If you are planning to build a white-themed gaming PC for yourself, then you are in luck because today, we are sharing our experience of building a white gaming PC.
For any themed build, the most important factor is obviously color coordination and matching the components fitting the colored theme at its best. The white build is not an easy undertaking, given there are a few white-themed motherboards from reputable manufacturers, and those that are available don’t have white PCB. Only Colorful is making full white PCB motherboards.
Nevertheless, here is the complete list of the components we chose:
How To Build A White Gaming PC
First, let’s go over the components we have selected to build our white gaming PC.
Also Read: How to Build a Gaming PC
GIGABYTE Z490 VISION G
Our first priority was to decide the platform for this build. It was going to be AMD or Intel. The first priority was given to AMD and the motherboard decided was GIGABYTE B550 VISION D. Unfortunately, this motherboard has not yet been launched in Pakistan, and importing it was costing us double the price due to its shipping weight.
We decided to switch to Intel and go for GIGABYTE Z490 VERSION G as we decided to base this build on the VISION series from GIGABYTE. GIGABYTE offered their GeForce RTX 3070 VISION OC for this build and review completing our VISION powered PC.
The GIGABYTE Z490 VISION G is well balanced White/Silver themed motherboard aimed at content creators who would not want to spend more and still able to utilize most of the functions and features of the Intel Z490 chipset. The motherboard has PCIe 4.0 ready hardware for which a supported BIOS update would be needed along with Intel 11th generation CPU.
The salient features of the motherboard are:
- Supports 10th Gen Intel® Core™ Processors and 11th Gen Intel® Core™ Processors*
- Dual Channel Non-ECC Unbuffered DDR4, 4 DIMMs with Ultra Durable™ Memory Armor
- Intel® Optane™ Memory Ready
- Direct 12+1 Phases Digital VRM Solution with DrMOS
- Micro-Block Thermal Design with Direct Touch Heatpipe II
- Lightning-Fast Intel® Thunderbolt™ 3 AIC Support
- Intel® 2.5GbE LAN with cFosSpeed Internet Accelerator Software
- Multi-Way Graphics Support with Dual Armor and Ultra Durable™ Design
- ALC1220-VB Enhance 114dB(Rear)/110dB(Front) SNR in Microphone with High-End Audio Capacitors
- Dual Ultra-Fast M.2 with PCIe Gen3 x4 interface with Thermal Guards
- Front USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C™ Header
- RGB FUSION 2.0 Support Addressable LED & RGB LED Strips
- Smart Fan 5 Features Multiple Temperature Sensors, Hybrid Fan Headers with FAN STOP
- Q-Flash Plus Updates BIOS without Installing the CPU, Memory, and Graphics Card
- CEC 2019 Ready, Save the Power as Easy as One Click
The motherboard features a Monoblock heat sink design to provide better airflow from Omni-Direction. GIGABYTE has used LAIRD 1.5mm thick thermal pads under the aluminum heatsinks on the power delivery circuitry. These thermal pads have a 5W/mK conductivity rating.
The BIOS was updated without powering the board up using the Q-Flash function of the motherboard. The update was done to enable support for the Intel i9 10850k. I was surprised to see the white-themed UEFI BIOS interface. Though the BIOS layout is the same as we have seen on their Z390 AORUS PRO WIFI and Z490 AORUS PRO AX, the only difference is the white-themed interface.
The above are a few pictures from the UEFI BIOS showing the same layout of the options but in white styling.
GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 3070 VISION OC
The GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 3070 VISION OC has a factory overclock boost clock of 1815 MHz as compared to the reference card’s boost clock of 1725MHz. The memory clock is 14000MHz. The dimension of the graphics card is 286x115x51mm making it a 2.5 slot design. Despite this dimension, the graphics card is lightweight.
The graphics card supports DX 12 Ultimate API. The PCB of the graphics card is in black color and has an ATX form factor. The graphics card has 2x HDMI 2.1 ports and 2x DisplayPort 1.4a ports. The maximum supported digital resolution is 7680×4320. The graphics card has PCIe 4.0 interface which is backward compatible.
