Building the fastest esports gaming PC in 2022
Dexerto With all-new parts, we’ve put together a lightning-fast esports gaming PC. We’ll take you step-by-step through the build, accessories, features like Nvidia Reflex, and more.
What makes a good gaming PC? Well, you have to strike a balance of parts, and what you are going to use the system for. For this build, we’re focussing on esports gaming performance. This means that we’re likely not going to be targeting 4K in many games, and our parts list should reflect that.
Instead, we’re going to focus on getting extreme 1440p, high frame-rate performance, instead. With the advent of 1440p / 360 Hz monitors, we’re going to be kitting out the PC based on that, instead.
Parts
- CPU: Intel Core i5-13600K
- Motherboard: ASUS ROG Z790 Maximus Extreme
- RAM: 32GB ADATA XPG Lancer DDR5-6000
- Boot drive: 1TB Adata XPG 960 Legend
- Game Drive: 4TB Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus
- CPU Cooler: Cooler Master PL360 Flux
- GPU: Nvidia RTX 4080 Founders Edition
- Case: Hyte Y60
- PSU: EVGA GT1300 Supernova
Peripherals
- Mouse: ASUS ROG Keris Wireless Aimpoint
- Keyboard: ASUS ROG Falchion Ace
- Headset: ASUS ROG Fusion 2 500
- Monitor: ASUS ROG Swift PG27AQN
How does it perform?
Dexerto With our setup finally, all together, we’ve managed to reach around 399 FPS in games like CS:GO, while AAA’s like Cyberpunk 2077 managed to reach over 180 FPS at 1440p using Nvidia’s DLSS 3.
However, the real star of the show for the fastest esports gaming PC is when we use it alongside titles that support Nvidia Reflex, we saw that our system managed to achieve a staggering average of around 450 FPS in Overwatch 2, with only occasional dips to the 415 FPS range.
For more benchmarks from this system, be sure to check out our full review of the RTX 4080.
Nvidia Reflex is a game-changer for esports
The real reason why this PC could be considered one of the fastest esports gaming PCs is making sure it has full functionality with Nvidia Reflex. For those not in the know, Nvidia Reflex is a tool that you can use for systems with Nvidia graphics cards to cut down on your system latency. While some might expect that shaving those crucial tens of milliseconds off doesn’t matter, we would argue that it does.
In a controlled test, we tried to headshot a character in Overwatch 2 in a corridor as quickly as possible. We couldn’t move the gun around, just click the button when we see our enemy run by onscreen. Without Nvidia Reflex, we only managed a single one out of ten.
When we turned Nvidia Reflex on, we managed to attain seven out of ten, a massive increase when only shaving off our system’s latency.
So, we set up our ASUS PG27AQN with our ROG Chakram X mouse in Wired mode and set to getting Reflex Enabled in Overwatch 2. It was as simple as flicking a button.
Speed is the name of the game
With Reflex Enabled, we were able to look at a detailed breakdown of our PC’s system latency, which allows us to fully gauge how fast the parts that we are using actually are.
- Render latency: 3.5ms
- Mouse latency average: 0.5ms
- PC latency average: 9.6ms
- System latency average: 10.1ms
With Reflex turned off, our average PC latency could spike to up to as high as 17ms. This doesn’t sound like a lot, but it can definitely affect your gameplay in a significant way. With Reflex Analyzer, you will be able to check just how fast your hardware is running.
It’s an extremely impressive piece of software exclusive to Nvidia graphics cards, and we recommend that you keep it on at all times for any titles that might be using it.
The ASUS ROG Swift PG27AQN is the best gaming monitor we’ve tested
The monitor is the icing on top of the cake here. We’ve already built a wonderfully powerful system. In order to harness all of that power for our fastest esports gaming PC, we’re going to need an equally fast monitor.
The Asus ROG Swift PG27AQN is the world’s first-ever 1440p 360Hz panel. This is likely to be the first of many 1440p/360Hz panels that we’ll start to see come into market later this year.
The IPS display is also rated up to HDR 600, and is fully G-Sync certified. It was actually built in conjunction with Nvidia in order to make sure that your frames win games. To set this up correctly, we used a DisplayPort cable, in addition to the USB-B to USB-A cable, in order to make sure that the peripherals plugged into our monitor were being picked up by our PC.
Doing this allows you to make full use of Nvidia Reflex, which allowed us to soar in games like Overwatch 2, where the display managed to keep up with a relentless 470 FPS framerate without breaking a sweat. Color accuracy was also fantastic for this monitor.
When paired with the fastest esports gaming PC, consider our socks fully blown off after having tested it in several games.
A closer look at the parts
CPU
Dexerto The CPU that we’re choosing to use is the new Intel Core i5-13600K. Its performance sees it perform at similar levels to the Core i9-12900K, while coming in at a significantly lower price. It should be more than enough for gaming at high framerates at 1440p, too. The 13th-gen Intel Core i5-13600k’s 14 cores and 20 threads should be able to handle just about everything that we throw at it.
The CPU manages to bring down i9-12900K performance to a much more palatable price point. While there are speedier CPUs on the market, there’s going to be barely any difference in gaming workloads between the 13600K and the 13900K.
Motherboard
Dexerto For this build, we went with the ASUS ROG Z790 Maximus Extreme. This might be a little bit overkill, but since it has so many headers, and looks great, it’ll be good to keep in the pocket for further expansion, or if we want to overclock later down the line. It also has full DDR5 support and a huge number of slots for m.2 SSDs, so you’re not going to be left without ample storage, too.
