Market Watch
A sampling of PC systems available this month.
PC Case Gear Valkyrie 2080 Ti Gaming System $6,599 TINYURL.COM/APC464-PCCG
When the best, and nothing but the best will do, turn to the Valkyrie. This killer machine will put many workstation grade systems to shame, in part thanks to the 8-core 16-thread 9900K which clocks up to a dizzying 5GHz. It’s great for productivity, not just gaming. The graphics card is capable of pumping out games at 4K resolutions with drool worthy ray-tracing and all details and effects turned up high, all at a smooth 60fps+. Copious amounts of storage and RAM with a powerful PSU put this into the best of the best category. Oh, and of course, it has RGB lighting everywhere!
KEY SPECS: CPU: Intel Core i9 9900K; Cooler: NZXT Kraken X62 280mm; Motherboard: Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Extreme; Graphics: Gigabyte Aorus GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Memory: Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 32GB DDR4 3000MHz; Storage: Samsung 970 PRO NVMe SSD 512GB, Samsung 860 EVO SSD 1TB, Seagate Barracuda 2TB HDD; Power Supply: Phanteks Revolt X 1000W; Case: Phanteks Enthoo Evolv X DRGB
JW Computers P1000-i8700 $1,149 TINYURL.COM/APC464-JW
This PC is a little lopsided. It has the second fastest CPU in the 8th gen Intel line-up, but it doesn’t have the RAM speed or capacity to feed it properly under heavy loads, with the same going for the SSD. Certainly not what a typical power user who would utilise such a processor would typically want. The motherboard is OK but is missing USB3.1 Gen2 support and doesn’t have any HDMI or DisplayPort connectors, only a DVI-D and VGA. We’d highly recommend upgrading to 16GB at checkout to at least give the power user it goes to the ability to multitask efficiently.
KEY SPECS: CPU: Intel Core i7- 8700; Cooler: OEM; Motherboard: Asus H310M-K; Graphics: Onboard; Memory: 8GB DDR4 2133Mhz; Storage: 240GB SATA SSD; Power Supply: Tsunami 600W; Case: Tsunami P43
Scorptec Hornet Core i7 Pro Office PC $1,399 TINYURL.COM/APC464-SCORP
Aimed at office use, this PC is on the upper end of what one would typically require for an office PC, but perhaps you’re not any ordinary worker and need some extra grunt and speed to crunch through that data your boss wanted yesterday. The 6-core 12-thread processor clocks high and with the 16GB of RAM it will allow you to complete most tasks you can throw at it within good time whilst running multiple other heavy programs at the same time.
The 500GB SSD is very nice in this price bracket but do be mindful that there is no secondary HDD.
KEY SPECS: CPU: Intel Core i7 8700; Cooler: OEM; Motherboard: Asus Prime H310M-E R2.0; Graphics: Onboard; Memory: Crucial CT 16GB 2400MHz DDR4; Storage: Samsung 860 EVO 500GB M. 2 SSD; Power Supply: Cooler Master 420W; Case: Cooler Master MasterBox E300L mATX