Isn’t it just a gamer’s dream to own the fastest gaming computer in the country?
Jonathan Mantua, a white-hat hacker by day and gamer by night, owns the coolest gaming PC setup in the Philippines—not only is it the fastest build in the country, but it’s the 19th fastest in the world.
Just a glimpse at how wild his setup is, Jonathan’s PC is a beast with an Intel i9 13900KS chip, an ASUS ROG Strix 4090 video card, an ASUS ROG Strix Z790-F motherboard, and a Corsair HX1200 power supply. This computer’s just like any PC, it’s just performing at a maximum so yes, it can play any game at 4K resolution (whether that’s Valorant or God Of War) but it’s used for more than that.
How did this PC earn the title of the fastest in the country?
There’s this league online, HWBOT, which is supported by PC parts makers like Intel, Corsair, and G.Skill. Here, PC builders from all over the world benchmark (run them through a standardized test) their devices to see how fast it’s able to run programs. HWBOT also holds competitive overclocking (increasing a component’s CPU to speed up performance) wherein some builders cool their setups with water (like Jonathan’s).
“What I have right here is the best Intel chip. Yung regular usually in the market is yung i9 3900k it’s the fastest for the consumers pero merong mas mabilis pa pero it’s more for the server space,” Jonathan shared. “Of course, the category that I’m competing in is more for the consumer level. Usually, regular consumers would buy i9 3900k, I bought the i9 3900ks. Yung “s” is a special binned chip where it’s guaranteed to be faster than the rest of other i9s.”
The rest of his parts, as listed above, are from ASUS, because according to Jonathan, the company typically “overspecs” motherboards and video cards so they can be pushed to higher limits.
This PC builder, who also teaches at De La Salle University, started building computers because he wanted to play all the fastest games. As he got older and was able to afford more parts, he continued to build PCs.
But more than running AAA games, this PC is also used for some ethical hacking, after all, Jonathan is a cybersecurity consultant who does penetration testing.
“If we’re hacking and we’re trying to crack passwords, there’s a huge benefit to us having fast computers. When we have fast computers, we’re able to crack passwords really fast. Of course, time is money in the business world,” he said. “I’m able to marry my hobby of building computers and overclocking, with my job.”
PC building 101
The pandemic saw a boom of PC builders—not just in the Philippines, but all over the world. As the world shut down, people came together through video games and online communities. In our country alone, there was a growth in the shipment of computer parts, about 2.85 million units in 2021.
With the pandemic PC boom over, it’s a good time to build your own PC as prices for some parts are getting lower and lower. To help you get started, here are some tips from Jonathan + some things you can consider if you’re choosing between building a gaming PC or getting a laptop.
- Know what games you want to play. “If you’re playing competitive games like ‘Valorant,’ ‘League of Legends,’ ‘DOTA,’ ‘CSGO,’ you don’t have to buy the latest or the greatest even because the software development companies want their games to be accessible. With just medium-range specs, you’ll do great.“If you’re gonna be playing AAA games, mga flagship titles ng mga developers, yung mga latest na ‘God of War,’ ‘Tomb Raider,’ or mga may ray tracing na games such as ‘Cyberpunk 2077,’ then you have to be prepared to shell out quite a bit of money.”
- Consider your space and mobility requirements. “If you need to be quite mobile, I’d definitely recommend a MacBook or any lightweight laptop or even a tablet kasi minsan kaya naman na sa tablet eh.“But for those na heavily work from home and you have the space, maybe consider building a custom computer kasi pag may nag fail na component dito, you can just replace it. Yung overall ewaste mo, mas bumababa. At the same time, ma-appreciate mo how it’s built and how it’s done. Di ka rin matatali sa forced deprecation ng vendors right now. Minsan kasi after end of life, end of support, wala ka ng warranty din.”
As Jonathan said, “You don’t have to be a gamer to build a custom computer.”
Check out this gaming PC and Jonathan in action on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitch.
banner by: @strawbbree
