The highest-performing PC hardware you can buy today

One of the PC’s greatest strengths is its extreme flexibility. There’s a vast selection of hardware out there, of all different shapes and sizes and makes and models—so much so that even if your budget’s not a concern, buyer’s paralysis very well could be.

Fear not, fellow enthusiast. We’ve got your back. These are the highest-performing PC components you can buy today, from AMD’s monstrous Threadripper chips to the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti. We’ve even done the homework to ensure they all work fine together if you’re considering a really big splurge. (If, on the other hand, you prefer your power to be more portable, check out PCWorld’s list of the best gaming laptops.)

Editor’s note: This article was updated August 31, 2018 to add the Threadripper 2990WX, GeForce RTX 2080 Ti, and our G-Sync HDR monitor review.

The heart of a PC is its processor. And when it comes to consumer PCs—business and data-center rigs are a whole ‘nother beast—there’s never been a CPU as potent as AMD’s 32-core, 64-thread Ryzen Threadripper 2990WX ($1,750 on AmazonRemove product link). This monster reigns supreme with nearly twice as many cores and threads as Intel’s 18-core flagship, the Core i9-7980XE ($2,000 on AmazonRemove product link), despite costing several hundred dollars less. Intel’s cores are faster individually, but if you can truly put the 2990WX’s massive core count to good use, nothing else compares.

Alternatively, if you’re looking for the best PC gaming performance, the Core i7-8700K ($350 on AmazonRemove product link) should be your processor of choice. Its 6 cores and 12 threads hum along between 3.7GHz and 4.7GHz—far, far higher than what Intel’s 18-core chip can hit out of the box. 

If it’s still available when you’re ready to buy, the Core i7-8086K—created in honor of the first x86 chip’s 40^th anniversary—is the first Intel chip to hit 5GHz out of the box in single-thread applications. It’s also virtually certain to hit 5GHz on all cores if manually overclocked, though standard out-of-the-box performance is similar to the much cheaper 8700K’s in most scenarios. Only 50,000 chips of these chips were made. Pick one up for $425 at NeweggEdit non-product linkRemove non-product link, AmazonRemove product link, or Best BuyEdit non-product linkRemove non-product link.

With your processor picked out, you know what type of motherboard to buy. Threadripper chips are compatible with AMD’s X399 motherboards. We reviewed the Threadripper 2990WX with the MSI MEG X399 Creation ($499 on Newegg)—a particularly swanky motherboard with connections galore, an integrated M.2 Frozr heatsink for cooling off gumstick SSDs, and a robust power delivery system. 

That’s just the tip of the iceberg though. Check out our roundup of AMD X399 motherboards for even more options.

Intel’s X99 platform broke down the 64GB limit for RAM, and DDR4 enabled faster-than-ever memory. So why not bask in the face-melting glory by snapping up an extremely future-proof 128GB kit of 3,200MHz Corsair Dominator Platinum memory ($1,750 on AmazonRemove product link) and create some of the most epic RAM disks the world has ever seen? Or if you’re feeling the need for SPEED, Corsair also offers a 16GB kit of Vengeance LPX DDR4 memory clocked at a wild 4400MHz for $430 on AmazonRemove product link.

Granted, those prices could be a drawback, as could the fact that there are very few legitimate reasons to load up your PC with that much RAM. If you want to pick up a lower-capacity kit, or something from a different vendor, just make sure it’s DDR4 memory, not the older DDR3. X299 motherboards are cutting-edge, remember.

If you absolutely have to buy a graphics card right now, most gamers should pick up the powerful GeForce GTX 1080 Ti, or more specifically, a customized, overclocked version like the EVGA GTX 1080 Ti SC2 ($670 on AmazonRemove product link) that pushes the pedal to the metal even more. It’s 25 to 35 percent faster than the vaunted GTX 1080, and the first semi-affordable consumer card capable of hitting 60 fps regularly at 4K resolution with all the bells and whistles cranked to Ultra in many games. 

But don’t buy now if you can help it. Nvidia’s already opened preorders for the next-gen GeForce RTX 2080 Ti, and it looks ready to blow away the GTX 1080 Ti in raw gaming performance. Reviews haven’t landed yet, but the cards land on September 20. Wait until then if you can, or check out PCWorld’s roundup of the custom GeForce RTX 2080 and RTX 2080 Ti graphics cards you can preorder right now if you can’t.

