The new Asus ROG NUC 16 is the kind of device you need to experience firsthand to truly appreciate what this console-sized PC is capable of. Thankfully, while everyone else at the ROG 20th anniversary event made their way upstairs toward the DJ, I slipped away for some one-on-one time with this mini gaming PC. I’m incredibly glad I did, because the raw performance packed into this tiny case completely blew me away.

Even though we’re dealing with just a 3-liter case here, Asus has managed to pack this device full of powerful components. From an Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX processor to up to a Nvidia RTX 5080 Laptop GPU and even 128GB of DDR5 memory fully configured, the ROG NUC 16 is no slouch.

My favorite thing this time around is that in addition to the standard black, it now also comes in white. However, if you prefer black but want something different, there’s always the even more powerful ROG NUC 16 Edition 20 which features gold accents all around like the new ROG Xbox Ally X20 I checked out when I first arrived at Computex 2026.

So what can a console-sized mini PC with all the latest components actually pull off gameplay-wise? Quite a lot. If the Steam Machine just doesn’t seem like it has enough power to make your living room PC gaming dreams come true, then the ROG NUC 16 could be just what you’re looking for.

Asus ROG NUC 16 Specs

Console-sized PC power

On the front of the ROG NUC 16, there are two high-speed USB-A ports and a USB-C port along with a 3.5mm audio jack. There’s also a lightstrip above the power button with ROG branding on the right.

One big difference this time around is that Asus has completely redesigned the ROG NUC 16’s stand. Instead of having to manually screw it in like on the ROG NUC 970 I reviewed a few years ago, you now get a removable one made of two pieces that works in both vertical and horizontal orientations.

At the same time, the ROG NUC 16 now knows which orientation it’s in thanks to the G-sensor in its motherboard. Depending on which orientation you have the device in, its triple-fan QuietFlow cooling system will adjust accordingly for the best airflow.

Around back is where things really get interesting with the ROG NUC 16. On the left, you have all your video-out ports from the Nvidia GPU inside which include dual HDMI 2.1, dual DisplayPort 2.1 and a Thunderbolt 4 port. Then on the right, there are four more high-speed USB-A ports and a 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet port.

I’ve tested larger mini PCs like the Framework Desktop with fewer USB-A ports, so I really like how Asus has given you more than enough for all your peripherals. The ROG NUC 16 has an impressive selection of ports and powerful components inside but how well does it game? That’s what I was about to find out.

Small footprint, max graphics

At its ROG 20th Anniversary Event, Asus had all of its standard devices launching at Computex 2026 set up in the main room and the special edition ones for the anniversary in a smaller room off to the side.

What I liked about the ROG NUC 16 setup in particular was how I could see both the black and white version on either side and try it out in the middle. While I couldn’t switch between games like I could on the ROG Xbox Ally X20, Capcom’s Pragmata was already loaded up and ready to go. While I had read my colleague Tony Polanco’s review, I didn’t have a chance to play it myself, so this was great.

When playing with a mouse and keyboard, the game ran buttery smooth on the ROG NUC 16. It looked great too, especially as this mini gaming PC was paired with a 27-inch ROG Swift OLED gaming monitor.

One thing that really surprised me was that I didn’t hear a peep out of the ROG NUC 16 while playing. Since it had likely been running for hours before I got to try it, I figured the fans would have ramped up by now. However, with three active cooling fans and dual vapor chambers instead of standard copper heat pipes, the ROG NUC 16 feels like the kind of mini PC you can game on for hours without having to put on one of the best gaming headsets to drown out fan noise.

Obviously we’ll need to get one in for testing and put it through the paces at home. However, during my brief time with the ROG NUC 16, I was quite impressed with its performance overall. After skipping last year’s ROG NUC 2025, going from the ROG NUC 970 to this one was a massive improvement and all my previous gripes have been fixed. Well, all but one of them.

Portability has a price

Back when I first tried out one of Asus’ ROG NUC mini gaming PCs, the top-tier configuration was expensive at $1,799 for the ROG NUC 970. However, it wasn’t out of reach for those who wanted a premium mini PC they could game on and easily throw into a backpack to take with them anywhere. In the years since though, the price of an ROG NUC has climbed steadily upward.

For instance, last year’s ROG NUC 2025 launched with a base price of around $3,200. Unfortunately, this new ROG NUC 16 is even more expensive with a starting price of $3,799 for the baseline configuration. Then if you want the Moonlight White model seen here, you’re going to be paying even more at $4,700. Now Asus isn’t entirely to blame for this as due to RAMaggeddon, component prices just keep going up and up.

Will the ROG NUC 16 be worth it for most people? Probably not. Keep in mind that you’re paying a higher price for a premium machine you can take with you anywhere. Also, thanks to its new design and how Asus has reworked its cooling, the ROG NUC 16 will stay quiet under load while similarly-specced mini gaming PCs will sound like a jet engine under load.

If you’re looking for that console aesthetic but prefer to play on PC, then you might want to take a look at the Minisforum G1 Pro I recently reviewed. It is slightly larger but still smaller than a PS5 Pro by a fair margin when standing vertically. However, unlike the ROG NUC 16, it has an internal power supply instead of a large power brick and you can actually upgrade its graphics card since it uses a standard — albeit mini-sized — desktop GPU.

For those with money to spend who are short on space or travel overseas for extended periods, the ROG NUC 16 is the most powerful mini gaming PC you can get right now. And thanks to its powerful components, it will smoke any console, well at least until the PS6 and next Xbox arrive in a few years.

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The Steam Controller launched last week and sold out in less than 30 minutes. As expected, eBay listings went live shortly after, with the peripheral marked up by hundreds of dollars. Valve has since implemented a queue system for Steam Controller orders, and if a recent rumor is true, the company will do the same for the upcoming Steam Machine.

As Wccftech reports, a new leak suggests that Valve is bringing back the reservation queue system—the same one used for the Steam Deck’s launch. That alone is interesting, but the leak also suggests how many versions of the PC/console hybrid we should expect.

For those who don’t know, the reservation queue is tied to a vetted Steam account. By requiring a purchase history or a verified account, Valve can prevent scalpers from using thousands of burner bots to swarm checkout pages. Those who’ve had active Steam accounts for an unspecified amount of time will get priority on the line. Anyone trying to flip a console on eBay for a 300% markup will be out of luck.

One of the more interesting details from this alleged leak is that there will be four distinct models. Valve has confirmed 512GB and 2TB models, but we can make educated guesses about the other two. As Wccftech notes, one could have 1TB of storage, while the other could be a bundle with the Steam Controller. I agree with this assessment.

The big question about the Steam Machine is its price. Given the ongoing RAM crisis, it’s safe to assume Valve is waiting as long as possible before revealing the official cost. If the company can keep prices in the $599 to $899 range, it would certainly undercut the PS5 Pro, which now costs $899 after PS5 price hikes.

Given the unofficial nature of this story, please take it with a healthy dose of skepticism. We’ll keep you updated on any further developments, so stay tuned for more!

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At some point towards the end of last year, it was becoming clear to anyone wanting to get into PC gaming that a prebuilt was becoming more cost effective than building from scratch. And out of all the towers I’ve tested — for not just performance but bang for your buck (if that’s even a thing anymore) — iBuyPower is ranking high with the RDY Element 9 Pro R07.

Sporting a respectably powerful spec pairing of AMD’s Ryzen 7 7800X3D CPU and Radeon RX 9070 XT GPU, alongside 32GB of DDR5 RAM, recreating this kind of setup on PC Parts Picker would set you back about $2,300-$2,400. But thanks to thinking ahead and stocking up, this team’s able to get that for $250 lower than the average builder cost.

Are these costs still problematic? Yes. The RAM price crisis is something that will continue to hit hard (at least until the AI bubble bursts). However, in a space where we’re searching every nook and cranny for even a whiff of value in computing, it’s good to see a premium desktop tower like this with a three-year warranty and impressive cooling stamina coming in at this price in 2026.

From that striking design of the case that showcases your components almost like a neon museum to the performance potential, this is one of the best gaming PCs you can snag right now.

iBuyPower RDY Element 9 Pro R07: Cheat Sheet

• What is it? This is a pre-built gaming PC.
• Who is it for? This is for the “serious but not extreme” gamers — with specs sitting firmly in the mid-to-high tier.
• What does it cost? You can snag this for $2,049. The site says it’s discounted from $2,349, but it’s rarely on sale at full price.
• What do we like? This is a stylish tower with plenty of RGB chic, which reveals the impressive cooling that is sure to keep all those high performance components running at max sustained speed across all your favorite AAA titles.
• What don’t we like? The keyboard and mouse, while nice to have, are rather basic, and the lighting customization is a little limited.

iBuyPower RDY Element 9 Pro R07: Specs

iBuyPower RDY Element 9 Pro R07: The ups

The Radeon RX 9070 XT is a personal favorite gaming GPU of mine, so to get an entire pre-built around this card has been a lot of fun to daily drive! But iBuyPower’s work extends so much further than that.

It’s quite the looker

I’ve seen a lot of RGB-laden pre-builts that do a good job of showing off all those components inside your case, but this is on a different level. The two sides of glass give you a full glorious view of everything going on inside — rather than just a small window.

And the end result is an unmistakably premium aesthetic that feels much more modern compared to other simpler tower cases. Though fair warning, that glass is a fingerprint magnet!

And, since it’s a gaming PC, of course there’s plenty of RGB to inject some vibrancy into affairs here. Of course, if you’re more of a fan of subtlety, this may be very in your face — at which point you should get Asus Armoury Crate software installed to tweak some of the lighting controls.

But being honest, as someone who has been an RGB doubter, I’m quietly impressed and often catch myself staring at the four swirling 120mm fans illuminating the outer regions and the XPG RAM sticks pulsating.

As for the convenience of it, the side glass is completely screwless and can be removed easily, ports are conveniently placed on the front, and while it’s rather heavy at over 35 pounds, the dimensions keep it easy enough to carry.

Impressively performant

The Element 9 Pro sits right in that “I want a beast, but I’m not insane” bracket, and what you get at this level is stellar 1440p gaming performance that can be cranked up to 4K. I normally use my tower in a dual setup kind of layout — connected by DisplayPort to the Alienware’s AW2752Q monitor, and then by HDMI to my TV to get both desk and couch gaming.

Starting with the desk, this combo of CPU, GPU and RAM makes this quite a workhorse for content creation and AI-infused productivity. Not all the way (Nvidia GPUs still have a lead with the way they use cores to optimize to renders and edits), but more than enough.

Moving over to gaming, and without any of the FSR Redstone AI trickery turned on, you’re able to get a solid 4K picture at the highest detail. Though it's worth saying AMD GPUs always struggle a bit with ray tracing compared to Nvidia.

With FSR features turned on, that frame rate immediately accelerates with resolution scaling.

AMD’s tech has been going from strength to strength, and while Nvidia’s DLSS maintains a healthy lead in terms of virtually eliminating any of the telltale signs like ghosting and picture smearing, FSR comes damn close. Even when blown up on a giant TV, you’d struggle to notice it without some slow-motion pixel peeping.

Great warranty protection

One of the things that can often get ignored in the initial purchase of a shiny new PC is the long-term life of it, and that’s where the warranty comes in. iBuyPower offers a rather impressive three years of labor and two years of parts protection.

The company will handle diagnostics and repair within those three years, or replace defective components within the two. Of course, you’ll be using your PC for much longer than this, which is where the lifetime technical support comes in.

Doing a test call with the company’s technical support was a rapid process through the phone line’s menu tree, and a human assistant quickly resolved my faked issue of ever so slightly unseating a RAM stick. That’s great reassurance for such a high value purchase.

Oh, and speaking of longevity, shout-out to not pre-installing the GPU. Yes, that does mean that you have to follow a guide and install it yourself (the screws to attach it to the back panel of the case can be a little awkward to get to), but it also reduces packaging and ensures that PCIe slot isn’t stressed in transport.

iBuyPower RDY Element 9 Pro R07: The downs

So far so good, but it’s not all perfect out the box for the Element 9 Pro.

Mid keyboard and mouse

On one hand, I shouldn’t complain. The fact the Element 9 Pro comes with an included RGB gaming keyboard and optical mouse is quite the nice-to-have that other companies don’t provide.

But the faster you can upgrade to one of the best mechanical keyboards and best gaming mice, the better. The membrane switches on the keyboard feel a little mushy and slow on the depress — not great for fast-paced multiplayer. And there is definitely a cheap plasticky feel across the board and mouse.

RAMageddon has impacted this price

Viewing this in a vacuum of where we stand in 2026, this is a decent price. But we can’t ignore the fact that configurations of this level have gone up roughly $350-$400 since summer 2025. The RAM price crisis has hit pre-builts hard, and while iBuyPower is doing well to buy in bulk to get ahead of these issues, every time they have to comes with a cost penalty.

So the time on this price is surely running out before it goes up again!

iBuyPower RDY Element 9 Pro R07: Verdict

But at the end of the day, this is one of the best pre-built towers I’ve ever tested. The RDY Element 9 Pro R07 packs impressive performance into a gorgeous design with impressive long-term support and even a 60-day return period too.

And the liquid-cooled gaming ensures long-term stability of the performance, while looking fly as hell too.

Desktop PCs are getting expensive — you can thank the RAM pricing crisis for that. But there are cost efficiencies you can make here and there to get a monster tower for cheaper. The answer? Go boring and ditch the RGB tax.

I’ve been testing the RTX 5080 version of the Dell Tower Plus, which my colleague Alex reviewed and gave 4 stars. One look at Dell’s website (U.K — no points for guessing where I'm from based on my last name), and you’ll find it at £2,500. To get a gamer-centric equivalent, the Alienware Aurora R16 with the same spec comes in at well over £3,000.

And the situation is similar in the U.S. too. The RTX 5060 Ti-armed version of the Dell Tower Plus costs $1,769 to the $2,099 of the Aurora

So in a world where we’re all looking for ways to cut costs and get the maximum bang for our buck, I’m here to defend the dullness. While it’s not as clear cut when you get into the details (cooling being one particular example), it’s proving more cost-effective to get a more basic tower specced out the wazoo over a gaming beast. Let me explain.

Bland is the brand

The Dell Tower Plus is super unassuming — I mean look at it. As Alex said in his review, it is “a breath of forgettable fresh air,” and I agree. The aesthetic is basic and utilitarian in nature, and that’s A-OK with me.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I am a sucker for good RGB and well-presented components through a tempered glass side (you’ll see as much in Terry the Tom’s Guide test bench). But given the chances your tower will go underneath your desk, all that pizazz would just be wasted on illuminating the floor.

Instead, this low-key look just kind of fades into the background of your desk nicely, while also keeping its considerable power a secret. Honestly, I’m here for it.

Near-parity for less

And speaking of that “considerable power” I took a look inside to see an Intel Core Ultra 9 285K, 32GB of DDR5 RAM, 1TB of storage and an RTX 5080 GPU. All of it is popped onto a proprietary motherboard, which for those more confident, you could get into and tinker. But it’s meant to be for Dell only to touch under its warranty. This is the cost of affordability.

But the end result is seriously impressive performance that matches up to its gaming ilk while staying quiet (more on that in a second).

Another thing to point out is the cooling solution here. While the Alienware Aurora R16 does have an all-in-one cooler and a couple 120mm fans to keep everything tip top, the Dell Tower Plus has a far simpler cooling solution with a fan at the back and large CPU cooler.

When I took the side off and looked at the way it manages thermals, I was shocked by how quiet it had been the entire time. Not only that, but CPU and GPU temperatures never exceeded the maximum (160-degrees Fahrenheit) that we saw in testing the Alienware Aurora R16.

As Alex said, this is “a wolf in corporate sheep’s clothing,” and Dell’s really thought about everything here.

Where does the extra money go?

When it comes to gaming pre-builts, the premium often comes in the flash of it all. The price of all those key components are all relatively fixed — you’re investing in three key things here:

• A fancy case: That unique, flashy case is usually designed and tooled to be eye-catching for gamers. If you don’t need that edginess, you can save some money.
• The brand name: A brand like Alienware or Asus ROG carries a premium cost with it, so opting for Dell here may have chopped some change off the total price too.
• Advanced (and often unnecessary) features: Outside of that premium lighting, you’ve got a more advanced cooling solution, too. But given temperatures weren’t that different at all, skipping it is another cost-saving measure you can make.

That’s not to say this is all pointless. If you want the flashiness, go right ahead. I won’t deny gaming PCs look cool! But it’s a corner you can cut without sacrificing power but reducing the price you pay.

Should you play it safe (and boring)?

So this is my case for choosing an office box over a spaceship — a boring desktop tower over the gaming PC. RG-be damned, because you could take that $200 saving, get yourself a 4K monitor like the Gigabyte M27UP and make the most of that RTX 5080.

Are there downsides? Sure — the same issues you’d get with any pre-built. Lack of modular customizability and the use of proprietary parts being chief among them.

But as is becoming clear at the moment, it’s now cheaper to go pre-built over building yourself at the moment (thanks RAMageddon). And dodging the RGB-laden options is another way to save yourself some cash while still getting the same sustained performance.

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Whenever a friend came to me asking for gaming PC advice, my tip was always the same: build it yourself. Beyond it (normally) being cheaper, there’s just something so therapeutically satisfying about putting it all together yourself and watching it leap into life.

But we’re in a crisis situation for PC components — RAM prices have exploded and SSD costs are following, and for the first time since I can remember, it’s actually cheaper to just get a pre-built PC than it is to build it yourself. Let me talk you through my investigation.

By the numbers

I went to my trusty go-to source whenever I start planning a PC build — PC Part Picker — to figure things out. Let’s start with replicating this modest MSI RTX 5050 system on Newegg, which is currently $829.

Running it through PC Part Picker, matching the exact components where I can, before even adding a power supply and case, we’ve already blown past that price at a total cost of $895.07.

And it’s the same for other systems, too.

• First, let’s start with this Skytech Azure Gaming desktop — coming with AMD Ryzen 7 7700 CPU, RTX 5060 Ti GPU with 16GB of video memory, 32GB DDR5 RAM and a 1TB PCIe Gen 4.0 SSD. Other things to consider are the 650W Gold-rated power supply and the air cooler. Currently, it’s $1,299 (down from $1,449). The total cost on PC Part Picker for either identical components or as close as I can get is $1,455.63.
• This AMD variant of the Skytech Azure Gaming desktop packs an AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D CPU, Radeon RX 9070 XT GPU, 32GB DDR5 RAM and a 2TB SSD. On Newegg, it’s $1,899. On PC Part Picker, a near-identical configuration is $1,975.65.

But the one that floored me personally was heading over to the Alienware store. Dell’s pre-builds are cool and all, but they do come with a hefty premium cost. Currently, the company has an RTX 5070 Ti build for $1,529 — packing Intel Core Ultra 7 265F, 16GB DDR5 RAM and a 1TB SSD.

Finding the individual parts (I had to do a little poking around to find the cheapest RTX 5070 Ti on Newegg, as it’s not on PC Part Picker), the DIY cost ended up over $200 more expensive, and that's without a case.

This is accurate as of the time and date of writing: 7 a.m. ET on Friday, December 5. I followed every spec, but there will be some differences in cases, coolers, component brands and power supplies. In these situations, I opted for the cheapest option I could find.

Why are pre-builds cheaper?

It comes down to one key thing: stock. Most retailers and computing brands will have these ready-made and good to go from their warehouses — using the stockpile of RAM and SSDs they already have on their books.

A lot of companies saw this starting to happen and managed to get their orders in early enough to keep themselves sort of protected from what’s happening now, which is why you see the price differential. If you were to buy parts now, you’re buying at the current market price.

Going the DIY route used to be the lower-cost way, because the added cost of the company building it is removed (you build it yourself after all). But the massively rising cost of RAM has brought it to the point where the time to build it yourself is actually more expensive than just getting someone else to do it for you.

But this won’t last long

Stockpiles dry up, and demand is high. While there are some decent pre-builds you can get right now, they won’t be around for long. You’ve already seen this from PC builders like CyberPowerPC and Maingear, who have issued start warnings about price changes coming as early as December 7.

So it’s only a matter of time until bigger retailers start to raise prices, too. As I've said, orders of RAM from the two key fabrication plants still making consumer memory are fully booked throughout 2026. This problem will only get worse.

Rather than dwell, this is Tom’s Guide, and I’m here to give actionable consumer advice. If you were looking for a new gaming PC and you’re bewildered by the insane cost to build one yourself, here are the pre-built PCs I personally recommend to save you a bit of cash — before things get a whole lot pricier.

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The 2025 Dell Tower Plus ($749 to start) is a remarkably customizable desktop PC packed into an unassuming tower case that looks ripped from a '90s PC magazine ad.

Personally, I love the look of the Tower Plus PCs because I review gaming PCs for a living, and I'm getting tired of big, heavy cases bedecked in RGB lights and jagged edges. Our Dell Tower Plus review unit is a breath of forgettable fresh air by comparison, packing enough power to run most games well into a mid-sized white box that blends right into your desk setup.

Admittedly, the included accessories aren't amazing and you can't achieve the heights of power with the Dell Tower Plus that you can with the priciest and best gaming PCs. But you can get pretty great performance from the Plus if you're willing to spend enough, and any serious PC game fan will probably want to buy their own keyboard and mouse anyway.

Dell Tower Plus review: Cheat sheet

• What is it? The Dell Tower Plus is a highly customizable desktop PC that can be anything from an inexpensive workhorse to a mid-tier gaming PC depending on how you configure it.
• What does it cost? The Tower Plus starts at $999 on Delll's website and can be upgraded to the point it costs around $3,000, but Dell runs regular sales so you can often find it for a few hundred bucks cheaper.
• Who is it for? Anyone who wants a fairly quiet, highly customizable PC in an unassuming case for a reasonable amount of money.
• What do we like? The boring case design may turn some people off, but I like how subtly the Dell Tower Plus blends into a desk. I also like the price-to-performance ratio of our review unit, and I appreciate how quietly it runs even after gaming for hours.
• What don’t we like? As much as I like the Dell Tower Plus, my big hands feel a little cramped when I'm working inside the mid-size case and not everyone will love the boxy, bland design.

Dell Tower Plus review: Specs

Dell Tower Plus review: The ups

The Dell Tower Plus may not look like much, but it's got it where it counts. After working and gaming on our review unit for a few weeks, there are a few strengths I think you need to know about.

Great for gaming (as long as you avoid 4K)

Now, that heading is a little misleading because I spent most of my time with the Dell Tower Plus review unit gaming in 4K on my LG C1 OLED TV and had a blast.

But I was playing games like Assassin's Creed Valhalla and Dying Light 2, which are a few years old at this point. And if you love playing games like that, the Dell Tower Plus review unit (and its GeForce RTX 5070 GPU) is great since it easily achieves framerates of 60+ FPS with all graphical settings cranked to the max.

When I went to play really demanding games like Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, the results weren't as great. I could still play the game just fine, but I had to dial the settings down a smidge and enable Nvidia's DLSS upscaling tech to achieve the same 60+ FPS.

Our lab testing backs this up, because while our Dell Tower Plus review unit had no trouble blowing through most games at 60+ FPS in 1080p, it was a different story when we cranked things up to 4K. While you can get decent frame rates gaming at 4K if you're willing to dial down the graphical settings a bit and rely on upscaling, you're going to struggle in demanding titles like Black Myth: Wukong and Cyberpunk 2077.

As you can see from the results table, our Dell Tower Plus review unit couldn't quite keep up with the Alienware Aurora (Intel Core Ultra 265KF, GeForce RTX 5070, 32GB RAM) and the HP Omen 35L (AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D, GeForce RTX 5070, 32GB RAM) gaming PCs we recently tested. But they're both more expensive as well, so the fact that they put up higher scores in these benchmark tests makes sense.

And unlike the Dell Tower Plus, most of the gaming PCs we review at Tom's Guide would immediately stand out in an office. Not so with the Tower Plus, which looks like an office PC from the '90s yet works as hard as anything you can buy today.

If you don't believe me, check out our performance testing results below. While it's a similar story in terms of the (slightly more expensive) Alienware and HP outperforming the Dell, the scores are neck-and-neck—with Dell's Tower Plus holding its own in terms of CPU performance, SSD speed and video editing chops.

Some of these tests, like the Geekbench 6 benchmark, are synthetic tests that assign the PC a score based on how effectively it can compete a series of tasks. But others, like our video editing test, are real-world tests that evaluate things like how long it takes the PC to transcode a 4K video file down to 1080p.

As you can see from the results, you can expect decent performance from a Dell Tower Plus PC configured like our review unit. Whether you're gaming, editing photos or cutting video you should be able to count on good to great performance, especially when working at 1080p or 1440p.

Subtle, quiet performance

Another thing I really appreciate about our Dell Tower Plus review unit is how quiet it runs, even after hours of gaming.

I know because I've left it running all sorts of games for days, everything from Cyberpunk 2077 to Dying Light 2 to Baldur's Gate 3 and Doom: The Dark Ages. While performance varies depending on the game, the noise coming out of the PC is always quieter than I expect.

That's not to say it's silent, of course. I did consistently notice a low hum coming from the PC after an hour or two of gaming, which makes sense since when I put my hand near the rear of the PC after long sessions, it's often quite hot.

That's something to keep in mind if you plan to be rooting around blindly behind your PC during marathon gaming sessions. It doesn't get hot enough to burn, but after an all-nighter with Dying Light 2, I definitely felt enough heat coming off the back of the PC that I was afraid to touch it.

But even then, I barely heard more than a low hum coming from the Dell Tower Plus. While it's not silent, I am amazed at how effective this PC is at quietly cooling itself—especially when you consider how boxy the case is.

Plenty of ports

You get a nice array of ports on the Dell Tower Plus, which I appreciate because this is such a broadly customizable PC that you could need a broad variety of accessories depending on what you use it for.

On the front you get USB-A and USB-C as well as a headphone jack and SD card slot, while on the back you get more USB-A ports for accessories as well as Thunderbolt 4, HDMI on the motherboard, optical and of course an RJ-45 Ethernet jack for wired Internet speeds while gaming.

While I wish you got another USB-C port or two, I was repeatedly impressed with how easy it was to connect and disconnect gadgets as I moved our Dell Tower Plus review unit around to different testing setups.

Dell Tower Plus review: The downs

If you can't tell already, I'm quite fond of the Dell Tower Plus and its low-key office chic design. But there is a downside to this compact, chunky case.

Innards are a little frustrating to access

It's hardly a deal-breaker, but I did want to quickly point out that the compact interior of our Dell Tower Plus review unit made me uncomfortable about the prospect of upgrading or repairing it down the line.

That's not to say that it's a mess when you crack open the case. In fact, I found the interior of our review unit to be clean and neatly organized when I opened it up to peer inside last week.

