Custom PC - UK (2019-12)

Corsair K70 RGB MK.2SE

• CherryMXSpeed

The Corsair K70 RGB MK.2

SE is a premium mechanical

gaming keyboard that’s built

to last. It has a silver anodised

brushed aluminium frame,

as well as stunning white

precision-moulded, double-

shot keycaps. It’s built to turn

heads and withstand a

lifetime of gaming. There’s a

detachable, soft-touch wrist

rest too.

Meanwhile, its Cherry

MX Speed mechanical

keyswitches provide the

reliability and accuracy you

demand, with blisteringly fast

1.2mm actuation. There’s

also stunning per-key RGB

dynamic backlighting, 100

per cent anti-ghosting with

full-key rollover, 8MB of

on-board memory, plus

dedicated media controls.

Toenteryourmachineforpossibleinclusion in Readers’

Drives, your build needs to be fully working and, ideally,

based in the UK. Simply send us a couple of photos on

Twitter (@CustomPCMag) or Facebook (CPCMagazine),

or email low-res ones to [email protected].

Fame isn’t the only prize; you’ll also get your hands on

some fabulous prizes.

Alphacool

water-cooling gear

Water-cooling hardware

manufacturer Alphacool is

offering a choice of £150

worth of gear to every

featured Readers’ Drives

winner. For your prize, you

can select from DIY water-

cooling kits, the Eiswolf and

Eisbaer all-in-one CPU and

GPU liquid coolers, as well

as a vast range of individual

components, including

waterblocks (pictured),

fittings, reservoirs, pumps

and radiators. Alphacool

also makes coolant, tubing

and fans, as well as

modding and water

cooling-related tools.

BE A WINNER

WORTH

£170

WORTH

£150

Whatspecsdidyouchoose
forthisPC,andwhy?
Liam:I chosea Corei7-6800KCPU,
anAsusROGStrixX99Gaming
motherboard,16GBofCorsair
3000MHzRAM,a GeForceRTX
2080 Ti,a 250GBSamsung 970 Evo
NVMeSSDanda 2TBharddrive.
I chosethehardwarebecause,
atthetimeoftheoriginalbuild
(whenI hadtheGTX980s),it was
prettymuchthebestsetupmoney
couldbuy.
TheexceptionwastheCPU,but
I couldn’tjustifyspending
thousandsofpoundsonone!GPU
powerhasalwaysbeenparamount
tomethough.I recentlychanged
outthetwo980sfora singleRTX
2080 Ti,whichI cansaywasan
excellentchoice.TheRTXcardis
fantasticandoutperformsbothof
myoldcardsbyquitea significant
amount,especiallynowthatSLI
haslesssupportthanpreviously.

Did you come across any
difficulties? If so, how did you
solve them?
Liam: One of my challenges was
getting all the hardware inside.

The Cooler Master MasterCase Pro

5 has excellent support for drives,

radiators, SSDs – you name it, it has

space for it. However, once you’ve

installed a giant 360mm radiator,

it becomes difficult to fit the pump,

PSU, cables and a hard drive into

the basement. It’s very compact

down there, and was extremely

difficulttofitit alltogether.

What did you learn from the

build process?

Liam: I learned that building a

custom loop can be extremely time-

consuming and difficult. However,

it can also be one of the most fun

projects you can do as a PC builder.

It’swellworthit onceyou’vedoneit.

Are you completely happy

with the end result, or do you wish

you’d done some of it differently

in retrospect?

Liam: I absolutely love this rig; it

gives back every time I sit down

and play a game. The only bit I

would have done differently is to

use Mayhems Pastel Fluid instead

of X1. The opaque colour would

have looked amazing.