There's little doubt that PC gaming is undergoing a renaissance at the moment. With the current generation consoles chugging interminably slowly toward retirement, frustrated gamers are switching to computers with quad-core processors and top-end graphics cards that produce visuals of breathtaking fluidity and detail.
But it's not all about graphics performance. While there are certainly detractors, Valve's digital download service Steam has revolutionalised the games buying experience, offering easy access to hundreds of titles, many at vastly reduced prices.
Meanwhile, increasingly popular online multiplayer titles like DotA, Guild Wars 2 and Tera are only playable on PC. Plus there's the explosive rise of the indie scene, with many small studios ignoring the console platforms altogether in favour of PC development. If you didn't have a PC last year, you had no chance of playing brilliant offbeat titles like FTL, Slender and Hotline Miami. You were out of the loop.
And while we're expecting huge announcements from Microsoft and Sony this year, we won't see a new console until October, with the PS4 more likely in Spring 2014. Even when these new machines arrive, current speculation suggests they're going to be built from the same sort of off-the-shelf components you could jam into a gaming PC – except with a gaming PC you can switch the key elements out a year later for something more up-to-date.
So if you're a new PC owner, or just want to upgrade your current machine, we've compiled a guide to building a decent gaming machine for 2013. I've asked several PC developers for their input, and we've tried to look at both high-end and budget options. Here goes...
1. Corsair Vengeance M65
Price: £49.99 | Corsair
2. Corsair Vengeance K90
Mechanical keyboards are all the rage with gamers. Their firm feel and unmistakable clacking make typing a joy, but it’s their near-instant response times that make them such a hit. Corsair’s Vengeance K90 is no exception, with its full set of Cherry Red switches that are favoured for their comfort and responsiveness.
Corsair has added a bank of 18 macro keys which can be programmed to perform in-game actions, multiple key presses or launch applications. There are three modes to toggle between, effectively providing a whopping 54 different keys.
Everything is illuminated with an LED backlight, with white for the macro keys and blue for the rest of the keyboard tray. You can choose between three brightness levels for a subtle glow or blazing colour.
It’s a very well-made keyboard that’s perfect for gamers.
97 (Euro Currency)
3. ASUS ROG Vulcan Pro ANC Headset
ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG) is a sub-brand that is directly aimed at gamers. ROG's newest headset is dubbed the Vulcan Pro and features an active noise-cancellation system (ANC) that should help cancel out unwanted background noise. This is very interesting on a gaming headset, especially if you plan on taking it to a lot of LAN parties where ambient noise levels are usually quite high. It could also be a neat feature at home due to TV and PC fan noise.
Specifications
- Driver Diameter : 40 mm
- Frequency Response: 10 - 20000 Hz
- Impedance: 32 Ohm
- Noise Cancelling Performance: Active: Maximum > 15 dB / 85 % ambient noise cancellation
- Operation Time (per charge): Up to 40 Hours
- Size: 21 x 18 x 7 cm
- Weight: 325 g
- Accessories: Carrying case, USB Sound card, User Guide
Passive: Maximum > 30 dB
MotherBoard
ASUS is a well known fixture in the motherboard market. It has diversified over the years into a number of markets. Its products include motherboards, graphics cards, cases, monitors, laptops, tablets, wireless access points and more. Naturally the motherboards are what we tend to think of when we hear the name "ASUS." Of course the ASUS product line is quite large. A few years ago around the start of the 680i SLI chipset launch ASUS created the Republic of Gamers brand to differentiate its upper echelon gaming focused products. Originally this included only motherboards and then sound cards, laptops, and other items were added along the way.
Motherboards within the Republic of Gamers brand typically come in three flavors. Extreme, Formula and Gene. Often times a given board name will come in at least two of these flavors. Usually Extreme or Formula. Extreme boards represent the best of the best. These tend to have the largest integrated feature sets and the largest in the box bundles. Formula boards have a slightly more streamlined feature set and smaller bundles. These generally reduce the price somewhat compared to Extreme offerings. Finally we have Gene boards which are always mATX boards. The PCBs on Gene boards are about as packed as these possibly can be.