What I also found was that my big paws had a hard time accessing components inside the case. That's probably to be expected when you buy a PC in such a compact mid-tower case, but I wanted to warn you ahead of time just in case you were planning to get your hands dirty and you have big mitts like mine.

I also wish it was a little easier to actually open the side panel and peek inside. Our Dell Tower Plus review unit has a single screw on the rear that you need to loosen in order to pop the side panel off, which only takes a minute.

But it does take a minute and typically requires a screwdriver, which is a little frustrating when many gaming PCs these days have simple cases that just require you to press a switch to open them up.

Dell Tower Plus review: Verdict

I quite like the Dell Tower Plus because it's highly customizable and pretty affordable, packing the latest components into a drab mid-tower case that blends in anywhere.

For some people that might be a deal-breaker, but for myself and others like me I think there's real appeal in having this much leeway to kit out a desktop PC. I reviewed our Dell Tower Plus like a gaming PC because that's how it's outfitted, but you can use these desktops for more than that—with prices ranging from $749 to $3,000-plus, the Dell Tower Plus can fill a wide range of roles.

That said, it can't compete with the creme de la creme of gaming machines. At time of publication the Dell Tower Plus tops out at an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 GPU, for example, which means it will never be able to outperform the best gaming PCs.

But the Dell Tower Plus doesn't cost an arm and a leg, either. Speed freaks may look elsewhere, but for the rest of us the Dell Tower Plus can be a real diamond in the rough thanks to its strong value, unassuming looks and versatile design.

For me it feels like the Millennium Falcon of gaming PCs: it may not look like much, but the Dell Tower Plus has got it where it counts.

Prebuilt or build your own? That's a question many gaming PC enthusiasts have been umming and ahing about for years, but I've been fully prepared to take the plunge by planning out a list of parts and components needed to feel the glory of building my very own desktop.

But here I am, playing Battlefield 6 in 4K at over 200 frames per second (FPS) on a prebuilt, custom-made Frontier gaming PC from Quoted Tech. And I'm perfectly happy to leave my "build-your-own" dreams behind (for now). For those after a simple plug-and-play setup, this desktop will do the trick.

The Canadian-based PC builder has made a name for itself with its various pre-built custom gaming PCs, with its Frontier desktop I received landing right in the mid-range. Well, if that's what you want, as Quoted Tech allows for plenty of customization no matter what tower you choose — all so you can find the right price for your needs.

While big brands like Alienware, MSI or Acer opt for more unique cases with flair and more specific components, Quoted Tech brings understated, minimalist towers with a range of parts that can be fitted in, and the Frontier makes it easy to take apart and customize with your own internals if needed.

Not that you'd need to, as being prebuilt, this machine comes with commendable mid-range specs, including an AMD Ryzen 7 9700X CPU, RTX 5070 GPU, Kingston Fury Beast 32GB of DDR5 RAM and a Kingston NV3 1TB SSD. Plus, the MSI Pro X870-P motherboard with Wi-Fi 7 support comes with a huge array of ports.

It's a shame Quoted Tech's PCs aren't more widely available (but they do ship to the U.S.), and there isn't much in the way of software tools to mess around with.

As a way to tinker with the PC build you want, though, and get a sleek-looking PC that runs whisper-quiet and has that pretty RGB glow that's hard not to enjoy, this Frontier gaming desktop can easily find itself as one of the best gaming PCs to grab.

Quoted Tech Frontier: Cheat sheet

• What is it? A pre-built desktop made for gaming with plenty of customization options.
• Who is it for? PC gaming enthusiasts looking for a reliable, minimalist and ready-made desktop that can be changed to fit their liking.
• What does it cost? This entirely depends on the configuration you purchase, but the Frontier is available from $1,107 at Quoted Tech's website. However, the unit I received will set you back $2,143. While it's made in Canada, it's also available to purchase in the U.S. — but only from its site (for now).
• What do we like? It's powerful performance across 1080p and 4K resolution, subtle yet stylish case that allows for cool airflow and easy customization options.
• What don’t we like? It's not quite available everywhere (no luck in the U.K., for instance), certain configurations can really bump up the price and its software tools are barebones. Oh, and only two USB-C ports?

Quoted Tech Frontier: Specs

Quoted Tech Frontier: The ups

Quoted Tech's Frontier gaming PC is a neat, well-put together that will happily fit in on a majority of desk setups, and with its impressive performance for its mid-range specs, quiet operation and subtle appeal, there's not a lot to complain about.

Performance that shines (for the price)

At the start of the year, I stated that Nvidia's RTX 5070 would be my new gold standard, and I suppose I got what I wished for. It may not be the strongest GPU around, as our RTX 5070 GPU review will tell you, but it certainly does a fine job at playing a huge range of demanding PC titles with great results in this Quoted Tech Frontier PC.

With its AMD Ryzen 7 9700X CPU, RTX 5070 graphics, 32GB of DDR5 RAM and 2TB SSD, the Frontier desktop is up to the challenge of playing demanding, popular PC titles with impressive performance. And at its just over $2,000 price tag (compared to other customizable gaming PCs like the Maingear MG-1 Ultimate, which will set you back over $500 more with similar configurations), that's a pretty good deal.

I know. From the benchmarks above, especially when compared to the RTX 5090-equipped Alienware Area 51 (that's $5,699 by the way) and Corsair Vengeance i8300 (at a whopping $7,399), this Frontier's configuration almost seems silly. But this is with 4K resolution at settings cranked up to max, and without Nvidia's DLSS 4 and multi-frame generation tech turned on.

Change to 1080p settings, which is well below what it can handle, and you'll find frame rates for Doom: The Dark Ages at 97 FPS, Cyberpunk 2077 at 73.6 FPS, Black Myth: Wukong at 55 FPS and so on. Of course, the RTX 5070 is perfect for 1440p gameplay, and I saw the Frontier handle this in its stride, too.

But in real-world testing, I was comfortably gaming on a 4K display in all of its visual splendour. I saw this when I tested Battlefield 6, and I was extremely impressed.

Even without DLSS 4 upscaling or Nvidia's AI tech, Battlefield 6 was running super smoothly with a high level of detail, as most settings were set to Ultra, with a few on High (as the game automatically set it). At 4K resolution, I was seeing frame rates hit just over 60 FPS. Not bad for an RTX 5070 graphics card, even though it only offers up 12GB of GDDR7 video memory (VRAM).

But with DLSS upscaling set to Quality, and frame generation at x4, I was seeing frame rates skyrocket to an average of 216 FPS and some beautiful landscapes amid the destruction happening around me.

Aside from gaming, though, Quoted Tech's Frontier PC does a fine job at handling multitasking and daily computing tasks thanks to its AMD Ryzen 7 9700X CPU. It may fall behind in multi-core performance in Geekbench 6 compared to the pricey top hitters, but its single-core and SSD results are pretty much similar. Plus, at three minutes for transcoding a 4K video to 1080p, that's actually the same time as an M5 MacBook Pro (yes, desktops and laptops are different, but Apple's MacBooks ain't no slouches).

As a PC for those looking for high-end gaming without needing to break the bank, and to handle work and productivity, Quoted Tech's Frontier PC will provide.

As custom as it gets

If you're just getting into gaming PCs but just don't know where to start on building one (and, of course, just want to get to playing games), Quoted Tech makes a great case to grab a prebuilt desktop instead — but with plenty to tinker with anyway.

Not only does it provide multiple configuration options upon checkout so you can find the parts that meet your budget, but its Fractal Design Pop Air Black case makes it easy to take it apart and access the components you need to change.

By simply unscrewing the side glass panel (no screwdriver required), you can get inside the PC and mix and match other internals to your liking. Of course, with the prebuilt PC you get (like the Frontier I received), you'll likely stick with those specs for a long while. But being able to modify and upgrade your rig is what gaming PCs are about, and the case makes all that possible.

I also appreciate how many of the panels are magnetically attached, making them easy to remove and clean the inevitable dust from.

Quiet as a hum

After testing many gaming laptops that sound like they're about to reach Mach 5, it's nice to hear a near-silent hum of a well-cooled, well-optimized gaming PC that doesn't scream went put under any kind of pressure.

Much of that is due to its open, ventilated design and 240MM liquid cooler, with the RGB-lit fans giving the PC space to breathe on the top and rear. Not once did I feel like I was putting my PC under too much pressure (even with 4K gameplay), as it kept the same low fan noise that I would barely even notice.

Even though the Frontier configuration I received isn't the strongest around, pushing it to its limits won't turn its fans into a jet engine, and for quiet households, that's a perk to appreciate.

Otherwise, expect a no-nonsense design to adorn your desk setup, with a particular highlight being the grilled front panel displaying an attractive RGB lighting effect that catches the eye.

Quoted Tech Frontier: The downs

The Quoted Tech Frontier offers plenty of major highlights as a prebuilt gaming PC, but it isn't all sunshine and rainbows. For one, its USB-C ports are extremely limited, and another, it would be nice to see these PCs more readily available beyond their Canadian roots and the U.S.

USB-C, where are you?

Out of the extensive ports this Frontier gaming PC offers, including a whopping 10 USB-A ports, three DisplayPort outputs, an HDMI and a connection for its Wi-Fi 7 (shark fin-like) antenna, you'd think it would be able to offer more than just two USB-C ports.

Regardless of their capabilities (USB4 with 40 GB/s transfer speeds and DP support), having just two USB-C ports leaves a sour taste. Whether it's connecting an external SSD, a wireless gaming headset with 2.4GHz connectivity or more, there isn't much to play with.

Moreover, these are all placed on the rear, as there's no access to a USB-C port on the top of the case. Annoying? Yes, but not a complete deal breaker. At the very least, there's plenty of USB-A ports to plug gaming mice, keyboards and more into.

Catch one, if you can

If you're after a prebuilt gaming PC, you'll likely find it on a third-party retailer site or on a custom PC manufacturer's site. Quoted Tech falls heavily into the latter, as its website is the only place you'll be able to build your gaming desktop of choice.

That's not such a bad thing, and other brands like MainGear follow the same suit. The problem is, you won't be able to find one at other retailers, and while it's built in Canada, there's only so many regions it's available in right now.

That includes Canada (of course), but Quoted Tech's PCs are also available to ship to customers in the U.S., which is a major plus. But for anywhere else, it's a no-go. I was lucky enough to be sent one overseas to London, but for general consumers abroad, that isn't an option.

Quoted Tech Frontier: Verdict

Building a gaming PC that matches your budget and performance needs can be a beautiful thing. But that also requires time and patience. If you're looking to tinker with a customizable desktop but prefer a plug-and-play setup to simply get to gaming, the Quoted Tech is a fantastic shout.

I'm a huge fan of the Frontier's customizability, impressive price-to-performance and near-silent performance, even if it isn't the strongest gaming PC out there. But not everyone needs RTX 5090 performance with sky-high frame rates, and for the RTX 5070 configuration I received, it does a mighty fine job.

Looking to upgrade in the future? Well, the Quoted Tech cases make it easy to pull apart and fit your own components in, which is always a welcome perk if you're interested in playing around with a desktop.

Sure, it would be nice to see more USB-C ports, but not everyone will have an easy time getting their hands on one. But, instead of a unique build from a big-brand manufacturer that may struggle to use specific components you intend to get down the line due to its case, or spending a fortune on mid-range gaming performance, the Quoted Tech Frontier is a PC that won't disappoint.

HP just announced the perfect gaming PC for me. The new HP Omen 35L Stealth Edition is a refreshed version of the HP Omen 35L I reviewed last year. In addition to updated internals, like the latest AMD CPU and Nvidia RTX 50-series GPU, this model has an all-black chassis, hence its “Stealth” moniker. This might not seem like a big deal, but to me, it’s a huge selling point.

I got to see this desktop first-hand at a recent HP event and was immediately drawn to this mid-tower. RGB lighting has become synonymous with gaming, which is all well and good, but I wouldn’t exactly call myself an RGB fan. I even turn all RGB lighting on my personal gaming rig at home. The Omen 35L Stealth Edition’s nondescript design almost makes it appear like an average office PC, which I think is quite impressive.

This PC doesn’t just have visual appeal; it also boasts components powerful enough to play the best PC games. There's a wide range of configurations, with your choice of up to a 14th Gen Intel Core or AMD Ryzen 9 CPU and up to an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 GPU. Choices for RAM and SSD storage are also plentiful.

Higher-end configurations will cost more, but the entry-level Omen 35L Stealth Edition starts at a relatively affordable $1,499. Like the previous Omen 35L, both the new model and the Stealth Edition will feature industry-standard parts, making it easier for you to upgrade or replace parts as needed. This was a big feature of the last Omen 35L, so it’s great to see HP continue this trend.

Both the standard and the Stealth Edition of the HP Omen 35L are expected to launch sometime in October. I gave the previous Omen 35L our Tom’s Guide Editor’s Choice award, so I have big hopes for its successor — especially the Stealth Edition. We’ll keep you posted with any updates, so stay tuned for more!

More from Tom's Guide

• Getting a gaming PC? 7 things you need to know before you buy
• This RTX 5090 Corsair gaming PC has redefined gaming for me
• This RTX 5090 beast is so powerful that it feels alive

The Maingear MG-1 ($1,529) is one of the company's most affordable customizable gaming PCs, at least to start, so when Maingear offered to send us one for review I kept my expectations in check.

But when the top-of-the-line MG-1 Ultimate ($5,269) that Maingear built for us finally showed up at my door, I was impressed. Before I even had a chance to plug it in and see how well it performs, I was charmed by the (fairly) portable mid-size case and the eye-catching custom panel on the front.

One of the big selling points of the MG-1 are these swappable front panels, and I love how they remind me of the old Xbox 360 faceplate days. But if that was the most exciting aspect of this gaming PC I'd quickly lose interest.

But after a month of testing and using the Maingear MG-1 Ultimate I'm pleased to report this is one of the best gaming PCs I've reviewed this year. Like most great gaming PCs it's pretty expensive, but if you can afford it you're getting a potent powerhouse that's easy to customize, easy to move and so quiet you'd barely know it was running, even after gaming for hours.

Maingear MG-1 Ultimate review: Cheat sheet

• What is it? The top-of-the-line 2025 MG-1 gaming PC from Maingear, a well-known vendor of customized gaming PCs and laptops.
• What does it cost? While the base Maingear MG-1 starts at $1,529, to order the top-of-the-line MG-1 Ultimate review unit Maingear loaned us would cost you just over $5,000.
• Who is it for? This is a mid-size gaming PC for folks who want to play the best PC games in 4K at great framerates.
• What do we like? The excellent RTX 5090-fueled performance, whisper-quiet fan noise, compact case and attractive swappable front panel make this a killer gaming PC for the office or living room.
• What don’t we like? The only thing that hurts about this loaner gaming PC (besides the high price tag) is having to return it at the end of the review.

Maingear MG-1 Ultimate review: Specs

Maingear MG-1 Ultimate (2025) review: The ups

Great for gaming in 4K

The custom MG-1 review unit that Maingear sent us is pretty expensive, but in return you get a compact, quiet gaming PC that can run many of the latest games at 4K with all the graphical settings cranked to max.

Our testing reveals that even when you do that you can often expect to get around 60 frames per second at 4K, but it's not consistent. Some of the most demanding games, like Black Myth Wukong and Cyberpunk 2077, will push this system so hard at max settings that even the RTX 5090 and AMD Ryzen 9 CPU will struggle to keep a smooth 60 frames per second at 4K.

To show you what I mean I've charted the Maingear MG-1's performance in key games below and put it up against two other pricey RTX 5090 gaming PCs we've reviewed recently, the Alienware Area 51 ($5,699 as tested) and the Corsair Vengeance i8300 ($7,399 as tested).

As you can see, the more expensive gaming PCs outperformed our Maingear MG-1 review unit by a small degree in most games. But in a few cases (namely Assassin's Creed Shadows and Red Dead Redemption 2) the Maingear actually beat out Corsair's Vengeance i8300 by a smidge.

That's a bit amazing given that the Vengeance costs over $2,000 more and is also larger and heavier, so it's more of a pain to fit into your entertainment setup. So while the Alienware Area 51 desktop comes out smelling like roses, our testing proves the Maingear MG-1 is smaller and nearly as good as the Corsair despite being far cheaper.

A similar story played out when we put the MG-1 Ultimate through our battery of general performance tests, but this time it performed a bit better compared to the more expensive Area 51 and Vengeance i8300.

As you can see from the chart of results above, our MG-1 review unit consistently outperformed either the Alienware, the Corsair or both in our Geekbench 6 CPU tests and our SSD speed test. And in our video editing test, which times how long it takes the PC to transcode a 4K video down to 1080p using Handbrake, Maingear's MG-1 Ultimate actually outperformed both the Alienware and Corsair RTX 5090 PCs.

Factor in the fact that our MG-1 review unit is cheaper and smaller than either competitor, and you start to see why I love this mid-size gaming rig.

Whisper-quiet even after gaming in 4K for hours

Another thing I love about the MG-1 Ultimate is how quiet it is, even after hours of playing games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Red Dead Redemption 2 at 4K with all settings cranked to max.

While I do hear the fans spin up after extended (1-2+ hours) gaming sessions or when the room gets quite toasty, I almost never notice them. And when I finally did, I had to fire up our Corsair Vengeance i8300 review unit to remind me what a really beastly full-sized gaming tower PC can sound like when things get hot and heavy.

The MG-1 Ultimate doesn't get terribly toasty under load, either. When I was testing the Vengeance i8300, for example, I noticed that after a few hours of PC gaming on the couch my entire living room would feel warm. By contrast, Maingear's mid-sized rig doesn't feel noticeably warm, even after hours of gaming, unless I put my hand directly against the exhaust.

Clean interior that's easy to access

I like a PC case that's neatly organized and easy to open, so I'm very happy with the MG-1 case that houses this beastly machine.

Not only does the PC run quiet and have lots of room to work inside the case, the tempered glass side panel is easy to remove once you remove the screws fastening it in place. Popping it back on is just as easy, which I really appreciate.

Maingear touts a few additional selling points for this case, including the fact that the MG-1 was designed in partnership with company co-owner, professional game streamer and former pro eSports player Michael "Shroud" Grzesiek.

That's all fine and good, but I'm more excited about the swappable magnetic front panel.

That swappable, customizable front panel is just fun

Hey, I get maybe not everyone will love the silly appeal of being able to order new swappable front panels from Maingear for $99 a pop (or $129 if you want a custom one), but I love it.

There are loads of fun designs and patterns to choose from, and the whole thing reminds me of nothing so much as the swappable faceplates we used to use on the old Xbox 360.

While it's a bit goofy that Maingear custom-printed us one with the TG logo on it for the purposes of this review, I have to admit I like seeing a pop of color on the PC when I sit down at my desk every morning.

And since the Maingear logo in the top center of the panel glows in concert with the PC's RGB settings, whatever front panel you add will feature a fun bit of RBG flair winking out from the middle.

Maingear MG-1 Ultimate review: The downs

As much as I like the 2025 Maingear MG-1 Ultimate, there is one big downside to buying one that I should make clear before wrapping up.

A gaming PC this good costs an arm and a leg

Look, I would have a hard time affording the MG-1 Ultimate that Maingear sent us for review on my journalist's salary. I could do it, but I'd probably spend half a year or more scrimping and saving to minimize the strain on my credit. Most people will likely face a similar quandary when considering whether to buy a boutique PC like the MG-1.

Now admittedly, you can get a less powerful version for thousands of dollars less—upgrading from the base RTX 5050 to the top-of-the-line GeForce RTX 5090 GPU adds over $2,500 to the price alone, for example.

And again, this high-end MG-1 Ultimate performs nearly as well or better in our testing as 2025 gaming PCs that cost hundreds or thousands more. So while it is damn expensive, if you're aiming for RTX 5090 levels of performance this might actually be a fairly canny way of maximizing what you get for your money.

Maingear MG-1 Ultimate review: Verdict

If it's not clear already, I'm quite fond of Maingear's 2025 MG-1 Ultimate.

The machine Maingear sent us for review packs a powerful AMD + Nvidia CPU/GPU combo that punches above its weight in terms of performance, and I love how quiet it remains even after hours of use.

But even when it's switched off, I like how nice the MG-1 looks on a desk (especially with a cool front panel design) and I appreciate how easy it is to move from room to room. And when it's time to upgrade or swap something out, I love that you can quickly unscrew some fasteners and pop the side panel off for easy access.

After a month with this machine I can't find anything to complain about besides the high price, and that's par for the course when you're buying high-end gaming PCs. So if that's what you're after, I highly recommend Maingear's MG-1 as one of the best I've tested in 2025.

I now want a gaming PC on my desk, and the Acer Predator Orion 7000 is to blame.

I've tested my fair share of the best gaming laptops that arrive and have always been impressed with the performance they dish out. I mean, playing AAA PC games life Cyberpunk 2077 on a portable machine, with high frame rates and equally high settings? That's very much my jam.

But there's a certain feeling of satisfaction when booting up a demanding title like Black Myth: Wukong on a tank-like, RGB-lit desktop with whirring fans and a clear view of its internals, cranking up settings to maximum and playing it at 4K resolution with frame rates going beyond 120 FPS (with DLSS 4 helping out, no less).

That's exactly what the RTX 5080-equipped Acer Predator Orion 7000 has given me, and by George, is it a delight. Do I need it? No, but as with every avid gamer who strives for peak performance, it's easily the first gaming PC I want.

This isn't to say I haven't had my own taste of gaming PCs before — I used to rock an RTX 3070 rig before hopping countries. But with Nvidia's latest RTX 50-series now out and about, it's become clear that gaming performance has reached a higher bar, and it can only be done on a desktop.

The Predator Orion 7000 is a chunky beast; just look at it compared to a PS5 above. And it isn't even the highest performance you can get out of a PC — that currently goes to the Alienware Area-51 or Corsair Vengeance i8300.

But for optimal gaming performance for a price that won't rock my socks off (though it's still something to save for), this is a desktop that I'll be trying to find an excuse to pick up for a while.

A (somewhat) fitting price

Not unlike the Predator Orion 5000, which sits as one of the best gaming PCs for value, this 7000 model comes in at a fitting price. Well, as "fitting" as it can be for a latest-gen desktop at £3,299 , as that's still quite the expense. (There's no U.S. pricing yet, but I can imagine it being around a similar $3,299.)

Considering an Alienware Area-51 with similar specs will set you back $3,749, while the beastly Corsair Vengeance i8300 with an RTX 5090 is at a whopping $7,399, I'll settle with the more affordable option, thanks.

I know, gaming PCs of this caliber can be more of a niche at these prices for many of us, but here's another comparison: the Alienware 16 Area-51 gaming laptop with an RTX 5080 comes in at $3,749, and as much as it impresses, it won't match the performance a full-blown desktop can dish out. (More on this in a bit.)

Look, a desktop isn't for everyone, especially when laptops like the Asus TUF Gaming A18 I tested or a PS5 Slim can pump out incredible performance for most at well over half the price. But for optimized gaming in 4K, along with all the speedy productivity or demanding creative tasks that come as standard, the Predator Orion 7000 makes a great case as a worthy machine to consider.

A 4K treat

Thanks to its Intel Core Ultra 7 265KF CPU, RTX 5080 GPU, 32GB of DDR5 RAM and 2TB SSD, the Acer's Predator Orion 7000 can pull off wicked, smooth 4K gameplay with frame rates topping just over 160 FPS with DLSS 4 enabled in the most demanding of PC titles.

That's with settings topped out and ray tracing (or the more advanced path tracing where available) turned to max, and it all come out stunning without a hint of stutter on the BenQ 4K monitor I had yet to make full use of.

It's an impressive feat, but what really caught my eye was comparing these results to other gaming PCs, along with the Alienware 16 Area-51 with its RTX 5080 laptop GPU. When turning DLSS 4 off and testing at 4K resolution in Doom: The Dark Ages, Black Myth: Wukong and Cyberpunk 2077, here's what I saw:

Now, of course an RTX 5080 GPU with its 16GB GDDR7 video memory (it should have been 24GB) wouldn't beat an RTX 5090 with 32GB of VRAM, but honestly, the differences here aren't far off — especially in the Cyberpunk 2077 result. And having that RTX 5080-powered Alienware 16 Area-51 shows the difference between a desktop and a laptop GPU (read: that's testing at 1080p).

When DLSS 4 with multi-frame gen x4 gets involved, those frame rates skyrocket. In benchmarking, I was seeing Doom: The Dark Ages at 120 FPS with path tracing, Cyberpunk 2077 at 153 FPS and Black Myth: Wukong at 166 FPS. And yes, gaming at these settings is stunning.

Seeing sunlight glint off ripples of water in Wukong, along with the blankets of snow our staff-equipped monkey protagonist glides through while fending off sparks of lightning from dragon-like beings, brings pure immersion that's hard to look away from.

Just for good measure, you can also see how the Predator Orion 7000 measures up in other areas, and again, at this price, it isn't too shabby.

Sure, not the fastest, but not too far behind, either. It was worth the effort to lump this machine on my desk and start going about my usual computing tasks, as it wouldn't bat an eyelid when I had 30 Chrome tabs open while listening to music and having a Netflix show running, all with a game being paused in the background.

As you can guess, for those scrolling through multiple spreadsheets, editing videos or photos and using graphic design tools, this machine could easily handle it all.

Is the Acer Predator Orion 7000 worth it?

More from Tom's Guide

• The RTX 5090 is the best graphics card I've ever owned — but there's a catch for living room PC gamers
• I played Doom: The Dark Ages on RTX 5080 vs RTX 5070 Ti gaming laptops — and the results surprised me
• I just built an RTX 5090 gaming PC — here’s what I used and how to build your own

I've spent the last two weeks testing the new Corsair Vengeance i8300 ($7,399) gaming PC, and the experience has redefined how I approach playing games.

Corsair sells Vengeance gaming PCs in a variety of configurations and prices, but the company sent us its most expensive model for review — and you can feel the luxury you're paying for in how reliably every game I tested on this machine booted up quickly and ran like a dream, with almost zero noticeable fan noise from the case.

The case itself is so heavy, however, that I didn't trust any of my desks with it and instead kept it on the floor next to my 4K TV. But since it makes so little noise the Vengeance i8300 actually turns out to be a great gaming PC for the living room, and it's opened my eyes to a new dream: 4K PC gaming on the big screen, from the comfort of my couch.

If you can handle the weight and you're willing to pay the eye-watering price, I think the Corsair Vengeance i8300 is easily one of the best gaming PCs I've ever tested. Here's why.

