Luftstrom Three | RTX 5080 16GB + Ryzen 7 9800X3D | Ready-to-Go Gaming PC | PC36

🌪 Luftstrom Three

4K, and the airflow to sustain it

Luftstrom Three is where this series stops being about value and starts being about capability. The RTX 5080 plays modern games at 4K with everything turned on, including path tracing, and the Ryzen 7 9800X3D makes sure the graphics card is never waiting on the processor.

Both of those parts produce real heat, which is the point of putting them in this case. The mesh front, three 140mm intakes and the scoop moulded into the floor mean the machine has somewhere to put that heat without raising its voice. A build like this in a sealed glass box would be loud. This one is not.

White throughout, and quick enough that the only reason to look past it is if you want the 5090 in Luftstrom Four.

🧬 Built to last, designed to evolve

This system is built on AMD's latest AM5 platform, which offers one of the best upgrade paths available today. That means you can start with a great processor now and still have room to move up the stack later, while keeping the same motherboard, case, power supply and most of your core components. GPU, storage and cooling are all easily upgradable so the system can grow with your needs over time.

📃 Specifications

• 🧠 CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D
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  • 8 cores, 16 threads of Zen 5 with 96MB of L3 cache, using second-generation 3D V-Cache mounted underneath the cores rather than on top of them
  • That change of position is not a detail. On the previous generation the stacked cache sat above the cores and limited both clock speed and voltage. Moving it below let AMD clock the chip properly and, crucially, leave it fully unlocked for overclocking. The 7800X3D is not. This one is
  • The most popular high-end gaming processor we fit, by a wide margin. In any title that is even slightly CPU-sensitive that cache shows up in the frame times rather than just the averages
  • Strong multi-core performance too, so streaming, recording and creative work sit comfortably alongside the gaming
• ❄️ CPU cooler: ARCTIC Liquid Freezer III Pro 280 A-RGB (white)
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  • 280mm radiator with two 140mm P14 Pro A-RGB fans, plus the 60mm fan built into the pump head that cools the motherboard's power stages directly
  • The step up from the 240mm used lower in this series, and it is the right one here. The 9800X3D is unlocked, and an overclocked chip produces heat that a 240 would move at a higher fan speed. This moves the same heat more quietly
  • A 38mm thick radiator rather than the usual 27mm, so the surface area is closer to a conventional 360mm than the 280 label suggests. Two 140mm fans also move a similar volume of air to three 120mm fans while spinning slower
  • Offset cold plate aligned to where AMD puts the heat on AM5, MX-6 paste pre-applied, and a 6 year ARCTIC warranty
  • Mounted in the top as exhaust. 280mm is the largest radiator this case takes in the top, so this is the ceiling and we have specified it
• 🔲 Motherboard: MSI B850 GAMING PLUS WIFI6E (ATX)
  Click or tap for deeper spec info

  • White PCB with silver heatsinks, chosen so the board disappears into the build rather than fighting it. Most white builds still have a black motherboard in the middle of them
  • 15 phase power design (12+2+1) on the CPU, which is what makes it comfortable running an unlocked 9800X3D with the Ultimate Performance Tune applied. Plain English translation: the board is not the limit here, and it will not be if you move up to a Ryzen 9 later
  • Four DDR5 slots supporting up to 256GB, so memory can be expanded later without replacing the kit you already have
  • Two M.2 slots, the primary one running at PCIe Gen5 x4 speeds for future drives
  • Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3 and 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet onboard
  • Straight point on this board: the graphics card slot is PCIe 4.0 x16, not 5.0. We say so because we would rather you heard it from us. The RTX 5080 is a Gen5 card, and measured across a full review suite it loses roughly 1 to 2% on a Gen4 slot. If a Gen5 graphics slot matters to you specifically, tell us on live chat and we will move you to a board that has one
  • PC36 only uses motherboards chosen for stability and longevity. See our Trusted brands page
• 📏 Memory / RAM: 32GB (2×16GB) DDR5-6000 CL36
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  • EXPO-tuned dual channel DDR5-6000 CL36. On AM5 this is the speed the memory controller runs best at, and CL36 rather than the slower CL40 kits often used at this price
  • 32GB is comfortable headroom for gaming, streaming and creative work running together. If you do heavy 3D or video work alongside your games, the 48GB and 64GB options below are worth a look
  • Two sticks in two slots, leaving two free. Specification guaranteed, model may vary. Happy to confirm the exact part on request
• 💾 Storage: 1TB NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSD (TLC)
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  • TLC flash rated at 6,500MB/s or better, which holds its speed through long sustained writes rather than dropping off once a cache fills. On a build at this price we do not fit QLC drives
  • Higher write endurance than the entry-tier alternative, which matters if you record gameplay at 4K, edit video, or install and uninstall a lot
  • The second M.2 slot sits free, and it is the Gen5 one, so adding a fast second drive later costs nothing in flexibility
  • Specification guaranteed, model may vary. Happy to confirm the exact part on request
• 🎮 Graphics card: NVIDIA RTX 5080 16GB (shipped separately for safety, see below)
  Click or tap for deeper spec info

