Welcome to the brave new world of memory shortage-inflated prices, a world we will likely be living in for quite some time. With it comes new pricing expectations, but also a new focus on memory and storage configs. And with both of these things in mind I reckon this Skytech rig for $2,430 at Walmart would be the one I'm looking at if I were in the market for a high-end gaming PC.
And yes, I'm calling the RTX 5070 Ti a high-end GPU, because I think it's far enough ahead of the RTX 5070, and close enough to the RTX 5080 to do so, especially given it overclocks really well.
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The elephant in the room is the prevalence of RX 9070 XT rigs that sell for quite a bit cheaper than this one, such as this Andromeda Insights one for $1,950 at Newegg. But there are two reasons I'd consider opting for this RTX 5070 Ti rig instead: for one, Nvidia GPUs still offer a little more in terms of feature-set and arguably driver support, but second and more importantly, it features much more RAM and storage.
Yes, an Nvidia GPU will net you better path tracing performance and some extra bells and whistles, such as full DLSS 5 and 6x frame gen support, but as someone who enjoys using an RX 9070 XT everyday, I can anecdotally say I don't think that alone would make me opt for the Skytech rig instead. What would is the 32 GB of RAM and 2 TB of storage.
Real-world gaming performance
Comparing the RTX 5070 Ti to the RTX 5070 and RX 9070 XT in multiple games at 1440p with upscaling and frame gen when applicable.
| Product | Value |
|---|---|
| RTX 5070 | 107 Avg FPS, 81 1% Low FPS |
| RTX 5070 Ti | 124 Avg FPS, 107 1% Low FPS |
| RX 9070 XT | 121 Avg FPS, 104 1% Low FPS |
Given the ongoing memory shortage, storage and RAM is no longer a secondary concern. It used to be that I could recommend builds without much of either and say 'just upgrade later', but that's no longer the case. 2 TB of storage and 32 GB of DDR5 RAM will now cost you well above $500, probably pushing closer to $1,000. As such, paying a few hundred extra for not only an Nvidia GPU but also that extra storage and memory makes a lot of sense.
In terms of what real-world performance you can expect from a PC like this one, don't worry about playing anything at 1440p; it'll handle it with ease. It should even play the vast majority of titles at 4K smoothly, but you'll have to lower your settings in some games, and the most demanding of demanding games on the market will be best kept at a lower resolution.
It's also worth noting you're getting the best CPU for gaming here, too, with a 360 mm AIO cooler that should keep it, well, cool. A previous-gen X3D chip like the Ryzen 7 7800X3D which you see in a lot of high-end builds these days can do just fine, but the Ryzen 7 9800X3D here is noticeably faster. Just another thing that makes this rig a powerful all-rounder.
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1. Best overall:
iBuyPower RDY Element 9 Pro
2. Best budget:
ABS Cyclone Aqua
3. Best high-end:
Corsair Vengeance A7500
4. Alienware:
Alienware Area-51
5. Best mini PC:
Minisforum AtomMan G1 Pro
6. Best for local AI:
Framework Desktop
