it’s

We gave the original Asus GTX 1080 OC a bad rap for being a poor

overclocker and coming in at an astonishing £900, or so we thought. At the

time you could buy it for £720 from Scan, and so we have to stand corrected.

In forcing new motherboards on us with every two processor gens, most of

Intel’s powered systems are packed with the latest connection standards.

AMD, meanwhile, has predominantly been aimed at utilising the same socket.

well equipped, performs solidly and

has even managed some world

record overclocks under LN2.

CHIPSET/SOCKET: X370 / AM4 / FORM FACTOR: AT X /

MEMORY SUPPORT: 64GB DDR4 @ 3200 MT/S / M.2 / U.2

SUPPORT: 1X M.2 / SATA SUPPORT: 8X SATA 6GB/S

/ REAR I/O: 4X USB 2.0, 8X USB 3.0, 1X USB 3.1 TYPE A,

1X USB 3.1 TYPE C, INTEL GIGABIT ETHERNET, 5.1 AUDIO,

OPTICAL OUT

the GTX 1080 is over the GTX 980. In

both Far Cry Primal and The Division

we saw frame rates up into the 70s,

maxed out, and a more than

comfortable 52 and 54fps at 4K too,

with just one drop in the AA settings.

GPU: PASCAL / LITHOGRAPHY: 16NM FINFET /

CORES: 2560 / MEMORY: 8GB GDDR5X /

MEMORY BUS: 320BIT

SOUND BLASTERX

SIEGE M04

http://www.us.creative.com £70

Creative’s first foray into the world

of pointer peripherals, this mouse

features PixArt’s tried and true

PMW3360 optical sensor, on top of

the usual barrage of extra buttons,

RGB lighting and multiple polling

ratings. It has a comfortable grip too,

although the finish could use a

little work, along with the

quite frankly eye-watering

price. Ouch.

KRAKEN X52

http://www.nzxt.com £140

With an infinity mirror, 240mm

AIO, braided cable, and solid

performance, it’s hard to imagine that

there’s a nicer looking liquid cooler

out there. The LED ring, fully

customisable through NZXT’s CAM

software, provides those perfect

finishing touches to any aesthetically

minded system builder. A

clear-panelled case is a

must with this bad boy.

SILENT WINGS 3 120MM

HIGH SPEED FAN

http://www.bequiet.com £20

Another £20 fan hits our testing

block. Stylish, black, quiet, and as

impressive as Noctua, Be Quiet!’s

Silent Wings 3 impressed us with its

noise cancelling, swappable mounts,

low operating speeds and high

static pressure at 28 dB(A).

We very much like how

quietly it runs.

92 %

85 %

92 %

77 %

91 %

Reviews

HARDWARE

ASUS

CROSSHAIR VI HERO

http://www.asus.com £250