Masterclass Special: Build a gaming powerhouse

We set out to assemble a powerful eight-core PC for gaming. Break out the LEDs with Christian Guyton.

We started out with a budget for this. Our initial idea centered around an eight-core CPU and a Radeon RX 5700 XT, but this was soon scuppered by the arrival of a beautiful, mirror-fronted RTX 2070 Super FE at the APC office. The price rose, and our CPU/GPU cost ratio skewed, so up we went from a Ryzen 7 3700X to the 3800X – sticking with our eight-core plan.

Of course, a gaming PC needs more than just a good CPU and powerful graphics. We needed an X570 motherboard to support that chip, and those don’t come cheap. The addition of memory and a non-stock cooler drove us over our original budget. And so, this build shifted; no longer a sensibly priced machine, but a gaming powerhouse. Treasure this rare glimpse into the inner workings of APC, where the temptation to throw money at a build is ever-present.

We didn’t go too overboard; this isn’t a Dream Machine, after all. So, 16GB of high-speed RAM and lots of storage – 3TB, to be exact. If you can’t download your whole Steam library, what’s the point? High-speed 2.5G ethernet and Wi-Fi 6 connectivity from our mobo mean that downloads shouldn’t even take too long (if your internet connection is up to scratch).

We’re also opting for the full “gamer” treatment, which means RGB lighting, of course. We’ve got some specific fans in for that, courtesy of Fractal Design – a few to replace the existing fans in our Thermaltake case, and a couple of extra ones to improve the case airflow. Our CPU likely won’t be bearing the bulk of work done by this PC – with a gaming rig, auto-overclocking for the GPU is important – so overall airflow is more significant than dedicated CPU cooling.

All five case fans we’re using are translucent plastic with RGB LEDs inside, and our CPU cooler also features RGB fans. The memory uses RGB lighting, too; the motherboard is LED-free, but its black-andgray finish will contrast nicely with whatever color scheme we decide to use. We’re also including a 30cm RGB lightstrip from Asus’s Republic of Gamers line, to provide the ultimate in case illumination, although this is an optional addition that we found buried in our gear cupboard and decided to use, so feel free to skip it. Our case has large tempered glass side panels, so the guts of this machine will be fully on display.

That means cable management and general tidying, but we’ll get to that. We’d like this to be a PC that you can show off to your less technologically capable friends; a monument to the fact that you are the superior system builder as well as the superior gamer. Let’s get to it!