The motherboard I picked out is a slightly different board here, an ASUS ProArt B550-CREATOR. I picked this particular board because it's aggressively priced at about $300 and provides a host of ports, including two unique integrated M.2 latches and two Thunderbolt 4 Type C ports, which is an unusual appearance for motherboards at this price point. It also features a very minimal black appearance accented by patina tones, which fits with my build theme, or really almost any build theme.

For the graphics card, I'll not only be using this PC build for high-end 4K gaming but also for creative work such as rendering 3D CAD designs and large 4K videos. So the graphics card isn't naturally a component that I can skimp on. So, I went straight to one of the best here: the beastly ASUS Radeon RX 6900 XT TOP Edition. It's the crown jewel in the Radeon lineup today and AMD's direct rival to NVIDIA's RTX 3090.

For the heart of the build, the CPU, I've opted for an AMD build here and picked out the Ryzen 7 5800X. The 5800X represents one of the most meaningful leaps in gaming CPU performances in years. The redesigned AMD Zen3 architecture features a doubling of cores per complex, from four to eight cores. It is about a year old at this point but still represents terrific high-end performance given its $500 price tag.

For the CPU cooler, I am adding the absolutely gigantic German-built be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4. They're known to be rock-solid in their ability to do one thing and one thing only: cool down the CPU. The general look of this cooler is boring; there's no flashy curves or RGB lighting here, but the build quality is second to none with brushed aluminum and complements the minimal black theme I'm going for here.

For memory, I picked out two eight gigabyte T-Force Vulcans that work wonders on ASUS motherboards. These get the performance to price ratio just right at under $100 for the pack. They come in a clean aluminum frame and subtle branding without crazy RGB lights, once again, to match the minimal theme.

For memory, I picked out two eight gigabyte T-Force Vulcans that work wonders on ASUS motherboards. These get the performance to price ratio just right at under $100 for the pack. They come in a clean aluminum frame and subtle branding without crazy RGB lights, once again, to match the minimal theme.

As for the main storage drive, we're going with the M.2 SSD, which is a small form factor solid-state drive. I've gone with the two-terabyte Cardia A4400 in this case. This one delivers over 7,000 megabytes in throughput, enough to completely max out the capabilities of the PCIe 4 port on the ASUS ProArt motherboard.

For the case, I've selected the Define 7 Compact Case by Fractal Design. It's a premium high-quality mid-tower case that gives us enough room to play with inside while still being small enough to fit into smaller spaces. The brushed aluminum front panel paired with the dark tempered side glass achieves a clean, cut, minimal aesthetic that I love.

For the power supply, we have the 1000 watt be quiet! Pure Power FM to power this entire setup. This newly released 1000 watt model is designed to power high-end setups up to 93% efficiency levels.

To properly cool this beast, I've installed a triple pack of be quiet! Light Wings, which nicely balance noise and airflow across the entire RPM range. They also feature RGB lighting on both the front and the rear of each fan.

I had a few monitors in mind, but I eventually settled on the Alienware AW3821DW. As you can see, it's pretty large, far bigger than I thought it'd be. I was actually tossing up between LG and Dell initially because I didn't consider a gaming monitor for purely work and productivity, but on paper, it made a lot of sense for my budget: 38-inch curved screen, Nano IPS, Wide Quad HD, HDR 600, and that buttery smooth 144 Hertz refresh rate. The design of the monitor itself is stunning: slim bezels, 2,300R curve, beautifully designed buttons, and a big stylized '38,' because, you know, the wall needs to know it's a 38-inch monitor, I guess. The stand that comes with the monitor is also top-notch.