Mid-range

Right on the sweet spot.

It’s worth mentioning that the $140 we usually quote for the Windows license is somewhere between the official Microsoft price, and the low prices offered by the very many OEM shops offering it for significantly less than the full price from Microsoft. Be careful to buy these from reputable sources, though.

On the hardware side of things, the Asrock Challenger D RX 5700 is no longer heavily discounted, so we’ve shifted over to MSI’s Mech OC model of the same GPU. It’s a bit more expensive, but still cheaper than the Challenger D currently. We’ve managed to save a bit of money elsewhere, swapping our

Corsair Force MP600 SSD for Gigabyte’s new Aorus Gen4 M.2 drive, which keeps the same outrageous transfer speeds but costs 10 bucks less.

Corsair has been shunted aside in the memory department too, as the Vengeance LPX kit we were using has risen in price. To keep things level, we’ve changed it out for G.Skill’s Sniper X Series 2x8GB kit at the same frequency.

Somehow, the Intel Core i7-10700 is already on sale, and barely any more expensive than our previous 9700 chip. Oh, and you get a free copy of Marvel Avengers on PC if you buy one now. Intel Turbo Boost and Comet Lake microarchitecture means that this is a lean, mean, eight-core machine. We’ve paired it with a new MSI motherboard, the MPG Z490 Gaming Edge WiFi.

We needed a new cooler for this LGA-1200 socket, so we’re back with Corsair’s reliable dual-fan A500 air cooler.

“Intel Turbo Boost and Comet Lake microarchitecture means that this is a lean, mean, eight-core machine.”