The driving chip behind the RTX 3070 is Nvidia GA-104 GPU which is fabricated on the Samsung 8 nm node consisting of 17400M transistors in a small die size of 392mm². The GPU packs 96 ROPs and 184 TMUs. The main element is the shader units which is 5888. This particular graphics card is using Samsung 8GB GDDR6 VRAM chips on a 256-bit bus interface with a bandwidth of 448 GB/s.
This graphics card has GIGABYTE’s legendary and ever-popular WINDFORCE 3X cooling solution comprising 3x 80mm fans that spin in an alternate direction which according to GIGABYTE is their way to handle the turbulence that may come using all the fans spinning in the same direction. The airflow is spilt by the triangular fan edge, and guided smoothly through the 3D stripe curve on the fan surface, effectively enhancing the airflow.
The 3D Active Fan provides semi-passive cooling, and the fans will remain off when the GPU is in a low load or low power game. The aluminum heatsink consists of three heat sinks that are interconnected using 5 composite heat pipes which seem to be 8mm thick each. There is a direct touch nickel plate copper plate making contact with VRAM and GPU.
The distinctive feature is the VISION-themed shroud and white color of the graphics card giving one heck of spectacular looks. This is further augmented by the silver color metallic backplate with Screen Cooling. There is a large vented area on the metal backplate for proper ventilation. The card takes power using 8-pin and 6-pin PCIe power connectors. These connectors are housed inside a black color plastic-made housing.
Intel Core i9-10850K
The reason we went with i9 10850k, not 10900k was the better price deal which saved us some bucks to spend on other components. Intel launched their i9 10850k in the third quarter of 2020. It has 10 Cores and 20 Threads with a base clock of 3.60GHz. The Intel turbo boost 2 frequency is 5.0GHz and the Turbo boost 3 frequency is 5.1GHz. The Thermal Velocity Boost frequency is 5.2GHz which is subject to the cooling solution, workload, and capability of the processor.
The CPU features an Intel 20MB Smart Cache with a bus speed of 8 GT/s. The TDP rating of the CPU is 125W. The CPU supports a maximum of 128GB RAM with a memory type of DDR4-2933 with a maximum memory bandwidth of 45.8 GB/s. The iGPU is Intel UHD 630 with a graphics base frequency of 350MHz and a maximum dynamic frequency of 1.2GHz. The 10th generation from Intel does not support PCIe 4.0.
XPG SPECTRIX D50
XPG SPECTRIX D50 is aimed at providing high-speed DDR4 kits at reasonable pricing. These kits come in tungsten gray and white colors with a minimum frequency of 3000MHz and a maximum frequency of 4800MHz. Out kit is using Hynix D-Die on the standard package of monolithic 78-ball FBGA. Die Density is 8 Gb D-Die (17 nm) with the composition of 1024M x8 (64MB x8 x16 banks). Each module has a dimension of 133.35 x 40 x 8mm (LxWxH).
The heat spreader has a criss-cross pattern with geometric lining and finishing in an elegant manner making these kits stand out with their simple yet beautiful design footprint. There is a triangular designed cutout on the heat spreader in the center through which the RGB lighting peeks out. The white color on the heat spreader looks dope in person. There is minimalistic branding on the modules.
Read our dedicated review of the XPG SPECTRIX D50.
XPG S50 Lite 1TB
The XPG GAMMIX S50 Lite is available in two capacities; 1TB and 2TB. The XPG GAMMIX S50 Lite 1TB M.2 NVMe PCIe4x4 SSD has an M.2 form factor of 2280. It is an M Key type SSD compatible with the majority of the M.2 slots on modern motherboards. The XPG S50 Lite is utilizing 3D TLC NAND. The SSD’s dimension is 80x22x4.3mm (LxWxH) with a weight of 10g.
Since these SSDs are using the operating system’s native NVMe driver, there is no dedicated driver provided by the manufacturer. This is a dual-sided PCB with components on both sides. Take a note of this in case you’d bought this SSD and hooking it up with an aftermarket heat sink cover for better thermal performance. The XPG GAMMIX S50 Lite is using NVMe 1.4 and PCIe 4×4 interface for fast storage speeds. It is backward compatible with PCIe 3.0 as well.