Corsair Vengeance i8300 (2025) review: Cheat sheet

• What is it? The top-of-the-line Corsair Vengeance gaming PC for 2025, packing the latest AMD/Intel CPUs and the best-in-class Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090.
• What does it cost? The high-end Corsair Vengeance i8300 I review here can be purchased from Corsair for $7,399 with your choice of Intel or AMD chips, though at time of publication Corsair is discounting the AMD model down to $6,599.
• Who is it for? PC gaming enthusiasts who want to pay top dollar for a big, quiet gaming machine that's great for 4K gaming and one of the very best gaming PCs you can buy in 2025.
• What do we like? I love how this Corsair Vengeance i8300 review unit can run any PC game I want to play in buttery-smooth 60+ FPS at 4K with all graphical settings cranked to max.
• What don’t we like? Obviously, the price of this beast is a tough pill to swallow. I'd have to spend months if not years saving to afford PC gaming like this, and that's a real barrier to entry. I also don't love how heavy it is, as I wouldn't trust the Corsair Vengeance i8300 on a flimsy desk.

Corsair Vengeance i8300 (2025) review: Specs

Corsair Vengeance i8300 (2025) review: The ups

I've really enjoyed my time gaming on the Corsair Vengeance i8300, and there are a few key strengths I want to highlight so you know what you're buying.

Top-tier 4K gaming with almost no fan noise

As I mentioned earlier, I decided to leave our Corsair Vengeance i8300 review unit on the floor next to my LG C2 OLED TV for the majority of the review period because I just didn't trust my flimsy sit/stand desk with this 30-pound beast.

But that was only part of the reason I kept the Vengeance in the living room — the rest of it was that I wanted to see how the best PC games look running at max settings on a 65-inch 4K OLED display, and I had a hunch this $7,400 gaming PC could handle it.

Sure enough, I was blown away by the experience of PC gaming on the couch with the power of an RTX 5090, a top-tier Intel Core Ultra 9 CPU and 64GB of RAM at my beck and call. Games like Alan Wake 2, Cyberpunk 2077, Star Wars Outlaws and Red Dead Redemption 2 ran beautifully, though I had to enable Nvidia's DLSS tech where possible to iron out occasional stutters that caused the framerate to dip below 60 FPS.

The results from our testing lab back up my anecdotal experience, as the Corsair Vengeance i8300 performed better in our tests than any gaming PC I've reviewed to date.

To show you what I mean, I've charted some key gaming benchmarks above against a cheaper Corsair Vengeance a7500 (AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D, Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 Ti, 32GB RAM, ~$3,399) and our current pick for best premium gaming PC, the Alienware Area 51 (Intel Core Ultra 9 285K, Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090, 64GB of RAM, $5,699).

As you can see, the Corsair Vengeance delivers nearly flawless 60+ FPS performance in some of the latest and most demanding PC games. This is raw performance too, without any upscaling tech like Nvidia DLSS or AMD FSR enabled. When I enabled DLSS on games like Cyberpunk, I was able to enjoy full path-traced lighting and incredible visual effects while framerates hovered consistently in the 70-90 FPS range.

But you can also see that despite our Corsair Vengeance i8300 review unit costing thousands of dollars more than our Alienware Area 51 review unit, the Alienware PC actually delivers better performance in some games. And where the Corsair does outperform the Alienware, it's only by a matter of a few extra frames per second, which makes the nearly $2k price difference between the two hard to swallow.

However, the Corsair performed better than the competition across the board in our general performance tests.

As you can see from the chart of results above, the Corsair Vengeance i8300 outperformed the competition in both the single-core and multi-core Geekbench 6 CPU benchmarking tests, despite the fact that the Alienware Aurora has the same Intel Core Ultra 9 285K CPU.

The Vengeance i8300 also burned through our custom video editing test (which times how long the PC takes to transcode a 4K video down to 1080p using Handbrake) faster than the rest, though the far cheaper Corsair Vengeance a7500 actually had a faster SSD than the more expensive i8300 I'm reviewing here.

So whether you're gaming, editing video or doing other computationally-intensive tasks, you can count on the Corsair Vengeance i8300 delivering best-in-class performance. However, our testing reveals that you aren't actually getting much better gaming performance than our current pick for best premium gaming PC, the cheaper Alienware Area 51.

Stays quiet under pressure

Since I was PC gaming in the living room without headphones it was key that the PC not make too much noise, so I was paying close attention to how loud the Corsair Vengeance i8300 got during intense gaming sessions.

After two weeks of testing I'm pleased to report that even after hours of playing Cyberpunk 2077 or Doom with all settings cranked to max, the PC's fans never made more than a low hum.

So while there definitely is some fan noise, especially when sustaining peak performance, it's quiet enough that you barely notice the sound from 8 feet away.

Easy-to-access case design

While I don't expect you would need to upgrade this machine for years to come, I appreciate that our Corsair Vengeance i8300 review unit has an easy-to-access case that's roomy and well-organized inside.

To get in you just have to pull the see-through glass panel on one side of the Corsair iCUE 5000T RGB case open, no screwdriver required. You can also pretty easily remove the mesh covering on the top and rear of the case, again with no tools required.

Inside the case everything is neatly organized and cables are routed using Corsair's hidden cable channel, which keeps the case clean but does mean you'll have to fiddle with all this stuff if and when you decide to start replacing and upgrading components.

Eye-catching RGB lighting I actually want to leave on

RGB LED light strips are practically de rigueur for gaming PCs these days, and while I loved them in the '90s these days I've grown tired of seeing my PC and peripherals lit up like cheap glowsticks.

But when I started playing around with the iCue software to control and customizing the 200+ RGB LEDs on the case of our Corsair Vengeance i8300 review unit, I was genuinely impressed. The RGB lighting on this machine stands out to me for two reasons: it has a more eye-catching LED strip layout than most PCs, and the customizable lighting patterns are more beautiful than anything I've seen on other PCs.

Obviously none of this matters as much as how capable, quiet and easy-to-access this PC is, but I wanted to also shout out the lighting because I love how the 5000T RGB case looks when the LED strips at bottom and top are running a smooth, shifting pattern. It sort of reminds me of how the engine rooms were lit up in Star Trek, and every time I look over at it I'm happy I have the lighting on — and it's been decades since I felt that way about a PC case.

Corsair Vengeance i8300 (2025) review: The downs

As much as I love our Corsair Vengeance i8300 review unit, I have to admit I have a quibble with (and one serious warning about) this premium 4K gaming PC.

Heavy and difficult to move

Let's get the quibble out of the way first: this beast is hefty and hard to move.

Partly that's because it weighs over 30 pounds, and partly it's because the case is roughly two feet tall.

The thing is heavy enough that I was scared to leave it on my Uplift V2 standing desk, because even though I'm pretty sure the desk could handle the burden, it wobbled in a concerning fashion every time I raised or lowered it with the Corsair onboard.

That said, once you get it set up you probably won't be moving it around as much as I did during the review process. So this is less a serious concern and more a warning: be ready to move a big, hefty box when this thing shows up.

Luckily, I will say that the process of unboxing the Corsair Vengeance i8300 was relatively straightforward, thanks to the company's streamlined bag-it-and-box-it approach.

Outperformed by cheaper gaming PCs in some games

The most painful part of buying a Corsair Vengeance i8300 is its eye-watering price tag, so you expect to get best-in-class performance in return for spending over $7,000 on a PC.

And for the most part, you get it. As you can see from our test results, our Corsair Vengeance i8300 outperforms almost every other PC I've ever tested, including recently-released gaming PCs that cost thousands of dollars.

But as you also saw, the Alienware Area 51 costs almost $2,000 less than the Corsair Vengeance i8300 yet delivers equal or better performance in many games. And where it does fall behind the Corsair, it's only by a handful of frames, which probably isn't worth the premium you're paying for the Vengeance over the Area 51.

Now, FPS isn't the only thing that matters when buying a gaming PC. Despite its heft, the Corsair Vengeance i8300 is actually significantly lighter than the Alienware PC and comes with 3x the storage space (6TB vs. 2TB). So there are other benefits you're getting for that sky-high price.

But for most of us framerates and graphical performance are the #1 reason to invest in a gaming PC, and our testing reveals you can often get equal or better performance in those areas from the Area 51 for much less cash.

Corsair Vengeance i8300 (2025) review: Verdict

If you've read this far you can probably understand why I think our Corsair Vengeance i8300 review unit is one of the best gaming PCs of 2025, and one of the best ways to play PC games period.

I'll be sorry to ship it home after this review goes live, but it really has sparked a quiet revelation in how I think about gaming in the living room.

I've owned an Xbox Series X since launch and use it as my main gaming machine since it's quiet, quick to boot and runs games decently on my 4K TV. I know PCs are more capable gaming machines, but I've been leery to build a living room gaming PC because they can be so loud and unsightly.

The Corsair Vengeance i8300 is the exception that's given me pause, because despite its size it looks great lit up next to my TV and it runs games far better than my Xbox while remaining whisper-quiet the whole time. Obviously I can't afford a $7,000 gaming PC on a journalist's salary, but I'm seriously considering buying one of these Corsair iCue 500T RBG cases and building a cheaper gaming PC of my own inside.

So while I still think you get a better deal out of the Alienware Area 51 and would recommend it over the Corsair for those on a budget (not just a tight budget but any budget), I have to report that the Vengeance i8300 is the best gaming PC I've tested this year.

Computex 2025 has plenty of surprises up its sleeve, and Asus just revealed one of the strangest ones yet — a gaming PC with a desktop GPU and a laptop CPU.

The Asus TUF Gaming T500 is a new gaming desktop that pairs an Nvidia RTX 5060 Ti desktop GPU and an Intel Core i7-13620H CPU. Notably, that's a mobile processor made for laptops, but it somehow found its way into this gaming PC.

As with all Intel CPUs, that "H" in the CPU model name indicates that it's a high-performance mobile chip, typically used in gaming laptops and for notebooks made for demanding productivity tasks. It isn't new, as it was released back in 2023, but it's still used in more budget-friendly machines.

Asus' TUF devices focus on value, and this certainly appears to be the case with the TUF Gaming T500. Whether it's to cut costs or to fit its components into a smaller chassis (despite that RTX 5060 Ti taking up space anyway), the desktop gaming PC boasts a mobile processor — and it's set to be priced around $1,300.

It's the weirdest desktop I've seen, and yes, there was audible confusion during the briefing when Asus said, "this has a laptop chip." But the Asus TUF Gaming T500's peculiar Intel mobile chip does offer higher wattage going through it as part of a desktop, as an Asus representative said.

Otherwise, this is your usual gaming PC with a mech anime-inspired aesthetic and full Aura sync support for RGB lighting. You'll also find up to 64GB of DDR5 RAM, PCIe Gen 4 storage, custom heatsinks with copper heatpipes, a 90mm cooling fan and MIL-STD-810H military standard durability.

... A laptop CPU?

There's no explanation as to why there's an Intel mobile processor in the TUF Gaming T500, but I bet it will have something to do with its cost. While there's no official word on when it will be available yet, this Asus desktop is sure to cater towards budget gaming, like the MSI Codex R2 (around $1,230).

We got a chance to see it on the showfloor, although not in action. It's a compact gaming PC, and with its RTX 5060 Ti onboard, it will deliver strong performance for 1080p gaming — especially with boosts from DLSS 4. It makes it ideal for single-player games, with frame rates going beyond 100 FPS at max settings thanks to Multi Frame Gen.

How will it perform with an Intel Core i7-13620H laptop CPU? We're unsure, but if it pulls off the solid, pocket-friendly performance as with the MSI Cyborg 15 we tested (which currently sits in our list of best gaming laptops), then Asus may be onto something.

Once we get a chance to try out this odd mix in the TUF Gaming T500, it may make it as a budget pick in our list of the best gaming PCs. Or, you may just want to opt for a desktop CPU that will generally offer better raw performance. Either way, this is not a desktop I expected to see at Computex 2025, and neither was Acer's first-ever smart ring.

More from Tom's Guide

• I played 5 games on the RTX 5060 — is this budget GPU actually enough?
• I just tried Acer’s surprising smart ring, and it gives the Oura ring a run for its money
• I just went hands-on with the Acer Predator Triton 14 AI — this gaming laptop was made for me

The Alienware Area-51 ($3,749 to start) resurrects the company’s iconic branding in a big way, literally. This is easily the largest and heaviest gaming PC I’ve tested. And its giant size isn’t just for show, as it packs equally powerful components inside its futuristic frame. This is a gaming rig that boldly screams, “Go big or go home!”

The Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 GPU, Intel Core Ultra 9 CPU and 64GB of RAM in our review unit allow the Alienware Area-51 to run games well above 60 frames per second, even with all graphical settings cranked up. Its positive-pressure cooling design keeps the machine running silently, no matter how much you’re taxing it.

Of course, you’ll have to pay a premium for this level of performance. With a starting price of nearly $4,000, this gaming PC is a true wallet-buster. You might also be forced to keep this behemoth on the floor due to its expansive size and massive weight.

Despite its eye-watering price and enormous footprint, the Alienware Area-51 offers one of the finest gaming experiences I’ve had. It has more than earned a spot in our best gaming PCs list. If you can afford it, it’s a rig I highly recommend. Find out more in my full review.

Alienware Area-51 review: Cheat sheet

• What is it? The Alienware Area-51 is a giant gaming PC packing equally powerful performance.
• Who is it for? For those willing to spend top dollar for a PC gaming experience with no compromises to performance.
• What does it cost? The Alienware Area-51 starts at $3,749 on Dell’s website. As configured, our review unit is valued at $5,699.
• What do we like? We like the futuristic design, phenomenal gaming performance and inventive cooling solution.
• What don’t we like? We don’t like the unwieldy size and steep price tag.

Alienware Area-51 review: Specs

Alienware Area-51 review: The ups

Thanks to its sleek, futuristic design, uncompromising performance and inventive positive-pressure cooling, the Alienware Area-51 delivers an exceptional gaming experience.

Space age design

At 24.04 x 22.40 x 9.12 inches and 76.1 pounds, the Alienware Area-51 is one huge gaming PC. It’s so big and heavy that Dell says you need two people to move it — a fact I can confirm after situating it in our office. You’ll need a lot of free space for this machine. And though some of the best gaming desks can accommodate its massive weight, I recommend keeping the Area-51 PC on the floor to be safe.

Once you get past its enormity, you realize that this machine is basically a super-sized Alienware Aurora R16. Like that (smaller) rig, the Area-51 PC has an all-aluminum chassis featuring elegant curves, hexagonal vents and a transparent side panel that lets you see the internal components. This PC also has RGB lighting on its front sides and an Alienware logo-shaped power button. It’s a beautiful machine through and through.

Opening the Area-51 PC is extremely easy. All that’s required is turning a dial on the rear from lock to unlock and then pressing the button for the side panel you want to release. Removing the side panels is also simple. It’s one of the smartest methods of removing a PC’s panels I’ve experienced. And thanks to the PC’s spacious interior, you won’t have much trouble moving your hands around inside.

The Alienware Area-51 mostly uses industry-standard parts, which makes it easier to swap in components of your choosing. However, if you want to change the motherboard, you’ll need a $35 AlienFX board cable conversion kit from Dell since the included board is proprietary. This could be a turn-off for DIYers, but if you just want to use this PC as is, this might not be an issue.

You get a full array of ports here. On top, you’ll find a pair of USB-A ports, two USB-C ports, a headphone jack and a line out port. The majority of ports reside on the rear, including four USB-C ports, five USB-A ports, an optical audio port, line in and line out ports, and an Ethernet port.

Uncompromising performance

Thanks to our review unit’s RTX 5090 graphics card, Intel Ultra Core 9 CPU and 64GB of RAM, this PC offers a premium gaming experience that’s second to none.

During my testing, I played Cyberpunk 2077, Doom Eternal and Monster Hunter Wilds at 4K resolution and maxed graphical settings with DLSS turned off. Doom Eternal was the big winner, running at an insane 220 to 236 frames per second. Monster Hunter Wilds also ran like a dream at 75 to 90 fps, and Cyberpunk 2077 ran great at 66 to 75 fps. Again, I want to stress that this is with DLSS 4 disabled!

We also ran several games through our lab tests, which involve using a game’s built-in benchmark tools. As you can see, the Alienware Area-51 doesn’t disappoint when we benchmark games at both 1080p and 4K resolution and max graphical settings. Gaming performance-wise, it crushes the Acer Predator Orion 7000, which packs the last-gen RTX 4090.

Naturally, the Alienware Area-51 is no slouch when handling everyday computing tasks. It has no trouble with my typical workload, which usually consists of 20 to 30 open Chrome tabs and the occasional YouTube video. I’m also able to edit and export images in GIMP without a problem.

Our lab tests back up my experience. On Geekbench 6, which tests overall CPU performance, Alienware’s PC delivers incredible single-core and multi-core scores. Transcoding a 4K video to 1080p in Handbrake is also a breeze for this machine.

Runs whisper quiet

You’d think a gargantuan gaming PC like this would get as loud as a jet engine. Thankfully, that isn’t the case due to this rig’s impressive positive pressure airflow system.

What the heck is positive pressure airflow? Instead of exhaust fans that blow hot air out, all fans intake and blow cool air inward, from the front, top and bottom, to create positive air pressure that pushes hot air out of the rear vents. Alienware says this system has 25% improved airflow over its past gaming PCs.

Marketing spiel aside, the Alienware Area-51 certainly runs quietly, even when playing games with cranked-up settings. I can barely hear its fans, even when I put my ear next to its top vents. The rear vents also remain relatively cool to the touch. This is one of the most remarkable aspects of this PC.

Alienware Area-51 review: The downs

The Alienware Area-51 offers a gaming experience that’s hard to match. Unfortunately, you’ll have to pay a premium for said experience.

Pricey

Gaming PCs have a reputation for being expensive, and the new Alienware Area-51 certainly lives up to that expectation.

The most affordable configuration (and I use the term “affordable” loosely) currently costs $3,749. Though its components aren’t as high-end as the ones in our review unit, it’s no slouch thanks to its RTX 5080 GPU, Intel Core Ultra 7 CPU, 32GB of RAM and 1TB of SSD storage. Still, that’s a mighty high price to pay for an entry-level configuration.

Top-tier components factor into the hefty price, but I’m sure the PC’s size and the positive pressure internal design also raise the price. Though I understand why this machine costs so much, it’s a hard recommendation for anyone without deep pockets.

Big and heavy

If you have the space, the Alienware Area-51’s gargantuan size won’t be a problem. However, if you live in an apartment or don’t have anyone to help you situate this beastly PC, size will be a major hindrance.

It took two of us to get the Area-51 out of its shipping box. The same is also true when we brought the PC into our office studio for the photos throughout this review. Granted, our office is spacious enough to accommodate the PC, and I had no issues once we found a spot for it. That said, I’m thankful for our office since it would’ve been a nightmare trying to unbox and get this thing set up in my small studio apartment.

Again, if you have enough room for this machine and folks willing to help you situate it, then size won’t be a factor. But for everyone else, you might want to consider a smaller gaming PC.

Alienware Area-51 review: Verdict

The Alienware Area-51 might be super expensive, but it’s arguably worth every penny for the superlative gaming experience it offers. It’s a beautiful machine that will look great in any gaming den or home office. On top of that, this PC runs whisper quiet, no matter how much you’re taxing it.

Though I’m a fan of the new Alienware Area-51, I understand that it’s not something anyone can afford or might have room for. Those seeking a smaller and more affordable gaming PC that can run games great at 1440p should consider the $1,249 HP Omen 35L. The Alienware Aurora R16 is another excellent choice, though it’s more expensive at $1,999.

Price aside, the Alienware Area-51 is a fantastic gaming PC. If you can stomach the price and have enough room for it, it more than delivers the goods.

The wait for an RTX 5060 may not be long, as Nvidia's graphics card has been spotted in a new Acer gaming PC listing — and it confirms it will come with 8GB of GDDR7 video memory.

French retailer website EvoPC listed an Acer Nitro N50 PC equipped with an RTX 5060, noting that it comes with 8GB of GDDR7 VRAM, along with a 14th Gen Intel Core i7-14700F, 32GB of DDR5 RAM and a 1TB SSD. This was discovered by user momomo_us on X (via VideoCardz), but it appears to have been taken down as of writing.

The listing may have been a placeholder for the rumored graphics card, as previous reports suggest Nvidia is expected to reveal the RTX 5060 Ti, RTX 5060 and possibly an RTX 5050 as soon as this week. The Acer gaming system was not available to buy, which makes sense as it has yet to be officially announced.

Rumors also indicate the RTX 5060, along with the rest of the lower-end RTX 50-series lineup, won't ship until next month, but retailers may be gearing up for pre-orders. According to the listing, this Acer PC is priced at €1,589 (around $1,734 / £1,340), giving us an idea of the cost of an RTX 5060 gaming rig.

While no longer listed, there's another Acer Nitro N50 gaming PC with an RTX 4060 on EvoPC, costing €1,519, although it's currently unavailable.

Either way, it's clear we may see RTX 5060 GPUs soon, and previous leaks hint at the gaming performance we can expect.

A hint at RTX 5060 specs

Recently, we've seen leaked specs for Nvidia's RTX 5060 Ti and RTX 5050 graphics cards, and while they offer a bump in numbers over their RTX 40-series counterparts, there's only a slight difference shown.

As per previous rumors, the RTX 5060 may not be any different. Its 8GB of GDDR7 VRAM appears to be a lock, but it's also expected to come with 3,840 CUDA cores, 150W TDP (Thermal Design Power), and a 128-bit memory bus (similar to the RTX 4060 Ti and RTX 4060).

The jump in CUDA cores (which manages computing tasks in parallel to GPUs) and TDP is good to see, especially when compared to an RTX 4060 and even the RTX 4060 Ti, but is it enough to be a true upgrade? With DLSS 4 and Multi Frame Generation onboard for supported PC titles, it's sure to deliver a performance boost for entry-level gaming, at the very least.

As for price, the RTX 5060 is predicted to be around $349, judging from the RTX 5070 being $549 and the RTX 5060 Ti being tipped to be from $449. If accurate, that will make it more affordable than the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT and RX 9070 GPUs (although these appear to offer greater performance).

While we wait for the expected launch of Nvidia's RTX 5060 GPU (and soon), check out what it's like to build an RTX 5090 gaming PC.

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• I review gaming laptops for a living — here's the 7 RTX 50-series laptops I would buy
• MacBook Air M4 benchmarks are here — here's how it compares to the MacBook Pro, Windows laptops and more
• This Asus monitor acts as a makeshift air purifier — your allergies will thank you later

The HP Omen 35L ($1,299 to start) is one of the most attractive desktops I’ve ever reviewed. But this mid-tower gaming rig isn’t just stylish. It packs components powerful enough to play the best PC games at medium to high settings. Add easy upgradeability and a relatively affordable starting price, and you have an excellent entry-level machine for aspiring PC gamers.

This sleek-looking computer packs big power inside its relatively small frame. The AMD Ryzen 7 8700G APU, Nvidia RTX 4080 Super GPU and 32GB of RAM in our review unit give this rig plenty of power to play the most graphically demanding games without a problem. It’s also great for editing 4K videos. Best of all, HP’s desktop can perform these tasks while running whisper-quiet and remaining relatively cool to the touch.

Though it has an odd CPU/GPU pairing and many extraneous apps, the HP Omen 35L is a winner thanks to its low starting price, abundant configuration options, easy-to-swap-out industry-standard parts and gorgeous design. It is undoubtedly one of the best gaming PCs available now. Read my full review to find out why.

HP Omen 35L review: Cheat sheet

• What is it? The HP Omen 35L is a mid-tower gaming desktop available in many configurations.
• Who is it for? It is for those who want a sleek and powerful mid-tower PC to complement their gaming setup.
• What does it cost? The HP Omen 35L starts at $1,299 but can get considerably more expensive depending on which components you configure it with.
• What do we like? We like this PC’s minimalist design, small footprint on a desk, excellent gaming performance and easy upgradability.
• What don’t we like? Lots of extraneous software and the strange CPU/GPU combination.

HP Omen 35L review: Specs

HP Omen 35L review: The ups

If you’re looking for a powerful gaming rig that looks amazing and won’t break the bank, the HP Omen 35L is an excellent choice.

Elegant mid-tower

This mid-tower is ideal if you live in an apartment like I do. At 16.14 x 16.06 x 8.26 inches, the HP Omen 35L won’t take up significant space on your desk. However, due to its 31.9-pound weight, you’ll want to keep it in place once you’ve situated it.

The Omen 35L might not have an ostentatious design like other gaming PCs, but its simple boxy shape helps it better complement most gaming setups. The clear glass panel on the left side gives you a nice view of the internal components and the wonderful RGB lighting this rig produces. I also like the black-and-white coloring of my review unit, though you can also get this PC in black.

Everything inside, right down to the modular power supply is industry-standard and user-upgradeable. This allows you to configure the PC however you wish.

Swapping out components is relatively simple thanks to the easy-to-open side panels. While the interior isn’t exactly spacious, I had no trouble getting inside despite my big hands. Configuring this rig is much easier than the Corsair One i500.

This PC features all the ports you could want. On the top front, you’ll find a lone USB-C port, a pair of USB-A ports, and a 3.5 mm headphone jack. The back holds the lion’s share of ports, including six USB-A ports, a USB-C port, three audio ports, an Ethernet port, three DisplayPorts and an HDMI port.

Amazing performance

Even the most beautiful gaming rig wouldn’t be worthwhile if its performance wasn’t up to snuff. That’s not the case with the Omen 35L I reviewed thanks to its RTX 4080 Super GPU, AMD Ryzen 7 8700G CPU and 32GB of RAM. This is a gaming powerhouse.

During my testing, I fired up Doom Eternal, Cyberpunk 2077 and Black Myth: Wukong and experienced excellent performance on all of them. The big winners were Doom Eternal and Black Myth, which ran at 130 fps and 107 fps (respectively) at max settings and 4K resolution without DLSS enabled. Cyberpunk ran at 60 fps at the same settings, which is great for this demanding game.

We also put several games through our lab tests, which involves using a game’s built-in benchmark tools. As you can see above, the HP Omen 35L delivers performance on par with some of its competitors, though the Corsair One i500 with its Intel Core i9-14900K CPU, RTX 4080 Super and 32GB of RAM do better overall.

As expected, the HP Omen 35L can deftly handle everyday computing tasks. My typical workload, which typically consists of over 20 open Chrome tabs and the occasional YouTube video, was no problem for this machine. I also edited and exported photos in GIMP without issue.

Our lab tests corroborate my anecdotal experience. On Geekbench 6, which tests overall CPU performance, the HP Omen 35L delivered strong single-core and multi-core scores. However, in the Handbrake video transcoding test it lagged behind its competitors.

Runs cool & quiet

There’s nothing worse than a noisy gaming PC. Thankfully, the HP Omen 35L isn’t one of them.