  • This is a bulky and valuable graphics card, and as such it will be shipped separately with instructions for you to install it upon receipt
  • To be clear about what that means: the card is fitted into this exact system, stress tested in it, and only then carefully removed and boxed for transit. Your machine is built and validated as a whole. We do not drop-ship graphics cards or send you parts to assemble
  • Genuine 4K ultra performance in modern AAA titles, with the ray tracing hardware and DLSS 4 multi frame generation to keep path-traced games playable rather than theoretical. If you prefer pure raster, there is plenty here for that too
  • 16GB of GDDR7 on a 256-bit bus, feeding textures fast enough that 4K stops being the thing limiting your settings
  • Around 360W under load. That is a lot of heat into the main chamber, and it is precisely why this build sits in a mesh-front case with a floor scoop feeding the card directly rather than in something sealed behind glass
  • The chipset and VRAM are guaranteed: it will always be an RTX 5080 with 16GB. The AIB brand varies with availability, and we only use established manufacturers. See our Trusted brands page for more info
• 🧰 Case: Fractal Meshify 3 Ambience Pro RGB (white)
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  • The reason this series exists, and the reason it makes more sense the further up the range you go. Full mesh front panel with dust filtering, plus an air guide and a moulded scoop in the floor that directs intake air onto the graphics card instead of letting it wander
  • Three 140mm Momentum A-RGB fans included as front intake. Most cases at any price ship with 120mm fans, and 140mm fans move more air per revolution, so they can spin slower for the same result
  • The Adjust Pro Hub controls all the lighting from the case itself. No software to install, nothing running in the background, and the setting is remembered by the hub. That fits how we set machines up: we do not want a lighting app sat in your system tray
  • Tempered glass side panel, tool-free access, and Fractal's usual restrained Scandinavian finish rather than gamer styling
  • Supports graphics cards up to 349mm and CPU coolers up to 180mm tall. We select an RTX 5080 that fits comfortably within that
• 🌬️ Case cooling: 3 × 140mm front intake and 1 × 120mm ARGB rear exhaust, plus 2 × 140mm on the AIO radiator
  Click or tap for deeper spec info

