Was debating between going with a 5900x which was more established, or biting the bullet with AM5 which is the new and will thus be supported for a while and went with new, and I have to say, it was well worth the decision.

It runs a little hot sometimes, but nothing my AIO can't handle, and in return I get blazing fast performance on pretty much everything I throw at it, including games and my python programs used in my research work.

Great AIO, about the only thing I wish Corsair would do however is include instructions within the packaging itself instead of me needing to look up 3 videos on how to install everything.

Love the included extra faceplates, of which I swapped to to keep with the "dark" theming on the build.

This was a tough choice when looking over what I needed and wanted to have for my system. As of now, AM5 is still "new" enough that there really isn't a fine line between budget and high-performance, but this board is about the closest to a "middle-ground" that I could find, and even then there is a lot to be happy about with it.

There are four M.2 slots on this board which to me was a great selling point since my build uses three, everything was easy to find and the documentation on the install process was easy to understand and work with. The board had enough ports for my case ports and all of the extra components that were needed.

About the only criticisms I can provide is that the BIOS was a little tricky to work with. When trying to clock my RAM I had to dig through numerous windows and pages and then find online videos detailing the entire process, which seems a bit more excessive than other boards in which this can all be done from one screen. Additionally, the board's drivers are not yet picked up by Windows 11, so I had to get the WiFi drivers from another computer to be able to get this computer connected to the internet the first time.

I have upgraded the BIOS once since purchasing and the process was incredibly simple and intuitive, which I cannot commend Asus enough for.

While we generally all hear the same RAM is RAM argument, I have since learned this is not entirely the case and about the only big problems my machine has dealt with thus far have arisen from these RAM sticks. While it was advertised that Trident Z5 is AMD EXPO compatible and thus can clock to the advertised DDR5-6000 speeds, every time I have tried to clock above the stock speeds of 4800 mHZ, my system becomes unstable and blue screens on and off, only running at stock speeds I have been able to remain stable. Thankfully for now, I'm not in need of fast RAM for anything, so this is fine for me at the moment.

This could be a motherboard compatibility thing with ASUS thus far, but everything else I have seen shows this part to only work with Intel XMP, so, buyer beware for now if going the route I did with Asus (AM5).

Blazing fast read/write speeds. I use a 1 TB SSD as my OS drive and it boots to windows lightning fast.

The read/write speeds on the 980 pro are incredible. I have two of these drives for storage on my machine and file operations are done stupidly quick compared to my other computers which use HDDs and even 2.5" SSDs.

The center of my workstation build. I picked this part up from Best Buy in July of 2022 when the prices on GPUs were free falling. The store had one left and I didn't hesitate. This GPU runs all of my titles at 1440p at max settings and max framerates matching my monitors.

At first I had the same coil whine thing that some people complained about, but strangely after updating my motherboard's BIOS, this has completely stopped on my card.

All of my past builds were in much larger ATX Full cases and the only thing I was a little concerned with was not having experience building in a smaller case, but I have to say, Corsair did a great job in designing this case. Installation was a little challenging in some aspects (Specifically the power supply), but the case has quite a few accessories included which will help you to manage your cables effectively.

About my only criticism is that the case isn't quite long enough to support a 360mm radiator on the top, which is where I would have liked to place my AIO radiator in push configuration, but it does support one on the front panel.

The case came with a pair of fans, but I swapped those out for some RGB fans which paired with the AIO ones.

Not too much to talk about here. Delivers the expected power to my computer. I always buy at least 1.5x the expected need of the system for expansion opportunities and leeway in the event parts need more power, and thus far I haven't noticed any problems there. The unit runs quietly too which is a nice benefit.

It's windows, not much to say about it. Still a bit expensive IMO, but nothing else to add.

Added a pack of these fans to my system to aid with the airflow and keep my system running cool. Augments the AIO fans greatly and matches perfectly. These fans run great and most importantly, quietly.

Setting up with iCUE was simple and everything matches just the way I like it!

The last time I had a desktop computer was back in 2010, and let's just say that technology has come quite a way since then. Coming off of console gaming for the first time in almost 10 years has shown me just what I have been missing. This monitor looks absolutely amazing and it hits the advertised 240 hz right out of the box. This is also the first time I've used a curved monitor and I have to say, I'm so glad I decided to give it a shot, it just feels more "natural" to look at.

I picked this monitor up to serve as my secondary monitor to a Samsung G7, and even though this is considered to be a "budget" 1440p monitor, it gives my G7 a run for its money sometimes. The colors look great on it, and there's a lot of added customizability to get things the way you want it.

A big added plus was that this monitor comes with a DP cable out of the box, even though it says you only get an HDMI cable.

I've had a number of keyboards over the years on office computers and this one feel great to use and work with. I love all of the added features that are provided to you through the GHub software as well, and given that I have quite a few Logitech parts on hand, I decided to compliment them with a keyboard.

This wireless mouse is amazing, the speeds on it are crazy fast and you can quickly customize DPI on the fly with two toggle buttons under the mouse wheel. I love the little switch on the mouse that also flips the scroll wheel into a locked or free spin mode which can be used to quickly navigate pages or scroll at a more controlled rate.

Prior to finishing this build I used this mouse on my laptop and the charge lasted for an incredibly long time before needing to go back on the wire, now, I combine this with the powerplay mat and I don't ever need to worry about a mouse "wire limit" ever again.

I've seen a number of reviews and discussions about this mouse charger, and it was always a 50-50 kind of thing. One of the big things was that it didn't work if you had a metal desk under it, but I personally don't seem to have that issue with my hybrid metal desk, this mat keeps my mouse charged at all times. I like the swappable pads to fit your personal style. I personally use the soft mat since it matches my desk.

For those interested in how it works, the mouse receiver appears to be built into the hub itself, so you plug the hub into the same type of charge cable that comes with your Logitech mouse, swap out the little circle plate on the bottom of your mouse, and then plug the hub into your computer, no more need for a USB receiver as you're good to go!

Like all other logitech stuff, it synchs up with G-Hub and keeps tabs on everything for you.