This is by far one of the quietest gaming rigs I’ve ever tested thanks to its liquid cooler, front and rear fans and airflow-friendly interior design. No matter which games I played, I never heard this machine’s fans produce more than a whisper.

Omen Gaming Hub is great

The Omen Gaming Hub app allows you to optimize the Omen 35L’s performance, customize the lighting and organize your gaming library. Its intuitive interface makes it simple to use compared to the more complex Corsair iCue launcher.

One of my favorite features is the ability to connect other Omen products like peripherals and gaming monitors. For instance, I was able to control the lighting on the HP Omen Transcend 32 gaming monitor I’m currently testing. This is an easier alternative to adjusting the monitor’s lighting via its physical controls.

I don’t typically complement game launchers on gaming rigs, but the Omen Gaming Hub is worth trying out given its ease of use and robust customization options.

HP Omen 35L review: The downs

The HP Omen 35L has an awesome design and excellent performance. However, it has some faults that prevent it from being perfect.

Odd CPU/GPU combo

The Omen 35L packs an AMD Ryzen 8000 series APU, which is a laptop processor with decently powerful integrated graphics. That’s intriguing considering how this gaming rig has a powerful discrete GPU, making that aspect of AMD’s processor rather redundant.

So long as everything works fine, this is a perfectly good arrangement. However, if the Omen 35L’s discrete GPU should ever fail, you can’t use the processor’s GPU since there isn’t an HDMI port on the motherboard. This also makes us question why HP opted for this AMD chip. However, it's not a complete deal-breaker.

Lots of extraneous software

The Omen Gaming Hub is a useful app that can help elevate your gaming experience. However, I can’t say the same for the slew of other pre-installed software you’ll find on this PC.

Apps like myHP, HP Support Assistant and HP Smart are somewhat expected, but promotions for Dropbox and Adobe are less welcome. The same is true for an included Google Play Games Beta and Google Essentials. If you’re a Google fan, then perhaps these apps might be useful, but for most folks, they’ll be superfluous at best or annoying at worst.

HP Omen 35L review: Verdict

While its processor and GPU combo is questionable and there are too many superfluous apps, the HP Omen 35L’s strengths far outweigh its negatives. This is a phenomenal mid-tower that delivers excellent gaming performance in a gorgeous-looking chassis. The $1,299 starting price and high degree of user upgradeability simply serve to make this gaming rig all the more enticing.

If you’re looking for an alternative that’s equally priced and just as customizable, the Alienware Aurora R16 ($1,249) is a solid choice. I also recommend the even more affordable Dell XPS 8960 ($899) which delivers an enjoyable gaming experience.

Though gaming PCs with Nvidia RTX 50-series GPUs are drawing the most attention at the moment, that shouldn’t dissuade you from considering the HP Omen 35L since its RTX 4080 Super is plenty powerful for most modern games—and should be for several years to come. Right now, this is my favorite mid-tower gaming PC and one I highly recommend.

When I learned I’d be getting an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 card to test, a single terrifying thought ran through my brain: “What am I going to put it in?”

Though I have several computers I use for my daily work and play, they’re a few years old. I didn’t have a desktop with a fast-enough processor, a lot of RAM, or a power supply sufficiently beefy to handle this monster card.

That could mean only one thing: It was time to build.

I’ve been building computers for some 35 years, and even now, it’s my preferred method of obtaining the system I need. Not only can I precisely tailor the hardware to my needs and budget, but when the tech changes a few years down the line, I can swap in something new in just a few minutes.

It’s a level of control and creativity that doesn’t exist everywhere in the tech space, so I relish every opportunity to pursue it — and this was a golden one.

One thing was clear from the outset, though. I was going to (have to) splurge on this one. Computer building can be as expensive as you want to make it, so as I needed something stronger than average to bring out the best in that graphics card, I went for broke.

But it’s never necessary — you can build an outstanding system for a fraction of what I did this one. That’s something we’ll get into… next time.

To choose the components for my ultimate 5090 build, I turned to Tom’s Guide’s sister site, Tom’s Hardware. Most of their top picks were terrific, and I went with them, although there were a couple of exceptions.

What parts did I use?

How to build a gaming PC

Once all the components arrived, I set up a table and got to building. Hardware manufacturers have simplified the process a lot over the years, so the only additional tools I needed were a screwdriver and a pair of scissors.

Here are our build steps. Though they may differ slightly depending on the components, in general, they’re going to be similar from system to system.

With my ultimate 5090 system finished, I was ready to start testing the card. Check out this story to learn more about its performance. And I’ll be looking forward to doing plenty of more playing… er, testing… on this computer for many years to come.

More from Tom's Guide

• Where to buy RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 — launch live updates and stock checker
• I went sim racing with the Intel Arc B580 GPU — it proves you can get great PC gaming without breaking the bank
• I rarely stream PC games to my phone but Razer just convinced me with PC Remote Play

There was a time that my PC featured some of the latest mid-range components that you could get on a gaming PC.

But that was nearly a decade ago, and many would argue that with a GeForce GTX 1060 graphics card, my setup is sorely in need of an update.

However, even though my graphics card is more than 8 years old, I’m in no rush to upgrade it to the impending RTX 50-series GPUs that are set to launch at CES 2025 later this month.

You’ll be surprised how much an SSD upgrade can do

One of the reasons I’ve held off on a GPU upgrade is because upgrading to an SSD provided an admirable boost to the performance of many of my games.

Upgrading to an SSD from a hard drive won’t suddenly make your game run at 120fps, but it provides a number of improvements that enhance the gaming experience overall.

Firstly, it speeds up loading times considerably. When my games were installed on an HDD, even a game with as few demands as Graveyard Keeper would take a significant time to load. Meanwhile, online games like Valorant would take so long to load maps that a match would have nearly ended by the time I loaded in.

Using an SSD as my dedicated storage for games quickly improved the experience, loading games quickly. In fact, it improved my experience so much that I noticed that a friend with an RTX 30 series GPU took longer to load their environment in Baldur’s Gate 3 because they had the game installed on an HDD.

So it turned out that the much cheaper and simpler upgrade to my PC staved off my desire to upgrade my GPU for a while longer. My only regret is that I opted for a 1TB drive rather than 2TB, as in less than a year I’ve already managed to fill up my dedicated games drive even though I uninstalled games I don’t plan on playing anytime soon.

Indie games aren’t all that demanding

While AAA games are the ones you’ll see covered in the headlines the most, the indie gaming scene is healthy and full of gems that will keep you busy.

Many of my favorite games over the past few years have been indie titles, many of which feature pixel graphics. These don’t tend to have very demanding requirements, meaning that my gaming library has been very gentle on my graphics card.

I just spent the past month or so achieving Perfection in Stardew Valley, a game which was released in 2016. Recently, I’ve also been going through my Steam library to also complete and get achievements in games I never had the time to get to as I try to get my 26% game completion rate average up.

When it comes to reviewing games, I also prefer to choose affordable indies that don’t hurt the wallet. Most of these cost less than $20, and while I have run into a few that are poorly optimized, they usually aren’t graphically demanding.

This means that my GPU has performed admirably when it comes to the types of games I play, with very few making me feel like I’m missing out on the full game experience due to a sub-par graphics card.

Even new high-budget games support my GPU

When it comes to high budget or AAA games, my GPU is still supported, often exceeding the minimum specs.

For example, I was able to play Baldur’s Gate 3 smoothly because its minimum GPU requirement is a GTX 970. For the recently released Dragon Age: The Veilguard, the minimum requirement is the same.

Sure, I could be getting higher frame rates with a better graphics card, but I don’t need to be running a game at 120FPS to enjoy it. I understand that higher frame rates are important in games like first-person shooters, but I only dabble in these on occasion, so I don’t really find the need for boosted performance.

The only game that has made me lament my graphics card performance is Ark: Survival Evolved, which was released in 2017. But I’m not about to upgrade my GPU for one game that I can still enjoy, albeit with a lower view distance and not as much detail as I would like.

I’ll take my time with upgrading

Despite preferring the flexibility of PC gaming over consoles, I’ve never been one to keep my PC updated with the latest and greatest hardware. A lot of this has to do with budget.

The reality is that not everyone can afford the newest monitors with the highest refresh rates or the most powerful GPUs (and the components you need to upgrade to support them).

Besides my SSD, my last upgrade was my CPU, and that was due to the previous CPU breaking. Necessity, rather than the desire for top-tier performance, has been the major driver of my PC upgrades.

The last time I considered upgrading my GPU was during the cryptocurrency mining frenzy, which put newer GPUs far outside my budget. Prices have since calmed down, but in that time I’ve grown to appreciate my GTX 1060 more. Eventually I will upgrade, but for now I’m happy to wait.

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Nvidia launching RTX 50-series GPUs at CES 2025 seems to be a sound bet by this point. While nobody can say for certain given we’ve just seen a smattering of leaks and rumors, we just got the clearest indication thanks to an accidental reveal.

PC gaming company Zotac added (and quickly removed) the GeForce RTX 5090, 5080 and 5070 GPUs on its website, but not fast enough for Video Cardz to not grab screenshots. Not only did we get a sight of the names, but we also caught a glimpse of some of the more important specs for high-fidelity gameplay.

In short, I’m excited about the pure horsepower these have, but my electric bill is going to sweat a little. But let me go into more detail.

What was leaked?

Through the website’s online store filter and Google search result meta descriptions, we’ve managed to confirm the following five GPUs:

For context, the D variant of the RTX 5090 is the model that will be released exclusively in Japan.

Unlimited power

Yes, Palpatine may have been a little dramatic here, but the key spec of the top-of-the-range RTX 50-series is its use of GDDR7 memory over the GDDR6 you saw in the likes of the 4090.

The main reason this is important is the speed of accessing important data on the fly could be up to 60% faster, while potentially using roughly 20% less power while doing so. On top of that, separate rumors point to the amount of CUDA cores going up possibly by up to 33%.

This will drastically increase the number of parallel computations the GPU can handle — meaning your shiny new card will be able to balance all kinds of graphical processing from maintaining fidelity at high resolutions while calculating ray tracing and path tracing. Quicker and more power-efficient is the name of the game for the next generation.

The power grid’s not going to like you

Going back to Zotac’s leak, using RTX 5090 as an example, there is 32GB of GDDR7 memory on board — a third more than the previous king of the mountain in the RTX 4090. This is the part that gets me a little nervous, as that nullifies the 20% decrease in power demands with more storage.

So with a little quick math (again, this is all very much based on tying together a few rumors), with the TGP of the RTX 4090 at 450W, the RTX 4090 could stand at 480W — that’s before even considering any overclocking possibilities.

Taking the average electricity rate in the U.S. (16.83 cents per kilowatt-hour), that’d come up to a potential running cost of 40 cents per day, which is drastically more than any game console or integrated graphics option and could really start to add up (before even considering the rest of the system’s power draw).

Don’t get me wrong. I know this won’t be a problem for everyone, but it’s certainly something you should consider deciding between — the pure horsepower of a dedicated GPU, or the better balance of an integrated option while compromising some of those capabilities.

Where is the RTX 5060?

This is a good question. We reported on an RTX 5060 leak yesterday but it’s not in Zotac’s lineup. I’m still quietly confident we’ll see this form part of what is announced by Nvidia (maybe Zotac is dodging this one for the initial launch), but time will tell.

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The Corsair One i500 ($3,599 as configured) is a small wonder. Though not exactly a mini PC, this rig is smaller than many gaming PCs. Because of its relatively diminutive size, you’ll have no trouble finding a place for it on your desk. The classy wood front panel also ensures this machine won’t look out of place in your home office.

This rig is small in size but big in power. Our test unit’s Intel Core i9-14900K CPU, Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 Super GPU and 32GB of RAM allow it to play the best PC games at maximum graphical settings without a problem. And while the Corsair One i500 can get fairly warm, it runs much cooler and quieter than other gaming PCs I’ve tested.

While the Corsair One i500 is undoubtedly a beast, it’s not perfect. At time of writing, there are only two available configurations, and both are very expensive. And though you can swap out components, doing so isn’t easy due to the rig’s compact size. If you want to change the GPU you’ll need to ship the PC to Corsair, which is a bummer.

The Corsair One i500 might be pricey and hard to configure but there’s no denying it’s one of the best gaming PCs I’ve ever tested. Find out more in my full review. 

Corsair One i500 review: Cheat sheet

• What is it? The Corsair One i500 is a powerful gaming PC that’s small enough for most desk setups
• Who is it for? For folks who want a powerful gaming PC that doesn’t look like a typical gaming rig
• What does it cost? The Corsair One i500 we reviewed costs $3,599 as configured from Corsair’s website.
•  What don’t we like? The high price, lack of configurations and that you have to return it to Corsair to swap out the GPU.
• What do we like? The incredible performance, classy design and how quietly it runs. 

Corsair One i500 review: Specs

Corsair One i500 review: The ups

The Corsair One i500 impresses thanks to its small size and awesome gaming performance. The fact it runs cool and looks good doing it serves as a bonus.

Compact design

Most of the desktops I test are usually big towers. The gaming rig I have at home is also rather large. Because of that, the Corsair One i500 is a welcome change. Though larger than previous Corsair One PCs, the i500 is still relatively compact at 15.3 x 11.8 x 7.6 inches. And while 15.8 pounds isn’t exactly light, it’s easy to lift if you need to readjust it on your desk or perhaps move the PC to another room.

The Corsair One i500’s wood paneling and fabric sides lend the PC an air of elegance you don’t typically associate with gaming PCs. If personal computers existed in the 1950s, I imagine they’d look like this. That said, the tasteful RGB lighting on the front and back let you know this is indeed a gaming rig. Pressing or dragging a finger over the thin black strip running across the front panel allows you to change the lighting pattern, which is a neat feature.

This rig might have a small profile but it packs more than enough ports. There are two USB-A ports, a USB-C port and a 3.5mm headphone jack on the front, with another seven USB-A ports, a USB-C port, HD audio ports, a lone HDMI 2.1 port and three DisplayPorts on the back.

Excellent performance 

The Corsair One i500 might sport a refined appearance but an absolute performance monster lies within its chassis.

Thanks to our review unit’s Intel Core i9-14900K CPU, Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 Super GPU and 32GB of RAM, I had no trouble running modern graphically demanding games at max graphical settings and 4K resolution. Doom Eternal ran at an insane 220 frames per second at those settings, while Cyberpunk 2077 hovered in the mid-60s without the frame-boosting Nvidia DLSS feature enabled. This is exactly the performance I’d expect from a $3,600+ machine.

We also benchmarked several games during our lab tests and saw equally impressive results. At 4K resolution, games like Assassin’s Creed Mirage, Borderlands 3, Dirt 5, and Far Cry 6 ran close to or above 100 frames per second, as you can see above. 

Considering the powerful components under its hood, the Corsair One i500 doesn’t break a sweat when handling less intensive tasks like surfing the web, streaming videos or everyday work. This gaming rig handled my typical workflow—which usually consists of over 30 open tabs and the occasional YouTube video—without a hitch.

Our lab test backs up my experience. On Geekbench 6, which tests overall CPU performance, the Corsair One i500 turned in impressive single-core and multi-core scores. These numbers are comparable to the MSI Aegis RS2 14 ($2,699), which has the same GPU, 32GB of RAM and an Intel Core i9 CPU. Corsair’s gaming rig can also transcode 4K video to 1080p in a flash, as our Handbrake test reveals. 

Cool and quiet

Despite its powerful components and compact design, the Corsair One i500 runs very quietly and remains cool to the touch.

This is due to its three intake fans on the back and two fans up top. The water-cooled CPU and GPU also ensure things remain relatively cool inside. And even with all the fans rotating, the PC doesn’t get loud at all—ensuring your gaming session isn’t ruined by noisy fans.

Corsair One i500 review: The downs

The Corsair One i500 delivers an awesome gaming experience. However, some drawbacks could make you think twice about purchasing this expensive rig. 

Easy to open but difficult to upgrade 

Opening the Corsair One i500 is relatively easy. After popping off the magnetic fabric panels, all you need to do is unscrew four screws on the back (two screws per side) to remove the metal panels to access the interior. Things get more complicated after this, however.

You can upgrade the CPU, RAM and storage but doing so is somewhat tricky since the interior is so tightly packed. It’s not impossible, but if you have big hands like me, you might have a hard time moving around inside this rig. Then there’s the GPU …

If you want to upgrade the GPU, you’ll have to send the Corsair One i500 back to the company so employees can do that for you. This is likely because the GPU is liquid-cooled and Corsair doesn’t want you potentially damaging the system. While that’s understandable, sending back a gaming rig, even a small one like this, isn’t exactly fun.

With such top-end components, you likely won’t have to upgrade anything for many years. But if you want to swap parts out, especially the GPU, don’t expect an easy time.

Expensive

This might seem like an unfair criticism since gaming PCs are generally the most expensive computers out there. However, price could be a severe hindrance for anyone interested in the Corsair One i500. Even the “cheaper” model ranks among the most expensive PCs I’ve reviewed. The fact you can’t configure the PC to use more cost-friendly components is irritating.

That said, if price is no object and you don’t want to muck around trying to build a configuration that balances performance and price, then this rig’s cost won’t be an issue.

Corsair One i500 review: Verdict

The Corsair One i500 is certainly pricey and difficult to upgrade, but if you’re looking for a machine that can run games at 4K and well over 60 frames per second, this machine more than gets the job done. Not only does it deliver stellar performance but does so in one of the most unique designs I’ve seen for a gaming PC. If I could afford this machine, I wouldn’t think twice about getting it for myself.

If you’re looking for a gaming PC that won’t nuke your bank account, the Alienware Aurora R16 ($1,249) offers great performance and has a no-frills chassis. The Dell XPS 8960 ($899) is an even more affordable option that still delivers a fun gaming experience.

Price aside, the Corsair One i500 is an overall beast of a gaming rig. If you can stomach its cost, you won’t be disappointed.

The MSI Aegis R2 ($1,899 to start) is an off-the-shelf gaming PC that competes with the best of the boutique builders, and it delivers good value and great build quality for the price.

Of its five desktop product lines, MSI's Aegis is the widest ranging as it covers everything from upper mainstream systems to just under the ultra-premium configurations reserved for the Infinite line. The new RS2 variants mix liquid cooling with Intel's 14th-generation CPUs, a Z790 motherboard, Wi-Fi 7 and Nvidia 4000 series GPUs. 

These desktops offer high performance for a price that doesn't require a third mortgage to afford. In this MSI Aegis RS2 review, I'll walk you through what you get and with these prebuilt PCs and why they're competitive with the best gaming PCs on the market.

MSI Aegis RS2 review: Price & availability

The Aegis isn't a custom (or even semi-custom) desktop in that you can't order a specific configuration from MSI. 

However, MSI offers many pre-built SKUs for sale on its website in a broad range of configurations and price points. Lower end models have air-cooled CPUs (i7-14700KF or Ryzen 7700), RTX 4060 graphics, 16GB DDR5, and 1TB NVMe storage drives and cost upwards of $1,800. 

The higher-tier SKUs run up to $3,000 and use i9 and Ryzen 9 CPUs, 360mm liquid-coolers, RTX 4080 Super graphics, 64GB DDR5 memory, and 2TB NVMe drives. 

These Aegis desktops are also available for purchase from retailers such as Newegg, Best Buy, B&H, Walmart, and others.

The Aegis R2 review unit MSI sent us for this review includes an Intel Core i9-14900KFCPU in a Z790 motherboard, an Nvidia RTX 4080 Super GPU, 32GB RAM, plus a 2TB NVMe drive and has an MSRP of $2699.

MSI Aegis RS2 review: Design

The defining feature of the Aegis RS2 case is the front panel, with its protruding, angular faces, and lone MSI dragon logo. The base design has a tempered glass panel on the left side with vented mesh on the top, right, and bottom and is available in either a white or black case. Two alternate versions are available with the black case which omits the glass and uses a different mesh design. Three RGB fans are stacked in the front for air intake and no front drive bays are available.

The main side panel is tempered glass to show off the internals. At the base of the Aegis (at least, this particular configuration) is the MSI PRO Z790-VC WIFI motherboard. The beefy i9-14900KF CPU is cooled by a 360mm radiator mounted at the top of the case. Twin sticks of 16GB DDR5-5600 RAM are used for 32GB total system memory. Below the CPU, under its own heatsink, is a 2TB M480 NVMe drive providing plenty of storage for games and applications.

The central showpiece is the Nvidia GPU, a triple-slot RTX 4080 SUPER. The GPU is mounted with a support bracket to prevent sagging and physical damage to the card. The GPU also sports RGB lighting around the MSI logo on the top edge. The PSU is bottom mounted and covered with a shroud to hide it and most of the cables from view.

The backside panel is vented at the front and bottom for additional airflow if necessary. Remove the panel (both left and right panels use captive thumb screws) and you see the central fan and RGB controller and cables neatly bundled. The top panel is fully vented and allows mounting for both 120mm and 140mm fans or radiators. A dust filter is magnetically attached up top and more are on the bottom to protect the PSU's air intake.

MSI also bundles a keyboard and mouse with all their desktops, something many custom and boutique models charge extra for, or don't offer. The top row F keys are doubled up with usual shortcut functions, but the keyboard has no dedicated media, gaming, or shortcut keys. The keyboard uses membrane switches, though with mechanical switch cues, making it a hybrid design. Though not as crisp as a true mechanical keyboard, it's certainly a step or two better than most bundled keyboards from Dell or HP. The keyboard has colored row backlighting. A key combo shortcut cycles through different lighting patterns, but there's no per-key RGB lighting.

Like the keyboard, the mouse is quite a bit better than most bundled desktop mice. It has a large, full size meant to fill out your hand, not just sit flat and look nice on a desk. It has five buttons, including a Back and Forward thumb button and clickable scroll wheel, plus a dedicated DPI shift button up top. Like the keyboard, the mouse has cycling lighting patterns, but it's not programmable. 

MSI Aegis RS2 review: Ports & upgradability

The power and reset buttons are along the right edge of the top panel. With them is also an LED button which cycles the RGB lighting of the fans and CPU waterblock through various colors and patterns (the GPU lighting isn't synced, though). Two 5 Gbps USB ports – one type-A, one type-C – are also up top along with 3.5mm audio jacks for headphones and a mic.

A total of seven USB ports are on the rear I/O: two 2.0, four 5Gbps 3.0, and one 20 Gbps type-C. One PS/2 port is available if you have a keyboard that needs it. The audio out includes six 3.5mm jacks, but no fiber optic connection. Two antenna connections are for the integrated Wi-Fi controller on the motherboard which supports the new 802.11 be Wi-Fi 7 protocol. 

However, the offered USB ports leave something to be desired on a PC costing over $2,500. Only one port has bandwidth over 5Gbps, and only two ports are on the front for quick access. That's not terribly helpful for those using high-speed external storage, or that need to frequently (dis)connect portable drives.

As our review model has a KF processor with no integrated graphics, the HDMI and DisplayPort connections are covered with a sticker, reminding the user they are effectively disabled. It's also important to note that other Aegis configurations may use a different motherboard, which would change the available ports.

As the Aegis uses a standard case and parts, consumers can change and upgrade components as they wish. Users that want to expand storage capacity beyond the single NVMe drive have multiple 3.5" and 2.5" bays available in the case.

MSI Aegis RS2 review: Gaming performance

We expect the Aegis to perform admirably in our 4K gaming benchmarks given that it costs nearly $3,000. We've seen many desktops recently come across our review bench using 14th-gen i9 processors and 4080 or 4090 GPUs, so we have a good idea what to expect. 

Last year's Origin Chronos V3 should be a useful comparison as it's nearly identically equipped, albeit with last-gen parts. The Chronos has a i9-13900K processor instead of the newer i9-14900KF and both use a 360mm radiator for cooling. The Chronos uses an RTX 4080 instead of the overclocked 4080 Super in the Aegis. On the other side we can use the more recent Corsair Vengeance i7500, using the came i9-14900K CPU but much more powerful RTX 4090.

As expected, the Aegis has only a small lead over the Chronos in gaming performance. 

Focusing on 4K resolutions, we see the Aegis is only 3fps faster (or less) than the Chronos in Borderlands 3, Far Cry 6, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, and even more demanding titles like Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition and Red Dead Redemption 2. The exceptions to this are DiRT 5 and Grand Theft Auto V. In DiRT, going from 127fps to 135fps isn't really meaningful. In GTAV, though, it's enough to bump performance over the 60fps mark for truly smooth gameplay without needing a VRR display, so that may be important for some users. 

On the other end, the Vengeance enjoys a significant performance advantage over the Aegis thanks to the monstrous RTX 4090. As you can see from our test results, framerates are 25% to 50% faster across the board.

However it's important to note the Aegis is an off-the-shelf retail system, not a custom or boutique build. It's significantly less expensive than either the Chronos or Vengeance. Even a similarly equipped Vengeance with RTX 4080 Super is hundreds of dollars more expensive. 

The Aegis is also easy to live with thanks to its quintet of cooling fans. Using a 360mm radiator for the CPU and four additional case fans gives it plenty of cooling. Though it may seem counterintuitive to some, having more fans actually allows a system to run quieter. Seven fans at half speed are often quieter than four fans at full speed, and they move more air. Even under full 4K gaming load, the system is under 36 dBA from 1m away. Maximum gaming power draw stays around 415W, though you can certainly send it much higher with synthetic stress tests.

MSI Aegis RS2 review: Overall performance

The eight hyper-threaded performance cores in the i9-14900KF can boost up to 6.0 GHz while 16 efficiency cores at 4.4 GHz offer lots of processing bandwidth. These 32 execution threads, backed by 32 GB of system RAM and 2TB of NVMe storage make for a system that can work just as well as it can play.

In the Geekbench 6 multi-core CPU test our review unit scored 20,115, while the machine learning tests marked 4977 on the CPU and 25989 on the GPU. The Crossmark scores, which simulate creative and productivity tasks, are similarly high. The Aegis falls a little shy of the Vengeance, but that machine also had twice the RAM.

Our Handbrake video conversion test only took 2:04 to complete on the Aegis, which is a few seconds faster than the Vengeance. But in practical use, this is essentially a tie.

In storage, the Aegis transferred our 25 GB test file in an incredible 13.41 seconds for an average of 2002.56 MBps. This is faster than even the Vengeance at 1774.47 MBps. However, like the Vengeance, the Aegis is not offered with a secondary spindle drive for mass storage. While the case has room for additional drives for the consumer to add one, it would be nice to have that option out of the box.

MSI Aegis RS2 review: Software & extras

MSI keeps software to a minimum, something we appreciate. The MSI Center app has modules allowing you to customize your system, performance profiles, and RGB lighting. It also can be used to monitor system status, clock speeds, temperatures, and other more. A trial of Norton Antivirus is also included.

