WHICH IS THE KING OF 1080P GAMING?

WE STARTED THIS build to see whether it is better to side with Team Intel or Team AMD when you have a $1,000 budget. The battle between AMD and Intel is ageold, however, and there is never really a definitive winner. As with most things in life, there are pros and cons for both sides. We wanted to create a fair test with these builds, though, and we feel we hit the mission objective here. Both systems have proved that you can build a solid 1080p gaming machine using some of the latest components for under the $1,000 mark. However, to save some of the budget on both sides, we did opt for some slightly older bits of gear, such as DDR4 and older motherboards, but that’s all to do with saving a few extra bucks.

Anyway, let’s rewind the clock to the build process. Thankfully, with this machine, we didn’t encounter many issues. The keyword here being “many.” The thing that had us slightly stumped was the RGB controller with its myriad cables—there was even a Molex cable on one of the fans, but that didn’t need to be connected because we used a daisy chain on the other fan as a substitute. We took a look at the guide that came with the case but, unfortunately, that wasn’t much help. We had to take a quick trip over to the world wide web for some inspiration. With plenty of head scratching involved, we managed to work it out in the end, but it meant we had to also move the fan controller toward the bottom of the case because the cables wouldn’t quite reach. The ARGB header on the motherboard was at the bottom and this was a threepin connector, which is what we needed. The alternative header was at the top, but it was four-pin.