JUST AS THE design hasn’t changed all that much from
DDR4 to DDR5, nor has the installation process, which is a
good thing. Installing the DIMM sticks is one of the easiest
parts of building a PC and gives us a little bit of time to relax
in the build. Before installing, we always refer back to the
motherboard’s manual if we are using fewer than the full
amount of possible DIMM slots. As we have only two sticks of
DDR5 to use, we need to use the correct slots and this turns
out to be slots 2 and 4. After identifying the correct slots, we
push back the RAM tabs on the board and make sure the pins
are aligned with the slots. Once happy, we push them in and
they click nicely into place.HERE IT STANDS, all tall and proud. We’ve said it before,
but this is one huge battleship. The 7000D AIRFLOW is an
impressive feat from Corsair and feels as rugged as ever.
Yes, it’s pricey. But the build quality and size lends itself
to this type of price tag. It features great accessibility with
tidy cable management solutions around the back. There
are also plenty of panels that pop off to allow for easier
cable routing. We also love the wing-style side panel doors,
reminiscent of a supercar. For a showcase build, we think it
fits the profile nicely. First though, we pop open the wing-
style panels and take off the front panel.DDR5 TIME
1 CASE OPENING
4
A NEW
GENERATION
IT’S GOOD ON
PAPER. BUT HOW
WILL THIS ‘NEW
GEN’ SYSTEM
ACTUALLY
PERFORM?
LENGTH OF TIME: 2-3 HOURS
LEVEL OF DIFFICULTY: MEDIUMthe Alder Lake machine
22 MAXIMU MPCFEB 2022