Also, the PC comes with a wired mouse and keyboard included at no extra charge. They're nothing to write home about, but it's nice to get them so you don't need to worry about providing your own.

MSI Aegis RS2 review: Verdict

A $2,700 PC is certainly not "low-budget." But as I noted when reviewing the Corsair Vengeance, "value" for high-end gaming PCs is calculated differently. That said, since it's priced a couple hundred less than some similarly configured gaming PCs the Aegis increases the traditional value viewpoint considerably.

The Aegis has quality construction and the cable management is very clean. The end customer isn't locked into any proprietary cases or parts so future customization and upgrades are no problem at all. The included keyboard and mouse are much better than the typical trashcan filler you get with home/office desktops. They don't match up to the quality of the best mechanical keyboards or programmable mouse, but they're quite competent. 

It also comes with a carry bag that makes it easy to remove the PC from its shipping box or repack it back in with ease, which is an underappreciated feature.

And while you can't custom-order the components, MSI offers many versions of the Aegis at such a broad range of prices that you'd be hard-pressed to not find exactly what you wanted. However again, the lack of custom ordering means you're limited to what's in stock at your retailer of choice. And regardless of where you get it, a secondary storage drive is never an option. 

For a machine that comes with all this, offers a stellar 1440p gaming experience, and noteworthy 4K60 gaming performance, a price tag of $2,700 is more than reasonable. Finding it as low as $2,400 isn't unheard of if you keep an eye out for sales and clearance events, either!

In an increasingly subscription-based world, it shouldn't be a surprise that the idea will eventually come to gaming PCs. 

In a press release, gaming desktop PC builder NZXT revealed a new subscription service where it will send you a gaming rig for as low as $59 a month. There is a catch — you must provide your own mouse, keyboard and monitor. 

The program, dubbed NZXT Flex, has apparently existed since at least February of this year, though it appears the program has shifted pricing and PC specs since its initial launch. The newest iteration of the subscription service locks in pricing and a tiered approach to renting gaming PCs.

"At NZXT, we believe everyone should be able to play the games they love," said Bryan de Zayas, NZXT's Head of Marketing, in the press release. "In the past, that meant buying a pre-built PC or building your own. Our new Flex subscription service offers gamers more flexibility and choice, so they can focus on what really matters – playing the games they love."

The program features three levels: Player: One, Player: Two and Player: Three, with the first being the entry-level subscription starting at $59 a month. That level gives you an H5 Flow tower on an Intel Core i5 14400F and Nvidia RTX 4060 GPU.

Player: Two ups the CPU to an AMD Ryzen 5 5600X and an Nvidia RTX 4070 Super GPU, costing $119 a month. Finally, Player: Three offers an Intel Core i7-137000KF CPU and an Nvidia RTX 4070 Ti Super GPU, which will hit your wallet for $169 monthly.

These may not be some of the best gaming PCs on the market, but they seem pretty solid. 

All three tiers have a required $50 "setup and shipping fee," including a return label for whenever you cancel the sub. Subscriptions are month to month and can be canceled.

If you try the program, NZXT says that a new or like-new Flex rig will be shipped within three to five days. Free replacements are available, and NZXT says it guarantees hardware upgrades every two years.

For reference, the rig in the Player: One plan would cost $758 for the first year (the monthly cost plus the $50 initial fee). The next tier would run you $1548, and the highest would be $2078 for year one. 

It's difficult to determine the total cost of buying one of these PCs since the full specs aren't available. We reached out to NZXT to get more information about the full specifications of the towers they provide and will update you if they provide that information.

What I could do was approximate the cost using PCPartPicker. I assembled a build, which you can see at this link, with the same processor, a 4060 GPU, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, a compatible motherboard and a case for around $965. That means you can own a similar computer for around $200 more than the price of one year of renting.

Despite gaming PC building getting more plug-and-play than in previous eras, we won't disparage anyone who wants to pursue a pre-built or buy one of the best gaming laptops.

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I review gaming PCs fairly regularly here at Tom's Guide, which means I'm lucky enough to get to test some of the latest and greatest gaming hardware.

As you might expect, it's fun to play around with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 for work or get to see how good games look on a 5K monitor like the Dell UltraSharp 40 during a review. I feel lucky to get to do this work for Tom's Guide readers, but I also have to confess something to you: This week I unboxed a rig for review that has one of the handiest features I've ever seen in a gaming PC, and I'm surprised more vendors don't offer it. 

I'm not talking about an AI assistant, a new watercooler or a fancy lighting setup—those can be neat features, but what I discovered inside the box of the MSI Codex R2 was so immediately and clearly helpful that I never want to pack or unbox a gaming PC without one ever again.

I'm talking, of course, about a bag. 

But not just any bag. No, gentle reader, what I discovered upon cracking the Codex's box is a lovely black fabric bag sporting the MSI logo with a new gaming PC nestled inside. Not only does it look a little nicer than the clear plastic bag that many modern PCs come in, but this black fabric bag has a built-in handle that's helpfully sticking up when you open the box. Plus, it has a simple-to-open flap that uses two self-fastening closures (a.k.a Velcro strips) so you can easily re-use it if you want to carry your PC somewhere or return it to the vendor.

This might sound like a frivolous marketing tactic, a bit of extra branding that adds nothing to the core value of the expensive gaming PC you just purchased, but it's more than that. It's a thoughtful addition, a useful pack-in, a bit of clever marketing that also makes your life easier when you're trying to move your new PC around.

I know because I've been reviewing PCs for over a decade, and packing and unpacking them for even longer. I got my start in this business as an editorial assistant working in a testing lab for a major (and now out-of-print) PC hardware magazine, which seemed like a great way to get my foot in the door.

It also turned out to be a great way to get some workouts in, because my primary job in that role was to unbox, assemble, disassemble and pack up hardware we were testing. That included everything from 50-inch plasma TVs to beefy gaming PCs, which means I have years of experience unpacking and re-packing these expensive machines. I haven't broken one (yet) but I have lost a fair number of screws and a whole lot of patience over the years. I can't tell you how many times I've cursed the heavens while trying to lift a bulky gaming desktop into a shipping box and get it perfectly lined up on the polystyrene foam inserts, only to get it all packed up and find that some pieces are missing or the box doesn't close correctly. 

So when I opened the box for this MSI Codex and found the PC helpfully wrapped in a black bag with a handle on top, I was intrigued. When I reached in with one hand and easily pulled the PC out of the box with one swift yank, I was overjoyed. And when the time comes to send it home to MSI, I'm looking forward to simply wiping the PC, putting it in the bag, dropping the bag in the box and sending it off. 

I realize not everyone will be able to pull a 20-pound gaming PC out of a box with one hand, and that most people probably don't need to unbox or re-box PCs as often as I do. I can certainly understand you not sharing my frustrations with those cheap, plastic bags that most PCs come in when you're only buying a new computer every 3-10 years. If you rarely need to pack or move your PC, MSI's cheap branded black bag is more of a nice-to-have frill than a killer feature.

But for me, it's an eye-opening addition that makes me wonder why more desktop PC makers aren't taking the time to make their products easier to access and carry—especially the best gaming PCs, which typically cost so much that the added expense of throwing in a cheap branded carrying bag seems almost trivial.

This MSI Codex I'm reviewing is on the cheaper side of gaming PCs, for example, but that still means it costs a little over $1,000. I can't imagine the bag it came in cost MSI more than $1. Yet that small additional expense makes me feel a lot better about the product when I unbox it, because it feels like MSI is looking out for me and delivering a premium PC with thoughtful additions.

Of course, the hardcore PC enthusiasts among you will likely tell me MSI didn't invent the idea of packing PCs in a bag. And in truth, I've been doing this so long that it's possible I may have unboxed a PC or two over the years that also came pre-packaged in reusable bags with built-in carrying handles.

But I can't for the life of me remember the last time I unboxed a PC with this feature, and I wish that wasn't true. I wish this was a standard among PC vendors, rather than a minor frill that's so delightful I felt compelled to write a whole article about it. I'm not alone, either; the head of our testing lab enthusiastically agreed with me when I mentioned how much I love the bag the Codex comes in.

So take it from folks who test PCs for a living: The black carrying bags MSI packs its PCs in may seem like a cheap gimmick, but it makes the process of unpacking and carrying your desktop an awful lot simpler. It might not be as cool as a 4090 or as flashy as a 4K gaming monitor, but it makes me feel like MSI is putting extra thought into the customer experience and trying to make things a little easier for folks who shell out serious cash for its premium gaming PCs.

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The Corsair Vengeance i7500 ($2,500 to start) is a big, flashy gaming PC with an equally big price tag, but if you can afford it you get killer performance and a great-looking machine.

If you're not familiar, Vengeance is the branding for Corsair’s line of high-end gaming PCs. It has a good reputation, and we awarded the Corsair Vengeance i7200 our Editor’s Choice award a few years ago for providing fierce gaming performance at a reasonable price.

The new Corsair Vengeance i7500 delivers even better performance because it's packing the latest and greatest gaming components. While this gaming desktop is by no means cheap, that’s par for the course with premium gaming PCs, which typically cost thousands but run games better than any gaming console.

In this Corsair Vengeance i7500 review I'll walk you through the highs and lows of this premium PC and show you why I think it's one of the best gaming PCs on the market.

Corsair Vengeance i7500 review: Price & availability

The Corsair Vengeance i7500 is available for purchase from Corsair's website and the cheapest configuration starts at $2,599, though at time of publication it's discounted down to $2,099. 

Of course, that won't get you the rig we review in this article because Corsair offers the Vengeance i7500 in multiple configurations with some customization options, mainly in different CPU and GP, but even the cheapest build comes with the latest Intel 14th Gen CPUs and Nvidia GeForce RTX 4000 series GPUs. The 4000D mid-tower case stays the same between the two iterations.

The sample PC Corsair sent us for review represents the top of the 7500 series, with a liquid-cooled i9-14900K CPU and Gigabyte RTX 4090 GPU. System storage is a 2TB MP600 Core XT NVMe drive and 64 GB of DDR5-6000 RAM is on tap. An MSI Pro Z790-P WiFi motherboard holds it all together. Powering the system is a 1000W RM1000e modular PSU. Corsair sets the MSRP for this configuration at $3,999, so keep that $4k price tag in mind as we review this premium gaming PC.

Corsair Vengeance i7500 review: Design

Our Corsair Vengeance i7500 review unit comes with the standard 4000D case, which has been around for some time now and proven itself a popular and capable chassis for DIY computer builders. An added Corsair “Vengeance” logo is printed on the top of the front intake panel, separating this case from a retail 4000D.  Though advertised as mid-tower, it’s still sizable and offers lots of space inside for mounting large cooling systems and maintaining excellent airflow.

The PSU mounts to the bottom with its own filtered air intake. A shroud covers the PSU area, masking it and its cables from view through the tempered glass side panel, while also shielding it from the warmer air coming off the GPU. Not that the main system components should get too hot with the cooling arrangement Corsair uses in the system.

Four 120mm RGB fans are mounted in the case, three intake fans up front and one for exhaust behind the motherboard. Cooling the CPU is an H100i Elite AIO. The H100i’s 240mm radiator is mounted to the top of the case, serving as another exhaust. Both top and front panels have magnetic-attached dust filters to help keep the case inside clean, which themselves are also quick and easy to clean.

Though you might think six fans would make for an obnoxiously loud computer, that’s not the case here. While six fans certainly can be loud, sharing the cooling duty among more fans allows each one to operate slower to achieve the same airflow rate. Lower fan speeds are the easiest way to reduce noise. Though the Vengeance draws 600W ( or more ) under heavy gaming load, the noise stays under 37 dBA when measured 1m away. It’s certainly audible, but as a low hum like a refrigerator or air conditioning.

Corsair has done a great job with cable management, neatly bundling everything behind the motherboard tray to minimize airflow obstructions. The RGB lighting between all six fans, the RAM modules and the CPU waterblock are synced. All combined, it gives a clean, refined look with a sprinkling of pizzazz.

Corsair Vengeance i7500 review: Ports & upgradability

Near the power button on the top front of the case are two USB ports (one type-C and one 3.0 type-A ) and a 4-pole 3.5mm headset jack. The rear I/O panel will vary according to exactly which motherboard is used. This review unit has one PS/2 port, four USB 2.0, one 5 Gbps USB, one 10 Gbps USB, and one 20 Gbps type-C USB port. A DisplayPort and HDMI are also available for integrated graphics, if for some reason you don’t use the video connectors on the discrete GPU. 

Networking options include a 2.5G Ethernet port and two antenna connectors for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. The audio panel has six 3.5mm jacks and no S/PDIF connector.

If you want to expand the system yourself, two 3.5-inch bays are below the lower shroud in front of the PSU, and two 2.5”-inch mounts are on the back of the motherboard tray. The massive RTX 4090 dominates most of the expansion card area, limiting any additional cards to the single bottom slot. Two additional card brackets are above the normal card slots, rotated 90°, and allow various break-out adapters and connectors.

Corsair Vengeance i7500 review: Gaming performance

Top-level components should equal top-tier performance, and the i7500 is unsurprising in this regard. As no one uses a $4000 computer for simple 1080p gaming, we’ll focus on the 4K benchmarks. The combination of i9-14900K and RTX 4090 GPU yields twice the framerates as the older i7200 in some titles, making the older RTX 3080 seem paltry by comparison.

The more interesting comparison will come from the Origin Chronos and Alienware Aurora R15 which both use the i9-13900K CPU ( the Aurora uses the KF version which only disables the integrated GPU ). This is the previous-gen version of the 14900K used in the Vengeance i7500, but the Chronos has an RTX 4080 while the Aurora sports the same RTX 4090 powering the Vengeance.

Moving to more demanding titles reveals the differences in the Aurora R15 and Vengeance i7500 in terms of bottlenecking and balancing system components.  The Far Cry 6 results at 1080p show the Aurora with a tiny lead over the Chronos despite the Aurora having a much stronger GPU.  This is because lower resolutions don’t stress the GPU much, so framerate is instead limited by CPU and other sub-systems.  At 4K resolutions, the 4090 gets to flex its muscle and the Aurora plays the game 20 fps faster than the 4080

Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla and Shadow of the Tomb Raider show an almost linear progression between the 3080, 4080, and 4090 GPUs. The i7200 and its 3080 was just shy of 60 fps in these games at 55 fps and 59 fps, respectively. The 4080 in the Chronos was able to churn out 91 fps and 88 fps.  The Aurora R15 and Vengeance i7500 tie in AC: Valhalla at 116/117 fps while SotTR shoots up to 131 fps on the Vengeance. While the Chronos maintains around 90 fps in games like Borderlands 3, Far Cry 6, and Metro: Exodus Enhanced Edition on High detail, the i7500 takes them all comfortably above 120 fps.

In contrast, the i7500 shows a decided lead at both 1080p and 4K resolutions in Far Cry 6.  As FC6 leans heavily on a PC’s CPU, especially single-core speed and efficiency, it rewards the slightly higher clockrate of the 14900K over the 13900K. Similar behavior is seen in Grand Theft Auto V.  At 1080p, the Chronos, Aurora, and i7500 are all capped around 185 fps. Moving to 4K, the Chronos manages framerates in the mid 50s while the more powerful Aurora is nearly 30 fps faster. However, the i7500 is still the fastest by a handful of frames per second.

Corsair Vengeance i7500 review: Overall performance

The i9-14900K at the heart of the i7500 is a beast of a chip with eight Hyper-Threaded performance cores that can boost up to 6.0 GHz ( 5.8 GHz with multiple cores ) and 16 efficiency cores at 4.4 GHz. These 32 execution threads, fueled by 64 GB of system RAM and a PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe drive, can process data and productivity tasks as easily as it can game.

Multicore Geekbench 6.2 scored an impressive 21823. The HDXPRT benchmark, meant to test photo and video editing, scored 165. This is a big improvement over the i7200 score of 124, though only slightly edges out the Chronos at 163.

The i7500 ran the Handbrake video conversion test in 2:10, which is five seconds slower than the Chronos. It might seem odd that a newer CPU performs slower than its older version, but the Chronos also has a larger CPU cooler.  Using a 360mm radiator instead of 240mm means the CPU stays cooler during heavy multi-threaded work, allowing the cores to sustain higher boost frequencies.  Tasks that don’t utilize as many cores, like games, don’t generate as much heat, so thermal throttling isn’t an issue there.

In storage, the i7500 system drive transferred our 25 GB test file in 15.1 seconds at 1,774.47 MBps, much faster than the Aurora at 1,340 MBps. The Chronos was a touch faster at 1809.55 MBps, but this is almost insignificant and not something you’d notice in real-world use.  However, the Vengeance does suffer a storage problem of another type as it is only offered with a single storage drive.  With many modern games above 100 GB, some even reaching 200 GB with mods and updates, a 2 TB system drive doesn’t go as far as it once did.  An option for a secondary large capacity spindle drive would be appreciated.  Rather than deleting and re-downloading/re-installing games as you rotate through your library, you could instead offload them to the spindle drive.  Alternatively, somewhat older games that don’t benefit from faster storage could simply live on the spindle drive rather than take up precious flash-based storage.

Corsair Vengeance i7500 review: Software

Like the i7200 before, Corsair keeps extra software to a minimum. Corsair’s iCUE application is still here to manage the lighting profiles and synch colors between the multiple lighting components within the tower. 

It can also be used to monitor system status, clock speeds, temperatures, and other more.

Corsair Vengeance i7500 review: Verdict

The $4,000 price tag on our Corsair Vengeance i7500 review unit will seem outrageous to some. Even the $2,500 for the lower configured models isn’t affordable to many. However, “value” tends to be calculated differently when talking high-end gaming PCs. 

It’s not so much a matter of expecting 10% better performance for 10% more money, but about targeting a given performance threshold and paying what’s necessary to reach it. If the goal is to reach 60 fps at 4K in current gaming titles using medium details, then this machine is overkill for most people. But if you want ultra detail or 120 fps, then $2,500 is close to bare minimum. And if you want a system that can do that for current games and for the next year or two, you’ll have to shell out a sizeable wad of cash.

Aside from being able to deliver the sheer frames per second required, the Vengeance includes some intangibles with that high price. While it’s an incredibly powerful system, it’s also remarkably well-behaved. Excess noise is not an issue. It’s barely noticeable from the next room, so you don’t need to worry about it waking up your kids, or explaining to your spouse or roommate why a jet turbine is spooling up. The system looks dignified, with a touch of flair should you want the RGB lighting active. When the time comes for some upgrades or a system rebuild, the case and power supply offer plenty of room and capacity.

The drawback to the Vengeance compared to something like the Chronos is customization. Corsair limits which component configurations are available, e.g. the RTX 4090 is only available with the i9-14900K, and you can’t get 64 GB RAM with an i5 or i7 CPU. Also, no secondary storage drive is offered with any configuration.

These are relatively small complaints. Someone looking for an out-of-box gaming system that can easily handle all modern games at 4K resolutions should have the Vengeance on their short list. Perhaps the greatest feature of the Vengeance is end-user confidence. It’s easy for a manufacturer to use a few premium components – like the CPU and GPU – then skimp on the not so obvious parts, like a poorly accessible case, RAM with loose timings, or a power supply that can barely handle the electrical draw of all those power-hungry components. 

A Vengeance isn’t cheap. But what you get for the high price of entry is not just the power to play your favorite games extremely well, but the comfort of knowing you don't need to worry about cut corners or lack of creature comforts.

Gaming PCs are some of the most expensive computers on the market, in large part because the best gaming PCs are loaded with pricey high-end components to make even the most demanding games run buttery-smooth at 1080p or higher.

I know because I've been building and buying gaming PCs since I was a kid, and now I help oversee our coverage of all things computing here at Tom's Guide. Part of that work involves reviewing the latest gaming PC builds from major vendors like Acer, Alienware, Corsair, Dell, Maingear and more, so I've been lucky enough to go hands-on with a variety of different gaming PCs at prices ranging from under a thousand dollars to well over $5k.

Sometimes readers write in asking for help or advice on what PC to buy, and my response is typically to ask what they want to use it for and how much they can afford to spend. But recently someone wrote in with a trickier question about whether to buy a seemingly too-good-to-be-true gaming PC off Amazon from a vendor I don't recognize.

I just had a question about a PC and monitor I am considering purchasing. I was wondering if I can send you the Amazon links and you could take a look and let me know what you think, I would really appreciate it if you could help me out as I am new and do not know much about PCs and monitors.

This was the pc I was looking at, and I was looking at this monitor to go with it.

Do these look good? Or or do you have any other suggestions? My budget for these is $750 with the PC and monitor together.

If you'd rather not click through the links the reader shared (or if they no longer work by the time you read this) we're looking at a simple HP 27h 27-inch 75Hz 1080p monitor and a slightly customizable gaming PC from STGAubron.

At time of writing, the monitor is discounted down to $159 from its list price of $299, while the PC can be purchased in 10+ configurations ranging from $399 to upwards of $1,100. So obviously there's real appeal here for someone who'd rather not blow more than a thousand bucks on a new PC just to play games.

And since I personally haven't had a chance to go hands-on with either product, I can't say for sure that it would be a bad idea to buy this combo off Amazon. It's possible you could get years of fun out of this hardware. Certainly the monitor is good enough for 1080p gaming, and while it's probably not the brightest or most vivid display it at least supports AMD FreeSync, so you can count on variable refresh rate support regardless of whether you've got an AMD or Nvidia GPU.

But my experience tells me this STGAubron deal is too good to be true. If you're thinking of buying a cheap gaming PC off Amazon, I think there are a few things you want to look for before dropping hard-earned cash on a product you likely can't return.

In fact, that's the biggest and most glaring reason why I think buying a cheap gaming PC like this STGAubron off Amazon is a bad idea—you can't count on having reliable tech support or warranty coverage.

Amazon offers a basic 30-day return policy, but the PC needs to be either damaged/dead on arrival or in unopened boxes, so if you're unsatisfied with the way it runs games or you find it dies on you 2 months in, you're likely out of luck unless your PC vendor offers a warranty—and I can't even find a website for STGAubron, much less any details on what warranty (if any) they offer on their products.

Compare that to a known vendor like Acer, Dell or Maingear, who all offer at least 1-year limited warranties on their gaming PCs that you can easily find by just Googling them. These warranties typically cover the cost of returning or repairing the PC in the event a component like the hard drive or graphics card breaks, and they offer some peace of mind when you're spending this much money on a PC—especially if you're not comfortable repairing it yourself.

(Now, I can't vouch for whether these companies are easy to work with when returning products, or how well they honor their warranties, but at least they offer them!)

Even if you've been building PCs your whole life and the thought of having to crack into the case to diagnose what's wrong doesn't scare you, there are a couple warning signs that tell me a PC like this one is not a good investment.

First and foremost, the Amazon page for this PC makes it hard to understand what specific components are in each build. Knowing exactly what's in the PC your buying is critical to getting a good deal, so don't trust a vendor that obfuscates those details. Even if you don't know the difference between Intel Raptor Lake 13th gen CPUs and AMD's Ryzen 7000 series CPUs, you can at least punch the name of the components into Google and look up reviews and comparisons of how well they perform (our sister site Tom's Hardware is a great resource for this) before you buy. 

But if a vendor like STGAubron doesn't tell you exactly what's in the PC you're buying, beware: Tomfoolery is afoot.

Second, the reviews of this PC are not great. You can't always trust user reviews on sites like Amazon since you never know if someone's being entirely honest, but in this case you just need to scroll through a few to see mixed messages about how reliable this PC is and whether it performs as advertised. Some customers seem happy with it, but even those who are often mention issues like failing Wi-Fi cards.

This is a common issue when looking for great deals on gaming PCs, and while it sometimes pays to seek out a cheaper, less well-known vendor when you're looking for deals, a gaming PC is not something you want to skimp on if you don't know how it works or how to fix it if it breaks. 

Finally, I recommend you do a Google search of any PC before you buy to read reviews from multiple sources. We have our own catalog of gaming PC reviews I recommend you peruse, though we've never reviewed anything from STGAubron. 

That's partly because they've never reached out to offer us one for review, and after Googling the brand I think I know why: STGAubron seems to come under a lot of criticism online, and while there are some positive reviews to be found there are also quite a number of negative ones.

Also, that quick search turned up a Reddit post from earlier this year in which a user describes how two clients of theirs had bad experiences purchasing STGAubron gaming PCs off Amazon which arrived containing used components. While such tales should be taken with a grain of salt since we can't confirm their veracity, the fact that the user clearly explains how both STGAubron gaming PCs arrived packing components that had clearly seen better days (including GPUs which may have been previously used to mine cryptocurrency, something so damaging it's known to void warranties) is another huge red flag. 

The user goes on to claim that they did their own research and found STGAubron is in fact a shell company of a Chinese computer scrap recovery outfit, and that they may be building PCs out of used parts and reselling them. If that's true, it goes a long way towards explaining why this seemingly cheap gaming PC has very mixed user reviews and only vague details about what components are inside.

So while you could conceivably get one of these STGAubron gaming PCs and a cheap monitor like the HP 27h for less than $750, I think you'd be much better off waiting and saving up for a better gaming PC from a more reliable company.

For example, I like the Acer Predator Orion 3000 as a solid starter gaming PC because it's stylish, runs pretty quiet and can be had with components (including an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070) good enough to run most games in 1080p at 30-60 frames per second for under $2,000.

Obviously that's still more than double the $750 budget our reader allocated for their gaming PC setup, and it's definitely not cheap. But it's a solid deal for a great gaming PC, and I can vouch that you will get what you pay for. Plus, you get the added security of a warranty and tech support from Acer, which is more than I can say for this cheap STGAubron gaming PC off Amazon.

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I have a big goofy grin on my face and it’s not going away (yes I’m sober). The reason for this merriment is I have pretty much one of the most powerful gaming PCs money can buy to test out. 

And, frankly, it’s a bit ridiculous. 

The computer in question is a pre-build machine from relatively new PC builders Starforge Systems. Formed in 2022 by a mix of PC industry veterans and streamers, Starforge Systems produces high-end gaming and creator PCs, with some customization and, in my testing so far, precious little bloat.

The machine I have access to is a $4,299 Voyager Creator Elite, a monster of a PC equipped with the powerful Intel Core i9-13900K processor, the mighty Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 and a massive 64GB of DDR5 RAM  — there's also a healthy 2TB of PCIe 4.0 SSD space. 

In short, this is the most powerful and most expensive PC I think I’ve ever tried. And to go with it I have the excellent Alienware AW3423DWF, a 34-inch 3440 x 1440 resolution OLED display with a quantum dot panel; it’s fantastic and a good monitor to pair with a powerful PC. 

I think the Voyager Creator Elite is glorious overkill for it and my gaming life. 

