ISSUE 379|COMPUTERSHOPPER|SEPTEMBER (^201959)
COMPONENTS
INTELCorei9-9900K
★★★★★
£467•www.amzn.to/2KYuQtF
AMDRyzen72700X
★★★★★
£271•www.amzn.to/2JvaEyCk
Intel’s 9th-genchips see it
finally joining the octa-core
club,includingthe flagship
Core i9-9900K.With Turbo Boost speeds hitting 5GHz
straightout of the box, it’s just as potent in single-coregamingas it
is in seriousmultithreadedworkloads.
AMD’s secondgenerationof
Ryzen processorsgets off to
an auspiciousstart with the
mightyRyzen 72700X. It’s faster than Intel’s
equivalent Core i7-8700Kat stock speeds,despitebeing cheaper,
and temperaturesstaylow 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
★★★★★
£110•www.scan.co.uk
Aspacious,feature-richchassis
forboth ATX- and EATX-based
builds, the View 37 comes with a
gull-wing side windowthat’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 HyperXhas built acomfortable,detachable
wrist rest, dedicated media keys and customisablered backlighting.
The USB pass-throughport is handy,too.
KEYBOARDSHAPEFullsize•NUMBERPADYes•CONNECTION2xUSB2•MEDIAKEYSPause/
play,mute,skip,volume•USBPORTS1xUSB2•WARRANTYTwoyearsrepairandreplace•
DETAILSwww.hyperxgaming.com•PARTCODEHX-KB2RD1-UK/R1•FULLREVIEWMar2018
01
It’s essentialthatyou buythe right
type of motherboardforyour
processor.For example,Intel’s Skylake,
Kaby Lake and Coffee Lake processorsall
use the same LGA 1151 socket,but because
each CPU generationintroducednew
chipsets,you’ll need to get aZ370
motherboardforaCoffee Lake chip,aZ270
board foraKabyLake chip and so on.
02
All currentIntel processorshave
built-in graphicschipsets,so if you
want to use your chip’s built-in graphics,
make sure the motherboardhas the
video outputs,such as DVI, HDMI and
DisplayPort. If you want to playthe latest
games,you’ll need to fit adedicated
graphicscard in the motherboard’sPCI
Choosing an... Intelmotherboard
Expressx16 slot, althoughthis mayblock
one of your other slots.
03
Normaltowercasescanaccommodate
ATXmotherboards,which provide the
most expansionslots. AmicroATX
motherboardwill let you build your PC in a
smallercase,but if you opt foramicroATX
board, make sure it has all the features you
need built in as there won’t be much room
forexpansioncards.
04
If you want to install lots of
expansioncards, look fora
motherboardthat offers plenty of PCI and
PCI-E x1 slots. Some motherboardsalso
have PCI Expressx4 slots and extra PCI
Expressx16 slots. PCI Expressx1 and x4
cards also work in PCI Expressx16 slots.
If you need alot of storage,amotherboard
with plenty of SATA2and SATA3ports is
essential.SATA2isfine foroptical drives
and hard disks, but to make the most of an
SSD you need SATA3.
05
All motherboardshave built-in audio
chipsets,but some supportonly 5.1
surroundsound rather than 7.1. If you’re
connectingto older surround-sound
amplifiersthat don’t have HDMI, look for
an optical or coaxialS/PDIFoutput.All
motherboardshave Ethernetports and most
have the faster Gigabitversion.Youmay also
find it useful to buy aboard with built-in
Wi-Fi so you don’t have to use up aUSB
port or PCI slot with an adaptor.
MSIGeForceRTX2070Armor8G
★★★★★
£470•www.box.co.uk
MSIMPGZ390GamingEdge AC
★★★★★
£140•www.scan.co.uk
Whereasthe RTX2080
and RTX2080 Ti charge
exorbitantamountsfortheir fancy ray-tracingand
anti-aliasingtech, the RTX2070 deliversthe same features at amuch
more reasonableprice.Itcan also handle 4K gamingwithoutmuch
fuss, and MSI’s versionstays very cool under load.
From built-in 802.11ac Wi-Fi
and Bluetooth to high-endaud
connectivity,the MPG Z370 GamingEdge
AC is stuffedwith features. Addinagood price,easy overclockingand
awell-designedBIOS, and it’s perfect forpremiumIntel-basedbuilds.
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
GamingEdge