Building an Awesome MicroATX Gaming PC for 1440p & 4K!

Three and a half years after launch, the Ryzen 7 7800X3D is still one of the best gaming CPUs around. AMD has released two newer Ryzen 7 X3D chips since, but for a build that needs to hit hard without the price creeping up, it remains a brilliant choice, and it’s the chip at the heart of our latest build. We’ve paired it with Gigabyte’s AORUS ELITE RX 9070 XT for a 1440p gaming PC with enough in reserve for 4K, all packed into Lian Li’s brand new O11 Vision-M.

Lian Li has a big hand in this one. The case, AIO, power supply and fans all come from the same stable, and the lighting and fan control run through a single app. Below you’ll find the full parts list, a rundown of every component and why it earned its spot, an alternative worth considering, and how the system performs across six of the latest games.

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D CPU Cooler: Lian Li HydroShift II LCD-S 360TL Motherboard: Gigabyte B850M EAGLE WIFI6E RAM: TEAMGROUP T-Force Delta RGB DDR5 32GB SSD: Samsung 9100 PRO 2TB GPU: Gigabyte AORUS ELITE RX 9070 XT Case: Lian Li O11 Vision-M Case Fans: Lian Li UNI FAN CL FLEX 120 PSU: Lian Li EDGE GOLD 850W

AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D

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AMD’s original X3D gaming champ, with 96MB of L3 cache that still makes it one of the best value gaming CPUs you can buy.

Cores/Threads 8 cores / 16 threads

Clock Speed 4.2GHz base, up to 5.0GHz boost

Cache 104MB total (96MB L3 + 8MB L2)

Socket AM5

TDP 120W

$335.99 at Amazon

Last updated: 2026-09-25 05:52:18 ET

Lian Li HydroShift II LCD-S 360TL

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A 360mm AIO with a magnetic, hot-swappable 3.4-inch square IPS screen and three pre-fitted UNI FAN TL fans that daisy-chain together.

Radiator 360mm aluminium (400 x 122 x 24mm)

Fans 3 x 120mm UNI FAN TL (pre-installed)

Display 3.4″ square IPS (480×480), magnetic

Pump 1,600–3,200 RPM

Sockets AMD AM5/AM4, Intel LGA1851/LGA1700

Gigabyte B850M EAGLE WIFI6E

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A no-nonsense micro-ATX B850 board with PCIe 5.0 for both the graphics card and the SSD, 2.5GbE, Wi-Fi 6E and Gigabyte’s tool-free EZ-Latch features.

Chipset / Socket AMD B850 / AM5

Form Factor Micro-ATX

Memory 4 x DDR5 DIMM, up to 256GB (EXPO)

Storage 2 x M.2 (1 x Gen5, 1 x Gen4), 4 x SATA

Networking Wi-Fi 6E + Bluetooth 5.3 + 2.5GbE LAN

TEAMGROUP T-Force Delta RGB DDR5 32GB

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A 32GB dual-channel kit with a wide RGB lightbar, running at the AM5 sweet spot of 6000MT/s with tight CL30 timings.

Capacity 32GB (2 x 16GB)

Speed DDR5-6000 (6000MT/s)

Latency CL30

Lighting RGB lightbar per module

Samsung 9100 PRO 2TB

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Samsung’s flagship PCIe 5.0 drive, rated for up to 14,700MB/s reads and sitting in the board’s Gen5 M.2 slot.

Capacity 2TB

Form Factor M.2 2280

Interface PCIe 5.0 x4 (NVMe 2.0)

Sequential Up to 14,700 MB/s read, 13,400 MB/s write

Gigabyte AORUS ELITE RX 9070 XT

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AMD’s RDNA 4 flagship with 16GB of GDDR6 and FSR 4 support, cooled by a triple-fan AORUS design. A superb card for high-refresh 1440p.

VRAM 16GB GDDR6 (256-bit)

Architecture AMD RDNA 4

Boost Clock Up to 3,100 MHz (factory OC)

Power Connector 3 x 8-pin PCIe

Size 339mm x 136mm x 59mm

Lian Li O11 Vision-M

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Lian Li’s new micro-ATX take on the O11 Vision, with pillarless glass across the front, side and top, and room for a 360mm radiator in the roof.

Form Factor Micro-ATX dual-chamber

Unique Feature Columnless three-sided tempered glass

Mobo Support Micro-ATX, Mini-ITX (no back-connect)

Radiator Support Up to 360mm (top)

Colour Options Black, White

Lian Li UNI FAN CL FLEX 120

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Lian Li’s newest daisy-chaining ARGB fans, with a FLEX receiver for wireless lighting and speed control through L-Connect 3.

Size 120mm (120 x 124 x 28mm)

Speed 250–2,100 RPM, plus 0 RPM mode

Airflow 77.34 CFM (standard blade)

Static Pressure 2.52 mmH2O

Lighting 24 ARGB LEDs, two zones

Lian Li EDGE GOLD 850W

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A fully modular, L-shaped ATX 3.1 unit designed for Lian Li’s dual-chamber cases, with braided cables and a 10-year warranty.