First, some context. I’ve long been a PC gamer, preferring the scope of games and mouse and keyboard control over consoles. But over the past few years, I’ve fallen a bit off the wagon and tend to be drawn more to my Xbox Series X and PS5.

The reason for this was I have a perfectly capable 1080p gaming PC that’s only just starting to feel the real strain of running the latest games. While I’d considered a new desktop, 2022’s crazy graphics card supply problems and skyrocketing prices put me off.

And as more games came out on the new consoles and I paired them with the wonderful LG C1 OLED, I felt myself slipping away from desktop gaming. After all, I could simply boot up the Series X or PS5 and jump into a game with the only real choice of playing in a mode that prioritizes frame rate or resolution, with the knowledge I’d be getting a gaming experience that still looks fantastic even with dynamic resolution.

With precious few games really pushing PC hardware, beyond the likes of Cyberpunk 2077 at its highest settings, I saw no real need to replace my aged gaming PC.

Then I had a taste of high-end PC gaming.

PC gaming at its finest

Booting up games that would have had my own gaming PC grumble in protest by ramping up its fans and chugging along, the Voyager Creator Elite simply chews through everything I’ve thrown at it, with all settings maxed out and at a QHD resolution.

Now I’ve had powerful PCs before that could handle the best-looking games of the time at max settings, but nothing quite compares here. I’m getting blistering frame rates from a PC that barely breaks a sweat pumping crisp, ray-traced graphics to one of the best gaming monitors and taking advantage of the latter’s 165Hz refresh rate.

Not only do games look and run gloriously, all this power makes PC gaming trivial. I can simply ramp everything up to ultra and hit play.

That means The Last of Us Part 1, a game that had a notoriously bad initial port from PlayStation to PC, runs like a dream now that it’s been patched and can take advantage of the mighty GeForce RTX 4090. The high-end Intel processor also makes mincemeat of Total War: Warhammer 3, seemingly bulldozing another game that had been blighted by poor performance.

Going back to older games that used to challenge PCs, such as Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, is a treat, too. Being able to run that game at a QHD resolution with everything turned up to the max and getting a framerate that’s so smooth I almost think the game shines, is just a joy. All of a sudden I’m back to thinking about playing upcoming releases, such as Starfield, on the PC first. The glory of such high-end gaming has me willing to sit upright at my desk instead of benching myself on my sofa.

But as I said earlier, this is all somewhat ridiculous.

Overkill performance, chilling price 

As a tech journalist I'm in the privileged position of getting to try out all sorts of technology without paying for it. If you were to take my access out of the equation, would I spend more than four grand on a gaming PC? 

Yeah..no chance!

Starforge Systems has the Voyager Creator Elite targeted at major PC gaming enthusiasts and video creators; while I’m a gaming fan, I’m not a frame rate or max settings fanatic. And I leave the video creation up to Tom’s Guide’s tame TikTok star Kate Kozuch. So I can respect the Voyager Creator Elite and other PCs that have masses of power, but they aren't quite for me yet.

The reason I say that is as wonderful as it is to see games at their very best, we’ve yet to get a bunch of titles that really demand high-end PC power. The likes of Cyberpunk 2077 and Forza Horizon 5 may look their best on PC, but they will still present a bounty of virtual splendor on the Series X or PS5 when coupled with one of the best 4K TVs, all for a third of the price of the Voyager Creator Elite.

Maybe this situation will change as the current generation of consoles and PC hardware matures. But right now the very best in PC gaming is really only the domain of professional gamers and streamers, and people with arguably more money than sense (I’m jealous, leave me be).

However, what this dive into high-end PC gaming has done is made me remember how wonderful a gaming platform the PC is. Yes, it can be a nightmare of poorly optimized games, odd bugs, or the need to spend too much time tweaking graphics options in menus before playing a game. But I’m reminded of just how many interesting and diverse games there are on the PC, which with a little bit of extra juice can feel like fresh experiences. And playing strategy games on a widescreen OLED monitor is an experience I’d struggle to abandon,

As such, I’ve been quietly keeping a weather eye on the price of PCs with the GeForce RTX 4070, a graphics card that I feel would give me the smooth hit of QHD gaming I’ve sampled but without breaking my bank balance. And in fairness to Starforge Systems and other PC builders, there are plenty of options to get great desktop gaming at prices that are easier to swallow.

Nevertheless, if you do ever get a chance to try out a no-holds-barred PC, then go for it as I feel it's an experience every gamer should get to see.

More from Tom's Guide

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• I own an RTX 4090 gaming PC, yet I’d rather play my Switch OLED — here’s why

The Alienware Aurora R16 ($1,499 to start) is the latest in the company's line of Aurora gaming PCs, though you could be forgiven for not initially recognizing this rig as a gaming machine.

Unlike its predecessor the Alienware Aurora R15, which sports an ultra-futuristic design that screams "gaming PC," the Aurora R16's Legend 3.0 design is decidedly subdued. Minor flourishes aside, this Alienware desktop wouldn't look out of place in an office.

While it may not look flashy, it's got power where it counts since you can configure this rig with the latest Intel processors and Nvidia GeForce RTX 40 series GPUs. And all that power won't cause the Aurora R16 to melt thanks to its advanced cooling tech that keeps the PC running cool and quiet.

The Aurora R16 can get very pricey depending on how you configure it. However, its entry-level configuration won't break the proverbial bank, making it a great way for folks to get into the world of PC gaming. No matter how you configure this machine, you'll still get one of the best gaming PCs capable of running the best PC games.

Alienware Aurora R16 review: Price & availability

• Starts at $1,499

The Alienware Aurora R16 is available from Dell’s website for a starting price of $1,499 (originally $1,799). This starting packs a 13th Gen Intel Core i7-13700F processor, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 graphics card, 16GB of RAM and 1TB of SSD storage.

As configured, our review unit is valued at $2,099. Our review unit features the same CPU, GPU and SSD storage as the entry-level model, though the R16 we reviewed has 32GB of RAM rather than 16GB.

Of course, since this is an Alienware PC, you can pay extra to upgrade to more powerful components — though that can raise the price by a considerable amount. 

Alienware Aurora R16 review: Design

• Discreet design
• All-black chassis

Utilizing the company’s new Legend 3.0 aesthetic, the Alienware Aurora R16 ditches the ostentatious design of prior Aurora desktops to deliver something that is decidedly more restrained. Were it not for the RGB light strip on its left panel, hexagonal side vents and the discreet Alienware logo-shaped power button, you’d almost be forgiven for not recognizing the Aurora R16 as a gaming desktop.

The all-black chassis of our review unit measures 18 x 16.5 x 7.7 inches and doesn’t take up a lot of room on a desk, which is something you couldn’t say about some of this device’s monstrous predecessors. And while our review unit weighs a hefty 33.8 pounds, I didn’t have much trouble moving it on the desk when I had to. I prefer small, subdued desktops so the Aurora R16 won me over in that regard.

If you need a reminder that the Aurora R16 is in fact a gaming desktop, its transparent glass side panel reveals this machine’s powerful components and tasteful wiring. There’s some more RGB lighting surrounding the inner fans, motherboard and GPU, but they appear muted against the dark glass paneling. I’m also a fan of the honeycomb vents underneath the glass panel, which appear both functional and tastefully placed.

Alienware Aurora R16 review: Ports and upgradability

• Plenty of ports
• Limited upgradeability

The Alienware Aurora R16 has all the ports you could ever need on a desktop, gaming or otherwise.

There are three USB-A ports, a USB-C port, and a 3.5mm headphone jack tucked within a cylindrical recess in the front. The power button above these ports resembles the Alienware logo, which is a nice touch. Unfortunately for those who prefer keeping their rigs on the floor, there are no ports along the top — which could cause a problem with cable management.

You’ll find the lion’s share of ports on the back of the desktop. Like the Aurora R15, there are six USB-A ports and a pair of USB-C ports. The RTX 4070 in our review unit provided me with three DisplayPort jacks and a lone HDMI out. However, your GPU choice will alter the number of available options for outputting to your monitor(s).

There are side, rear and center/subwoofer ports, along with line in and line out, a microphone in, and two SPDIF digital outputs — one for Toslink cables and another for coax. If you want to invest in a killer speaker setup, the Aurora R16 has all the connections you’ll need to make that happen.

Lastly, there’s an RJ-45 jack that supports Intel’s Killer E3100G Gigabit Ethernet. This is a great addition for those who play online games, as you certainly don’t want to rely on Wi-Fi when participating in a Destiny 2 Raid.

Removing the side panel to get at the rig’s interior is simple once you’ve unscrewed the Kensinglock lock on the back. The inside is virtually identical to the Aurora R15 — for both good and ill. Sure, cable clutter is next to non-existent since most cables are routed behind the motherboard. That keeps things looking clean, but makes it difficult to modify the inside to your specific liking.

I had no problems navigating the rig’s interior, even with my big hands, but as I said, it’s difficult to move certain components because of the interior’s layout. Removing RAM isn’t hard, but swapping out the GPU is a pain since you have to remove brackets and move components around. As before, these issues stem from the fact Alienware uses a proprietary motherboard that limits your upgrade options. But as I’ve said, that results in a very tidy interior.

Alienware Aurora R16 review: Gaming performance

• Stellar performance
• Holds up against pricier gaming PCs

The Alienware Aurora R16's redesigned case may look a bit timid compared to other gaming desktops, but I can assure you it’s hiding a performance beast within.

Our review unit, with its 13th Gen Intel Core i7-13700F CPU, RTX 4070 GPU and 32GB of RAM delivered the kind of performance you’d expect from a nearly $2,000 gaming rig. As part of my hands-on testing I fired up Doom Eternal and Cyberpunk 2077, which I think are among the best and worst optimized games, respectively. At Ultra Nightmare settings at 1440p, Doom Eternal’s frame rate never dropped below 100 frames per second (FPS). When I switched over to medium settings, frame rates jumped up to the 130 to 140 FPS range, which is fantastic.

Cyberpunk 2077 struggled to break past the high 40 FPS range at medium settings and 1440p resolution. I only managed to get the game running at around 60 FPS when I enabled Nvidia’s DLSS 3 frame-generating technology available in the company’s RTX 40-series GPUs. While I couldn’t manage to run Cyberpunk 2077 at higher frame rates, 60 FPS isn’t anything to complain about.

Gaming benchmarks (1080p/4K) 

Our in-house lab testing revealed equally impressive results. As you can see in the chart below, the majority of titles we benchmarked on the Aurora R16 ran great at both 1080p and 4K resolutions with game settings set to Ultra or its equivalent. The chart also shows how the Aurora R16 stacks up to recent desktops we’ve tested and reviewed.

In all fairness, the gaming rigs we're comparing it against don’t feature the exact same specs as our Aurora R16 review unit. For example, the Origin Chronos V3 packs an i7-13700K CPU / RTX 4080 GPU while the Aurora R15 features an Intel Core i9-13900KF / RTX 4090 (both have 32GB of RAM like the R16). These rigs are also considerably pricier than the R16, at $4,150 and $4,499, respectively.

While these machines outstrip the R16 in terms of raw performance, the latest Alienware desktop still packs a punch — which is especially impressive for a rig that costs over $2,000 less than the machines we stacked it against.

Alienware's boasts about this desktop’s improved airflow weren’t off the mark. When playing games, the fans produced little more than a gentle whirr, which effectively became soothing white noise in our quiet office. The air vents remained cool to the touch, even after an extensive gaming session. Alienware's Cryo-Tech liquid cooling tech no doubt contributed to this. Unless you play games in a particularly hot room, you likely won’t need to worry about this PC overheating.

Alienware Aurora R16 review: Overall performance

• Strong CPU performance
• Good ray tracing performance

Given its prowess as a gaming PC, the Aurora R16 can handle less intensive computing tasks like surfing the web, watching videos or everyday work. Even with well over 30 open tabs, the PC kept on chugging along without a hint of slowing down. Needless to say, this PC can handle almost anything you throw at it — as our lab testing revealed.

The Aurora R16 performed great across our library of tests. However, it isn’t as performant as the other gaming desktops we pitted it against. 

For example, the more expensive Chronos V3 we reviewed earlier this year did better in terms of CPU benchmarks, file transfer speeds and video editing performance, which makes sense since it has a slightly better CPU and GPU than our R16.

We also benchmarked the Aurora R16 in tests that gauge how well it handles tasks like rendering graphics (3DMark), photo editing (HDXPRT 4) and video editing (CrossMark), and saw high scores across the board.

As with the previous set of tests, the PCs we compared the Aurora R16 to performed better on CrossMark and 3DMark. These machines have stronger graphics cards, which helps account for their better scores, but the RTX 4070-driven Aurora R16 isn’t completely left in the dust — even if it may struggle to hit the same scores in 3DMark's ray tracing test as its competitors.

Alienware Aurora R16 review: Software

• Little extraneous software
• New Alienware Command Center is easy to use 

The Aurora R16 is thankfully devoid of much pre-installed software. Windows 11 and some Dell/Alienware applications come pre-installed, but that's about it.

During my testing, I gave apps like My Alienware, Alienware Customer Connect and Alienware Update (used to update the BIOS, for instance) a cursory glance at best. Likely, you'll rarely (if ever) touch these applications.

The updated Alienware Command Center is an application you'll likely use, especially if you're into monitoring and managing things like system cooling, customizing the RGB lighting, creating system overclock profiles and more. I found the new Alienware Command Center more streamlined than previous versions. If you're a tinkerer, you'll have no shortage of customization options to fiddle with.

Alienware Aurora R16 review: Verdict

The Alienware Aurora R16 is a welcome update to the Aurora line of gaming PCs. The sleek, elegant smaller chassis is the most visible change from previous iterations, making it a desktop that looks great in any work environment. And thanks to the powerful components you can configure it with, you can put plenty of power under the hood if you want.

On top of that, Alienware's new cooling tech allows this machine to run super quiet and cool, even during intense and prolonged gaming sessions.

And while you can configure the Aurora R16 with more powerful components, the $1,749 entry-level configuration is a great mid-range rig that costs thousands less than some PCs with similar specs. 

Like I said in the intro, if you're new to PC gaming the Aurora R16 is a good place to start. However, if you're looking for a more affordable option, the $1,399 Dell XPS 8960 is another great gaming desktop that doesn't look like one.

If you're looking for an all-around dependable gaming desktop featuring an attractive design, solid performance and which runs whisper-quiet, the Alienware Aurora R16 is well worth considering.

Recently, I wrote a piece about my custom-built PC that proved somewhat (ahem) "divisive." I’ve gone through ups and downs with my Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090-powered rig over the past year, and my relationship with my wallet-crushing desktop hasn’t been helped by the ROG Zephyrus G14 (2023).

Hot damn what a laptop.

The version I’ve been testing will admittedly cost you an arm (and most likely both your legs), but it’s still a hugely impressive gaming machine. Mercifully, cheaper configurations start off at a more palatable $2,499.  

Of course, when the G14 config I've been using is priced at $3,299 / £3,599, FPS-slaying performance is essential.

And it really delivers.

I’ve thrown close to a dozen recent big-budget games at the G14, and it’s beasted them all. With Asus wisely opting for a native screen resolution just above 2K — 2,560 x 1,600, to be precise — hitting the laptop’s top 165Hz refresh rate in many games is possible. 

The G14’s awesome Mini-LED display plays a huge role in making this laptop feel truly elite. Boasting brilliant contrast and near OLED-quality black levels, it’s an amazing screen to play games on.

Beast mode

When you pair such a quality panel with the laptop version of the RTX 4090, 32GB of DDR5 RAM and an AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS processor, it’s no surprise the subsequent gaming results are a little bit special. Which they obviously should be, considering the colossal outlay involved in achieving them. 

This will sound a touch hyperbolic, but I’ve created some of my favorite gaming memories of the past few years with the G14.

I finally finished the PC version of Resident Evil 4 — even after getting the platinum trophy on what’s one of the best PS5 games. I’ve enjoyed racing around Night City in Cyberpunk 2077 at 120 fps thanks to the G14’s power and Nvidia’s DLSS 3 features. Hell, I even completed the GOG Galaxy edition of Metal Gear Solid 2 (a game I’ve finished at least a dozen times on console) because the 2001 classic still looks and plays superbly, provided you install the right mod. 

The G14 further boosts its credentials as a powerhouse that can rival some of the best gaming laptops through smart design decisions. This is a lovely-looking laptop that screams ‘spared no expense’ at every turn. I love the G14’s slimmed-down bezel, I’m a big fan of its responsive keyboard and I really appreciate how quiet it runs, even under heavy load. 

Quiet down

That last point is worth emphasizing. I’ve tested some powerful gaming laptops of late, and the G14 is comfortably the quietest I’ve used. 

While the Acer Predator Helios 300 sounds like a 747 taking off when booting even a mildly demanding game, Asus’ high-end laptop is far less harsh on your lobes. 

Yes, the G14 gets hot — uncomfortably so if you touch the center of the laptop just beneath the screen — but it’s clearly doing something right with fan output. Its speakers might be a little on the quiet side, yet that isn’t a huge issue when the laptop generally so quietly. 

So yes, I’m clearly a massive fan of the ROG Zephyrus G14 (2023). Whether playing Red Dead Redemption 2 at 120 fps on the couch while lazily enjoying the first test match of The Ashes or using its responsive keyboard and touchpad to browse the web, I’ve loved my time with this laptop.

If you have a serious chunk of change to burn, the G14 is well-suited to serving your most demanding portable gaming needs.

More from Tom's Guide

• The best gaming laptops: Tried and tested
• Can’t wait for Starfield? Then download Prey for free today
• I've been building PCs for 20 years — now I’d just buy a gaming laptop instead

Hello! I’m Dave Meikleham, and I’m the new UK Computing Editor ‘round these parts. In tech terms, there are three things you should know about me: I’m obsessed with OLED displays, I worry way too much about frame rates in the best PC games and I’ve rebuilt my Windows 11 rig more times than I care to admit.

Most of my recent PC purchases have involved ultrawide monitors, expensive GPUs and a fancy liquid cooler to keep my i5-12600K CPU nice and chilled. But not every PC accessory I use has savaged my bank balance.

Some of my favorite pieces of PC kit are fairly cheap, yet they still offer me as much enjoyment as the accessories that have shredded my wallet. 

Below, I’ll list the PC tech I currently squeeze the most joy from on a daily basis. I’d be happy to recommend any of the products below; with the caveat that, yes, some of them cost all the money.  

 Alienware 34 QD-OLED 

The Alienware 34 QD-OLED is one of the best monitors you can buy in 2023. Actually, I’ll go one further — it’s hands-down the best PC display I’ve ever owned for gaming. This stunning 34-inch screen can be overclocked to 175Hz, response times measure in at under 1ms and its bold and punchy HDR performance is superb.  

It’s those black levels that make this such a stunner of a display, though. The Alienware 34’s infinite blacks take games to a whole new level — IPS and VA panels just can’t touch OLED when it comes to contrast. It’s also a terrific screen for productivity, and that 21:9 ultrawide aspect ratio has transformed the way I work from home.  

Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2

The premium gamepad to beat. I’ve owned the Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2 for nearly four years and it’s never once steered me wrong. This is an astonishingly good gamepad. Build quality feels premium, there are tons of customization options via the Xbox Accessories App and I’m literally obsessed with its metallic rear paddles. 

I can't quite express just how much I adore those magnetic paddles. I love them so much, I’ve barely touched the A or B buttons on the Elite Controller Series 2 for years, as I constantly have them assigned to the rear paddles. There’s just something about the way they click that feels so much more satisfying to my fingers than mashing on the gamepad’s face buttons. The $179 price is hefty, but this is still the best Xbox peripheral there’s ever been.  

Razer Ergonomic Wrist Rest

Finally, a recommendation from me that won’t break the bank. Razer’s wrist rest is no-frills and does exactly what you’d expect. Namely, stop your wrists being gnawed to oblivion by the corners of your desk. 

As someone who works and games across a stupidly large L-shaped desk, my weak wrists and slightly weedy forearms need all the support they can get. Working with a dual monitor setup that stretches across most of my desk, my eyes (and arms) are constantly being pulled in two directions. While my setup can sometimes be logistically awkward while playing games with a keyboard and mouse, having two of Razer’s foam cushions by my side has at least ensured my wrists have yet to snap from strain. 

Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090

Spoiler: the most powerful GPU on the planet is pretty good for playing games on. Shocking, I know. With third-party versions of the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 still selling for upwards of $2,000, this is obviously a graphics card for those who demand (and can afford) the highest frame rates possible. 

If you own one of the best gaming monitors or happen to have your PC hooked up to one of the best OLED TVs like I do, there’s almost no game this brute can’t slay. I recently put Cyberpunk 2077’s amazing new path-tracing update through its paces, and with a little help from Nvidia DLSS, I could easily play the epic RPG at upwards of 80 fps in 4K on this absurdly powerful GPU. 

Corsair iCUE 5000X RGB Smart Case  

I love this case. It might weigh more than my husky, but this colossal mid-tower Corsair has a minimalist mystique I can’t get enough of. Fully kitted out, it can house up to ten 120mm fan mounts and the sheer size of this behemoth means even my 366mm-long inno3D RTX 4090 has plenty of space to generate killer frame rates.  

The tempered glass design demands top-tier cable management, which is exactly what the Corsair iCUE 5000X provides. This is a superb, if admittedly expensive option for lovers of RGB lighting who can’t stop staring at their glowing sticks of DDR4 RAM. 

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• I used this ultrawide monitor for a year — and it's transformed how I work
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The Alienware m18 ($2,099 to start) is the company's first 18-inch gaming laptop in nearly a decade, and it delivers tremendous power in an equally tremendous chassis. 

Alienware debuted the new m18 alongside a portly crew of big-ass laptops at CES 2023, bringing it to market against similar 18-inch gaming laptops like the Razer Blade 18 and the Asus ROG Strix Scar 18. 

These are the new heavyweights of the gaming laptop world, and their added weight and screen size really cement them as desktop replacements. Sure, you could lug Alienware's m18 to class or work if you really wanted to, but it's hard to imagine you'd enjoy the experience. 

That said, the Alienware m18's top-of-the-line components make it one of the best gaming laptops you can buy if you just want a gaming PC that's easier to move than your average desktop. It's certainly in the same price range as some of the best gaming PCs, and as this Alienware m18 review will show, it delivers comparable performance in the latest games.

Alienware m18 review: Price and configurations

• $2,099 to start, can climb as high as $5k

The Alienware m18 is available for purchase right now via Dell's website or select third-party retailers for a starting price of $2,099. 

For that price you get an m18 with a 13th Gen Intel Core i7-13650HX CPU, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 GPU, 16GB of DDR5 RAM and a 512GB NVMe SSD for storage. It also comes with the baseline 18-inch QHD+ (2560 x 1600) 165Hz display.

If you feel like splurging though, you can spend a lot more on upgrades. As of this review the top-tier Alienware m18 you can buy costs roughly $4,949 before tax. For that you get an m18 with a top-of-the-line 13th Gen Intel Core i9-13900HX CPU, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 GPU, 64GB of DDR5 RAM and 8TB of SSD storage (across a pair of 4TB SSDs). You also get the upgraded 18-inch FHD+ (1920 x 1200) 480Hz display, which has a far faster refresh rate than the default but a lower resolution.

For the purposes of this review Dell sent us an Alienware m18 with an Intel Core i9-13980HX CPU, a GeForce RTX 4090 GPU, 32GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD. It comes with the default 1600p 165Hz display,  and if you were to buy the same laptop yourself, it would cost you roughly $3,549.

You may notice our review unit has a more powerful CPU than what I said earlier is the current max for the m18. That's because Alienware launched the m18 in February 2023, but won't be adding the Core i9-13980HX CPU option to its configs until April 2023, at which point it will be an additional $50 over the current high-end CPU option.

All of these laptops come with Windows 11 Home by default, but you can upgrade to Windows 11 Pro for roughly $50 more.

Alienware m18 review: Design

• Heavier than the competition at nearly 9 pounds
• Customizable RGB light strip on the back is a nice touch

The Alienware m18 is massive. There's a lot of neat touches in the design, but the first thing I noticed, and the thing I keep noticing, is how hard it is to hold with one hand. At 16.1 x 12.6 x 1.05 inches large and 8.5 - 8.9 pounds heavy (depending on config), this is a hefty slab of tech. It's also a bit bigger and heavier than both the Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 and the Razer Blade 18, two competing 18-inch gaming laptops.

The upside of that girth greets you when you open the lid: A luxuriously large keyboard deck with a striking ribbon of hexagonal cutouts that runs along the top edge, crowned by a massive (for a laptop) 18-inch display. The bezels on either side are thin, thickening slightly along the top and bottom where the webcam and Alienware logo (respectively) reside.

You won't be able to pretend this is anything other than an Alienware gaming laptop, either, thanks to the dark grey (excuse me, Dark Side of the Moon) aluminum chassis studded with hexagonal cutouts and prominent logos. Of course, you can customize the RGB lighting for the Alienware logo on the lid, as well as the per-key RGB keyboard lighting and the RGB light strip encircling the rear of the laptop.

Alienware m18 review: Display

• 18-inch QHD+ 165Hz display good enough for gaming
• Not as bright as the competition

The 18-inch QHD+ (2,560 x 1,600 pixels) 16:10 165Hz display on our Alienware m18 is nice and big, giving you lots of room for gaming and multitasking. If you've never used an 18-inch laptop before you may be surprised by the size the display the first few times you sit down in front of it, but you quickly get used to it. 

While I wouldn't recommend this laptop just for the screen, I will say that it's getting harder and harder to enjoy using smaller laptops. I recently reviewed Razer's Blade 18 and the slightly smaller (but far lighter) LG Gram 17 Pro, and now your average 13-inch or 14-inch ultraportable screen feels cramped by comparison.

I enjoyed playing games and watching movies on the Alienware m18's display, which is bright enough to be usable in all but direct sunlight. I thought it looked a little dimmer than I usually expect from a laptop, but that's in line with Alienware's promise that it can achieve 300 nits of brightness. 300 nits is nothing to sneeze at, but it's not in the 400-500 nit realm that many of the best laptops occupy these days. 

The results of our display testing back this up. When we ran the m18 through our battery of tests using a Klein-10A colorimeter, we found it achieved an average brightness of 280.8 nits, peaking at 310 nits in the upper-left quadrant. That's fine when you're indoors, which is typically the most common place you'd use this laptop, but it's less bright than either the Razer Blade 18 (495.2 nits) or Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 (402.2 nits).

The display on our m18 review unit is pretty good at accurately displaying colors, achieving 111.9% of the sRGB color gamut and 79.3% of the DCI-P3 color gamut (the closer to 100%, the more accurate) with a Delta-E score of 0.2 (the closer to 0, the better).

