TechPowerUp Best of 2023

btarunr · Dec 31, 2023

As we look back at 2023, we unveil our picks for the best in PC hardware and gaming technology. Join us as we explore our favorite choices across various components that define the contemporary gaming PC, accompanied by the cutting-edge software that powers these systems.

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ZoneDymo · Dec 31, 2023

Cant say I agree with the list, but then it is a "best of" and of all the terrible a few still have to be the best.....

thanks though, good to see what 2023 had to offer in the pc space.

Onasi · Dec 31, 2023

Agreed with most picks, though I really would not have picked the 14900K as a runner-up. The 14700K is a bit more deserving, IMO. Yes, the i9 is not a “bad” CPU overall, but the fact that it IS the same CPU as the previous two i9 flagships really hurts it in terms of celebrating innovation.
The 4070 is, undoubtedly, the overall best GPU for most, but it being essentially “best of the worst” stings a bit, not gonna lie.
The coolers category still suffers from the lack of Thermalright. Come on guys, get some in for testing.
The Corsair monitor is a meme, I am sorry. It’s a poster child for “pointless innovation”.
Still, great job this year. Here’s to another good one!

ThrashZone · Dec 31, 2023

Hi,
Very surprised at the mother board choice seeing apex encore is a 700.us board
Last decent price apex was z490- 400.us after that they darn near doubled in price making them silly as hell to buy

So after that cheapest ROG board was/ is The z590 or 690 I forget Hero which had fire in the hole issues so I'm glad I stopped upgrading before I bought that one which I was very close to doing :roll:

M.2 wise no way there's a better m.2 than the sn850x 4tb at 230.us :kookoo:

Damn WD back up to 295.us
Glad I got 2 at 230.

Deleted member 229121 · Dec 31, 2023

Honestly TPU why does Thermalright keep getting looked over in CPU coolers, especially for price/performance?
The PA-120 SE is $32 on Amazon right now and the 140mm Frost Commander is $45...

TheLostSwede · Dec 31, 2023

ThrashZone said:
M.2 wise no way there's a better m.2 than the sn850x 4tb at 230.us

Damn WD back up to 295.us
Glad I got 2 at 230.

SSD prices are expected to increase further in price in the new year, so you'll most likely be even more pleased in a few months time.

ThrashZone · Dec 31, 2023

TheLostSwede said:
SSD prices are expected to increase further in price in the new year, so you'll most likely be even more pleased in a few months time.

Hi,
Yep saw the list price numbers and said wtf :eek:

trsttte · Dec 31, 2023

TheLostSwede said:
SSD prices are expected to increase further in price in the new year, so you'll most likely be even more pleased in a few months time.

Good to know, I suspected that to be the case since I saw the prices stay up after black friday on some drives that have been discounted for months but nice to have more confirmation. Probably missed my shot to buy cheap but I have no immediate need either

Frick · Dec 31, 2023

Great idea for end of the year stuff.

oxrufiioxo · Dec 31, 2023

Pretty good list overall... At current pricing the 4070 in the us is pretty much a no brainer although waiting for the super version is probably the best play. Definitely it and the 7800XT are the two best offerings at somewhat ok pricing at the very least.

7800X3D is the cpu I like the most out of the current offerings but anything from the 14600k and 7600 and above is pretty darn good these days.

Motherboard choice is interesting does the 700 Apex perform well enough to justify itself over a 300-400 usd board same with the Ace on the amd side.....

I guess if Liquid nitrogen is the benchmark for a good board lol...

Super Firm Tofu · Dec 31, 2023

Would have loved to see a review of the Apex. I had it in my cart a few different times when I was still considering the 14900k.

Oh well, at least the board I ended up received a 'Notable Mention'. :laugh:

Dr. Dro · Dec 31, 2023

Giving garbage such as the 14900K a runner-up slot is rewarding Intel for their despicable, reprehensible behavior. Massive and rare TPU editorial L

Gameslove · Dec 31, 2023

Ryzen 7 5800X3D the best upgrade as well

Guwapo77 · Dec 31, 2023

Gameslove said:
Ryzen 7 5800X3D the best upgrade as well

Its too old. I did buy its baby brother the 5600X3D to replace my son's 3600, 5800X3D has had its time in the spotlight.

ir_cow · Dec 31, 2023

Super Firm Tofu said:
Would have loved to see a review of the Apex. I had it in my cart a few different times when I was still considering the 14900k.

