Bonus Episode — Excessive Specs
Right then...
The study was silent, bathed in the soft glow of the pre-dawn light. I finally felt like opening the massive cardboard box I’d left sitting in the entryway last night. The Lumina Express logo was printed proudly on the side, almost radiating an aura that said, "Touch me already."
"Yawn... Alright, let's do this."
I sliced through the tape with a utility knife and pulled back the flaps. Emerging from the packaging was a high-end tower PC, a beautiful contrast of black and silver.
The LUMINA-Forge X9000 Custom Edition.
It was a top-of-the-line custom model from Lumina Shopping, the kind where you can obsess over every single component during the order process.
First, the exterior check. The front panel was CNC-machined aluminum with a hairline finish. The power button was capacitive, glowing with a faint blue LED when touched. The side was a tempered glass panel, putting the internal wiring and cooling loops on full display.
Nice. These "showcase PCs" always get the heart rate up.
I checked the I/O panel on the back. Four USB 3.2 Gen2 ports, two USB-C, one Thunderbolt 4, 2.5GbE LAN, and Wi-Fi 6E antenna terminals. Seven full-size expansion slots. The power supply was a SuperFlower LEADEX Titanium 1600W Pro. I’ve always been a fan of builds with plenty of overhead.
I set it on the desk and hooked up the monitor. For this setup, I went with an Acer Predator X34GS. It’s a 34-inch UWQHD (3440×1440) beast, 180Hz, G-SYNC compatible. With a 1900R curvature, the immersion makes it feel like the screen is wrapping around your field of vision.
I plugged in the DisplayPort cable and the power cord. For the peripherals, a REALFORCE R3 keyboard and a Logitech G PRO X Superlight 2 mouse. Both are peak performance in terms of response time and tactile feel.
"Here goes nothing..."
I tapped the power button.
A soft whir echoed through the room.
The silent fans began to spin, and the internal ARGB lighting pulsed with a soft glow. The boot logo flashed, and I dove straight into the BIOS.
CPU check... Good, it’s recognized correctly.
I did consider going with a Ryzen. Those things are monsters when it comes to multi-threaded brute force, and the gaming performance of the 3D V-Cache is hard to ignore. But when it comes to city builders and architectural sims, single-thread performance is king.
Speed is justice.
That’s why I went with Intel this time.
A Core i9-14900KS.
The current world champion of single-core performance, with P-cores that can boost up to 6.2GHz. Its instantaneous processing power is currently unrivaled. There’s something deeply satisfying about a CPU that just handles everything through sheer, overwhelming force. And this isn't just any 14900KS. This is a binned "golden sample" that has been delidded, with liquid metal applied under the integrated heat spreader.
To keep that beast in check, I used a custom AIO liquid cooler with a massive 420mm radiator. Usually, the KS model is a space heater that glues itself to 100 degrees Celsius, but this setup keeps it in the 80s even under full load across all cores. Brute-force cooling is the best kind of cooling.
I didn't compromise on the GPU either. An NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Founders Edition.
The strongest GPU in existence. Its specs make it look less like a graphics card and more like a small nuclear reactor.
16,384 CUDA cores.
A boost clock of 2.52GHz.
24GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, with a bandwidth of 1008GB/s.
A 72MB L2 cache.
Fourth-gen Tensor cores and third-gen RT cores.
Full support for DLSS 3.5 frame generation.
It pulls 450W. The auxiliary power is a single 12VHPWR (16-pin) connector, but in practice, it’s a monstrous setup using a four-way adapter. The cooling is handled by dual axial fans and a gargantuan heatsink, bringing the card’s total weight to about 2.2kg. Just putting it in the case makes it look like a structural wall.
Between the CPU and the GPU, this is the strongest hardware money can buy right now. If a city builder lags on this, it’s the game’s fault, not mine.
Windows booted up, and I ran through the initial setup. I opened Device Manager to make sure every part was being recognized properly. Temperatures were stable. The GPU was idling at 32°C, the CPU at 28°C. The airflow in this case is excellent.
"Alright... no problems so far."
I shut it down once to remove the glass side panel. The internal wiring was already clean, but I wanted to add some personal touches.
First, the memory.
I pulled out the extra DDR5-6400 32GB sticks I’d bought. G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB. The texture of the heatspreaders is beautiful, and the lighting is subtle and classy. Normally, getting four sticks of DDR5 to run stably at 6400MT/s is a nightmare, but this CPU’s integrated memory controller is a binned masterpiece with insane tolerance. There’s a certain thrill in having 128GB of high-speed memory at your disposal.
I clicked them into the slots. 128GB total. Between video editing and virtual environments, I can’t even imagine a future where I run out of physical RAM.
Next... the second GPU.
