By Jacob Ridley

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Borderlands 4
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Moody and wooden, this PC and I have a lot in common: Asus ProArt Case PA401, Ryzen 7 9800X3D and RX 9070 XT build

Jacob Ridley

15 September 2025

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Performance

Our build process

Every month we build a gaming PC with the latest components and cases—it’s good to get stuck in and build something regularly in our opinion. If you’re looking for inspiration for your next build, or you’re new to the hobby, you can check out our picks below. You can easily make changes to these too, and in some cases, we hope you do. We’re building and testing every PC we highlight, and if we run into any issues, we’ll explain them here.
Sometimes less is more, and this PC build epitomises that concept. I can’t claim all the credit; the Asus ProArt PA401 is a gem. The wood finish down the front panels, the all-black interior, and the clever switches that make it a breeze are all to thank for that. Now I do realise the irony of saying less is more and placing two sticks of G.Skill’s finest gold-plated, faux-crystal RAM sticks in there, but they don’t look anything near as garish as they sound.

This is an all-AMD gaming PC; my slight obsession with using the Ryzen 7 9800X3D in full force here. It’s a powerful gaming chip for a reasonable price—3D V-Cache working a treat for improving frame rates. If you wanted to improve further, you could opt for the 16 cores of the Ryzen 9 9950X3D, but you’ll pay a tall fee for that. No, the 9800X3D works great here, and most of all in combination with the Asus Prime 9070 XT I’ve selected to go with it.

Case: Asus ProArt PA401 Wood Edition – $140/£120
Motherboard: Gigabyte Aorus Pro X870E – $350/£324
Graphics card: Asus Prime Radeon RX 9070 XT OC Edition 16 GB – $643/£630
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D – $472/£420
RAM: G.Skill Trident Z5 Royal Neo RGB 32 GB @ 6000 MT/s – $180/£170
SSD: Biwin Black Opal X570 Pro 2 TB – ~$230/£210
Cooler: Asus Prime LC 240 ARGB – $80/£96
PSU: Corsair RM850x – $145/£135
Fans: Included with case
Total: $2,240/£2,105

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Asus ProArt PA401 Wood Edition
US: $140 | UK: £120
Sticking a wooden panel on a chassis is a common occurrence these days, and I’m all here for it. Though Asus somehow makes it look even more tasteful than normal. The company has coated the Ash underneath in a dark, slightly glossy finish, and it’s only on closer inspection or bright direct light that you really get the feel for the wood underneath.
It’s a mixed bag for the PC Gamer team, as some like it, some think what’s the point when it looks practically plastic, but I’m definitely in favour.
The PA401 has a few satisfying switches hidden in plain sight, to control fan speeds, open panels, and prevent accidental power offs. There are further shortcuts, too: 2 x 160 mm fans in the front and 1 x 120 mm fan in the rear come pre-installed, velcro straps for cable management, cable clips running down the outside rear of the case, and the PSU bracket is mounted independently from the case.

Gigabyte Aorus Pro X870E
US: $350 | UK: £324
Only the best for this machine: we’re going for the X870E chipset, which offers massive connectivity and keeps AMD’s top gaming chip in check.

Asus Prime Radeon RX 9070 XT OC Edition 16GB GDDR6
US: $643 | £630
AMD finally has a hit on its hands in the RX 9070 XT. It’s competitive with the RTX 5070 Ti, and, most of the time, cheaper too. Not necessarily this particular model, though.

AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D
US: $472 | UK: £420
AMD has paired up with the manufacturing might of TSMC to stack more L3 cache beneath the CPU cores on the 9800X3D. It makes for a much faster gaming chip.

G.Skill Trident Z5 Royal Neo RGB 32 GB @ 6000 MT/s
US: $180 | UK: £170
Did I say less is more? On the surface, these sticks don’t really fit that ethos, but honestly they’re rapid, low-latency and blend in better than you think.

Biwin Black Opal X570 Pro 2 TB
US: ~$200 | UK: £170
It’s about time, eh? PCIe 5.0 SSDs are finally reaching critical mass, and affordable enough to make them worth it sometimes. This Biwin is a pretty solid pick, too, though US pricing is up in the air.

Corsair RM850x
US: $145 | UK: £135
Modular, plenty of connections, and neat cables. My only complaint with Corsair’s unit is the darn cable combs I have to install myself—WHY?

Asus Prime LC 240 ARGB
US: $80 | UK: £96
The PA401 chassis is limited on headroom, so the Asus Prime LC 240 ARGB is about as big as I can go. I’m a fan of the RGB lighting and it’s easy to install, though.

Performance
We put every build through its paces, testing the latest games and putting the CPU under pressure to ensure stability.

Related Articles

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This PC is ‘Custom PC #12’ in the charts below.

Best PC build 2025All our favorite gear

👉Check out our list of guides👈
1. Best CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D
2. Best motherboard: MSI MAG X870 Tomahawk WiFi
3. Best RAM: G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB 32 GB DDR5-7200
4. Best SSD: WD_Black SN7100
5. Best graphics card: AMD Radeon RX 9070

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Jacob Ridley

Managing Editor, Hardware

Jacob earned his first byline writing for his own tech blog, before graduating into breaking things professionally at PCGamesN. Now he’s managing editor of the hardware team at PC Gamer, and you’ll usually find him testing the latest components or building a gaming PC.

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