Moving back up the price scale, we have this intriguing configurable bundle from Palicomp, which can range from the base price of £399.99 through to an eyewatering £928.98.
The bundle consists of an Asus Maximus VII Ranger motherboard, an Intel Haswell Core i7-4790K processor overclocked to 4.4GHz, a ThermalTake Contac21 High Performance Ultra silent cooler and the option to add from 4GB of Cruicial 1333MHz memory through to 32GB of Corsair Vengeance Pro 2133MHz RAM.
The Asus Maximus VII Ranger may well be classed as a high-value entry-level motherboard, but it’s one that seems to tick all the right boxes. There’s support for the fourth- and fifth-generation Intel Core CPUs and the impressive Z97 chipset. There are four DIMM slots for a maximum of 32GB of DDR3, a pair of PCIe x16 slots for CrossFire/SLI support, along with a further three PCIe 2.0 x1 slots and M.2 support.
On the IO backplate, you’ll find HDMI, VGA and DVI ports, gigabit Ethernet, four USB 3.0 ports, two USB 2.0 ports, optical S/PDIF, a pair of PS/2 ports, six audio jacks and a BIOS FlashBack button to factory reset everything should your overclocking go a little awry and become drastically unstable.
The overclocking potential for this board is fantastic, but it also has a range of other gaming features, such as network optimisation, gaming level audio and a special KeyBot on-board chip that will turn any keyboard into a macro-laden gaming weapon. It’s definitely one worth looking into for your next upgrade.
As the 4790K is overclocked out of the box in this bundle, Palicomp has included a decent cooler to help keep things as stable as possible. The ThermalTake Contac21 has four 6mm diameter copper pipes running through its ample aluminium frame, along with a 92mm fan installed on one side (with the option to fit another on the opposite side). It’s quite tall, measuring 139.5mm, which makes it an excellent cooler but one you may have to measure for your case before committing to buy.
The final part of the bundle is the optional memory, which can add from £30 to £275 to the overall cost. Naturally, the more you spend, the faster and more capable the memory becomes, but for the sake of keeping the price below the £1,000 mark, the option of 8GB 2133MHz Crucial Vengeance Pro RAM will offer an excellent compromise between price and performance for most gamers.
It’s worth mentioning here that the memory isn’t the only configurable option. You can also choose from a selection of Intel motherboards, the maximum overclocking speed and the type of CPU cooler as well. There are some good options here, and you can ultimately fine tune your gaming bundle to how you see fit.
Based on this specification, with the 8GB of Crucial Vengeance Pro 2133MHz memory, the bundle comes in at £479, which isn’t too bad considering the performance of the system you’re buying.