ASUS went the extra mile with the ASUS Maximus V Formula / ThunderFX. At a glance it is very similar to the more expensive ASUS Maximus V Extreme we reviewed earlier. There are some key differences and even some advantages when comparing the Maximus V Formula ThunderFX to the Extreme board. The Maximus V Formula ThunderFX comes with an integrated water block which ASUS calls the Fusion Thermo system. It is a heat pipe based cooling solution with a water channel integrated into it. Theoretically it should allow for better cooling than the Maximus V Extreme is capable of. That board features the heat pipe based cooling system but without the water channel. Though it remains to be seen which is actually better on straight up air cooling. But those of you who want to water cool it may find the Formula board a better fit. It’s also great for those people with existing loops who may have avoided cooling components on the board due to the cost of specialized cooling blocks designed for their boards.
While the Maximus V Formula does feature a better power phase cooling than the Maximus V Extreme does, the Formula doesn’t have all the same overclocking tools that the Extreme did. It doesn’t come with the OC key onscreen display device, Subzero Sense support, or VGA hotwire support. So naturally I think for LN2 cooling the Extreme is still going to be your best bet in the LGA1155 board market.
Another key improvement we’ll talk about in greater detail later is the addition of the SupremeFX IV audio solution. ASUS has made a couple changes compared to the Maximus V Extreme board and I can tell you that these do make a difference. This is key for the Maximus V Formula board which does not come with the ThunderFX solution. Of course we’ll be talking about both audio options. Speaking of which the ThunderFX simply put is a USB DAC. This is often the recommended route in our audio forums for a variety of reasons. You get a great sound solution and you don’t have to sacrifice a PCIe slot to get it.
As different as these boards are, these are very much the same. Both feature a similar SATA configuration, USB 3.0 implementation, layout, and share a number of features. Both have MemOK support, ProbeIt headers for hardware monitoring of voltages, Integrated Intel networking, and various other similar components. DIGI+ Power control delivers precise control over the system’s integrated power phases.
The Maximus V Formula is based on the Intel Z77 Express chipset and leverages all that this chipset supports. It supports the latest LGA1155 CPUs, Intel's Smart Connect and Rapid Start technologies, SLI, 3-Way SLI, Quad-SLI, and CrossFire support, up to 32GB of DDR3 RAM (up to 2800MHz through overclocking), 2 SATA 3G ports, 6 SATA 6G ports (two via the Z77 and 4 via ASM1061 controllers), onboard graphics, Intel Gigabit Ethernet, 8x USB 2.0 ports and 6 USB 3.0 ports. Wireless 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0+HS/4.0, and mSATA support is provided via the mPCIe combo card.
While it’s easy to think of the "Formula" boards as stripped down compared to "Extreme" models, it doesn’t actually mean the Formula boards aren’t feature rich as the Maximus V Formula has a lot going for it.
Main Specifications Overview:
5. Intel Core i7 3770K CPU
It's new CPU season at Intel with the launch of the Ivy Bridge family of CPUs and the new Intel Core i7-3770K. It's the quickest of the new breed and
That's because Intel's exotic six-core processors, like the Intel Core i7 3960X, are really only of interest to a small niche of money-no-object lunatics. They're just not good value.
At the same time, the disappointing performance of the new AMD FX 8150means AMD doesn't really have anything to keep the Intel Core i7 3770K honest.
Instead, success and failure for the Core i7 3770K will hinge on its ability to convincingly swat aside the chip it replaces, ye olde Intel Core i7 2700K. At first glance, that might not be a trivial job.
For starters, the new Intel Core i7 3770K still has four cores. And it's not clocked any higher than the 2700K. Nor does it have any additional cache memory.
All of which is rather odd when you consider it sports Intel's spangley new 22nm process and thus 3D Tri-gate transistors.