As you can see from the chart above, these results reveal the m18 is competitive with the Razer Blade 18 and Asus ROG Strix Scar in everything but brightness. It gets much less bright than those two other 18-inchers, but they're otherwise not much different.

Of course, they do differ in terms of refresh rate and resolution. The Alienware m18's default QHD+ (2560 x 1600) resolution and 165Hz refresh rate is plenty good enough for gaming, but it's not quite as fast as the displays on the Asus ROG Strix Scar or the Razer Blade 18. Both sport displays that offer the same resolution but a faster 240Hz refresh rate. The Asus ROG Strix Scar 18's display also supports HDR, a feature neither the Blade nor the m18 can match.

Don't forget you can pay extra to upgrade the screen on the Alienware m18 to a faster 480Hz panel with a lower (1,920 x 1,200 pixels) resolution. We just so happen to have tested an m18 with that panel as well, and I can tell you that it's definitely brighter than the default panel, achieving an average brightness of 335.8 nits. The color accuracy is otherwise pretty similar to the base model, with the same Delta-E score and a slightly worse showing in terms of sRGB and DCI-P3 color gamuts.

Alienware m18 review: Ports

• Plenty of ports, spread around both sides and back of the laptop
• Placing a lone USB-C port near the right hand feels awkward

The Alienware m18 sports a solid array of ports, but they're distributed around the laptop in a way that may surprise you.

Along the left edge of the m18 you'll find your RJ-45 Ethernet jack, two USB-A 3.2 ports and a headphone jack. They're situated between the speaker grille near the front of the laptop and the exhaust grille near the rear.

On the righthand side you get...just a single USB-C 3.2 port. It looks a little lonely all by itself, and its odd placement near the front edge of the laptop (instead of near the rear, like most laptop ports) means anything with a cord that you plug in here may hamper your ability to use a mouse or trackball with your right hand. 

But where are the rest of the ports, you ask? On the back of the m18, where you'll find 2x USB4/Thunderbolt 4 ports, another USB-A 3.2 port, an HDMI 2.1 out, a mini-DisplayPort, an SD card slot and the power jack. 

As mentioned earlier, there's also a customizable RGB light strip running around the rear port array that's a nice touch.

The power brick for this laptop is the first one I've seen in a long time that's actually the size of a real brick, by the way. You do not want to be carrying this laptop and charger in anything other than a vehicle if you can help it.

Alienware m18 review: Gaming performance

• Our top-tier (~$3.6k) review unit is a beast when gaming
• Outperforms competing 18-inch gaming laptops

Our Alienware m18 review unit is a beastly gaming machine thanks to its top-tier components, and I had no trouble playing all my favorite games at 60+ frames per second at the highest graphical settings. 

To give you a sense of what I mean, I'm writing this review shortly after CD Projekt Red released the "Ray Tracing: Overdrive Mode" update for Cyberpunk 2077, allowing players with sufficiently powerful PCs (think GeForce RTX 40-series GPUs and above) to play the game with path-traced ray tracing.

That's a technical term for what's basically the future of video game lighting, where the path of every light in the game is calculated and rendered in real time. That's far more demanding than the traditional method of pre-programming the lighting in a game, but it allows for far more realistic light, shadows and reflections. 

Most PCs can't run Cyberpunk 2077 in this mode at all, much less well, but our Alienware m18 review unit managed to handle it with no trouble. With all settings cranked to max and Nvidia's DLSS 3 image-upscaling tech switched on, I was able to play Cyberpunk 2077 on our m18 at a buttery-smooth 60+ fps without any noticeable drop in visual quality. 

Even when I switched DLSS 3 off and kept all the settings cranked to max, the m18 was still able to deliver 20-ish fps. Not the best way to play, but certainly playable, and an impressive display of power from this monster. Sure, the fans got so loud I wouldn't want to actually play the game without headphones on, but that's understandable given this thing packs enough power to compete with a full gaming PC in a far smaller case.

When we ran the m18 through our gauntlet of gaming benchmark tests it managed to deliver similarly beastly performance, beating out the competition. 

As you can see from the chart above, our Alienware m18 review unit ($3,549 as tested) surpassed the Scar 18 (~$3,899 as tested) and Blade 18 ($3,799 as tested) in terms of performance despite costing a bit less. In fact, our m18 review unit performed nearly as well as the Alienware Aurora R15 gaming PC in many of these gaming benchmarks despite costing nearly $1k less, proving it earns the desktop replacement moniker.

So if you prize performance above all else in your 18-inch gaming laptop, our testing suggests the Alienware m18 is the superior choice.

Alienware m18 review: General performance

• Top-tier components make this a monstrous productivity machine
• Slower CPU & SSD than competitors, but faster at video work

In case you needed to be reassured, the top-tier components inside our Alienware m18 review unit make it more than capable of handling just about any work task you throw at it. 

While writing this review on the m18 I regularly had 30+ tabs open in Chrome across multiple instances, while streaming music and occasionally a 4K video, without nary a stutter. Apps launch quickly, and I never noticed any crashes, freezes or lagging.

When we put it through our general performance tests, we once again saw our m18 review unit blaze past lesser machines. It earned a score of 18,070 in the Geekbench 5.4 multi-core CPU benchmark, surpassing the lion's share of productivity laptops and gaming laptops, including the Razer Blade 18. However, it's a bit less than the Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 scored (19,233) in the same test.

The Scar 18 also beat our Alienware m18 review unit in our SSD speed test, which measures how fast the laptop can copy 25GB of multimedia files. The m18 achieved a peak speed of 1,531 MBps (megabytes per second), putting it behind both the Scar 18 (1,885 MBps) and the Blade 18 (1,637 MBps).

If you're thinking about doing a bit of video work, know that the one general performance test where the Alienware m18 smoked its 18-inch competitors is our video encoding test. We time how long it takes the laptop to transcode a 4K video down to 1080p, and by completing the task in 2 minutes and 35 seconds the m18 beat both the Blade 18 (4:56) and the Scar 18 (2:49).

Alienware m18 review: Audio

• Speakers get nice and loud, with no noticeable distortion on the high end
• Weak bass

The speakers on our Alienware m18 get nice and loud, without any noticeable distortion even at maximum volume. I enjoyed listening through a few of my favorite playlists while writing this review, and games sounded nice and clear whether I was driving through Night City or blasting baddies from Hell (in Cyberpunk 2077 and Doom Eternal, respectively). 

That said, there isn't much bass to speak of, which is par for the course yet somehow still a bit disappointing here. In my experience cheaper, smaller laptops like the Lenovo Yoga 9i Gen 8 and MacBook Pro 2023 can deliver better bass, so it's a bit of a letdown that this massive, expensive gaming machine can't compete in that department.

Of course, those smaller, lighter laptops don't have to squeeze a gaming-grade laptop GPU and cooling system into their chassis the way this Alienware does, so maybe I'm expecting too much. You'll almost certainly want to wear headphones while gaming anyway due to fan noise, so you may as well invest in a good set of cans—check out our list of the best gaming headsets for some recommendations.

Alienware m18 review: Keyboard and touchpad

• Spacious CherryMX mechanical keyboard feels great to type on
• Hotkeys are useful and well-placed

I really like the keyboard on the Alienware m18. It's effectively a full RGB keyboard with CherryMX mechanical keys, and I love the way they feel beneath my fingertips. The 1.8mm of travel is just enough to be satisfying, and there's a nice clicking sound from the switches engaging as you type.

That said, the noise is audible on video calls as a gentle susurration of clicks, and it's a bit louder than the sound of someone typing on a more common membrane keyboard. I didn't mind it and my colleagues didn't either, but it's something you should know if quiet is key. It's certainly not a laptop you'd want to be typing on with someone sleeping in the same room.

The function keys are also pretty useful, which I can't say about all the laptops I review. I appreciate that the m18 has a dedicated hotkey (F1) for switching to high performance mode, for example, as well as hotkeys for controlling volume and enabling/disabling your speakers or microphone. There are also five function keys (F2-F6) for storing custom macros, which you can create and save using the Alienware Command Center software (more on that later).

Beneath the keyboard is a touchpad just left of center. I didn't find the off-center placement to be a help or a hindrance, and the touchpad had no trouble correctly reading my taps and swipes. 

I will say that even though I'm 6'4" and have long arms, the sheer size of the m18's keyboard deck made it uncomfortable for me to use for long periods. I think this is because the keyboard is both slightly higher and slightly farther away from me than I'm used to (I review a new laptop every other week or so), so my hands and arms were slightly elevated and extended the whole time I used the m18 on a desk. This issue went away when I used it in my lap, but I don't recommend that; even if the weight is bearable, the heat (especially if you're gaming) can become uncomfortable fast. 

Alienware m18 review: Webcam

• 1080p webcam delivers sharp, accurate images and video
• IR camera supports facial login via Windows Hello, works well

I think the image quality delivered by the Alienware m18's 1080p webcam is quite good for a gaming laptop. During Google Meet calls I thought it did a solid job of accurately capturing the colors and details of my face, and there was no noticeable ghosting or image distortion.

The m18 also comes with an IR sensor built into the webcam housing, which is handy if you want to use features (like logging into your PC with your face via Windows Hello) that require an IR camera.

Alienware m18 review: Software

• Minimal bloatware
• Alienware Command Center useful, even if UI is clunky

Alienware doesn't load the m18 up with much in the way of bloatware, which is exactly what you want in a gaming laptop. Besides the usual complement of software that comes with Windows 11 you also get a few Dell/Alienware apps, the most notable of which are Alienware Update (used to update software) and the Alienware Command Center.

The Command Center app is where you do things like customize the laptop's RGB lighting, monitor and manage your system cooling, or create and implement system overclock profiles. I'm not a huge fan of the interface, but in terms of functionality it's a useful piece of software.

Alienware m18 review: Battery life and heat

• 4.5 hours of tested (non-gaming) battery life
• Don't expect more than 1-2 hours gaming on battery, and beware of heat

The Alienware m18 doesn't last very long on battery power, so don't expect to be toting this around all day without plugging in. 

Based on my anecdotal experience using the laptop for work and play, you can typically expect 1-2 hours of use while gaming (maybe more if it's not a demanding game) or 3-5 hours of non-gaming use before the laptop dies. I set it up playing music and streaming a video while I did other things, for example, and it died in roughly 3 hours and 45 minutes.

Our in-house battery testing backs that up. We run two battery tests on every gaming laptop we review: Our standard rundown test (which tasks the laptop with endlessly surfing the web via Wi-Fi with brightness set to 150 nits) and a PCMark 10 synthetic battery test meant to simulate battery life while playing games.

In the standard rundown test our m18 review unit managed to last for 4 hours and 33 minutes before shutting off. That's actually not bad for a gaming laptop, and it's about 7 minutes longer than the Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 lasted in the same test. However, the Razer Blade 18 outperformed both by lasting a solid 5 hours and 20 minutes.

Oddly we ran into trouble running PCMark 10 on this machine, so I can't yet give you the results of that test for the m18. We're going to continue working on that after this review is published, and I'll update it with the results once we get it running.

As far as heat goes, watch out: Despite the Alienware m18's Cryo-Tech cooling system, which pulls air in through the top and bottom of the laptop and vents heat from the sides/rear, it still got quite toasty in our heat test.

That entails running the Metro: Exodus performance benchmark test at Extreme settings six times in a row, back-to-back. After the sixth run we scan the laptop with our infrared heat gun, and we found the m18 got quite toasty, topping out at a finger-scorching 125.1 degrees Fahrenheit on the top vent just above the keyboard deck. The underside, meanwhile, reached a toasty 101.5 degrees.

So keep this thing on a desk when you fire up your favorite games, be ready to slip some headphones on and be real cautious about where you put your hands.

Alienware m18 review: Verdict

The Alienware m18 is the heaviest, most powerful gaming laptop I've reviewed to date. Our kitted-out review unit truly earns the desktop replacement moniker, delivering cutting-edge performance in a still somewhat portable package. 

Of course, you have to pay several thousand dollars for the privilege of lugging such a PC around, and while the big screen and mechanical keyboard are great, it's not something you'll want to whip out in class or at the coffee shop. If you'd rather have a gaming laptop that still runs games well and can be toted around all day without giving you a spinal injury, you might be happier with something like the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14.

But if a massive gaming laptop is what you want, the Alienware m18 is my new top recommendation. While I also enjoyed my time reviewing and playing games on the competing Razer Blade 18, it simply doesn't run games as well as our m18 review unit. 

Neither the Blade 18 nor the Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 have keyboards that feel as nice to use as the Alienware m18 and its low-profile CherryMX mechanical keys, either. Sure, both are lighter than the m18 and have brighter displays, but those strengths don't mean as much when these laptops are likely to be sitting on a desk indoors most of the time. They don't call 'em desktop replacements for nothing.

Being a PC gamer has been tough of late. Thanks to the disastrous state of many recent PC ports, it’s increasingly hard to enjoy big-budget games, even if you own one of the best gaming PCs. It’s a situation that plainly sucks, and one that could stop many gamers from embracing PC hardware for years to come.

I’m currently writing this article while casting half a weary eye at the stupidly heavy rig sitting under my desk. It’s a colossus that would snap my shins if I ever tried to pick it up. Housing an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 GPU, 12th Gen Intel Core i5-12600K CPU, 32GB of DDR4 RAM and a couple of ultra-speedy NVMe SSDs, it’s a beast of a system. It’s also one that I kinda regret putting together. 

The sheer expense of assembling such a PC has been ruinous. Throw in a beefy PSU, two of the best gaming monitors, various liquid coolers and an ostentatious case crammed full of garish RGB, and I’m looking at an outlay well north of $7,000. That’s clearly ludicrous… and also shows why I should never be trusted with anything more than lunch money. 

The rig is up

My tattered bank balance wouldn’t mind quite so much if I was regularly getting a demonstrably better gaming experience than is currently possible on PS5 or Xbox Series X. 

Sadly, that’s just not the case the majority of the time. With so many triple-A PC ports being released in such a depressing state, it’s becoming ever harder to justify owning a powerful gaming PC.

Over the last 12 months or so, there have been a host of PC ports that have launched in a completely unacceptable state. The bar has been set so low, a barebones PC version that runs without major issues is a cause for mild celebration in 2023. That’s just sad.

Regardless of the level of hardware, PC gamers have been served up an increasingly unpalatable buffet of underperforming ports. The Callisto Protocol, Elden Ring, Final Fantasy 7 Remake, Returnal, Forspoken, and more recently The Last of Us Part 1 have all been released with either game-breaking glitches or immersion-ruining stutter.

Stutter wouldn't melt

Ah yes, stutter. The rise of PC games launching with horrible shader compilation stutter is seemingly becoming a bigger problem with every passing month. For its first few days on sale, ultra-gory survival horror The Callisto Protocol was all but unplayable because there was no way to pre-compile texture shaders before you played the game.

To bypass some of the technicalities, this basically, this basically resulted in extremely noticeable on-screen judders that even the highest-end PC owners couldn’t brute force their way through. 

A patch soon fixed the problem for many players. But months on, the grizzly sci-fi horror still stutters on my $2,000 GPU far more than it does on a $500 PS5.

And lessons clearly aren’t being learned. Within the last few weeks the PC port of The Last of Us Part I hit digital storefronts in a truly broken state. The constant stutter, array of bugs and unreasonably high VRAM requirements mean Naughty Dog’s apocalyptic adventure runs terribly on all but the very best PCs.

Even then, there’s no guarantee of a smooth, console-beating experience. Spoiler: The Last of Us is currently a stuttery mess on my GeForce RTX 4090, and that’s after the game took close to an hour to pre-compile its shaders from the main menu.

As more half-baked ports hit the market, it’s hard to shake the notion that PC games simply aren’t a priority for many major developers. It’s one of the reasons I’m starting to regret building such an expensive machine. 

The cost of PC gaming at the absolute highest level has always been prohibitively expensive, yet I can’t think of a time when owning so much high-end tech produced subpar results on such an alarming basis.

PS5 and Xbox Series X: Sofa so good

With so many PS5 and Xbox Series X games shipping in a better state than their PC counterparts, I’m increasingly being lured to the couch when I want to play the latest big titles. More and more, playing games in a hassle-free environment is becoming my number one priority.

As much as I love playing games at 120 fps in 4K on PC, there aren’t enough modern titles taking advantage of my GPU’s power. It’s why I find myself regularly opting for the less technically advanced but ultimately smoother and more stable console experience.

Until the majority of PC ports are treated with more care, the justification for owning super powerful GPUs like the RTX 4090 or AMD RX 7900 continues to diminish. 

When you can buy one of the best OLED TVs and pair it with either a PS5 or Xbox Series X for a fraction of the price you’d spend on a 4K-capable PC, it’s not hard to see why the new consoles are selling in record-breaking numbers.

As a regretful RTX 4090 owner, I can only hope the state of PC ports gets a heck of a lot better in the near future.

More from Tom's Guide

• PSVR 2 sales reportedly not living up to Sony’s expectations
• The 13 best PS5 games in the PlayStation Spring Sale
• These are the best gaming laptops in 2023

The Alienware Aurora R15 ($1,199 to start) is an excellent gaming PC that improves upon its predecessors in a few key ways, packing the most powerful components you can afford in an attractive, easy-to-open chassis.

Though that chassis looks awfully similar to the Legend 2.0 case which debuted last year with the Aurora R13, Alienware claims to have redesigned it to run cooler and quieter, and my experience putting our review unit through its paces bears that out. 

But while case design is a surprisingly important part of choosing the best gaming PC for you given that their internals are typically highly customizable (and thus not a meaningful differentiator between PCs), it's far from the most exciting aspect of these machines. No, what we get most hyped about is how well a gaming PC plays the latest and greatest games with all the settings cranked to max. 

When Alienware sent us a tricked-out Aurora R15 review unit with an RTX 4090 and a high-end 13th Gen Intel CPU I did everything I could to bring it to its knees, but even when gaming at 4K with every bell and whistle firing it ran whisper-quiet and delivered great framerates. That level of performance is far from cheap, but if you can afford it this is a gaming PC that will last you for years to come.

Be sure to read our Alienware Aurora R16 review, which is the latest model.

Alienware Aurora R15 review: Price and availability

• Starts at $1,399, but you can easily pay over $5k if you want the best
• Highly customizable with the latest from AMD, Intel and Nvidia

The Alienware Aurora R15 is available for purchase right now via Dell's website in either white or black (Lunar Light and Dark Side of the Moon, technically), and you can order a stock config or customize your own. The price tag on this Windows 11 gaming PC starts as low as $1,199 (at time of review), and for that, you get a 13th Gen Intel Core i5 CPU, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 GPU, 8GB of DDR5 RAM and a 256GB SSD for storage.

That's a decent machine for the price and it should be able to run many games well enough (though 8GB of RAM really isn't much, so you should probably add more), but it won't play the latest and greatest PC games at high resolution with great framerates.

Of course, Alienware is happy to sell you more power if you can afford it. The company offers at least 7 pre-configured builds of the Aurora R15 on its website, some with Intel CPUs and others with AMD chips.

The price tag for these builds ranges as high as $4,499, and for that you get a top-of-the-line liquid-cooled R15 with a 13th Gen Intel Core i9-13900KF CPU, an Nvidia Geforce RTX 4090 GPU, 32GB of DDR5 RAM and a 1TB SSD for booting plus another 1TB hard disk drive (HDD) spinning at 7,200 RPM for added storage. It's a beefy rig, as befits a nearly $5k price tag, and it's what Alienware sent us to review.

But for true enthusiasts, Alienware offers the option of configuring your own build. In addition to the remarkably powerful Intel Core i9-13900KF CPU and GeForce RTX 4090 GPU, you can configure an Aurora R15 with up to 64GB of DDR5 RAM (at either 4800MHz or the faster, more expensive 5200MHz) and up to a 4TB SSD + a 2TB hard drive.  Such a rig would cost you roughly $5,500, though it could climb even higher if you splurged for a Pro copy of Windows 11 and some of Alienware's gaming accessories.

Alienware Aurora R15 review: Design

• Redesigned Legend chassis runs cool and quiet, still looks great
• Those fins on the back can leave wicked scratches on your wall

The Aurora R15 looks very similar to its predecessor the Alienware Aurora R13 at a glance, from the reclining oval face to the stubby fins on the back that left a few scratches on the wall behind my desk.

Dig deeper and you'll see how Alienware has redesigned the case to improve airflow by, among other things, punching some hexagonal holes in the side and expanding the cooling complement for high-end models (those with an Intel CPU ending in "K", denoting overclock capabilities) to a set of five 120mm case fans.  The company also changed up the motherboard's design and relocated some things within the case to try and make room for today's beefy GPUs while ensuring the R15 runs quieter and cooler.

After spending some time with our review unit I can't say for sure how much quieter it is than the R13 I reviewed last year, but I can say I barely noticed any fan noise or heat from the R15, even after spending hours playing a game like Cyberpunk 2077 at 4K resolution with all setting maxed. This is a nice change from when I was playing the same game on the older R13, since I can remember that machine getting a bit louder and putting out a noticeable amount of hot air after I'd been playing for an hour or two.

Like the R13, the new Alienware Aurora R15 has an optional clear glass side panel (not available on all models) which lets you peer inside your PC to watch the components at work. New to the R15 is the aforementioned grille of hexagonal cutouts along the bottom half of the panel for improved airflow. If you want to get inside the PC this is the panel you want to remove, and it's easy to do: simply unscrew one screw on the back of the PC and then (gently) pry it off. You can pull the other side off as well, and even the top of the case if you want to break out a screwdriver, but you can get to most of the PC's innards just from the left side panel.

You can get around inside to just about anything you need to, but expect it to take a while—the case is tightly organized, and there are more than one or two brackets that stay between you and some areas of the case. This is the trade-off you make for the Aurora R15's attractive case design and relatively compact size: Limited upgradability.

Still, it's not hard to see the appeal of the Aurora R15 at a glance. The oblong case is easy on the eyes and, if not exactly light, at least more convenient to lug around than many full-sized gaming PCs. Not long ago I reviewed the Acer Predator Orion 7000, another great gaming PC that comes in a full tower case, and if I had to pick one to carry up a flight of stairs, I'd go Aurora every time.

Alienware Aurora R15 review: Ports and upgradability

• Plenty of ports on front and back, though none up top
• Case is easy to open, but difficult to work in

That removable side panel is one of the nicer aspects of the Aurora R15's design because it makes it awfully easy to get into the PC and start mucking around. I really like this ease of access to the case, even if I'm less fond of the way Alienware routes as many cables as possible behind the motherboard and up the right side. This keeps cable clutter minimal in the case (which looks great) but can make it tricky to modify or add your own touches since you'll need to work within the limits of the case.

This is true for working within the case in general: It's easy enough to get in there and start fiddling with things, but you'll be hampered by Alienware's design work. While swapping in new RAM is easy enough, expect to have to remove brackets and move components around to do more complicated things like swapping out a GPU in the case. Since Alienware uses a proprietary motherboard, your options for upgrading it (and by extension the CPU) down the road are limited at best. 

Alienware's Aurora R15 sports all the ports a PC gaming enthusiast could want, with some on the front and the rest on the rear. However, you won't find any top-mounted ports on this PC, which might be a bummer for those who like to keep their gaming rig on the floor. 

While plugging things into the front of the case does mar the clean lines of the R15 somewhat, you can't beat the convenience. Up front you get a headphone jack and a vertical lineup of USB-C ports: 2x USB-A 3.2 Gen 1, another USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 with PowerShare (which just means the port delivers power to connected devices even when the PC is switched off) and a USB-C Gen 2 port with PowerShare. 

But that's just a teaser. The real port smorgasbord is on the back of the PC, where you get a quartet of classic USB-A 2.0 ports as well as a newer USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 port, a USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 port and a USB-C 3.2 Gen 2x2 port. As far as graphics go, your GPU choice will dictate what sorts of port options you have for outputting to monitors, and the 4090 in our review unit offers 3 DisplayPort jacks and one HDMI out.

If you want to invest in a serious speaker setup to go with your new gaming PC, the Aurora R15 sports the ports you want. In addition to side, rear and center/subwoofer output ports you get line in and line out, a microphone in, and two SPDIF digital outputs: one for Toslink cables and the other for coax.

You'll want to plug into a high-speed wired Internet connection for online gaming, of course, so it's nice to see the Aurora R15 also includes an RJ-45 jack with support for Intel's Killer E3100G Gigabit Ethernet.

The Aurora R15 also comes with a detachable rear cover you can slide over the back of the PC to help route cables and hide them from view.

Alienware Aurora R15 review: Gaming performance

• Our ~$5K review unit excels at 4K gaming thanks to Nvidia's RTX 4090
• ...but you can get nearly as good gaming performance from a PC over $1k less

The Alienware Aurora R15 unit we received for review is an excellent gaming machine thanks to its GeForce RTX 4090 GPU, Core i9 CPU and 32GB of DDR5 RAM. I enjoyed my time reviewing this PC immensely, as it had no trouble running any game I cared to launch.

At home, I have a dual-monitor setup, one 1080p and one 1440p, and our Aurora R15 was able to run everything from Cyberpunk 2077 to Death Stranding to Marvel's Midnight Suns at 1440p with all the settings maxed out. With most games, it had no trouble delivering 60 frames per second or better, especially when I flipped on Nvidia's DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling) in games that support it. 

Even when I (carefully) dragged the Aurora R15 over to my LG C2 OLED TV and hooked it up to see how well it could spit game at 4K, I was not disappointed. While our Aurora R15 review unit could only manage between 30-40 fps while running Cyberpunk 2077 at 4K with all settings cranked to max, that was before I flipped on Nvidia's DLSS.

Nvidia rolled out a new version of the tech (DLSS 3) alongside its GeForce RTX 4000 series, and Cyberpunk 2077 was one of the first games to get updated with support for DLSS 3. Not only does DLSS 3 tap the Tensor Cores in Nvidia GPUs to dynamically enhance image quality while you're playing, it actually inserts new frames in between frames of gameplay. It can be confusing to understand when you read about it, but once I saw it in action on our Aurora R15 I was impressed by how much it improved my experience of playing Cyberpunk 2077 without any noticeable graphical issues. When I would use older versions of DLSS in times gone by I would often notice graphical distortions cropping up that made it appear as though the image was being smeared or blurred out slightly, especially during scenes of fast action.

Not so with DLSS 3 and Cyberpunk 2077. When I flipped on DLSS 3 in the game's settings, that 30-40 fps at 4K shot up to 100-120 fps, with no noticeable degradation in image quality. If DLSS 3 can do for every game what it did for my experience playing Cyberpunk at 4K, call me a believer.