Oh well, at least the board I ended up received a 'Notable Mention'.

I have both the white and Encore. Unfortunately no time to review either properly. Either is a banger if your into memory overclocking. Also a bit of CPU OC too. I got water all over the board (VRM area mostly) and didn't notice. Instead of blow up, the safety kicked in and refused to boot until dry. Working just fine after. That alone was worth the $$ I think.

would you settle for a cut down review ? I could probably sneak that in.

oxrufiioxo said:
Motherboard choice is interesting does the 700 Apex perform well enough to justify itself over a 300-400 usd board same with the Ace on the amd side.....

Yes and yes.

Deleted member 229121 · Dec 31, 2023

Guwapo77 said:
Its too old. I did buy its baby brother the 5600X3D to replace my son's 3600, 5800X3D has had its time in the spotlight.

No it isn't. It's all relevant to case use and it makes sense for a lot of AM4 users.
It's in between a 12900K,13900K in terms of gaming performance and plenty enough for the latest higher end GPUs.

Super Firm Tofu · Dec 31, 2023

ir_cow said:
I have both the white and Encore. Unfortunately no time to review either properly. Either is a banger if your into memory overclocking. Also a bit of CPU OC too. I got water all over the board (VRM area mostly) and didn't notice. Instead of blow up, the safety kicked in and refused to boot until dry. Working just fine after. That alone was worth the $$ I think.

would you settle for a cut down review ? I could probably sneak that in.

Appreciate the offer - when I was unable find any reviews on the Encore, I couldn't bring myself to spend $1100+ on the board and a worthy DDR5 kit, so I ended up going a different direction for my upgrade.

Possibly someone else could use a cut down review/overview of the Encore though.

ThrashZone · Dec 31, 2023

Hi,
Yeah z790 hero 530.us list is 610.us lol

Tomgang · Dec 31, 2023

I will nominate Gigabytes rtx 4060 low profile card as a candidate for best low profile gpu.

I have the card and since there are not much else beside rtx A2000 that are worth buying for a gaming gpu in that size.

Sure there two downside that is the cooler is a bit longer that normal low profile once and that it needs a seperat power connection as PCIe cant handle the card it self. I also think it's i will nominate it as Gigabytes has done something no one has done in years of ever. Made a low profile card that use more that 75 watt. Some may see it as a negative as its longer and need additional power. But its a full rtx 4060 in a low profile size. Not that rtx 4060 is a good card in the big picture, cause its still a rather slow card and slower that previous gen rtx 3060 ti.

d0x360 · Dec 31, 2023

In related news... Never install an aio the way these images show it. It's not as bad as a bottom mount or same mount with tubes on bottom but it's not good for the rather cheap yet effective motors in an aio. You're going to wear it out faster and it also won't cool as well because what way does air travel? Up? Yes.

Mount it at the top of your case for the love of sanity. Id also take anything am5 x3d over the Intel 14 series. If it has E cores I'm not really interested but I primarily use my PC for gaming & work goes on the laptop where I'd still prefer AMD but it's not quite as important because performance isn't a massive consideration like it is with my on PC.

ThrashZone · Dec 31, 2023

Warranty doesn't care how a aio is mounted.

15th Warlock · Dec 31, 2023

Not even a mention of the amazing Audeze Maxwell headphones? They're respected even by audiophiles, and on a league of their own ...

VSG · Jan 1, 2024

15th Warlock said:
Not even a mention of the amazing Audeze Maxwell headphones? They're respected even by audiophiles, and on a league of their own ...

I can only speak for headphones I've reviewed. Audeze kept saying they'll send units for review but never did.

Godrilla · Jan 1, 2024

ThrashZone said:
Hi,
Yep saw the list price numbers and said wtf
View attachment 327653

The 990pro 4 terabyte went up by $80 since last month back to $359. Even the 970 evo plus 2 terabytes is wait for it $159 same price as the 990 pro 2 terabyte. Samsung caused the prices to plummet by as much as 65% within a year; eg 990pro 2 terabyte launched 11/22 @ $289 and last month was as low as $100. The price of this drive cut by half as soon as their was an outcry from life degradation. Now they are the ones increasing the prices across the board very drastically significantly faster than anyone else I noticed.
Update Samsung is also the only one to date to verbally publicly to state that the price hikes are coming as far as I've seen.

Chry · Jan 1, 2024

Bought Razer Deathadder V3 and can confirm it's great.
However, I am surprised Razer Viper V3 Hyperspeed or Razer Cobra were not picked as the best and wonder why?

