Computer Shopper - UK (2019-12)

ISSUE 382|COMPUTER SHOPPER|DECEMBER 2019 51

COMPONENTS

AMD Ryzen93900X

★★★★★

£546•www.amzn.to/2m4KUOi

AMD Ryzen72700X

★★★★★

£192•www.amzn.to/2JvaEyCk

Forget the Intel Core

i9-9900K–this 12-core

monsterof aCPU performsfarbetter

forsimilar money. There isadrawback, in that it’s not very

overclocking-friendly,but that’s partly because it’s sofast to begin

with. Pair it with some good RAM, and you’re already mostof the

waytoac apable home workstation.

AMD’s second generationof

Ryzen processors getsoff to

an auspicious start with the

mightyRyzen 72700X. It’sfaster than Intel’s

equivalent Core i7-8700K at stock speeds, despitebeing cheaper,

and temperatures staylow even whenoverclocking.

SOCKETAM4•CORES (^12) • FREQUENCY3.8GHz•INTEGRATEDGRAPHICSNone•WARRANTYTwo
yearsRTB•DETAILSwww.amd.com•PARTCO DE100-100000023BOX•FULLREVIEWNov2019
SOCKETAM4•CORES (^8) • FREQUENCY3.7GHz•INTEGRATEDGRAPHICSNone•
WARRANTYTwoyearsRTB•DETAILSwww.amd.com•PARTCO DEYD270XBGAFBOX•
FULLREVIEWAug2018
THERMALTAKEView37
★★★★★
£110•www.scan.co.uk
Aspacious,feature-rich chassis
forboth ATX- and EATX-based
builds, the View 37 comes with a
gull-wing side window that’s perfectforshowing
off your handiwork.
CASETYPEMid-tower•MOTHERBOARDTYPEATX,EATX,micro ATX,Mini-ITX•SUPP LIED
FANS2x140mm•MAXDRIVEBAYS7x3.5in,11x2.5in•DIMENSI ONS525x261x538mm•
WEIGHT11.8kg•WARRANTYThreeyearsRTB•DETAILSwww.thermal take.com•
PARTCO DECA-1J7-00M1WN-00•FULLREVIEWDec2018
ASUS ROGStrixFlare
★★★★★
£120•www.game.co. uk
Besides being a
comfortable and
responsive gaming keyboard,
thanksto itsreliableCherryMXRedswitches,theROGStrixFlare
is loaded with usefulfeatures and extras: there’saset of dedicated
media controls andaUSB2 pass-through port, among others.
KEYB OARDSHAPEFullsize•NUMBERPADYes•CONNECT ION1xUSB2•MEDIAKEYSPause/
play,mute,sk ip,volume•USBPORTS2xUSB2•WARRANTYOneyearRTB•DETAILSwww.
asus.com/uk•PARTCO DE90MP 000MO-BOEA00•FULLREVIEWOct2019

01

It’s essential that you buy the right

type of motherboardforyour

processor.For example,Intel’s Skylake,

Kaby Lake and Coffee Lake processors all

use the same LGA 1151 socket, but because

each CPU generation introduced new

chipsets, you’ll needto get aZ370

motherboardforaCoffee Lake chip,aZ270

board foraKabyLake chip and so on.

02

All current Intel processors have

built-in graphics chipsets, so if you

want to use your chip’s built-in graphics,

make sure the motherboard has the

video outputs, such asDVI, HDMI and

DisplayPort. If you wantto playthe latest

games, you’ll needto fit adedicated

graphics card in the motherboard’s PCI

Choosingan... Intelmotherboard

Express x16 slot, although this mayblock

one of your other slots.

03

Normaltowercasescanaccommodate

ATXmotherboards, which provide the

most expansion slots.AmicroATX

motherboard will let you build your PC in a

smaller case,but if you optforamicroATX

board, make sure it has all thefeatures you

need built in as there won’t be much room

forexpansion cards.

04

If you wantto install lotsof

expansion cards, lookfora

motherboard thatoffers plentyof PCI and

PCI-E x1 slots. Some motherboards also

have PCI Express x4 slots and extra PCI

Express x16 slots. PCI Express x1 and x4

cards also work in PCI Express x16 slots.

If you needalot of storage,amotherboard

with plentyof SATA2and SA TA3ports is

essential. SATA2isfi ne foroptical drives

and hard disks, butto make the mostof an

SSD you need SATA3.

05

All motherboards have built-in audio

chipsets, but some support only 5.1

surround sound rather than7.1. If you’re

connectingto older surround-sound

amplifiers that don’t have HDMI, lookfor

an optical or coaxial S/PDIF output. All

motherboards have Ethernet ports and most

have thefaster Gigabit version.Youmay also

find it usefulto buy aboard with built-in

Wi-Fi so you don’t haveto use up aUSB

port or PCI slot with an adaptor.

AMD RadeonRX5700

★★★★★

£290•shop.amd.com

MSIMPGZ390GamingEdgeAC

★★★★★

£140•www.scan.co.uk

AMD’s 7nm GPU is

cheaper than the GeForce

RTX2060 and theRTX2060

Super,yet is just as comfortable with gaming at 1080p and 1440p.

This price only seemsto apply forthe re ference design rather than

partner versions, but the blower-style cooler is the only real downside.

From built-in 802.11ac Wi-Fi

and Bluetoothto high-end audio

connectivity,the MPG Z370 Gaming Edge

AC is stuffed withfeatures. Addinag ood price,easy overclocking and

awell-designed BIOS, and it’s perfectforpremium Intel-based builds.

GPUAMDRadeon RX5700•MEMORY8GBGDDR6•GRAPHICSCARDLENGTH268mm•

WARRANTYOneyearRTB•DETAILSwww.amd.com•PARTCO DERadeon RX5700•

FULLREVIEWOct2019

PROCESSORSOCKETLGA1151•DIMENSI ONS305x244mm•CHIPSETIntelZ390•MEMORY

SLOTS (^4) • PCI-Ex16SLOTS (^3) • PCI-Ex1SLOTS (^3) • PCISLOTS (^0) • USBPORTS2xUSB2,2xUSB3,
1xUSB3.1,1xUSBType-C•VIDEOOUTPUTS1xHDMI,1xD isplayPort•WARRANTYOneyearRTB

• DETAILSwww.msi.com•PARTCO DEMPGZ390GamingEdgeAC•FULLREVIEWApr2019

gg

udio

Gaming Edge

0

2060

10 80p and1 440 p.

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