The highlight of this build. To run a dual RTX 4090 setup, I pulled an ASUS TUF RTX 4090 OC Edition out of its box. It weighed 3.6kg. The heatsink was massive, taking up 3.65 slots.
Normally, consumer CPUs don't have enough PCIe lanes, meaning a second GPU would suffer from bandwidth issues. However, this motherboard is a specialized multi-layer board equipped with a PLX chip—a PCIe switch. It effectively expands the lanes, allowing two 4090s to sync at nearly full bandwidth.
I installed a riser cable to mount the GPU vertically. The presence of two 4090s is overwhelming. The inside of the case is basically just a black wall of hardware now.
Heh... perfect. There’s nothing more fun than a needlessly powerful build.
Next, I expanded the monitor setup. I had three ready to go:
Acer Predator X34GS (Main)
ASUS ProArt PA279CV (Sub 1: For color accuracy)
BenQ ZOWIE XL2546K (Sub 2: 240Hz for gaming)
Three screens total. My desk has officially become a command center. I connected the DisplayPort and HDMI cables, bundling them neatly in the back. Aesthetics are just as important as performance.
"Okay... she’s built."
I flipped the switch. Both 4090s lit up simultaneously, bathing the interior of the case in a spectrum of colors. The fans were surprisingly quiet.
"This is great."
I couldn't help but smirk. Now, it was time for benchmark hell.
First up... 3DMark.
I launched Time Spy Extreme. Dual 4090s, a 14900KS, and 128GB of RAM. With this configuration, a score over 30,000 shouldn't be out of the question.
Heavy machinery and flame effects filled the screen. GPU usage on both cards hovered between 98 and 99%. Temperatures stayed at 68°C and 71°C. The fans were spinning, but they weren't screaming.
The TUF cooling really is top-tier.
Test finished.
Time Spy Extreme Score: 31,482.
"Ha... what a monster."
Next was Port Royal, the ray-tracing specialist.
Light reflections, refractions, shifting shadows—when the 4090’s RT cores actually try, the screen starts looking like reality.
Port Royal Score: 25,901.
DLSS 3.5 frame generation is definitely doing work here.
Finally, Speed Way. The latest stress test designed to push GPUs to their limit.
Speed Way Score: 12,884.
"Phew. Not bad."
Time for some real-world gaming tests.
Let’s try Cyberpunk 2077.
Settings: Ray Tracing Overdrive. DLSS 3.5 and Frame Generation ON. Resolution: UWQHD (3440×1440).
The neon lights of Night City glowed more vibrantly than the real world. The sheer violent rendering power of the dual 4090s turned the city into something that felt alive.
Average FPS: 182.
Yeah. This is the kind of world I wanted to see.
Next: Cities: Skylines II.
City builders are notoriously heavy on the CPU. This was the real test for the 14900KS. I loaded a massive city save file and cranked the traffic to maximum. Most PCs would be a slideshow here, but...
Average FPS: 93.
CPU Usage: 78%.
GPU Usage: 54%.
This is it. This is exactly what I wanted.
Finally, an AI workload test to push the Tensor cores on both 4090s.
The generation speed for Stable Diffusion XL was...
0.41 seconds per image.
Way too fast.
I had a thought. Since I have the power, why not use AI to generate a city model? I launched an AI modeling suite that used the Tensor cores to generate 3D urban environments from text prompts.
I typed in the prompt:
Medieval walled city. Fountain square at the center. Surrounded by a shopping district and residential areas. Radial road layout. Farmland and windmills outside the walls.
I hit Enter.
Instantly, the screen erupted into motion. Both GPUs pegged at 100% usage. The AI generated the terrain, placed the buildings, laid the roads, and stood up the prototype of a city in mere seconds.
The speed is terrifying.
I added more detail:
Residential area: two-story wooden houses. Shopping district: stone masonry. Walls: 12 meters high, 4 meters thick. Three gates.
The AI reflected the changes immediately, refining the city’s shape. Roof angles, window placement, even the types of roadside trees were automatically optimized. I rotated the 3D view. Thanks to the dual 4090s, the shadows and lighting rendered smoothly in real-time.
"At this rate, do I even need to do anything?"
I laughed. I imported the AI-generated city directly into Cities: Skylines II. The roads, zones, and buildings converted almost perfectly.
Using AI to build the city and the game to run it... it’s the ultimate setup.
By the time I finished all the tests, it was pitch black outside. I turned off the room lights, leaving only the soft glow of the monitors. The three displays wrapped around me like a cockpit.
The Time Spy score screen.
The neon of Cyberpunk.
The sprawling metropolis of Cities: Skylines II.
The new city the AI had birthed.
"Perfect."
I leaned back in my chair, staring at the monitors in the dark room. The faint hum of the fans only added to the satisfaction.
With this... city building is going to be a lot more fun.
I narrowed my eyes slightly, losing myself in the view of my own private command center.