Segue! If you’re going to drop big bucks on a take-no-prisoners graphics card, you’re going to want a high-end display to go with it, and when it comes to high-end displays the first wave of G-Sync HDR monitors are basically the Holy Grail. The Acer Predator X27Edit non-product linkRemove non-product link and Asus ROG Swift PG27UQEdit non-product linkRemove non-product link (each $2,000 on Newegg) are luxurious 27-inch 4K panels blazing along at up to 144Hz. Literally blazing—these panels support high-dynamic range visuals at up to 1,000 nits of brightness, with 384 backlight zones. Non-HDR content should look just as glorious: The monitors hit 99 percent of the AdobeRGB color gamut, and G-Sync makes gameplay look buttery-smooth.

Check out our review of the Predator X27. It’s nice.

Storage likewise comes in a variety of options. 

If you’re looking for sheer volume, a pair of recent releases have you more than covered. The 4TB Samsung 860 EVO ($1,400 on AmazonRemove product link) and 12TB WD Gold ($500 on AmazonRemove product link) are the largest ever consumer solid-state and traditional hard drives, respectively, and both earned top scores in recent PCWorld reviews. Samsung’s SSD is obviously faster, but it costs much, much more. The WD Gold’s 7,200rpm platters deliver surprisingly great access speeds for a mechanical hard drive and sweetens the pot with enterprise-class features that aren’t found in rival hard drives in this price range. 

But forget capacity. What if pure speed is your primary goal? In exchange for some space, you can bask in the blistering transfer rates of an M.2 PCI-e NVMe SSD (whew, those acronyms). The trade-off is worthwhile: The 4TB Samsung 960 Pro ($1,050 on NeweggEdit non-product linkRemove non-product link) is easily one of the fastest drives ever created, hitting read speeds far over 3.5GBps in CrystalDiskMark. That’s nuts. Make this your boot drive and never worry about lag again. If you don’t mind sacrificing a minuscule amount of performance to save big-time dollars, though, consider the 1TB Western Digital Black 3D NVMe SSD ($450 on AmazonRemove product link) instead.

Alternatively, Intel’s radical Optane 900P SSD ($600 on Newegg) matches Samsung’s champion blow-for-blow and dominates all comers when reading lots of small files, but only comes in 280GB and 480GB capacities. 

PCWorld’s guide to the best SSDs can walk you through your options for top-notch storage.

If you’re splurging on the rest of your PC, you might as well invest in top-notch audio, too. Creative Labs’ Sound BlasterX AE-5 ($150 on AmazonRemove product link) uses a 32-bit, 384KHz ESS ES9016K2M Sabre 32 Ultra DAC (digital audio converter) that’s basically just a notch below the DACs found in pricey professional sound gear. This is the first consumer sound card we could find packing hardware like that, and the premium DAC is augmented by 5.1 analog surround sound, a dual-amp Xamp able to drive up to 600-Ohm headsets, RGB lights, and fancy software that can even triangulate where your enemies are lurking in PC games. Groovy.

With the marvelous power efficiency of modern Intel processors and Nvidia graphics cards, most single-GPU systems probably don’t need more than a 600-watt power supply. But this list is all about the best of the best—and investing in a beefier power supply is a good idea if you want to use multiple graphics cards or ensure room for expansion in the future.

The Corsair AX1500i ($450 on AmazonRemove product link) is essentially a power supply paragon, though it’s often out of stock these days due to high demand from coin mining operations. This fully modular Corsair AX1500i PSU is rated for 80 Plus Titanium efficiency and tremendous load regulation across all rails thanks to a cutting-edge digital control system. Tom’s Hardware and Jonny Guru both give the supply flawless ratings. Corsair recently announced a step-up AX1600i ($500 on Newegg), too.

If you kit out a rig similar to the one described in this article and only use one or two graphics cards, you can get buy with a lower wattage power supply though. PCWorld’s own dedicated graphics card test system uses the EVGA Supernova 1000 G3 ($230 on AmazonRemove product link).