Maximum PC - USA (2022-06)

R&D

BUILD IT

66 MAXIMU MPC JUN 2022

where dream rigs come to life

GUY COCKER, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

IF YOU BUILT your desktop PC, it’s probably a

hodgepodge of different manufacturer components

all working in tandem. That’s the beauty of PC

building—if you want to mix things up for price or

performance reasons, common standards mean

you can. But every manufacturer seems to have

its own lighting standards and management app,

and some use different styling or coloring that can

mess with a uniform look. But what if you want to

build a computer, while still recreating the feel of a

pre-built system. What would that look like?

Thanks to the good people at MSI, we can find out

this issue. During discussions about the company’s

2022 components, including its first SSD drive,

the Spatium M480, and the Sekira 100R case, we

asked them: could we get everything into our labs

at the same time and make a build out of it all?

The company obliged, sending all the components

we needed apart from the CPU and RAM, the only

items they don’t manufacture.

The resulting all-MSI build is at the cutting edge

of current tech specs, thanks to its DDR5 and PCIe

4.0-compatible motherboard, and what’s more,

it’s also pretty good value for money. Remember,

adding the latest SSD and RAM to your build will

increase its overall price, so if you already have

some DDR4 RAM you want to use, go for the

cheaper DDR4 model motherboard while you wait

for DDR5 sticks to come down in price.

It’s also worth noting that MSI provided its own

keyboard, mouse, and monitor to complete the

look, but we sadly didn’t have space to include

them. Rest assured, we’ll cover them in a future

issue. For now though, let’s get on with the build!

THE CONCEPT

LENGTH OF TIME: 2-3 HOURS

MSI Special Single

Manufacturer Build

LEVEL OF DIFFICULTY: EASY

Is using one manufacturer’s components a good idea?