All-new! Affordable AMD Ryzen mid-tower workstation for eight monitors
Choice of affordable Ryzen 8000G CPUs or high-performance Ryzen 7000 CPUs (6 to 16 cores)
Fast networking: 2.5 Gbps wired Internet + 2.4 Gbps Wi-Fi 6E

AMD Ryzen 7000 high-performance processors:

· AMD's fastest desktop CPUs, 31% faster than Ryzen 5000 series
· Superior Windows 10 performance vs Intel
· Top thermal efficiency: highest performance per watt, quieter cooling
· Top gaming performance with "X3D" CPU models

Stratosphere Express R8 now features AMD's fastest desktop CPUs, AMD Ryzen 7000 series, with performance gains of 31% or more over AMD's popular Ryzen 5000 series.

Powered by AMD Ryzen 7000 CPUs, Stratosphere Express R8 offers similar price/performance to our Stratosphere Express systems powered by Intel's 14th Gen Core CPUs.

Compared to Intel 14th Gen Core CPUs, AMD Ryzen 7000 CPUs offer higher thermal efficiency, demanding less power and generating less heat to deliver their peak performance. For example, the Ryzen 7 7700X CPU consumes up to 142W power, which is 77W less than Intel Core i7-14700 CPU demands for similar performance. The lower power consumption results in quieter cooling when using the same CPU cooler and also lowers power bills.

AMD Ryzen 7000 CPUs are fast in both Windows 11 or Windows 10, with little difference in performance. We recommend AMD Ryzen 7000 CPUs over Intel CPUs when running Windows 10, because Intel's hybrid CPU architecture and Intel Thread Director feature require Windows 11 support for best multitasking performance.

Stratosphere Express R8 offers a choice of four AMD Ryzen 7000 CPUs designed for top productivity performance:

• AMD Ryzen 5 7600X with 6 cores / 12 threads, 4.7 - 5.3GHz
• AMD Ryzen 7 7700X with 8 cores / 16 threads, 4.5 - 5.4GHz
• AMD Ryzen 9 7900X with 12 cores / 24 threads, 4.7 - 5.6GHz
• AMD Ryzen 9 7950X with 16 cores / 32 threads, 4.5 - 5.7GHz

Benchmark performance tests confirm that multithreaded performance scales up in proportion to the number of CPU cores:

The test above shows maximum performance when each CPU core is fully engaged. The magnitude of real-world performance differences will vary depending on workload, due to some software processes (single-threaded operations) not taking advantage of more than one CPU core. In general, CPUs with a higher number of CPU cores are less likely to get bogged down by competing software processes.

AMD Ryzen 8000G CPUs: affordable high performance

New AMD Ryzen 8000G CPUs started shipping in February 2024 and offer important advantages:

• Industry-best efficiency, with only 65W - 88W power consumption
• Integrated AMD CPU cooler, saving $99 for an aftermarket cooler upgrade
• Lowest total cost (with CPU cooler) for Ryzen 5 or Ryzen 7 CPU
• Industry-fastest integrated graphics: AMD Radeon 740M graphics

Stratosphere Express R8 offers a choice of three AMD Ryzen 8000G CPUs:

• AMD Ryzen 5 8500G with 6 cores / 12 threads, 3.5 - 5.0 GHz
• AMD Ryzen 5 8600G with 6 cores / 12 threads, 4.3 - 5.0 GHz
• AMD Ryzen 7 8700G with 8 cores / 16 threads, 4.2 - 5.1 GHz

Benchmark performance tests confirm that multithreaded performance scales up in proportion to the number of CPU cores and base clock speed, with Ryzen 7 8700G ($199 upgrade) offering up to 48% faster performance than the base-level Ryzen 5 8500G:

AMD Ryzen 7000 X3D CPUs for top gaming performance

Standard AMD Ryzen 7000 CPUs deliver very good performance for a mix of productivity and gaming use. For the very best gaming performance, at some expense to productivity performance, choose one AMD's X3D models. The X3D models feature AMD 3D V-Cache Technology and deliver the very best gaming performance, exceeding both standard Ryzen 7000 CPUs and also Intel desktop processors.

AMD offers three X3D-enhanced Ryzen 7000 CPU options:

• AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D with 8 cores / 16 threads, 4.2 - 5.0GHz
• AMD Ryzen 9 7900X3D with 12 cores / 24 threads, 4.4 - 5.6GHz
• AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D with 16 cores / 32 threads, 4.2 - 5.7GHz

These models command a price premium over standard models and should be chosen only if you prioritize the very fastest gaming performance. Productivity performance is actually reduced 1% to 5% with the X3D editions. The chart below shows multithreaded performance in non-gaming applications:

Gaming benchmark tests show that the X3D editions deliver up to 29% frame-rate increases compared to the equivalent standard Ryzen 7000 CPU, while also leapfrogging Intel's fastest CPUs for gaming performance. In some tests the most affordable Ryzen 7 7800X3D delivered the fastest gaming performance, making this CPU a "best buy" for gaming.

Great expansion, connectivity and reliability:
ASUS TUF B650-PLUS WIFI motherboard

Above: Stratosphere Express R8 new motherboard, ASUS TUF B650-PLUS WIFI
Click to enlarge image  ·  View annotated highlights of motherboard features

Stratosphere Express R8 features the full-featured, reliable ASUS TUF B650-PLUS WIFI motherboard. This full-size ATX motherboard has many outstanding features, including:

• Military-grade components certified to MIL-SPEC durability standards though rigorous endurance testing
• Two triple-slot graphics card slots supporting dual graphics cards with large coolers; top slot PCIe 4.0 x16 (x16 mode), bottom slot PCIe 4.0 x16 (x4 mode)
• Four DDR5 RAM slots supporting up to 192GB fast DDR5 memory
• Ultra-fast Gen5 SSD support for primary M.2 slot; PCIe 5.0 x4, 128Gb/s and up to 12,400 MB/s sequential transfer rate
• Triple M.2 SSD slots for primary, secondary and backup storage; configurable for up to 12TB total storage; integrated heatsinks to dissipate heat from SSDs; 1× PCIe 5.0 x4 slot (Gen5); 2× PCIe 4.0 x4 slots (Gen4)
• 2.5 Gb/s LAN port for fast Internet connections
• Wi-Fi 6 (up to 2.4 Gb/s) with desktop antenna for reliable backup Internet connection (use phone as hotspot); also Bluetooth 5.2
• USB-C front and rear including two rear USB-C ports (20Gb/s and 10Gb/s speed)
• 6 additional rear USB-A ports: 2× USB 3.2 Gen2 (10Gb/s), 4× USB 2.0
• Clean audio: Realtek 7.1 Surround Sound High Definition Audio with 108 dB signal-to-noise ratio for stereo output
• Stable power management: 12(60A)+2(60A)+2 power stages with enlarged VRM heatsinks

Standard / optional operating systems

• Windows 11 Home 64-bit (standard)
• Windows 11 Pro
• Windows 10 Home and Pro

Industry-leading multi-monitor software

• UltraView Desktop Manager 3.0 software:
  14 industry-leading features for power users
• Now updated for Windows 11!
• See feature list on right column of this page

32GB - 192GB DDR5 memory

• Base memory: 32GB DDR5-4800
• Memory capacity: 192GB (4 DIMM slots)