Wattage 850W

Standard ATX 3.1, PCIe 5.1

GPU Cables 3 x PCIe 6+2-pin, 1 x 12V-2×6

Cabling Fully modular, braided, combs pre-fitted

Efficiency 80 Plus Gold / Cybenetics Gold

So why a Zen 4 chip in late 2026, when the 9800X3D and 9850X3D are sitting right there? Money, mostly. Both Zen 5 chips are quicker, but at 1440p and 4K the graphics card sets the pace, and the gap in games narrows to the point where the extra spend buys you very little. That cash goes much further on the GPU.

The recipe is the same one that made it a legend in the first place. Eight cores, sixteen threads, a 5.0GHz boost clock and 96MB of L3 cache courtesy of AMD’s 3D V-Cache, which games love. It’s rated at 120W, too, so keeping it cool is easy.

CPU Comparison

AMD Ryzen X3D Desktop CPU Comparison

Hover rows for highlight. Drag :: to reorder columns, or tap/click a header title to sort.

⠿ CPU	⠿ Cores	⠿ Threads	⠿ Base Clock	⠿ Max Boost	⠿ TDP	⠿ Total Cache	Where to Buy
AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D Zen 5 flagship X3D desktop CPU	16	32	4.3 GHz	5.7 GHz	170W	144MB	$679.49 at Amazon Last updated: 2026-09-25 05:52:18 ET
AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D 12-core Zen 5 X3D for mixed gaming and production	12	24	4.4 GHz	5.5 GHz	120W	140MB	$507.44 at Amazon Last updated: 2026-09-25 05:52:18 ET
AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D 8-core Zen 5 X3D gaming CPU (launched Jan 29, 2026)	8	16	4.7 GHz	5.6 GHz	120W	104MB	$484.00 at Amazon Last updated: 2026-09-25 05:52:18 ET
AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D High-FPS Zen 5 gaming CPU	8	16	4.7 GHz	5.2 GHz	120W	104MB	$449.00 at Amazon Last updated: 2026-09-25 05:52:18 ET
AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D Mainstream Zen 4 gaming favourite	8	16	4.2 GHz	5.0 GHz	120W	104MB	$335.99 at Amazon Last updated: 2026-09-25 05:52:18 ET

Worried about buying into the older generation? Don’t be. It sits on AM5, the same socket as the Ryzen 9000 series, and AMD has committed to supporting the platform through 2027 and beyond, so a drop-in upgrade to something like the 9850X3D later on is always an option.

A 360mm AIO is more than a 120W CPU strictly needs, but the HydroShift II LCD-S 360TL earns its place on looks alone. The S stands for square, as in the 3.4-inch 480×480 IPS screen on the pump. It attaches magnetically, so you can pop it off and swap it without touching anything else, and it’ll display whatever you like, from temps and clock speeds to a GIF of your cat.

The TL half of the name refers to the three UNI FAN TL fans that come pre-fitted to the radiator. They lock together to daisy-chain their cables, and the tubes leave the pump block from the side with the wiring tucked away, so it all looks very tidy. In the Vision-M, the only spot a 360mm radiator fits is the roof, so that’s where it lives.

Want to save a bit? A good dual-tower air cooler will handle the 7800X3D comfortably. Just keep an eye on the height, as the Vision-M tops out at 162mm.

The O11 Vision-M is a micro-ATX case, so the motherboard needed to be one too. Gigabyte’s B850M EAGLE WIFI6E fits the bill nicely. There’s a PCIe 5.0 x16 slot with a one-click release button for the graphics card, two M.2 slots (one Gen5, one Gen4) with tool-free latches, 2.5GbE LAN and Wi-Fi 6E. The 8+2+2 phase VRM has no trouble with an eight-core X3D chip, and you still get four DIMM slots should you ever want to go beyond 32GB.

There’s no Wi-Fi 7, but unless you already own a Wi-Fi 7 router, you won’t miss it. One more thing if you’re planning your own version of this build: the Vision-M doesn’t support back-connect motherboards, so stick with a standard layout like this one.

Our memory recommendation hasn’t changed: 32GB, two sticks, 6000MT/s. On AM5, 6000MT/s lets the memory controller run in step with the RAM (a 1:1 ratio, if you want the jargon), and the CL30 timings on this TEAMGROUP T-Force Delta RGB kit keep latency nice and tight.

The Delta RGB’s wide lightbar looks great through all that glass, too. Install the two sticks in slots A2 and B2 for dual-channel, then head into the BIOS and switch on EXPO, otherwise the kit runs at stock JEDEC speeds.

Storage is where this build treats itself a little. The Samsung 9100 PRO is a PCIe 5.0 drive rated for up to 14,700MB/s reads and 13,400MB/s writes, and it slots straight into the board’s Gen5 M.2 slot, so none of that speed goes to waste.