  • Three 140mm Momentum A-RGB fans pull cool air in through the mesh front. We add a 120mm ARGB exhaust at the rear so warm air leaves on the shortest path rather than circulating
  • The AIO sits in the top as exhaust. Front in, top and rear out, which is the configuration this case was designed around, and it keeps CPU heat away from the graphics card entirely
  • Five of the six fans in this build are 140mm rather than 120mm. That matters on a machine producing this much heat, because larger fans move the required air at lower speed, and fan speed is what you hear
  • Slight positive pressure by design, so air enters through the filtered front rather than being pulled in through every gap in the chassis. In practice that means noticeably less dust inside a year from now
  • All fans tuned to a manual curve before dispatch rather than left on the motherboard's defaults. ARGB is controlled from the Adjust Pro Hub and can be turned off entirely without affecting the look of the build
• ⚡ Power supply: Gigabyte UD850GM PG5 V2 ICE 850W 80+ Gold (white), fully modular
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  • Includes a native 600W 16-pin cable. That is the connector the RTX 5080 uses, so the card plugs straight in with no adaptor and no dongle, and a future GPU upgrade will be the same
  • Chosen for this build because it is a white unit with white cables. That is the difference between a white build and a white build with black cables running through the middle of it, and it is why there are no cable extensions to buy here
  • ATX 3.1 and PCIe 5.1 certified, which means it is built to absorb the brief power spikes a card like the 5080 produces rather than tripping over them
  • 850W against a system drawing roughly 550W under a hard combined load, so there is headroom for the overclock as well as the stock configuration
  • A 10 year warranty, built on 100% Japanese capacitors. Semi-fanless below roughly 20% load, so at idle and in lighter games it makes no noise at all
• 🔌 Cabling: White cabling throughout, included as standard
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  • The ICE ships with white cables in the box, so the visible cabling matches the build without extensions or adapters
  • Fully modular, so only the cables this build actually uses are installed. Nothing spare is left cluttering the rear of the case
  • Routed and tied through the case's cable channels, tidy but not overtightened, so future upgrades do not mean undoing everything first
• 📶 WiFi / Bluetooth / Ethernet: Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3 and 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet, included
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  • Built into the MSI B850 GAMING PLUS WIFI6E. No separate adapter needed, and the aerial is supplied in the box
  • Wi-Fi 6E adds the 6GHz band, which is usually far less congested than 2.4 and 5GHz if your router supports it
  • 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet for a wired connection, which we would still recommend for competitive play
• 🪟 Operating system: As chosen by you from the listing options below. Windows 11 Home (OEM) is recommended.
• 🧹 Setup and optimisation: PC36 High-Class Standard. Full stress test with certificate, bloat-free installation, and BIOS set up properly
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  PC36 High-Class Standard, included free with every build

  • Ready the moment you open the box. Your PC boots straight into Windows with a local account already set up. No account sign-in wall, no first-run questionnaire, no half-hour of setup before you can use the machine you just bought
  • BIOS updated and configured properly: manual fan curves, PBO enabled, EXPO/XMP enabled, Secure Boot enabled
  • Vanilla Windows 11 installation if you choose Windows, with no bloatware added by us, and all drivers loaded and ready to go
  • Full stress test with certificate. Every system is torture tested on CPU, RAM and GPU before dispatch, and ships with the certificate to prove it

  PC36 Premier Optimisation, available in the listing options

  • CPU tuning to bring thermals and noise down with minimal performance loss, plus a deeper strip and debloat of Windows
  • Worth it if you want the quietest, leanest possible machine and would rather we spent the hours on it than you did. On a build with a 360W graphics card in it, the fan work is what you will actually notice day to day

  PC36 Ultimate Performance Tune, available in the listing options

  • Advanced overclocking: RAM tune, CPU tune and GPU overclock on top of everything in Premier
  • This is the tier of build the Ultimate tune exists for, and it is the first Luftstrom where we would recommend it without hesitation. The 9800X3D is genuinely unlocked, unlike the 7800X3D one step down. The RTX 5080 has real headroom above stock. The 280mm AIO, the 850W supply and this case's airflow are all already specified to support it. If you are going to buy the tune on any PC36 machine, this is one where the money returns something you can measure
• 🛡️ Warranty: 3 years parts & labour (return to base)
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  • Standard 3-year coverage included, parts and labour both
  • Optional extended warranties in the listing options below

👁️ Transparency notes

• The graphics card ships in its own box. This system contains a bulky and highly valuable graphics card. Therefore, we will ship the graphics card in a separate box, and provide simple instructions showing you how to install it. All graphics cards have a point of weakness at the "PCIe" connector. Separate shipping of the card prevents shipping damage to the graphics card which may occur despite our industry-leading packaging methods. If you have any queries about this, please contact us.
• Graphics card clearance in this case is 349mm. Several RTX 5080 models are longer than that, so we specifically source cards that fit rather than leaving it to chance. It is worth knowing if you plan to change the card yourself later - measure first, and we are happy to advise.
• The graphics slot on this motherboard is PCIe 4.0, not 5.0. Repeated here from the spec list because it is the sort of thing a buyer finds out later and wonders about. Measured difference on an RTX 5080 is roughly 1 to 2%. It does not change what this machine does.
• The top of this case takes a 280mm radiator at most, which is what is fitted. There is no cooling upgrade available above this in the top mount. A 360mm fits in the front, but doing so displaces the three 140mm intake fans that make this case what it is, so we would talk you out of it.
• White components are specified throughout, but the graphics card is the exception. The case, cooler, motherboard, power supply and cabling are white as standard. White RTX 5080 cards exist but are a small slice of supply, so we fit one where stock allows and tell you before you order if we cannot.
• Product images are representative photos of a similar spec in the same style. Your PC will look similar but not identical. Our support team can help clarify anything you're unsure of.
• RGB heatspreaders on the RAM are not guaranteed unless the quick add-on is chosen.
• Most parts are named models and will be what is delivered. RAM, SSD and graphics card will instead carry a spec guarantee due to current market conditions making stock very variable. This keeps us agile enough to offer good pricing and honest spec lists. If you want clarity on precise models we will use, drop us a live chat on the day you're ready to purchase and we'll confirm it.

