G.Skill Shows Off Pyramid PC With Core i9-13900K at 7GHz, Memory at 10K MT/s

Computex is known for hosting flashy PC modding competitions and overclocking trials. Component manufacturer G.Skill has combined both with a decadent pyramid PC that is the literal definition of a showstopper. Not only was it running absurd clocks for both the CPU and memory, but it was installed in a transparent pyramid case and cooled by a human-sized liquid nitrogen tank. The project results from a partnership between G.Skill, Asus, Intel, and Elmorlabs, and it's certainly worth a closer look.

The system's guts are an Asus ROG Maximus Z790 APEX motherboard, the company's flagship board for overclockers. It's running an Intel Core i9-13900K CPU, which was goosed to 7GHz on LN2 for the show. Although this is an impressive clock speed, it's nowhere near the 9GHz Asus and Intel hit on this chip in December 2022. That said, the company also had some of its newest Trident Z5 DDR5 memory on hand and could run a single stick of DDR5-8000 at a whopping 10,000 MT/s, which is also not a world record but still laudable. The world record for DDR5 is 11,201 MT/s, according to Tom's Hardware, so G.Skill still has a way to go on that front. G.Skill says the memory was air-cooled, making the overclock more impressive.

The new DDR5 version of its Royal Elite memory is kind of dazzling. Credit: GDM.or.jp

The company also used the trade show to show off some of its new overclocked memory kits. Those include DDR5 versions of its Royal and Royal Elite series of modules. These sticks come in either silver or gold and include shimmering RGB crystals inlaid at the top of each stick. Even though it's just aesthetics, the sticks look pretty fancy and could add a bit of class (or cheese) to any build. The sticks used for the 10,000 MT/s overclock were its Trident Z5 RGB, not the fancy stuff.

Overall, this year's Computex has shown us a PC market in resurgence, as the last six months or so have been incredibly difficult for the industry as a whole. With the pandemic fading into the rearview, everyone stopped buying or upgrading PCs, leading to a death spiral for memory and component companies. That said, all the disastrous financial reports pointed to a rebound that could occur in the second half of 2023. As we get closer to that period, it seems that may be true, at least based on all the expensive gear shown off at the show this year. If companies were really cutting back, they wouldn't even be at the show, but it was a tour de force for PC hardware this year.