Having 7800XT can definitely understand why it's #1 for AMD cards.

Also am a proud owner of Seasonic Prime PX-650W, glad the series are in the first place!

And finally while I agree my Samsung 990 Pro is working perfectly and truly fast, I would not have picked it as the best for the sole reason that mine arrived with old firmware that still contained the bug that irreparably damages the drive through usage (and this is despite the fix being released months before I bought it). Glad I flashed mine's firmware through USB flash software, before even installing the OS but I'm very certain many people will have used theirs with the old firmware.

System Name	RBMK-1000
Processor	AMD Ryzen 7 5700G
Motherboard	ASUS ROG Strix B450-E Gaming
Cooling	DeepCool Gammax L240 V2
Memory	2x 8GB G.Skill Sniper X
Video Card(s)	Palit GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER GameRock
Storage	Western Digital Black NVMe 512GB
Display(s)	BenQ 1440p 60 Hz 27-inch
Case	Corsair Carbide 100R
Audio Device(s)	ASUS SupremeFX S1220A
Power Supply	Cooler Master MWE Gold 650W
Mouse	ASUS ROG Strix Impact
Keyboard	Gamdias Hermes E2
Software	Windows 11 Pro

System Name	Cyberline
Processor	Intel Core i7 2600k -> 12600k
Motherboard	Asus P8P67 LE Rev 3.0 -> Gigabyte Z690 Auros Elite DDR4
Cooling	Tuniq Tower 120 -> Custom Watercoolingloop
Memory	Corsair (4x2) 8gb 1600mhz -> Crucial (8x2) 16gb 3600mhz
Video Card(s)	AMD RX480 -> RX7800XT
Storage	Samsung 750 Evo 250gb SSD + WD 1tb x 2 + WD 2tb -> 2tb MVMe SSD
Display(s)	Philips 32inch LPF5605H (television) -> Dell S3220DGF
Case	antec 600 -> Thermaltake Tenor HTCP case
Audio Device(s)	Focusrite 2i4 (USB)
Power Supply	Seasonic 620watt 80+ Platinum
Mouse	Elecom EX-G
Keyboard	Rapoo V700
Software	Windows 10 Pro 64bit

System Name	The Workhorse
Processor	AMD Ryzen R9 5900X
Motherboard	Gigabyte Aorus B550 Pro
Cooling	CPU - Noctua NH-D15S Case - 3 Noctua NF-A14 PWM at the bottom, 2 Fractal Design 180mm at the front
Memory	GSkill Trident Z 3200CL14
Video Card(s)	NVidia GTX 1070 MSI QuickSilver
Storage	Adata SX8200Pro
Display(s)	LG 32GK850G
Case	Fractal Design Torrent (Solid)
Audio Device(s)	FiiO E-10K DAC/Amp, Samson Meteorite USB Microphone
Power Supply	Corsair RMx850 (2018)
Mouse	Razer Viper (Original) on a X-Raypad Equate Plus V2
Keyboard	Cooler Master QuickFire Rapid TKL keyboard (Cherry MX Black)
Software	Windows 11 Pro (23H2)

System Name	Ghetto Rigs z490\|x99\|Acer 17 Nitro 7840hs/ 5600c40-2x16/ 4060/ 1tb acer stock m.2/ 4tb sn850x
Processor	10900k w/Optimus Foundation \| 5930k w/Black Noctua D15
Motherboard	z490 Maximus XII Apex \| x99 Sabertooth
Cooling	oCool D5 res-combo/280 GTX/ Optimus Foundation/ gpu water block \| Blk D15
Memory	Trident-Z Royal 4000c16 2x16gb \| Trident-Z 3200c14 4x8gb
Video Card(s)	Titan Xp-water \| evga 980ti gaming-w/ air
Storage	970evo+500gb & sn850x 4tb \| 860 pro 256gb \| Acer m.2 1tb/ sn850x 4tb\| Many2.5" sata's ssd 3.5hdd's
Display(s)	1-AOC G2460PG 24"G-Sync 144Hz/ 2nd 1-ASUS VG248QE 24"/ 3rd LG 43" series
Case	D450 \| Cherry Entertainment center on Test bench
Audio Device(s)	Built in Realtek x2 with 2-Insignia 2.0 sound bars & 1-LG sound bar
Power Supply	EVGA 1000P2 with APC AX1500 \| 850P2 with CyberPower-GX1325U
Mouse	Redragon 901 Perdition x3
Keyboard	G710+x3
Software	Win-7 pro x3 and win-10 & 11pro x3
Benchmark Scores	Are in the benchmark section