🛠️ Popular upgrade options

• Need a monitor, keyboard or mouse? Scroll past the add to cart button. We've paired specific peripherals to get the best out of this build.
  Click or tap for more info

  This is a 4K machine. If you are pairing it with a 1440p panel you will still get very high frame rates, but you will not see what the graphics card is actually capable of. If the monitor is the older part of your setup, that is where the next money should go.

• Storage upgrade to 2TB: available in the listing options below.
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  Worth it for most people buying at this level. Modern AAA installs regularly run past 150GB each, and 4K capture fills a 1TB drive faster than you expect. The second M.2 slot is free either way, so you can also add later.

• RAM upgrade to 48GB or 64GB: available in the listing options below.
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  Worth it if you work with large 3D scenes, local AI models, or multi-track 4K video timelines. For gaming, including heavily modded gaming, 32GB is not the limit on this machine and more will not gain you frames.

• GPU upgrade to RTX 5090 32GB: speak with us via live chat, or look at Luftstrom Four.
  Click or tap for more info

  Real talk: most gamers do not benefit from the RTX 5090. It is an extraordinary piece of hardware, but the RTX 5080 already delivers 4K at ultra. The people who genuinely gain are those doing heavy rendering, 3D or AI work alongside their gaming, or running 4K at very high refresh with path tracing on. Luftstrom Four is that machine, already specified with the larger power supply and the white ASUS ROG Strix board. Ask us and we will be straight with you about whether your games justify it.

• Acoustics upgrade to the Noctua Pure Silence setup: choose it from the quick-add upgrades, or speak with us via live chat.
  Click or tap for more info

  Every case and cooler fan swapped for Noctua NF-A12x25 G2s with a noise profile tuned into the BIOS to match. It is as quiet as current hardware gets. Two honest caveats: the Noctua fans are 120mm, so five 140mm fans in this build would be replaced by smaller ones, and Noctua do not do ARGB, so the lighting goes.

  Before you consider it, look at Premier Optimisation in the listing options. Tuning the fans already fitted gets you most of the way there for a fraction of the cost, and it is what we would suggest first to almost everyone.

• Swap to a black colourway: available via live chat.
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  The Meshify 3 Ambience Pro comes in black, and black equivalents of the other parts usually cost slightly less than the white ones. Same machine, same cooling, and black graphics cards are far easier to source.

🎯 What is this PC best for?

• 4K gaming at ultra settings in modern AAA titles
• High refresh rate 1440p, where the 9800X3D's cache does the heavy lifting
• Ray tracing and path tracing with DLSS 4 multi frame generation
• Gaming and content creation at the same time, without either getting in the other's way
• Buyers who want serious performance without a machine that announces itself every time it works

📊 Performance estimates

Figures are given at both 1440p and 4K. Performance varies with game updates, maps, settings and background apps. These are estimates, not guarantees.

Fortnite - Competitive Settings (click or tap to expand)

1440p: 350-450 FPS
4K: 200-260 FPS
Native testing (no upscaling or frame generation).

Cyberpunk 2077 - Ray Tracing Medium (click or tap to expand)

1440p: 140-180 FPS
4K: 90-120 FPS
Upscaling set to Auto (DLSS / FSR / XeSS based on GPU).

Battlefield 6 - High Settings (click or tap to expand)

1440p: 170-210 FPS
4K: 95-125 FPS
Native testing (no upscaling or frame generation).

DaVinci Resolve - PugetBench Standard (click or tap to expand)

Estimated score: 10,000-11,000

💬 Need help?

Not sure if this is the right spec for you? Ping us on live chat and we'll help you choose the perfect PC for your games, work and budget. You'll be talking to one of us, not a chatbot.