In games, a Gen5 drive won’t load levels dramatically faster than a good Gen4 one. Where the 9100 PRO earns its keep is big file transfers, plus a 1,200TBW endurance rating and a five-year warranty. As for capacity, with Call of Duty taking up as much space as it does these days, 2TB is a sensible starting point.

The graphics card is where the biggest chunk of the budget goes, and at this level the RX 9070 XT is our pick. This is the Gigabyte AORUS ELITE version, the very same card AMD sent over for Jay’s RX 9070 XT review, where it outpaced the RTX 5070 Ti in raw performance while costing less. FSR 4 has also finally given AMD an upscaler worth switching on.

Gigabyte’s triple-fan cooler pairs a vapour chamber with composite copper heat pipes, the fans stop entirely at low load, and there’s a dual BIOS switch if you’d rather trade a little performance for quieter running. At 339mm long, it slots into the Vision-M with 71mm to spare. Power comes in through three 8-pin connectors, so there’s no 16-pin cable to worry about.

Alternative GPU Choice

ASUS Prime GeForce RTX 5070 Ti OC 16GB

Fancy team green instead? The RTX 5070 Ti is the card the RX 9070 XT goes toe to toe with, and in raw rasterised performance there isn’t a great deal between them. Where the 5070 Ti pulls ahead is features. DLSS 4 and Multi Frame Generation still have the edge over FSR 4, and NVIDIA’s ray tracing performance is stronger too. ASUS’s Prime model keeps things clean and understated, and it’ll slide into the Vision-M’s 410mm of GPU clearance with room to spare.

Buy This If:

You lean on upscaling and frame generation, play a lot of ray-traced games, or use creative apps that favour NVIDIA’s CUDA ecosystem.

Main Tradeoff:

It usually costs more than the RX 9070 XT for similar raster performance, and it swaps three 8-pin inputs for a single 16-pin 12V-2×6 connector.

If you’ve read our O11 Vision review, you’ll recognise the look straight away, and we’re just as big a fan of it here. The Vision-M takes the same pillarless glass idea and shrinks it down for micro-ATX, with tempered glass across the front, side and top, and a mesh cut-out in the roof glass so that radiator can breathe. It’s a dual-chamber design too, so the power supply and drives sit in the rear chamber, out of sight.

Clearance is generous for a case this size. There’s room for graphics cards up to 410mm, and mounts across the top, side, bottom, rear and power supply chamber for up to twelve 120mm fans in total.

Case Fans: Lian Li UNI FAN CL FLEX 120

Out of the box, the Vision-M is short on fans. Only a single 140mm fan comes pre-installed, and that sits in the power supply chamber, so we’ve added Lian Li’s new UNI FAN CL FLEX 120s. A FLEX receiver gives you wireless lighting and speed control in L-Connect 3, while the fans still take power from a standard 4-pin PWM header. Like the AIO’s fans, they clip together, so you get one tidy cable run rather than a spaghetti junction of wires. One receiver handles up to four fans.

The main thing to watch is power supply length. The Vision-M only accepts units up to 182mm long, and Lian Li’s own EDGE GOLD is exactly 182mm.

Rounding things off, the Lian Li EDGE GOLD 850W. That’s exactly the wattage Gigabyte recommends for the AORUS ELITE, and with the 7800X3D sipping 120W alongside it, there’s comfortable headroom under a gaming load. It’s ATX 3.1 and PCIe 5.1 compliant, 80 Plus Gold and Cybenetics Gold rated, fully modular, and backed by a 10-year warranty.

The clever part is the shape. The EDGE is L-shaped, designed specifically for Lian Li’s dual-chamber cases, and the braided cables come with combs already fitted, so tidy cable management is far less of a chore. Wiring-wise, the 24-pin powers the board, a single 8-pin EPS cable handles the CPU, and three separate PCIe 6+2 cables feed the graphics card. Avoid using a daisy-chained connector on the GPU, even if it saves a cable.

Gaming Performance

Right, the numbers. We tested six games at 1440p and 4K using High presets, with upscaling and frame generation switched off, so everything here is raw rasterised performance. Use the tabs to flick between titles. Games tested at both resolutions show both results.

At 1440p this system flies. Marvel Rivals leads the way at 167.2 FPS on average, with Battlefield 6 right behind at 164.7 FPS and Cyberpunk 2077 at 154.2 FPS, making a 144Hz or 165Hz monitor a great match. 007 First Light is the heaviest of the lot at 103.4 FPS, still comfortably above the 100 FPS mark.

At 4K, Forza Horizon 6 is the standout, averaging 151.3 FPS at native resolution. ARC Raiders holds above 100 FPS at 105.1, and Battlefield 6 lands just shy at 98.5 FPS. Cyberpunk 2077 (79.9 FPS) and Marvel Rivals (76.7 FPS) are where 4K starts to bite, although both stay very playable.

And that’s all before FSR 4 gets involved. Switch it on in the games that support it and there’s a lot more to come, making this a brilliant high-refresh 1440p machine that doubles as a very capable 4K one.

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