System Name	Overlord Mk MLI
Processor	AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D
Motherboard	Gigabyte X670E Aorus Master
Cooling	Noctua NH-D15 SE with offsets
Memory	32GB Team T-Create Expert DDR5 6000 MHz @ CL30-34-34-68
Video Card(s)	Gainward GeForce RTX 4080 Phantom GS
Storage	1TB Solidigm P44 Pro, 2 TB Corsair MP600 Pro, 2TB Kingston KC3000
Display(s)	Acer XV272K LVbmiipruzx 4K@160Hz
Case	Fractal Design Torrent Compact
Audio Device(s)	Corsair Virtuoso SE
Power Supply	be quiet! Pure Power 12 M 850 W
Mouse	Logitech G502 Lightspeed
Keyboard	Corsair K70 Max
Software	Windows 10 Pro
Benchmark Scores	https://valid.x86.fr/yfsd9w

TechPowerUp Best of 2023

btarunr

Editor & Senior Moderator

ZoneDymo

Onasi

ThrashZone

Deleted member 229121

Guest

TheLostSwede

News Editor

ThrashZone

trsttte

Frick

Fishfaced Nincompoop

oxrufiioxo

Super Firm Tofu

Dr. Dro

Gameslove

Guwapo77

ir_cow

Deleted member 229121

Guest

Super Firm Tofu

ThrashZone

Tomgang

d0x360

ThrashZone

15th Warlock

VSG

Editor, Reviews & News

Godrilla

Chry

System Name	White DJ in Detroit
Processor	Ryzen 5 5600
Motherboard	Asrock B450M-HDV
Cooling	Be Quiet! Pure Rock 2
Memory	2 x 16GB Kingston Fury 3400mhz
Video Card(s)	XFX 6950XT Speedster MERC 319
Storage	Kingston A400 240GB \| WD Black SN750 2TB \|WD Blue 1TB x 2 \| Toshiba P300 2TB \| Seagate Expansion 8TB
Display(s)	Samsung U32J590U 4K + BenQ GL2450HT 1080p
Case	Fractal Design Define R4
Audio Device(s)	Line6 UX1 + Sony MDR-10RC, Nektar SE61 keyboard
Power Supply	Corsair RM850x v3
Mouse	Logitech G602
Keyboard	Cherry MX Board 1.0 TKL Brown
Software	Windows 10 Pro
Benchmark Scores	Rimworld 4K ready!

System Name	His & Hers
Processor	R7 5800X/ R7 7950X3D Stock
Motherboard	X670E Aorus Pro X/ROG Crosshair VIII Hero
Cooling	Corsair h150 elite/ Corsair h115i Platinum
Memory	Trident Z5 Neo 6000/ 32 GB 3200 CL14 @3800 CL16 Team T Force Nighthawk
Video Card(s)	Evga FTW 3 Ultra 3080ti/ Gigabyte Gaming OC 4090
Storage	lots of SSD.
Display(s)	A whole bunch OLED, VA, IPS.....
Case	011 Dynamic XL/ Phanteks Evolv X
Audio Device(s)	Arctis Pro + gaming Dac/ Corsair sp 2500/ Logitech G560/Samsung Q990B
Power Supply	Seasonic Ultra Prime Titanium 1000w/850w
Mouse	Logitech G502 Lightspeed/ Logitech G Pro Hero.
Keyboard	Logitech - G915 LIGHTSPEED / Logitech G Pro

System Name	"Icy Resurrection"
Processor	13th Gen Intel Core i9-13900KS Special Edition
Motherboard	ASUS ROG MAXIMUS Z790 APEX ENCORE
Cooling	Noctua NH-D15S upgraded with 2x NF-F12 iPPC-3000 fans and Honeywell PTM7950 TIM
Memory	32 GB G.SKILL Trident Z5 RGB F5-6800J3445G16GX2-TZ5RK @ 7600 MT/s 36-44-44-52-96 1.4V
Video Card(s)	ASUS ROG Strix GeForce RTX™ 4080 16GB GDDR6X White OC Edition
Storage	500 GB WD Black SN750 SE NVMe SSD + 4 TB WD Red Plus WD40EFPX HDD
Display(s)	55-inch LG G3 OLED
Case	Pichau Mancer CV500 White Edition
Power Supply	EVGA 1300 G2 1.3kW 80+ Gold
Mouse	Microsoft Classic Intellimouse
Keyboard	Generic PS/2
Software	Windows 11 IoT Enterprise LTSC 24H2
Benchmark Scores	I pulled a Qiqi~

