Skytech Eclipse Lite | Ryzen 7 7800X3D | RX 7800 XT | 32 GB DDR5-5600 | 1 TB SSD | $1,599.99 $1,499.99 at Amazon (save $100)
Skytech has some great offerings around the $1,400 - $1,700 price point. Unfortunately, its RTX 4070 Super build is sold out, but this RX 7800 XT one is cracking value. The AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT performs slightly worse than the RTX 4070 Super but has more VRAM for longevity and compatibility with more VRAM-intensive titles. Combine this with 32 GB of snappy DDR5 RAM and the best CPU for gaming currently on the market, and this Skytech Eclipse Lite build is a wonderful deal.
With all the problems facing Intel's 13th and 14th gen CPUs right now, we can't blame anyone looking to AMD for their next gaming PC build. An abundance of caution doesn't have to mean a second-rate experience, either, as this Skytech Eclipse Lite build shows.
Last week I pointed out just how great the RTX 4070 Super version of this Eclipse Light gaming PC is for its sale price. This RX 7800 XT version is $100 cheaper than that one and goes the whole AMD hog.
Why might you want to go full AMD for your gaming PC build? Well, apart from current concerns about Intel CPU stability issues, the AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D processor in this rig is still the absolute best CPU for gaming. And the AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT is, in our opinion, the best mid-range graphics card on the market right now, although the RX 7900 GRE is a close competitor.
Chuck these two components into a gaming PC like this one, and you have a very solid all-rounder for $1,500 at Amazon. Its 32 GB, 5600 MT/s DDR5 RAM is more than enough capacity and speed for modern-day gaming, and its 1 TB SSD should be enough to get you started with a fair few Steam game downloads.
For the price, a PC like this one is what I'd personally be buying today if I was in the market for one. It'd be a tough call between this or an RTX 4070 Super build, but for a cheaper price tag, the RX 7800 XT has more VRAM (16 GB of it, vs the 4070 Super's 12 GB), which arguably improves its longevity as games start to require more and more video memory at higher resolutions and settings.
How should this thing perform in the real world? Well, at 1440p you can expect about 100 fps in most good-looking games today, but this depends entirely on the game in question, of course. And outside of games? Well, the 7800X3D doesn't quite match many of Intel's current-gen offerings for productivity, but it's mighty capable for gaming, and I'd personally take a slight productivity performance hit for peace of mind given the current Intel stability concerns.
A final thing that I think is certainly of note with this Skytech build is that it looks positively gorgeous. This is no small thing when you're paying $1,500 for a gaming PC. Too many gaming PCs above $1,000 skimp in the aesthetic department, in my opinion. The Eclipse Lite, however, is one build you can display proudly.
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Jacob got his hands on a gaming PC for the first time when he was about 12 years old. He swiftly realised the local PC repair store had ripped him off with his build and vowed never to let another soul build his rig again. With this vow, Jacob the hardware junkie was born. Since then, Jacob's led a double-life as part-hardware geek, part-philosophy nerd, first working as a Hardware Writer for PCGamesN in 2020, then working towards a PhD in Philosophy for a few years (result pending a patiently awaited viva exam) while freelancing on the side for sites such as TechRadar, Pocket-lint, and yours truly, PC Gamer. Eventually, he gave up the ruthless mercenary life to join the world's #1 PC Gaming site full-time. It's definitely not an ego thing, he assures us.