As the impending launch of new GPUs is now upon us, we're refreshing our hardware test bench to put the new AMD, Nvidia, and Intel cards (among other hardware reviews) through their paces this year. While our old test bench was no slouch, powered by an i9-13900K CPU, 32GB of DDR5 RAM, and more, we're going to be pushing the limits of the next generation of GPUs with slightly newer hardware to further eliminate the possibility of bottlenecks in our testing.
This has always been our goal with our test bench: to push hardware to its limits without any bottlenecking that could hamper results. While the main component this is meant for graphics cards, as they tend to drive the most interest from our readers, this drive to eliminate bottlenecking also benefits other hardware testing, from NVMe drives and more.
This year's test bench upgrades the CPU and RAM specifically, though the motherboard, NVMe m.2 drive, and overall cooling solution within the case will also help give us blistering framerates to record.
It also helps that I didn't build this test bench, unlike our 2023 model. That isn't to say I don't know what I'm doing - I do, and I build PCs all the time for friends and family that work just fine. But our test bench this time around was built and designed by professionals who excel at creating powerful machines for any purpose.
Starforge Systems Voyager II PC - The New MMORPG.com Test Bench
Last year, we reviewed a couple of Starforge Systems' PCs: the Navigator and the Voyager II line. While the Navigator is a fine machine and worth the cost if you're looking for a good mid-range tower to power your games, the Voyager II line was the entry-level in their line of Creator-class PCs. This PC effortlessly threw every game I had at it over the course of the review and the subsequent months (this is the PC where I did many game reviews afterward), all while not breaking a sweat under pressure.
Specifications:
- CPU: Intel Core i7-14700K
- CPU Cooler: Starforge Custom Bitspower 360mm Liquid Cooler
- RAM: Teamgroup Delta RGB 32GB DRR5 6000 CL38 (2x16GB)
- Motherboard: MSI Z790 Tomahawk Wifi DDR5
- Cables: CableMod Pro ModMesh Sleeved Cable Extensions (Black)
- Primary Storage: 2TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD (min 7000 read)
- Power Supply: Corsair HX1200i 1200 Watt Platinum
- RGB Fans: 6 x Bitspower 120mm ARGB
- Case: Lian Li O11D EVO RGB Mid-Tower (SMITE Custom Printing Version)
While the i9-13900K might boast more cores and a higher thread count than its 14th-gen cousin, the i7-14700K offered near identical performance when testing. Given the fact that it's much more affordable with marginally the same performance, it made it a no-brainer to make the switch over to the Starforge Systems rig, especially thanks to the improved RAM speed (our old bench was 5200MHz while the Voyager II boasts 6000MHz), and a faster read/write speed on the NVMe SSD.
One of the best aspects of this build is also the case itself. Much like our previous case, the ASUS ROG Helios ATX Tower case, we needed to ensure there would be enough room to fit the behemoth cards coming (though it looks like this might only apply to AIB cards). The Lian Li O11D EVO RBG Mid-Tower case is, in effect, a smaller chassis to hold the components, but it can easily fit the RTX 4090 in there already - and I'm really hoping nothing will end up being larger than that thing.
One thing we had to do was replace the power supply thanks to the new power requirements for the upcoming RTX 50-series Blackwell GPUs (and potentially the upcoming RDNA 4 cards), which we've done with Corsair's HX1200i 1200W Platinum Power Supply. This affords some headroom for the 1000W PSU requirement for the newly announced RTX 5090 while potentially future-proofing (we hope) for generations to come.
Overall, it's a better package than our previous test bench, and making the switch ahead of the next generation of graphics cards, especially from AMD, Nvidia, and Intel, is a no-brainer for us. As always, we'll upgrade this PC over the coming year to eke out even more performance, but given the power already on offer, I'm confident that the PC will continue to perform admirably under pressure.
Thanks again to Starforge Systems for their support.