You might think the shrink from 32nm to 22nm would allow for a couple more cores, or some clockspeed.
But apparently not.
What you do get is the latest upgrade for Intel's HD Graphics.
Now known as HD Graphics 4000, it gets an extra four execution units for a grand total of 16 along with Direct X 11 support.
The QuickSync transcode engine gets a bit of a buff, too. It's welcome enough, but it's what we were hoping for.
Then again, maybe the minor revisions Intel has applied to the four cores will release some extra performance. Likewise, even if Intel doesn't fancy ramping up the clockspeeds, there's nothing stopping us from clocking the twangers off those 22nm transistors.
Vital stats
Clockspeed - 3.5GHz (3.9GHz Turbo)
Cores - 4
Threads - 8
Cache - 8MB
Process - 22nm
Socket - Intel LGA 1155
Clockspeed - 3.5GHz (3.9GHz Turbo)
Cores - 4
Threads - 8
Cache - 8MB
Process - 22nm
Socket - Intel LGA 1155
Tick, tock, tick plus?
Before that, let's have a closer look at what makes the Intel Core i7 3770K tick. As it happens, it very much is a Tick rather than a Tock in Intel's Tick-Tock chip development regime.
That means it's a die shrink rather than an all-new architecture. In other words, it's the opposite of the existing Sandy Bridge chips such as the Core i7 2700K.
The 2700K remained a 32nm chip but got an all new design.
The new Intel Core i7 3770K, at least in terms of the CPU side of things, is largely the same design, but based on 22nm technology.
If we're honest, we're pretty bummed out that the use of 22nm technology hasn't allowed for more cores or a higher clockspeed.
After all, Intel's first desktop quad-core processor appeared six years ago. And here we are in 2012, stuck on four cores for mainstream PCs.
So much for Intel's promises of a massively multi-core future.
That said, there's grounds for hoping the Intel Core i7 3770K could be a bit of an overclocking beast.
For starts, you'd have thought lower power leakage from the 22nm 3D Tri-gate transistors would help this chip hit higher clocks than ever before.
What's more, this is a K Series chip, so the multiplier is unlocked and now goes as high as 63. in theory, that allows for clockspeeds up to 6.3GHz.
Intel has also added support for dynamic frequency adjustment from the Windows desktop. That's handy, both for making overclocking easier and for allowing you to set clockspeeds based on application type.
As for the graphics side, even with a third more execution units and a few other tweaks, real gamers will still want to plug in a proper graphics card.
In truth, the new HD Graphics 4000 core is more of interest for laptop PCs that rely on integrated graphics.
On the desktop we'd beg you to buy an add-in board.
6. Corsair Hydro Series H100i CPU Water Cooler
Say goodbye to a stock air cooler, and upgrade from your bulky air cooler to the efficiency and simplicity of liquid CPU cooling. Enjoy better cooling performance and lower noise, and protect your investment in your CPU with the CORSAIR Hydro Series H100i water cooler, which combines efficient cooling, simple installation, and intuitive management into an all-in-one solution. 240mm top-mounted radiator features twice the surface area of the H80i
for even better performance, while 2x 120mm fans delivers efficient cooling at whisper quietness. Corsair Link allows you to monitor temperature and control lighting and fan speed on your screen. Quick and easy magnetic installation brackets make it easier than ever to upgrade to water cooling. Maintenance is minimal thanks to closed-loop architecture and pre-filled coolant, which also deliver unmatched durability and reliability for worry-free use for years to come.
7. Nvidia GeForce GTX 690 ( GPU )
AMD and Nvidia are notorious for routinely trading off the trophy for the best video card on the planet. But judging from Nvidia's latest release, the GeForce GTX 690, we can't help but wonder if the company may hold onto it for slightly longer than usual this time. This isn't just because of its speed, which is considerable, but also because of how well it holds up against
- PROS - Excellent performance, parity with GTX 680 SLI setups. Highly power efficient. Attractive design.