Click here to read our detailed take on this SSD.
Lian Li GALAHAD 360 White
The GIGABYTE Z490 VISION G and GeForce RTX 3070 VISION OC presented us with a unique color combination of White and Silver. GIGABYTE could not have done it better than this and I admire their execution. In order to have almost a perfect match, we were on the lookout for the white and silver color cooler and Lian Li did not disappoint. We selected Lian Li GALAHAD 360 White cooler for this purpose.
The block of this cooler is by no mean a low profile design which is understandable. We have a dual-chamber layout on the exterior with the top portion in the aluminum finish (Silver) and the bottom portion in the white color finish making it an ideal candidate for this unique build.
I love how Lian Li has implemented the faceplate with A-RGB backlit in quite a distinctive manner and that we can rotate the aluminum portion to have the Lian Li text face upright. This eases out the installation of the block regardless of the text orientation. The build quality is also top-notch and performance is also good.
The aluminum faceplate on the sides of the radiator also helps in the Silver and White color coordination.
Click here to read our full review of this CPU Cooler.
Lian Li O11 Dynamic XL ROG Edition White
Our choice of chassis was obvious. Earlier we thought of sticking with the standard white version of the O11 but then decided to go full-blown with the XL version to have us future-proofing.
This case presents to the user/builder a different approach when it comes to the building experience based on a distinctive layout that has been a hallmark of Lian Li. The case is designed in collaboration with no other but DER BAUER. This case is designed around liquid cooling and air cooling is not its cup of tea. Lian Li has a dedicated variant for air cooling. There is a spacious layout and fully open space to build in. The case supports up to an E-ATX size motherboard out of the box but for EEB boards, an extension panel would be needed which is not included in the box.
I really appreciate the Lian Li design team providing a GPU support bracket and how convenient its placement is. The case supports PSU up to 280mm in length. The case has 4x hot-swappable drive bays which are completely removable. There is a bracket on the back to hide the cables. The chassis has multiple points to install fans.
One can install up to 3x 120mm/2x 140mm fans on the bottom and top, 1x 120mm on the rear, and up to 3x 120mm fans on the side. There is an aluminum panel on the front side with the IO ports. We have two 4mm tempered glass panels on the front and side. The Interior is made of SPCC material. Did I mention there is an A-RGB LED strip on the front side with a dedicated controller that can be synced with the motherboard A-RGB header as well?
Cooler Master MF120 HALO White Fans
When I reviewed the standard version of Cooler Master MF120 HALO fans on Enos Tech, I knew that the white version of these fans would look dope and would make up for any white fan with dual-loop A-RGB lighting. I was not wrong at all.
These fans have added that touch that was needed to lift the total outlook of this build.
The Cooler Master MF120 Halo White fans are using Rifle bearings and are rated for 160,000 hours MTTF. The airflow rating is 47.2 CFM ±10% and the air pressure rating is 1.6 mm H2O ±10%. Their sound rating is 6-30 dBA.
DeepCool DQ750-M-V2L-WH PSU
We are regularly getting white cases for review. DeepCool was kind enough to support us with white fans and a cooler for those reviews and feature builds. We reached out to them to support us with a white PSU as well. Next, we knew, FedEx dropped a parcel with the PSU in it.
The salient features of the PSU include:
- 80 PLUS® GOLD certified – Up to 91.2% efficiency
- 100% High quality Japanese capacitors
- Full bridge PFC + LLC Resonant converter
- Fully modular with flat cable design
- CircuitShield™ — OVP / UVP / SCP / OPP / OTP
Featuring active Power Factor Correction (PFC), a full bridge LLC resonant converter, and synchronous rectification DC-DC design, the DQ750-M-V2L WH delivers improved performance with lower power dissipation, increased quality, and better thermals to meet your needs.
The above picture shows the number of connectors and the length of the cables. This PSU is using the CWT platform which gives an understanding of the pocket-friendly pricing on these PSUs. The PSU is using a high-grade Japanese 105°C Boost Capacitor in addition to 100% Japanese capacitors. The PSU is employing Stage 1 and 2 EMI filter circuit with active PFC correction. The PSU is using Sitronix ST9S429, supervisor IC for safety protections.
