Variety is the spice of the Lab, so this month we decided to eschew
our traditional builds and go with one you don’t see every day—an all-AMD gaming PC,
built with (most of) the best parts we could get our hands on. We’re
sure some of you will question the purpose of this build, so our
pre-emptive answer is we built it because we could, and we were curious
to see how a balls-out AMD build would benchmark, as we haven’t seen
over-the-top AMD rig since The Matrix: Revolutions
let us down. Plus, everyone is always ragging on us for ignoring AMD,
so here you go AMD enthusiasts—an entire PC built just for you.
It’s Time to Choose
The impetus for this system was the release of the relatively new “Vishera” CPU from AMD along with an updated version of the Asus Crosshair V Formula Z motherboard running the 990FX chipset. We had just received both of these parts, so we knew what we had to do—take a lunch break to consider our options. While tossing back root beers we formulated the basis of the system—an AMD processor and motherboard were a given, but what else? We had yet to sample the overclocked HD 7970 DirectCU II TOP from Asus, so we added that to the equation. We then remembered AMD-branded RAM had just been announced, so we added that to the ticket as we ordered another round of brewskies. To finish the system, we settled on the Thermaltake V3 AMD edition chassis, some red-band Corsair AF120 case fans, and a red Corsair Force GS SSD, as well, to tie the room together.source maximumpc
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