INTO THE LIQUID LOOP
FIRST TIME LIQUID COOLING? WE WON’T LEAVE YOU HIGH AND DRY
CPU
INTEL CORE I9-12900K
WWW.INTEL.COM
The 12900K is a mighty speedy chip and features a big architectural change for Intel. With a hybrid form containing 16 cores equally split between performance-oriented foreground cores and background efficiency cores, it aims to achieve the best of both worlds. The chip includes outof-the-box, one-click overclocking that can achieve frequencies of up to 5.2 gigahertz and is a super-solid processor to fit into our build.
• RRP: $589
• Street price: $610
GPU
ASUS ROG STRIX GEFORCE RTX 3080 OC 10GB
WWW.ASUS.COM
With prices falling on GPUs, it’s a better time to pick one up. This OC variant of Asus’s RTX 3080 is a very powerful graphics card that will be more than enough to push this machine to gaming excellence. It features 10GB of GDDR6X and in OC mode it has speeds of 1935 MHz. The GPU also has an impressive heatsink, although we’ll be upgrading this via liquid cooling.
• RRP: $850
• Street price: $1,229
STORAGE
XPG GAMMIX S70 2TB M.2 PCIE 4.0 SSD
WWW.XPG.COM
For our primary storage, we’ve chosen XPG’s super speedy GAMMIX S70 SSD, specifically the 2TB version. This has great sequential performance and a quad-lane PCIe 4.0 interface making it a more than capable storage hub for this liquid-cooled PC. In hindsight, we should have opted for the blade variant without the pre-installed heatsink, but it’s ok!
• RRP: $329
• Street price: $239
CASE
CORSAIR ICUE 5000T RGB MID-TOWER ATX
WWW.CORSAIR.COM
Go big or go home? Well, let’s just say we didn’t go home. When liquid cooling for the first time, the more room the better. This Corsair 5000T case has more than enough room for efficient airflow, heat dissipation, and space to maneuver inside. It does all this without looking like a slab. The case features iCUE lighting strips around and in the white color scheme, it should pair up nicely with our water cooling gear.
• RRP: $399
• Street price: $399
CASE LIGHTS
CORSAIR ICUE LC100 CASE ACCENT LIGHTING PANELS STARTER KIT
WWW.CORSAIR.COM
To finish things off in the case, we’re trying out Corsair’s new iCUE LC100 accent lights. These magnetic modular panels stick together and connect to the SATA cable from the PSU. You can create 3D shapes or mold them around your case to add a bit more glow to your build.
• RRP: $129
• Street price: $129
MEMORY
32GB (2X16GB) CORSAIR VENGEANCE DDR5-5200
WWW.CORSAIR.COM
Visually, not much has changed from DDR4 to DDR5, but is that such a bad thing? We’re excited about the potential the new generation has to offer. These Corsair Vengeance sticks can reach speeds of up to 5200MHz and 32GB, making it a powerful kit of RAM to add to the build.
• RRP: $324
• Street price: $324
MOTHERBOARD
MSI MEG Z690 UNIFY GAMING MOTHERBOARD ATX
WWW.MSI.COM
MSI’s monster ATX mobo has a plethora of top-end connectivity. With lightning Gen 5 PCIe, DDR5 support, and five M.2 connectors, you can spec this board up to extreme levels. If you’re going for a 12th gen Intel chip and you’re switching from DDR4 to DDR5, this mobo makes a great choice for futureproofing.
• RRP: $480
• Street price: $480
PSU
NZXT C850 80+GOLD PSU
WWW.NZXT.COM
To keep all this power under control, we have NZXTs C850 PSU to add to our build. This 850W 80+Gold power supply is an efficient unit to maintain all of the high-performance components we have, plus the liquid cooling reservoir and pump combo. With a modular design and plenty of connections around the back, it’s a well-rounded PSU.
• RRP: $129
• Street price: $129
COOLING KIT
CORSAIR HYDRO X SERIES XG7 RGB 30-SERIES STRIX GPU WATER BLOCK
WWW.CORSAIR.COM
One thing that’s unfortunately not included in the cooling kit is a block for the GPU. Of course, these vary from GPU to GPU, so you need to be a lot more specific when ordering one—as we found out the hard way when we ordered the wrong block. Schoolboy error!
It doesn’t look as nice as the XD5 clear version we initially chose but then again, that would have been useless. This block should keep our hefty GPU running cool under heavy stress, and we’re excited to see it in action.