Build Experience
Now that we have given a brief of the components used in the white build, let’s dig into the building experience.
The above picture shows the motherboard placed on its packing box. The XPG SPECTRIX D50 kit is installed and XPG S50 Lite 1TB SSD is placed on the thermal cover of the M.2 slot of the motherboard. We removed the heat sink of the SSD before installing the shown slot.
We started with the motherboard first. Before installing the motherboard, we planned on the fans and A-RGB cables connectivity. We are not using any dedicated controller for either purpose and relying on the 5x fan headers and 2x A-RGB headers of the motherboard. The very purpose of this was to have as much a clean layout as possible and for that, we routed the cables under the motherboard. The RAM and
CPU were installed out of the PC Case on the motherboard.
The above two pictures show the cables routed under the motherboard. The main reason for going this route is that there is only one cutout on the bottom of the motherboard tray and one main cutout on the top with considerable distance between these cutouts and the motherboard itself.
The above picture was a quick test on how the VISION Duos would look like and they look fantastic in person. It is almost a perfect combination.
In order to have an idea of how it would look once finished the sleeved, extension cables were connected to the motherboard and the graphics card. Please note that the graphics card was temporarily installed at this point.
The next step was to install the GPU support bracket on the motherboard. I like the innovative yet simple idea behind this design. The support bar is installed on two motherboard standoffs. The support arm is installed on the mounting bar as per the requirement. It has a foam pad on the surface that makes contact with the graphics card.
The PSU is installed in a vertical layout. You can spot one hot-swappable drive cage on top of the PSU. We removed the top one.
The above picture shows the backside of the case with the PSU installed.
Next, the sleeved extension cables were installed. The Lian Li GALAHAD 360 was installed next. We chose to install it on the top with the tubes coming from the left side.
The picture is telling us that the white and silver combination is speaking for itself.
A close-up on the 8-pin EPS sleeved extension cable.
The graphics card is installed and the PEG sleeved extension cables are connected. The build has almost taken a final shape and coming out that good.
A close-up glimpse of the GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 3070 VISION OC.
Next, the Cooler Master MF120 HALO White fans were installed on the bottom. The bottom rail can be dismounted and fans/radiator can be installed outside of the chassis. I love the flexibility provided in the design of the PC case. The cables were routed along the fans’ border on the inner side and bundled at the center to route towards the other side of the chassis.
Next, three Cooler Master MF120 HALO White fans were installed on the side as an intake. Yes, I am going for a positive air pressure which is suitable for this case.
And it is done. The build came out really clean and good-looking. One thing we note is the mismatch in the white color shade of the components. This PC Case has a bluish-white shade as compared to the other components. The motherboard and the graphics card are a nice fit but the fans look yellowish inside the case.
Take a look at the build from the front side. Take note of the cable routing of the bottom fans. The build is super neat.
The above picture is showing the might of white and silver when done right.
POST
Finally, the moment came for the test boot and it all went super smooth.
The Rainbow is on. This is before we did any setting.
Here are more pictures of the build.
RGB Fusion
RGB Fusion is working flawlessly. It picked up the XPG SPECTRIX D50 as well and all three main components namely GIGABYTE Z490 VISION OC, GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 3070 VISION OC, and XPG SPECTRIX D50. I did not install the RGB Fusion directly rather have the APP CENTER download and installed it.
Testing
Finally, it was time for some testing checking the storage, rendering, gaming, synthetic loads along with the thermals and power consumption. Testing was done on the stock, auto settings except that the VCore was set at -0.2V Offset as on Auto the board was pushing over 1.40V, and temperatures were in the upper 80s. The Microsoft Windows 10 x64 version 20H2 was used. The MSI After Burner was used to measure the FPS in the gaming load. Where the games have built-in benchmarks, the results were obtained from those benchmarks.
The above picture shows the CPU-Z run on the stock, Auto settings.
Storage
Let’s take a look at some storage benchmarks we ran on the XPG S50 Lite 1TB.