System Name	Red Devil
Processor	AMD 5950x - Vermeer - B0
Motherboard	Gigabyte X570 AORUS MASTER
Cooling	NZXT Kraken Z73 360mm; 14 x Corsair QL 120mm RGB Case Fans
Memory	G.SKill Trident Z Neo 32GB Kit DDR4-3600 CL14 (F4-3600C14Q-32GTZNB)
Video Card(s)	PowerColor's Red Devil Radeon RX 6900 XT (Navi 21 XTX)
Storage	2 x Western Digital SN850 1GB; 1 x Samsung SSD 870EVO 2TB
Display(s)	3 x Asus VG27AQL1A; 1 x Sony A1E OLED 4K
Case	Corsair Obsidian 1000D
Audio Device(s)	Corsair SP2500; Steel Series Arctis Nova Pro Wireless (XBox Version)
Power Supply	AX1500i Digital ATX - 1500w - 80 Plus Titanium
Mouse	Razer Basilisk V3
Keyboard	Razer Huntsman V2 - Optical Gaming Keyboard
Software	Windows 11

System Name	The beast and the little runt.
Processor	Ryzen 5 5600X - Ryzen 9 5950X
Motherboard	ASUS ROG STRIX B550-I GAMING - ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Dark Hero X570
Cooling	Noctua NH-L9x65 SE-AM4a - NH-D15 chromax.black with IPPC Industrial 3000 RPM 120/140 MM fans.
Memory	G.SKILL TRIDENT Z ROYAL GOLD/SILVER 32 GB (2 x 16 GB and 4 x 8 GB) 3600 MHz CL14-15-15-35 1.45 volts
Video Card(s)	GIGABYTE RTX 4060 OC LOW PROFILE - GIGABYTE RTX 4090 GAMING OC
Storage	Samsung 980 PRO 1 TB + 2 TB - Samsung 870 EVO 4 TB - 2 x WD RED PRO 16 GB + WD ULTRASTAR 22 TB
Display(s)	Asus 27" TUF VG27AQL1A and a Dell 24" for dual setup
Case	Phanteks Enthoo 719/LUXE 2 BLACK
Audio Device(s)	Onboard on both boards
Power Supply	Phanteks Revolt X 1200W
Mouse	Logitech G903 Lightspeed Wireless Gaming Mouse
Keyboard	Logitech G910 Orion Spectrum
Software	WINDOWS 10 PRO 64 BITS on both systems
Benchmark Scores	Se more about my 2 in 1 system here: kortlink.dk/2ca4x

Processor	Intel Core i9 13900KF
Motherboard	Asus ROG Maximus Z690 Hero EVA Edition
Cooling	Asus Ryujin II 360 EVA Edition
Memory	4x16GBs DDR5 6800MHz G.Skill Trident Z5 Neo Series
Video Card(s)	Zotac RTX 4090 AMP Extreme Airo
Storage	2TB Samsung 980 Pro OS - 4TB Nextorage G Series Games - 8TBs WD Black Storage
Display(s)	LG C2 OLED 42" 4K 120Hz HDR G-Sync enabled TV
Case	Asus ROG Helios EVA Edition
Audio Device(s)	Denon AVR-S910W - 7.1 Klipsch Dolby ATMOS Speaker Setup - Audeze Maxwell
Power Supply	EVGA Supernova G2 1300W
Mouse	Asus ROG Keris EVA Edition - Asus ROG Scabbard II EVA Edition
Keyboard	Asus ROG Strix Scope EVA Edition
VR HMD	Samsung Odyssey VR
Software	Windows 11 Pro 64bit

Processor	Ryzen 5 7600X
Motherboard	Asus Proart B650
Cooling	Noctua U12S
Memory	Corsair Vengeance DDR5 32GB (2x16GB) 5600MHz C36 AMD Expo
Video Card(s)	Sapphire RX 7800 XT Nitro+
Storage	Samsung 990 Pro 1Tb
Case	Fractal Design Pop Silent
Audio Device(s)	Edifier r1900tII
Power Supply	Seasonic Prime Platinum 650W