Our build process
Every month we build a gaming PC with the latest components and cases—it’s good to get stuck in and build something regularly in our opinion. If you’re looking for inspiration for your next build, or you’re new to the hobby, you can check out our picks below. You can easily make changes to these too, and in some cases, we hope you do. We’re building and testing every PC we highlight, and if we run into any issues, we’ll explain them here.
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.
Quick list
Case: Asus ProArt PA401 Wood Edition -$140/£120Motherboard: Gigabyte Aorus Pro X870E -$350/£324Graphics card: Asus Prime Radeon RX 9070 XT OC Edition 16 GB - $643/£630CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D - $472/£420RAM: G.Skill Trident Z5 Royal Neo RGB 32 GB @ 6000 MT/s - $180/£170SSD: Biwin Black Opal X570 Pro 2 TB - ~$230/£210Cooler: Asus Prime LC 240 ARGB - $80/£96PSU: Corsair RM850x - $145/£135Fans: Included with caseTotal: $2,240/£2,105
Gallery
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Parts list
Asus ProArt PA401 Wood EditionUS: $140 | UK: £120
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 company has coated the Ash underneath in a dark, slightly glossy finish, and it’s only on closer inspection or bright direct light that you really get the feel for the wood underneath.
It’s a mixed bag for the PC Gamer team, as some like it, some think what’s the point when it looks practically plastic, but I’m definitely in favour.
The PA401 has a few satisfying switches hidden in plain sight, to control fan speeds, open panels, and prevent accidental power offs. There are further shortcuts, too: 2 x 160 mm fans in the front and 1 x 120 mm fan in the rear come pre-installed, velcro straps for cable management, cable clips running down the outside rear of the case, and the PSU bracket is mounted independently from the case.View Deal
Gigabyte Aorus Pro X870EUS: $350 | UK: £324
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.View Deal
Asus Prime Radeon RX 9070 XT OC Edition 16GB GDDR6US: $643 | £630
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.View Deal
AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3DUS: $472 | UK: £420
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.View Deal
G.Skill Trident Z5 Royal Neo RGB 32 GB @ 6000 MT/sUS: $180 | UK: £170
Did I say less is more? On the surface, these sticks don’t really fit that ethos, but honestly they’re rapid, low-latency and blend in better than you think.View Deal
Biwin Black Opal X570 Pro 2 TBUS: ~$200 | UK: £170
It’s about time, eh? PCIe 5.0 SSDs are finally reaching critical mass, and affordable enough to make them worth it sometimes. This Biwin is a pretty solid pick, too, though US pricing is up in the air.View Deal
Corsair RM850xUS: $145 | UK: £135
Modular, plenty of connections, and neat cables. My only complaint with Corsair’s unit is the darn cable combs I have to install myself—WHY?View Deal
Asus Prime LC 240 ARGBUS: $80 | UK: £96
The PA401 chassis is limited on headroom, so the Asus Prime LC 240 ARGB is about as big as I can go. I’m a fan of the RGB lighting and it’s easy to install, though.View Deal
Performance
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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