ATTO
Atto Disk Benchmark performs tests by writing and reading different sizes of data to and from the storage device being tested. The software uses different block sizes, ranging from 512 bytes to 64 megabytes, to measure the read and write speeds of the storage device.
The XPG S50 Lite 1TB SSD has Up to 3400MB/s read and 3000MB/s write on the PCIe 3.0 interface. This is validated in the ATTO.
CrystalDiskMark
CrystalDiskMark uses a variety of different block sizes to measure the read and write speeds of the storage device. It also tests sequential and random read and write speeds, providing users with a comprehensive set of data to evaluate the performance of the storage device.
Rated speeds are validated.
AS SSD
AS SSD Benchmark uses a range of different block sizes and performs several tests on the storage device, including the copying of large files and small files and the simulation of database and gaming workloads. The tool also provides users with a score that reflects the overall performance of the storage device.
Surprisingly, we are seeing lower speed on the AS SSD run.
Anvil Pro
Anvil’s Storage Utilities offers a range of benchmarking tests, including read and write tests, IOPS tests, endurance tests, and more.
Memory Benchmark
We ran AIDA64 Extreme version 6.35 for memory benchmarks. Here is the result.
This score is better than what we have on our test bench with Intel i7 10700k on MSI MAG Z490 TOMAHAWK.
CPU Benchmark
Let’s go over a few CPU Benchmarks.
AIDA64 Extreme
The AIDA64 Extreme CPU Benchmark performs a range of tests on the CPU, including integer and floating point operations, compression and decompression, encryption and decryption, and more.
Cinebench
Cinebench is a computer benchmarking tool that measures the performance of a computer’s CPU and graphics card using a series of real-world tests. The Cinebench score is the numerical value obtained by running the Cinebench benchmark on a computer, which reflects its performance in rendering 3D images and scenes.
X264 HD Benchmark
X264 HD Benchmark is a popular benchmarking tool that uses the x264 open-source video codec to encode a high-definition video clip, measuring the speed at which the computer is able to perform the encoding task.
7-Zip
Benchmarking the compression and decompression speeds of 7-Zip can help users determine the efficiency and effectiveness of the CPU.
Render Times
These are the render times from various benchmarking software.
Corona
Corona Benchmark is a computer benchmarking tool that measures the performance of a computer’s CPU in rendering photorealistic 3D scenes.
GeekBench 5.31
Geekbench 5 is a cross-platform benchmarking tool that measures the performance of a computer’s CPU and GPU using a range of real-world tests
Graphics Card Testing
Let’s start with the synthetic benchmarks.
3DMark
The 3DMark Graphics Score takes into account various aspects of the graphics processing unit (GPU), such as its clock speed, memory bandwidth, and shader performance. The higher the score, the better the graphics performance of the system.
We are reporting the graphics score only in the graph.
Super Position
The Superposition score takes into account several factors related to GPU performance, including the number of frames per second (FPS) rendered by the system, the level of detail in the scene, and the complexity of the visual effects.
DLSS Performance Metrics
The DLSS Performance Metrics take into account several factors related to GPU performance, such as the average frame rate, the level of detail in the image, and the image quality.
DLSS Quality Metrics
The DLSS Quality Metrics take into account several factors related to image quality, such as the level of detail in the image, the sharpness of the image, and the visual artifacts present.
Port Royal
3DMark Port Royal score is a benchmarking metric used to measure the graphics performance of a computer system using real-time ray tracing technology.
DXR Feature Test
The feature test renders a scene with ray-traced shadows, reflections, and ambient occlusion and measures the average frame rate achieved by the system during the test. The higher the frame rate, the better the performance of the system’s GPU when handling ray-tracing effects.
VRS Tier 1
The feature test measures the system’s ability to handle VRS in real-time by rendering a complex scene with varying levels of shading complexity and measuring the average frame rate achieved by the system during the test.
VRS Tier 2
The Tier 2 test is more demanding and complex than the Tier 1 test and features more advanced VRS techniques like motion adaptive shading, which can further improve performance and image quality.
GPU Compute Performance
The Geekbench 5 benchmarking tool measures the performance of the GPU by running a set of OpenCL tests on the system and generating a numerical score that reflects the system’s overall OpenCL performance.