- CONS - Obscenely expensive. Blocks a second expansion slot.
- BOTTOM LINE - Nvidia calls its newest dual-GPU video card, the GeForce GTX 690, the fastest ever, and we can't disagree. Just know that's also one of the one most expensive.
8. ASUS RoG Xonar Phoebus 7.1 Sound Card
Ever since the release of the Xonar DX in 2008, ASUS has continually brought their A game to the demanding – and extremely finicky - high end PC audio market. Their Xonar line proved that you don’t need a soundcard with “Creative Labs” or “Auzentech” in its name to be taken seriously by your fellow PC audio and gaming enthusiasts. The latest edition to the Xonar line is the Republic of Gamers Xonar Phoebus and today we will see if it lives up to both of its namesakes. By calling this new soundcard after the Greek god of music, ASUS is sending a clear message to consumers and the competition alike: this is one serious audio device that’s meant for serious business. However, calling this card after the god of music is a bit of a red hearing since it isn’t a direct replacement for the mighty Essence STX. That card is still tops for audio enthusiasts while the Phoebus and its associated features are firmly targeted towards the high end gaming market.
The Phoebus is the first ever standalone Republic of Gamers soundcard and in this industry, the RoG name means a lot. From the Matrix-series graphics cards to the Maximus, Rampage and Crosshair motherboards, ASUS has consistently placed some of their best products within this range. We’ve consistently given these products high praise so our expectations for the Phoebus are naturally quite high. But even with ASUS’ longstanding experience in this market, it is quite hard to strike a delicate balance between the in-game features which gamers demand while still retaining the necessary quality to output clear, unhindered music and in-movie sound.
While it remains to be seen if Asus have been able to balance both sonic and gaming ability priorities properly –and create a veritable ‘god’ of soundcards - this is first and foremost a gaming orientated soundcard and will succeed or fail based upon its gaming abilities. Although, the Phoebus will have a justify a steep $185 price with crystal clear sound and enhanced gaming abilities if it hopes to succeed in this highly competitive market.
9. Western Digital Caviar Green 3Tb
Hard Disk
The Western Digital Caviar Green 3TB is an energy-efficient 3TB hard disk, designed to save power using Western Digital's Intellipower technology, which uses a variety of caching algorithms to get the best possible performance from the disk's 5,400rpm spin speed.
It's only to be expected that a low-power disk won't perform quite as well as its more power-hungry equivalents, but the Caviar Green did rather well, all things considered. Its performance in our large file transfer tests was particularly good, with an average of 139.2MB/s based on a 132.1MB/s write speed and 146.3MB/s read speed.
It was in our small file test that the slow spin speed had a detrimental impact, dropping average throughput to 47.5MB/s, with a 38.4MB/s write and 56.6MB/s read speed. These aren't bad for a low-power disk, but make it better suited as a data disk than your main system disk.
The real saving grace is the low price, at just over 3p per gigabyte. The Western Digital Caviar Green 3TB has a two year RTB warranty, which isn't particularly generous. We can forgive this for the price, and this hard disk is a great Budget Buy
10. Corsair Neutron GTX 240Gb SSD
The first SSD to appear in this group is in many ways the most intriguing. Designing a good SSD is a tricky task, with plenty of the clever work going into the controller chip and its firmware. Many brands take the quicker and easier route by buying in that controller knowledge, which explains the recent prevalence of SandForce controllers, sold as a turnkey solution, firmware and all, to SSD makers unable or unwilling to do the work themselves. For the Neutron GTX though, Corsair turned to new brand Link_A_Media (yes, that is the company’s name) and its LAMD LM87800 controller.
Two models of Neutron are available, standard and GTX, the difference lying in the choice of NAND flash. The GTX uses the latest toggle NAND flash, combined with 256 MB DDR2 memory cache. Firmware can only be upgraded in Windows, and Corsair provides a reassuring 5-year warranty.
