CLEANING THE UNCLEAN

RIGHT! Now we’ve got that out of the way, let’s talk about what we’re replacing in our executive editor’s machine. This isn’t a simple new build, but more of a core upgrade to some legendary componentry. And, while we’re at it, an attempt to retain that old, beaten chassis—because, y’know, we’re sadists.

This machine once hosted an Intel Core i7-3820 quad-core 32nm processor, 16GB of quad-channel DDR3, an Asus X9 X79 Pro motherboard, a Sapphire Radeon R9 390 GPU, a half-working Thermaltake 240mm AIO CPU cooler, a 250GB Samsung 840 Evo, and a 3TB WD Red hard drive.

To keep things fairly simple, and encourage good system maintenance, we’ve opted for a few more industrially centered components to power the magnificent Shinobi and give it a bit more processing grunt. It may be powering a 1920x1200 screen (yep, one of those), but that’s no reason to deny it the juice to deal with more demanding titles destined to come out in the future.

We’ve gone for an Intel Core i7-7700K running at stock, a dualchannel kit of 16GB DDR4, one of PNY’s GTX 1080 XLR8 cards, and a Gigabyte Z270X-Ultra Gaming mobo. But the more important changes come in the form of cooling. This time, instead of a liquid cooler, we’ve gone for one of Noctua’s NH-C14S towers, paired with two Noctua NF-A14 IP67-rated, dustproof, industrial-grade 140mm fans. We’ve also included four 120mm EK Vardar Evos: one at the front, in the 5.25-inch drive bay, as an intake; two in the roof, exhausting; and one in the rear, also acting as an exhaust. We’ve also kept the massive 230mm BitFenix Spectre in the front, because it’s still too good an offer to pass up.