It also has a LED screen for monitoring your PC’s stats, which is configurable through ASUS Armoury Crate. There’s also an internal Thunderbolt 4 header, though we think that this is for testing, rather than setting up on your PC.
RAM
Dexerto For our build, we’re going to go with 32GB of speedy DDR5 memory. The kit we chose to use was the ADATA XPG Lancer RGB DDR5-6000. We can easily enable XMP to get that rated, speedy mega transfer rate. While the RGB on the memory gives the kit an extra bit of pizzaz, too. It also has incredibly quick speeds when tested in Aida64, to boot.
Memory read speeds: 86340 MB/s
Memory write speeds: 82444 MB/s
It should be adequately fast enough, and allow us to achieve the highest-possible frames in gaming workloads.
Storage
Dexerto On the storage front, we think that you really don’t need a Hard Drive in 2022. So, instead, we’ve picked up two PCI 4.0 SSDs. These allow for lightning-quick access to your games and files, without waiting on any pesky loading times when you’re eager to get into games. This is the fastest esports gaming PC, so it’s only suitable that we pick up some equally fast storage.
Our SSDs of choice are the 1TB ADATA Legend 960 for our boot drive, and a 4TB Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus to install all of our games onto. With 5TB of space, we’re going to be flying through huge installs of titles like Modern Warfare 2 without worrying about how much space is going to be left on our drives.
They both slot into our motherboard nicely, and without any issues. We tested both SSDs in CrystalDiskMark to ensure they were all up and running correctly.
The ADATA Legend 960 achieved a peak read speeds of 7070 MB/s, and a write speed of 6623 MB/s. The Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus managed to reach a peak read speed of 7037 MB/s, with a peak write speed of 6680 MB/s. This should ensure that both drives will be able to perform when it comes to daily operation, and when running games, too.
GPU
Dexerto The fastest esports gaming PC needs an equally fast graphics card, so we got ahold of an Nvidia RTX 4080 Founders Edition. It’s faster than a 3090 Ti, and our previous-gen RTX 3080 by quite a wide margin. Equipped with the latest and greatest features like DLSS, Broadcast, and more. There’s one other reason we went with Nvidia for an esports-focused build.
Nvidia Reflex is a piece of software that can cut down your system latency, allowing you to react faster in-game when you most need it. The RTX 4080 is still an extremely good performer at 1440p, allowing you to reach high framerates in new titles with ease, it should pair perfectly with the Intel Core i5-13600k.
Case
Dexerto Right now, our fastest esports gaming PC build has a large, E-ATX motherboard, in addition to a power-hungry CPU and a triple-slot graphics card. So, the next thing to consider was what exactly we were going to put it all into. We could have chosen a boring old tower, but one case from 2022 has been stealing the hearts of PC builders.
We opted for a Hyte Y60. This dual-chamber case has more than enough room for all of our components to fit into and even allows for our RTX 4080 to be vertically mounted. With two fans underneath the GPU helping it stay cool, its proximity to the glass panel proved to not be an issue. We also get enough space to manage all of our RGB cablings around the back with little to no problem, while the cable grommets hid everything nicely allowing for a clean look.
CPU Cooler
Dexerto Next, we had to choose a CPU cooler. The i5-13600K has a TDP of 125W, so we’d need something pretty decent, and air cooling isn’t really optimal in the Hyte Y60, so we opted for an AIO, instead. Our AIO of choice was the Cooler Master PL360 Flux 30th Anniversary Edition. It has some extra visual flair compared to the normal version, in addition to slightly different fans.
The radiator sits at the top and has ample airflow through it to allow us to set the configuration to exhaust to push all the hot air that the CPU generates out of the case. We already have four intakes, two on the side and two beneath the GPU, so it made sense to push out the hot air through our radiator here. The PL360 Flux 30th anniversary edition also comes with Cooler Master’s Mobius fans, which allow for greater airflow.
At 100% load, the cooler allowed us to keep things cool at 65-degrees during our stress testing.
PSU
The power supply we chose was the EVGA 1300GT Supernova. Sadly, we couldn’t get our hands on a shiny-new ATX 3.0 unit, but this EVGA monstrosity should be enough to power up the entire system, with all of its bells and whistles included.
Mouse
Dexerto For the mouse, we chose the ASUS ROG Keris Wireless Aimpoint, which possesses a 1000Hz polling rate, and is optimized for esports titles like Overwatch 2 and Valorant with a staggering 36,000 dpi. It’ll also be compatible with Armoury Crate, ensuring that we don’t have to swap between software. It sports ROG Microswitches with push-fit switches, ensuring that it stands the test of time.
Since this mouse is not certified for Nvidia Reflex, we’ve swapped it out for the ASUS ROG Chakram X for that portion of our testing.
Keyboard
Dexerto Our keyboard of choice was the ASUS ROG Falchion Ace. This powerhouse has a compact 65% layout and comes with some extremely impressive features. It has PBT double-shot keycaps, sound-dampening foam, and pre-lubed switches for that premium gaming experience. It’s suitable that we’re using this for the fastest esports gaming PC, as this is an esports-focused board, thanks to its compact layout, which makes it ideal for shooters.
Headset
Dexerto The headset we used was the ASUS ROG Fusion 2 Pro 500, which provided 7.1 surround, an AI noise-canceling mic, and is also equipped with inline controls. It also looks incredibly sleek, with a single RGB band around it to illuminate your room while gaming.
Since it uses a 3.5mm jack, you can take it just about anywhere, too. Since we’re looking for the fastest responses, going wired for the headset was the best-possible choice here, too. Its Quad DAC also allows for lossless audio processing and is great for both gaming and listening to music.
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