Corsair lists 85k write IOPS for the Neutron GTX, a good figure when you realise that many SSDs struggle to hit that with their read operations, which are typically faster in solid-stateland. In our tests we got close to that figure with 77k IOPS recorded by AS SSD using 64 threads. The CrystalDiskMark (CDM) test gave 87.8k in 4kB random write IOPS and 92.8k for reads with its 32 queue depth.
Sequential read/write performance as measured by CDM was a little lower than is now typical for SATA 6 Gb/s solid-state tech, at 431 and 467 MB/s. These write-centric figures were effectively mirrored when using random rather than compressible (0x00) data, showing that the LAMD controller does not rely on compression tricks to enhance measured performance.
Best drag-race results, as ever, were found in the ATTO benchmark, which reported peak read and write speeds of 557 and 511 MB/s.
11. Corsair Dominator Platinum DDR3
2133MHz 16Gb RAM
When any company goes out and names one of their products the “Dominator”, you simply can’t help but think that this product, whatever the product may be, must be really good, and as luck would have it, Corsair’s Dominator line of memory has traditionally been just that – really good.
Today, we’ll be reviewing Corsair’s newest line of Dominator memory, the Corsair Dominator Platinum. The specific kit we’re reviewing today is the Corsair Dominator Platinum DDR3 2133MHz 16GB kit, but Corsair will be selling these kits in a variety of configurations ranging from 8GB to 64GB with frequencies from an already fast 1600 MHz to an insanely fast 2666 MHz.
Make no mistake, whatever frequency kit you purchase will still come with all the premium features of the Dominator Platinums. This includes features such as the Dual Path DHX (Dual-path Heat eXchange) heatsink, Corsair Link compatibility, cherry picked memory ICs, and of course a lifetime warranty.
12. Corsair AX1200i Power Supply
The following article offers a detailed description of our testing methodology and equipment and a brief explanation of what the specified and tested parameters of power supplies mean: X-bit Labs Presents: Power Supply Units Testing Methodology. If you feel overwhelmed with the numbers and terms this review abounds in, refer to the Methodology.
You can also go to our Cases/PSU section to check out reviews of all other PSU models we have tested in our labs.
We will mark the actual power consumption of three system configurations (discussed in our articlePC Power Consumption: How Many Watts Do We Need?) in the cross-load diagrams. This will help you see if the tested PSU can meet the requirements of a real-life PC.
Closer Look at Corsair AX1200i
Package and Accessories
This model differs somewhat in its box contents from its non-i relative. For obvious reasons we will be comparing it with the Corsair AX1200 throughout this review.
The packaging is the same size and shape, but the color scheme is different. Some elements are now painted red instead of gold.
The back of the box is now black to match the front. Its contents have changed a little. The brief PSU description has moved up and a description of the Corsair Link feature has been added. The efficiency and noise graphs are larger now but the list of available power connectors is missing.
The accessories include a user manual, fasteners, a pack of single-use cable straps, a mains cord, and a Corsair sticker.
There is also a velvet pouch for the PSU and a fabric bag for cables, so there’re quite a lot of accessories inside.
The sealed silvery pack you can spot in the photo with accessories contains a Corsair Link adapter (there’s dual-sided adhesive tape in the pack with fasteners that can be used to attach the adapter anywhere in the computer case). Its fixed cable goes into a USB 2.0 header on the mainboard. Then it is also connected to the PSU's communication port with an included cable.
Exterior Design
The exterior styling of this model differs from the AX1200. It is closer to the TX650 model considering the difference in size and the modular design. The top panel is fastened with hex-head screws. The embossed lines on its surface merge into the fan grid.
Viewed from this perspective, the only difference of the AX1200i from the AX1200 is the small plaque with its model name.
The modular connector panel is the same as the AX1200’s except that there’s a 4-pin connector for Corsair Link (we’ll discuss this feature later on) and a self-diagnostic button with LED indicator (this feature helps you make sure that the PSU is operational prior to installing it into your computer).