We are showing the GPU-Z sensors with Maximum reported values in the software. The GPU-based rendering time was 34 seconds as compared to the 53 seconds attained by the CPU.
Gaming Benchmarks
It is time to take a look at the Gaming results.
Battlefield V DX11
Here is the average FPS when playing Battlefield V (DX11) at 1080p, 1440p, and 2160p.
Battlefield V DX12
Here is the average FPS when playing Battlefield V (DX12) at 1080p, 1440p, and 2160p.
Battlefield V DXR
Here is the average FPS when playing Battlefield V (RT On) at 1080p, 1440p, and 2160p.
Battlefield V DLSS
Here is the average FPS when playing Battlefield V (RTX On) with and without DLSS.
Control DX12
Here is the average FPS when playing Control (DX12) at 1080p, 1440p, and 2160p.
Cyberpunk DX12
Here is the average FPS when playing Cyberpunk 2077 (DX12) at 1080p, 1440p, and 2160p.
DOOM Eternal Vulkan
Here is the average FPS when playing DOOM Eternal Vulkan at 1080p, 1440p, and 2160p.
Metro Exodus DX12
Here is the average FPS when playing Metro Exodus (DX12) at 1080p, 1440p, and 2160p.
Metro Exodus RT
Here is the average FPS when playing Metro Exodus (RTX On) at 1080p, 1440p, and 2160p.
Metro Exodus DLSS
Here is the average FPS when playing Metro Exodus (RTX On, DLSS On) at 1080p, 1440p, and 2160p.
Red Dead Redemption 2 Vulkan
Here is the average FPS when playing Red Dead Redemption 2 (Vulkan) at 1080p, 1440p, and 2160p.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider DX12
Here is the average FPS when playing Shadow of the Tomb Raider (DX12) at 1080p, 1440p, and 2160p.
Thermals and Power
Finally, here are the temperatures and the power consumption:
We did not overclock the CPU and graphics card and are reporting the results on stock, auto settings. The Auto Enhancement mode was disabled. We ran the Intel XTU benchmark of AES2 for 30 minutes.
The maximum temperature on any core was 80°C. The ambient temperature was 28°C. The package power was 164W. All cores were boosting to 4.8GHz on multi-core load whereas we saw two cores jumping to 5.2GHz for a very short span of time and the majority of them sticking at 5.0GHz under single-core load.
The maximum temperature on the graphics card was 69°C under a 4K gaming load at an ambient of 28°C. The card was drawing near 220W power.
End Remarks
So, we are done, and the build is serving us very well. It is time to further fine-tune it, particularly by tightening the timings of the RAM to have it run at 3600MHz with CL16. The motherboard was pushing way too much voltage on the stock, so I ended up disabling the Auto Enhancement and setting the VCore to an Offset -0.20V, and it is holding quite well. Other than that, we have got ourselves quite hot silicon.
The graphics card is doing us a charm. It is running silently with maximum temperature on stock fan settings at 69°C. The VISION COMBO or VISION POWER – should I call it, is one heck of a combination in terms of aesthetics and obviously in terms of performance as well. The XPG SPECTRIX D50 is doing well, and we are now looking forward to upgrading it to have 32GB of DDR4 RAM.
The XPG S50 Lite 1TB on PCIe 3.0 is rocking, and our windows boot time is 6.6 seconds. All in all, we have got ourselves a powerful machine to last us for some time to come.
We are highly grateful to GIGABYTE, XPG, DeepCool, and Cooler Master for their kind support on this project.
Thank you! Please share your positive feedback. 🔋
How could we improve this post? Please Help us. 😔
[How To’s & Guides Editor]
Haddi has been in the Gaming and tech Space for over 10 Years Now; he has worked on notable websites like eXputer, Gamepur, Gear Siege, Gearnuke, and plenty more. He is an expert at Games & PC Hardware; you can expect him to solve any problem. People often joke, that if there is any problem anyone can solve, Haddi can solve it faster. Currently, Haddi writes and manages a Team of Experts at Tech4Gamers.
Contact: Haddi@tech4gamers.com
