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GRAPHICS CARD
NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3070 TI FOUNDERS EDITION
$599.00
The Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 Ti is yet another in the company’s growing stable of
stellar graphics cards that, despite supply-chain woes, are reasonably priced by
the manufacturer to bring 4K gaming to the masses. The RTX 3070 Ti deftly
straddles the line between high-quality AAA 4K play and high-refresh 1080p
competitive multiplayer action. Actually finding one may be an Indiana Jones–
like quest, but lucky purchasers will get a whole lot of power for not a whole lot of
money (at least, at Nvidia’s asking price).53
HIGH-END CPU
INTEL CORE I9-12900K
$589.99
After a bunch of merely iterative years stuck on 14nm lithography, Intel has finally
regained its mojo in desktop gaming with the Core i9-12900K and its new dual-
faceted “performance” and “efficiency” core design. This chip is the most
powerful consumer-level CPU the company has released to date, scorching
previous generations in Intel’s lineup while also giving AMD’s stellar Ryzen 5000
Series a run for its money. The chip runs a little hot under the collar at times, and it
requires a whole new motherboard platform, but it puts out a heck of a lot of
power for content creation and after-hours play alike.54
MAINSTREAM CPU
AMD RYZEN 5 5600G
$259.00
In a world where graphics cards are worth their weight in gold (not really, but
shortages make it seem that way), more PC gamers are turning to integrated
graphics solutions to bridge the gap. Luckily for them, the AMD Ryzen 5 5600G
exists. This punchy processor can often power many popular titles in lowerEDITORS’ CHOICEEDITORS’ CHOICE53 52545556(^5758)