13. Corsair Obsidian 900D Case
An enclosure built from the ground up for custom liquid cooling loops is actually a fairly rarefied thing. Why wouldn't it be? Building a custom loop is expensive and time consuming, which would make that type of enclosure the very definition of niche. Yet Corsair has come forward with the Obsidian 900D for one big reason: to fill that niche.
And "big" is definitely the operative word. Riding high on their liquid cooling legacy with the popular Obsidian 800D, Corsair has developed a positively massive enclosure that's designed essentially to hold the most powerful desktop machine you can conceive of while providing ample space to mount radiators and all the accoutrements of liquid cooling.
Before we get too much further into this review, I want to be absolutely clear about how the Obsidian 900D is being evaluated, because it's a very different beast from most cases. It superficially looks and is built like an overgrown ATX case, but at an MSRP of $349 it's about as premium as it gets. When you see the way Corsair designed it, you'll be able to tell like I did that it's destined for much more than a garden variety build.
What that also means is that while I have to put it through our conventional testing, that conventional testing is going to be primarily academic. Unfortunately it's much harder to tell how good an enclosure will be at its job when that job will vary from person to person in much more significant ways than just choosing which air cooler and graphics cards to use. What you're going to want to pay attention to are the feature set, ease of assembly, and overall design, and how they're going to suit your purposes. That's assuming you're in the market for a specialized case like this, and a lot of you won't be.
| Corsair Obsidian 900D Specifications | ||
| Motherboard Form Factor | Mini-ITX, Micro-ATX, ATX, E-ATX, XL-ATX, HPTX | |
| Drive Bays | External | 4x 5.25" |
| Internal | 9x 3.5"/2.5" (support for two additional cages for up to 15x 3.5"/2.5") | |
| Cooling | Front | 3x 120mm intake fans (1x additional internal 120mm fan mount behind drive cage) |
| Rear | 1x 140mm exhaust fan | |
| Top | 4x 120mm fan mounts (supports 3x 140mm) | |
| Side | 8x 120mm internal fan mounts (four per side, PSU blocks two of your choice) | |
| Bottom | - | |
| Expansion Slots | 10 | |
| I/O Port | 4x USB 2.0, 2x USB 3.0, 1x Headphone, 1x Mic | |
| Power Supply Size | ATX | |
| Clearances | HSF | 170mm |
| PSU | 280mm | |
| GPU | 500mm | |
| Dimensions | 25.6" x 9.9" x 27.2" 649.6mm x 252mm x 691.6mm | |
| Weight | 41 lbs. / 18.6 kg | |
| Special Features | USB 3.0 via internal header Multiple removable drive cages Secondary power supply bay Removable filters on all fan intakes | |
| Price | $349 | |
Corsair's press materials highlight the fact that the case is designed for liquid cooling, but you've probably figured that out given how much I've repeated it. What you're going to want to know now are the radiator clearances, and they're a doozy.
The top fan mounts have a 110mm clearance from the roof of the case to the top of the motherboard and you can intrude on the top 5.25" bay. Unfortunately in the front of the case, there's a slight spacing between the topmost 120mm fan and the two bottom ones, so that essentially means you can only install a single 240mm radiator; there does appear to be space to install a single 140mm radiator and fan instead if you're so inclined. The back of the case supports a single 140mm radiator in the exhaust fan slot. Corsair keeps the other bulk of radiator potential in the bottom of the enclosure, where you can theoretically install a 480mm radiator on one side and a 240mm radiator on the other, with 110mm of radiator clearance to the PSU. Note that installing a radiator in the bottom chamber does mean sacrificing those drive cages.
And those are the best parts you need for your ULTIMATE GAMING PC. for your Monitor its up to you what you will buy. Just choose those are 3D capable, LED's, you can choose between 24 - 30 inches Monitor. You can make 3 monitored pc. So thats it, Good Luck on building your PC, and start ROLLING it. :)
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