There’s a lot going on

in the high-end desktop CPU arena. AMD’s 16-core Ryzen 9 3950X is set to replace second-gen Threadrippers, while the third gen of Threadripper chips is hot on its heels, too. By the time you read this, those chips may well be available; watch this space, because we might finally be swapping out the trusty 2950X. For now, though, second-gen Threadrippers are dropping in price, saving us $60 on the CPU for our Turbo Build.

With that money on the table, we looked to make improvements here and there. First up was memory, and while we stuck with G.Skill, we’re going for a 3,600MHz kit of Sniper X instead of last month’s 3,200MHz kit. Then we splashed out on a new cooler, going for Corsair’s Hydro H100i. This should add more flair, as our previous Fractal Design cooler lacked the H100i’s RGB effects.

Our SSD will likely see a big upgrade in the not-too-distant future, too. With both Ryzen and Threadripper 3000 CPUs packing PCIe 4.0, high-speed Gen4 NVMe SSDs will soon be on the menu. For now, we’re still making a change, taking the savings from the 2950X (and a small saving made by swapping out the PSU to EVGA’s 850 GQ) to upgrade our storage from 512GB to 1TB. This comes with a caveat: a shift from Samsung’s Pro line to the Evo series, which will have a small impact on overall drive performance. It’s a worthy trade-off for doubling our primary drive capacity, though. For more of our component recommendations, visit www.pcgamer.com/hardware/buying-guides/

Maximum PC