Sometimes less is more, and this PC build epitomises that concept. I can’t claim all the credit; the Asus ProArt PA401 is a gem. The wood finish down the front panels, the all-black interior, and the clever switches that make it a breeze are all to thank for that. Now I do realise the irony of saying less is more and placing two sticks of G.Skill’s finest gold-plated, faux-crystal RAM sticks in there, but they don’t look anything near as garish as they sound.
This is an all-AMD gaming PC; my slight obsession with using the Ryzen 7 9800X3D in full force here. It’s a powerful gaming chip for a reasonable price—3D V-Cache working a treat for improving frame rates. If you wanted to improve further, you could opt for the 16 cores of the Ryzen 9 9950X3D, but you’ll pay a tall fee for that. No, the 9800X3D works great here, and most of all in combination with the Asus Prime 9070 XT I’ve selected to go with it.
Get the build: $2,168 | £2,018
Chassis
Sticking a wooden panel on a chassis is a common occurrence these days, and I’m all here for it. Though Asus somehow makes it look even more tasteful than normal. The PA401 also has a few satisfying switches hidden in plain sight, to control fan speeds, open panels, and prevent accidental power offs. Oh, and two big front-facing fans are included here. You can read our PA401 review for more.
Motherboard
Only the best for this machine: we’re going for the X870E chipset, which offers massive connectivity and keeps AMD’s top gaming chip in check. Read our X870E Aorus Pro review for more.
Graphics card
AMD finally has a hit on its hands in the RX 9070 XT. It’s competitive with the RTX 5070 Ti, and, most of the time, cheaper too. Not necessarily this particular model, though. Read our Asus Prime RX 9070 XT review for more.
CPU
AMD has paired up with the manufacturing might of TSMC to stack more L3 cache beneath the CPU cores on the 9800X3D. It makes for a much faster gaming chip. Read our Ryzen 7 9800X3D review for more.
SSD
PCIe 5.0 SSDs are finally reaching critical mass and now affordable enough to make them worth it sometimes. I’ve swapped to this Crucial P510 as my original pick, the Biwin Black Opal X570, isn’t yet available in the US. The P510 is a top replacement, however. Read our P510 review for more.
Performance
⬇️ Click to load benchmark data ⬇️
We put every build through its paces, testing the latest games and putting the CPU under pressure to ensure stability.
This PC is ‘Custom PC #12’ in the charts below.
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