Of course, we don't just rely on our own anecdotal experience when reviewing PCs here at Tom's Guide. We also run every machine through our testing lab (don't miss our guide to how we test products), where we subject it to a battery of performance tests to see how it stacks up against the competition.

As you might expect, our nearly $5K review unit achieved high scores across the board in these tests. In fact, it significantly outperformed some of the most powerful gaming PCs we've tested in the last year, including the Origin PC Millennium (2022) (i9-12900K, GeForce RTX 3080 Ti, 32GB RAM) and the Corsair One i300 (i9-12900K, GeForce RTX 3080 Ti, 64GB RAM).

However, keep in mind those are older PCs packing last-gen parts. We haven't tested a ton of 2023 PCs with the latest and greatest components yet, but we did recently test a cheaper Origin Chronos V3 gaming PC (priced upwards of $3.5K) with only slightly less powerful guts—specifically, it arrived with an Intel Core i9-13900K CPU, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 GPU and 32GB of RAM. Our Aurora R15 review unit still managed to outperform this Origin in nearly every gaming benchmark, as you can see from the chart of results above.

So if you want a great PC for gaming at 4K, Alienware delivers with the Aurora R15—assuming you're willing to pay for the privilege.

Alienware Aurora R15 review: Overall performance

• 13th Gen Intel Core i9 CPU blazes through performance benchmarks
• Excellent ray tracing, but cheaper PCs outperform this monster elsewhere

You shouldn't need to worry about performance when using a gaming PC for day-to-day work tasks, especially when that PC cost you nearly $5K. The Aurora R15 meets that expectation with flying colors, as it ran whisper-quiet and never hitched or froze  no matter how many browser tabs, productivity applications and streams of data I opened at once.

Our performance tests reveal that this is an excellent machine for running demanding applications for work like video editing, game development and the like, but you could have guessed that from the smorgasbord of high-powered parts inside. However, it was again neck-and-neck with the new Origin Chronos V3 we just tested, which managed to outperform the Aurora R15 in a few key areas.

Notably, our Alienware Aurora R15 review unit was less speedy than the Origin Chronos V3 in terms of CPU performance (22,494 vs 24,054), file transfer speeds (1,340 MBps vs 1,809) and video editing performance (3:12 vs 2:48), which we measure by timing how long it takes the PC to transcode a 4K video down to 1080p using Handbrake.

We also run every PC we review through a few benchmarks designed to evaluate how well it performs at tasks like rendering graphics (3DMark), editing media like photos in Adobe Photoshop Elements (HDXPRT 4), or more esoteric computing tasks like facial recognition (CrossMark).  As you might expect, our Aurora R15 performed quite well in these tests, putting up high scores across the board.

Here again, the Origin Chronos V3 put up better numbers than our Aurora R15 review unit in CrossMark and HDXPRT 4, though the difference between the two is relatively small. However, the power of the RTX 4090 helped the R15 achieve a far better score than the Chronos in 3DMark's Port Royal test, which evaluates how well a PC handles ray tracing.

Given that this is a machine tuned for gaming it's nice to see that it excels in the ray tracing department, since ray tracing tech is showing up in more and more games every year.

Alienware Aurora R15 review: Software

• Minimal bloatware, which is great
• Alienware Command Center is the MVP 

There wasn't much installed on our Aurora R15 review unit when it arrived save Windows 11 and a few Dell/Alienware applications you'll rarely touch, including My Alienware, Alienware Customer Connect and Alienware Update (which you use to do things like update your BIOS).

The one piece of pre-installed software you'll likely use a lot is the Alienware Command Center. This is the most feature-rich Alienware app on the system, as it allows you to do things like monitor and manage your system cooling, create and implement system overclock profiles, customize the case's RGB lighting and more. 

Alienware Aurora R15 review: Verdict

The Alienware Aurora R15 is a great gaming PC that improves upon its predecessors in small but meaningful ways. While how well it plays games will depend on what you can afford to put in it, getting in there is easy thanks to the accessible design of the case.

The fact that our Aurora R15 review unit never got hot or loud during the review process, even when playing demanding games at 4K for hours with all settings cranked to max, suggests Alienware's efforts to improve the case design paid off. While ours is admittedly liquid-cooled with Alienware's Cryo-Tech cooler, which is only available on the higher-end models (the cheapest Aurora R15 units are simply air-cooled), the cost of adding such cooling to an R15 is a few hundred bucks. Not cheap, but certainly not on the level of upgrading the GPU to the 4090 in our review unit.

And really, that's the main appeal of this PC: You can get one with the latest and greatest components inside, and my experience playing games on one suggests it's worth the high cost of entry. Of course, more and more PCs with 13th Gen Intel chips and 40-series Nvidia GPUs are hitting the market every week, some of which (like the Origin Chronos V3 we're reviewing) might actually outperform the R15 in some areas despite costing less. 

But even the truly flush who are out there scouring storefronts for the perfect RTX 4090-powered gaming PC would be well-served by the Aurora R15 thanks to its easy-to-access case and excellent cooling. Plus, it looks really good on a desk.

When you think of a gaming PC, your first thought may not be something like the Minisforum NUCXi7. Mine sure isn’t. But don’t discount this beast because it packs a serious punch in a body slimmer than a PS5. 

With the powerful Intel i7-11800H CPU and RTX 3070 mobile GPU, the NUCXi7 makes the case for small form factor gaming PCs using laptop-grade parts. Minisforum created a great machine here that is perfect for any desktop, or even living room console, setup.

As you’ll see in this Minisforum NUCXi7 review, I can’t get enough of this PC. While I wish it had more ports, it gets the job done with flying colors while barely making a sound.

Minisforum NUCXi7 review: Price and availability

The NUCXi7 comes in a single CPU/GPU configuration, though you do have some choice in regards to the RAM and storage. The PC starts at $1,309 for the model with 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. 

To get 512GB of storage, you’ll fork over $1,339. A variant with 32GB of RAM and 512GB of storage costs $1,409 and the top-end model with 32GB of RAM and 1TB of storage runs $1,469. You can purchase it directly from Minisforum.

There aren’t many mini gaming PCs like the NUCXi7. You could draw comparisons to an Intel NUC 11 Extreme, which supports full-size graphics cards, but for about the same price as the NUCXi7, you get an i7-11700B and no GPU. So all told, while the Minisforum option is pricey (certainly more so than a console), it’s one of the least expensive options for a gaming PC of this form factor and caliber.

There’s also the NUCXi5, which comes with an Intel i5-11400H CPU and an Nvidia RTX 3060 laptop GPU.

Minisforum NUCXi7 review: Design

I call the NUCXi7 a mini gaming PC because it is significantly smaller than a traditional gaming desktop. It’s more like a large gaming laptop minus the screen. Rather tall, it’s extremely slim at 80.1mm — think of it like a thinner PS5 since it stands about as tall at 393.5mm. 

On the face is a skull logo like Intel’s gaming NUCs, which might put some people off. It’s certainly not to my aesthetic preferences. I wish Minisforum had left the front of the NUCXi7 blank, since a plain aluminum chassis would have looked much better in my opinion. The back of the PC serves a vent in almost its entirety. This helps with keeping the machine nice and cool, which then lets the fans stay quieter. 

The NUCXi7 is unfortunately meant to stand upright and it includes a base to which it attaches quite firmly. The front is pretty bare other than the three USB-A 3.2 ports, an SD card reader, and a 3.5mm combo audio jack. Around back are a USB-C Thunderbolt 4, an HDMI, and a 2.5 gigabit ethernet port.

Minisforum NUCXi7 review: Ports and upgradeability

The NUCXi7’s port selection disappointed me. You can output to two monitors with just the HDMI and Thunderbolt 4 ports — though, you could probably attach more monitors via an appropriate Thunderbolt dock. Three USB-A ports seems a bit low for a device this size. (I have seen more on much smaller mini PCs.) Consider that your keyboard and mouse will take up two of those three and you’ll see why I’m disappointed.

I would have also liked to see a DisplayPort/mini DisplayPort in addition to the HDMI, but at least the ethernet port is 2.5Gb. The SD card reader seems a bit strange on a gaming PC, but with the hardware power on hand here, the NUCXi7 could also do well with content creation.

Minisforum added some upgradeability to the NUCXi7. You can upgrade the SODIMM RAM up to 64GB, as well as add a second m.2 NVMe drive. You could top out the NUCXi7 at 4TB of super fast NVMe storage, along with 64GB of RAM. That would be one powerful and fast machine.

Minisforum NUCXi7 review: Performance

The NUCXi7 comes equipped with laptop hardware, which includes the i7-11800H processor, 16GB or 32GB of SODIMM RAM at 3200MHz, and an RTX 3070 mobile variant. But thanks to its design, it stays much cooler than a gaming laptop, which helps to avoid thermal throttling, as you’ll see in a moment.

We have not tested a device with specs matching the NUCXi7 exactly. So I pulled two 11th-gen gaming laptops for this comparison, the results of which you’ll find below.

As you can see in both the Geekbench benchmark and the Handbrake transcoding test, the NUCXi7 beats out even the Razer Blade 17 (mid-2021) with its i9-11900H by a substantial margin. It crushes the MSI Katana GF76 despite having the same CPU. I think it comes down to cooling — the NUCXi7 does a better job dispersing heat, meaning the i7-11800H inside can run full speed without as much risk for throttling.

The GPU test is the hardest to compare because all three machines use a different level of the RTX 3000 series. All three are the laptop versions, but the 3070 in the NUCXi7 put up a good fight. I expected the Razer Blade 17 to best it considerably, but it did so only in Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition (at Ultra settings). 

The NUCXi7 even won in most of the 3DMark benchmarks, except for Port Royal, which tests ray tracing. (The RTX 3080 has more RT cores to work with, making it an obvious winner in this scenario.) 

And, even better, it’s almost inaudible even under load. Even with the optional gaming mode enabled (via a button on the front of the PC), I never heard the fans ramp up. I found myself amazed given gaming laptops’ reputation for becoming mini furnaces. I guess the NUCXi7 has an advantage without the keyboard, touchpad, battery, and display. The massive cooling system that takes up a large portion of the internal area certainly helps, too.

All this to say, Minisforum created a very powerful gaming machine. You definitely pay for all that power, but I liked how the NUCXi7 handled every game I threw at it. Cyberpunk 2077, for example, did great with ray tracing and DLSS on at 1080p and medium to high settings. I’m actually impressed with how strong of a performer this PC is given its size.

Minisforum NUCXi7 review: Software

The NUCXi7 ships with Windows 11 Pro out of the box, but you can easily install Linux on it if you so choose. The Windows installation is relatively minimal with some extra software for controlling the audio. Everything else is Nvidia or Microsoft-related. I appreciate this, since you don’t have to worry about uninstalling too much software before getting to gaming.

I tried to turn this into a Steam Machine using the unofficial Steam OS 3, the same operating system that runs on the Steam Deck. However, the software is still pretty buggy, especially on an Nvidia GPU (a notable problem for most Linux gaming PCs). So I left the NUCXi7 on Windows, set my account to auto-login at boot, and told Steam to automatically launch in Big Picture mode.

It’s not a perfect setup just yet, but I love having the NUCXi7 as a living room gaming console. With heaps more power than a PS5 in a thinner form factor (and much quieter to boot), I couldn’t be happier with how this turned out. It’s an excellent use case for the NUCXi7.

Minisforum NUCXi7 review: Verdict

The NUCXi7 is a fantastic gaming PC that works well as a desktop or living room console. If Steam OS is still too janky for you, you can do what I did and stick with Windows, telling Steam to launch automatically at login in Big Picture mode, giving you a console-like experience.

The mobile RTX 3070 is a powerhouse, and the i7-11800H chews through any task you set before it. With user-upgradeable RAM and storage, you can make this PC even faster. The form factor and temperatures also impressed me, even if I could do without the skull icon.

But at $1,309 to start, the NUCXi7 is not a cheap console replacement. It’s nearly triple the price of a PS5, though with admittedly more power and a slimmer chassis. If you want a small form factor gaming PC, however, then put the NUCXi7, or its smaller and cheaper NUCXi5 brother, at the top of your list.

Nvidia revealed three high-end cards in its new 40-series of GeForce graphics cards today (September 20) during its GTC 2022 keynote, heralding the arrival of the next big thing in Nvidia GPUs.

This is significant because the GPU shortage that's plagued the industry since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic has finally started to let up, and as GPU prices crash, high-end graphics cards from AMD and Nvidia are seeing their inflated prices rapidly deflate.  

That's good news for performance enthusiasts because it means you have a better shot at buying a new GPU for MSRP now than you have in years. But it might be bad news for Nvidia, which is gearing up to release some of its most powerful — and expensive — new 40-series cards at a time when the GPU market is flooding with cheaper cards, many of which are being sold secondhand by miners disheartened by the recent crypto bust.

Nevertheless, Nvidia has unveiled three new cards in its new 40-series of GeForce GPUs: The Nvidia GeForce 4090 and two models of Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080. One version of the GeForce RTX 4080 comes with 12GB of onboard MicronGDDR6X memory and the other offers 16GB. All of these cards are built on Nvidia's Lovelace architecture and will start showing up in the best gaming PCs released later this year.

Here's what we know about how powerful each of the new models will be, and what it will cost.

Nvidia GeForce 4080: Price and release date

Two models of Nvidia GeForce 4080 were unveiled today, and multiple models of both are expected to hit the market in November 2022 from third-party manufacturers like Asus, Gigabyte, PNY and more. Nvidia will also produce a special Founders Edition of the Nvidia GeForce 4080 16GB for those who are interested.

The Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 12GB sports 7,680 CUDA cores and 12GB of the aforementioned Micron GDDR6X memory onboard. Nvidia claims it's faster than the RTX 3090 Ti with DLSS 3, and it goes on sale in November for $899.

The beefier Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 16GB launches at the same time with a bigger $1,199 price tag. For that you'll get 9,728 CUDA cores and 16GB of onboard memory. Nvidia claims its more powerful than the 3090 Ti at lower power, and with DLSS 3 can achieve 2x the performance as the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti.

If you've got your sight sets on a new Nvidia GPU, here's all the details you need on where to buy Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080. 

Nvidia GeForce 4090: Price and release date

Nvidia also unveiled the more powerful GeForce RTX 4090, its new top-of-the-line card. It will go on sale earlier than the 4080, as Nvidia claims it will hit store shelves Wednesday, October 12 at a starting price of $1,599.

As with the RTX 4080 16GB, Nvidia will sell Founders Edition versions of the 4090 alongside configurations sold by third-party vendors like Gigabyte and MSI.

For that $1,599 price tag, you'll get a massive card with 76 billion transistors, 16,384 CUDA cores and 24GB of Micron GDDR6X memory. Nvidia claims it can consistently deliver up to 4x the performance (when using DLSS 3) of the GeForce RTX 3090 Ti using DLSS 2, as well as promising it can consistently deliver 100 frames per second when gaming at 4K. While Nvidia declined to specify which game(s) were run in 4K to achieve that performance, the CUDA core count alone is enough to impress.

Nvidia 40-series outlook

Nvidia's next-generation GPUs are here, and that's good news for anyone who cares about high-performance computing. Between the debut of the Nvidia 40-series cards and the launch of Intel Arc GPUs, PC enthusiasts are likely to get further relief from exorbitant GPU prices thanks to fresh supplies of cards entering the market through the end of 2022.

But as my colleague Tony Polanco noted when explaining why he can't get excited about Nvidia's GeForce 40-series cards, one of the big problems with being a GPU head today is dealing with scalpers driving prices up. Hopefully Nvidia and its manufacturing partners can come up with a market strategy that makes buying and reselling these new GPUs less appealing to scalpers.

Read next: Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 — should you upgrade?

With the GPU craze finally winding down, gaming PCs are starting to become affordable again. Take, for example, an HP Pavilion Gaming Desktop, which is currently $699 at Walmart. The rig contains an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 GPU, and usually retails for $899. It’s a decent markdown on a decent machine, and should be suitable for players who are just getting their feet wet in the PC gaming scene. 

Since this doesn’t come from Amazon — Walmart's offering the discount on the HP Pavilion Gaming Desktop — it’s not technically a Prime Day deal. But it’s worth considering just the same.

Spec-wise, the HP Pavilion Gaming Desktop on offer has an Intel Core i5 CPU, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 GPU, 8 GB RAM and a 256 GB SSD. It also comes with a wired mouse and keyboard, although these aren’t gaming peripherals, per se. With a Windows 11 operating system and a relatively compact frame (19.7 x 15.8 x 11.3 inches, 18 pounds), the Pavilion should fit nicely into most gaming nooks.

To be scrupulously fair, this HP Pavilion model is not going to set the gaming world on fire. The GPU is pretty good, particularly since Nvidia RTX cards have been hard to find up until recently. The CPU is middle-of-the-road, however, while the RAM is the bare minimum for running many modern games, and the SSD won’t hold many games. On the other hand, $699 is not a ton of money to spend on a gaming PC, particularly one with a current GPU.

The HP Pavilion should also be a pretty good productivity companion, since it comes with plenty of front-facing USB ports, built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and more than enough power to handle everyday Internet browsing, word processing and multimedia playback. If you need an everyday machine that can handle some moderate gaming as a bonus, then this HP Pavilion could be exactly the deal you’re looking for.

The iBuyPower Y60 ($2,399 as reviewed) is a stately, beautiful gaming PC that's ideal for folks who like an untrammeled view of what's going on inside.

Our review unit packs some powerful components inside the Hyte Y60, a mid-tower case from iBuyPower's sibling brand that's nearly all tempered glass on two sides, making it look a bit like a giant fish tank. While it's a bit heavy and unwieldy to move around, once you have the case in place it's quite roomy and easy to work in—though our review unit kicks out quite a bit of heat once you start gaming with gusto.

But that's what this PC is for, and after a few weeks of hands-on time, I'm confident that the iBuyPower Y60 is one of the best gaming PCs on the market right now. Our review unit is one of iBuyPower's "Gaming RDY" pre-built ready-to-ship systems. It delivers good performance for the price, but if the specs leave you wanting more you can always pay iBuyPower to build you a custom PC with the parts you want. 

The current version of the iBuyPower Y60 sells for $2,199 and features an Intel Core i9-14900KF CPU, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 GPU, 32GB of RAM, and 2TB of SSD storage.

iBuyPower Y60 review: Price and availability 

• Expect to pay between $1,000-$4,000+
• Our review unit is a $2,399 pre-built "Gaming RDY" system

You can buy a variety of prebuilt gaming PCs from iBuypower or customize your own via the company’s website. Your options for configuring a prebuilt PC will vary depending on when you order and what the company has in stock, with prices ranging from $800-$4,000 or more.

Our review unit is one of the models iBuyPower sells as part of its Gaming RDY series of prebuilt gaming PCs. It packs a liquid-cooled Intel Core i7-12700KF CPU, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 Ti GPU, 16GB DDR4-3600 RAM and a 2TB M.2 NVMe SSD into a Y60 mid-tower case from Hyte, iBuyPower's PC case brand. At time of review, you could buy the same PC directly from iBuyPower for $2,399.

iBuyPower Y60 review: Design 

• Y60 case looks great on a desk (and takes up a lot of space)
• Gets quite toasty when gaming for hours

The Y60 case our review unit arrived in resembles a fish tank more than anything else. Sold separately via Hyte's website for $199, the Y60 measures 18.2 x 17.95 x 11.2 inches and takes up a fair bit of space. But if you're the type of person who likes showing off your PC's innards you'll appreciate the spacious view afforded by the Y60, which has a unique trio of glass panels along the left and front that let you peer inside without any pesky corner pillar blocking your view.

You get inside by removing a side panel, each of which is secured via a single security screw on the back of the case. As I'll get into later in this review I found it slightly tricky to remove the tempered glass side panel, but once I figured out the trick of it I had no trouble repeating the feat.

Obviously, the amount of heat and noise generated depends greatly on what you put where inside the case, but I noticed that our review unit kicked out more heat than I expected during extended gaming session. However, it didn't get very loud, which I appreciate since I don't regularly use headphones.

To give you a rough sense of comparison, I placed it in the same location and used it in the same way as the Alienware Aurora R13 I reviewed not long ago, and the iBuyPower Y60 made the room much hotter yet stayed quieter than the Aurora R13 when playing the same games under roughly the same conditions. If that's a concern there are steps you can take to mitigate these issues, from installing additional cooling solutions to relocating the PC to a room with better heat dispersion.

iBuyPower Y60 review: Ports and upgradability

• Plenty of ports on front and back
• Case is roomy and easy to work in

The iBuyPower Y60 has a case that's nice and roomy, with plenty of ports for your needs. On the front of the case you get a pair of USB 3.0 ports, a USB 3.2 Gen 2 port and an audio/mic jack flanking the power button.

Around the back you'll find a USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 port (1 x USB Type-C), a USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 port, a pair of USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 ports and a pair of USB-A 2.0 ports.

You also get a DisplayPort and HDMI out, no less than five types of audio jacks, a  2.5Gb Ethernet port, an Optical S/PDIF out port and a classic PS/2 Keyboard/Mouse combo port.

If you want to get inside and start upgrading or rewiring things yourself, the Y60 case makes it easy. Just remove the aforementioned safety screw on the rear to render one of the side panels removable, which requires pulling it out and away from the case.

The first few times I tried this with the tempered glass side panel, I had a hard time getting it free. I had to use more force than I expected, but despite my fears of cracking the glass and ruining our review unit, a forceful pull got the panel loose without incident. Once you get inside, you'll find the Y60 is nice and roomy, with easy access to the GPU and plenty of room to reach in and fiddle with things.

iBuyPower Y60 review: Gaming performance

• Gaming performance depends on what you put inside
• Our review config is outstanding at 1080p gaming, decent in 4K

Our iBuyPower Y60 review unit had no trouble playing Apex Legends, Cyberpunk 2077, Death Stranding and other games in 1080p at silky 60+ fps framerates. Playing games in 4K gave the Intel Core i7-12700KF CPU, Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 Ti and 16GB of RAM a bit more trouble, and most graphically demanding games I tested oscillated between 30-60 fps at the higher resolution. I tested it with the Acer Predator XB323QK, a 32-inch 4K display that's one of the best gaming monitors on the market right now.

If you do want to play the latest and greatest games in 4K at rock-solid 60 fps framerates, you can pay iBuyPower for a Y60 kitted out with better hardware than what came in our review unit. But as configured, our review unit struggles to deliver top-tier framerates in games at 4K.

To give you a sense of how our iBuyPower Y60 review unit stacks up against the competition, we ran it through benchmark tests for a number of popular games and compared the results against those earned by similar gaming PCs we've recently tested. This is more of a comment on the components in our review unit than the PC itself, since you can customize one with different guts that will perform much differently in the same tests.

For example, the Alienware Aurora R13 (Intel Core i7-12700KF, Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080, 32GB RAM) I reviewed last month outperformed the iBuyPower Y60 by a small but meaningful margin in every game, which makes sense given that it costs a bit more ($2,979 vs. $2,399) and sports a better GPU and double the RAM.

However the iBuyPower system speeds past a cheaper PC like the Acer Predator Orion 3000 ($1,949 as reviewed), which is great for 1080p gaming but can't deliver the same performance as what's in our Y60 review unit.

iBuyPower Y60 review: Overall performance

• More than enough power for day-to-day work tasks
• Speedy video encoding

The beefy components that help the iBuyPower Y60 churn through the latest games give it more than enough power to tackle most day-to-day work tasks.

During my weeks of hands-on testing with the Y60 I never noticed meaningful slowdown or performance issues, even when multi-tasking between Chrome with 30+ tabs open and Adobe Photoshop while watching a 4K video on a second display.

Our review unit's 12th Gen Intel Core i7 CPU tore through the Geekbench 5.4 multi-core CPU benchmark, earning a score of 13,918. That's quite good, beating the 12,366 earned by the AMD Ryzen 9 5900X CPU in the iBuyPower Revolt 3 gaming PC we reviewed a few months ago. However, it's still not quite able to match the 15,329 earned by the Alienware Aurora R13, which is interesting since both the R13 and our Y60 review unit pack the same Intel Core i7-12700KF CPU.

Our review unit also distinguished itself in our video encoding test, which times how long it takes a system to transcode a 4K video file down to 1080p using Handbrake. The iBuyPower Y60 did the job in under four minutes, which beats out the lion's share of gaming PCs and even the MacBook Pro 2021, one of the best laptops for video editing you can buy right now.

iBuyPower Y60 review: Software

• Minimal bloatware, and that's fantastic

Our iBuyPower Y60 review unit arrived with a welcome lack of bloatware. Beyond the basic stuff that comes with Windows 11 (Disney+ and the like) the only pre-installed software of note is Aorus, which is Gigabyte's tool for controlling the RBG lighting on the included Nvidia GPU.

Aorus is simple and easy to use, with a good array of options for configuring the lighting on your Gigabyte GPU.

iBuyPower Y60 review: Keyboard and mouse

• Included iBuyPower keyboard and mouse are serviceable
• Knob on the keyboard is a great touch, moving the Start key not so much

Our iBuyPower Y60 review unit arrived with a set of iBuyPower's gaming keyboard and mouse included. These are serviceable peripherals with bright RBG lighting that aren't particularly good or bad. The keyboard feels sturdy, the keys have good travel, and I really like the inclusion of a knob (which controls volume by default) in the top-right corner of the keyboard.

What I don't like is that iBuyPower has relocated the Windows key to the lower right-hand side of the keyboard, and swapped in an iBuyPower graphic for the familiar Windows logo. I'm not sure what the reasoning is behind this, but it's a hassle when you've spent most of your life instinctively tapping the Windows key with your left hand.

The mouse is similarly sturdy and functional, without much in the way of standout features. I do appreciate that it has a nice array of inputs, as you get the standard two buttons under your first two fingers, a scroll wheel, another two small buttons behind the wheel, and then another pair along the left edge near the thumbrest. It's not gonna get you through your MMORPG rotations with ease, but it's more than good enough for most gaming.

If you are looking for something else, be sure to check out our guides for the best gaming keyboards and the best gaming mouse. 

iBuyPower Y60 review: Verdict

The iBuyPower Y60 is a great gaming PC if you want an eye-catching system that plays games well while showcasing what's inside to full effect. Admittedly, it's a bit unwieldy to move around, but once you get it set up on your desk it's comfy to work within and easy to configure thanks to its well-spaced ports and user-friendly design.

And if you put the right components inside, it can be a beastly gaming PC. The way our review unit is configured makes it a great gaming PC for folks who want standout performance but don't need the most demanding games to run at 60 fps in 4K. If you want something better, expect to pay more for the privilege, as achieving rock-solid 60 fps framerates in the best PC games at 4K resolution tends to be the realm of PCs that cost upwards of $4K.

That said, if you like the price and performance of the iBuyPower Y60 but want something a little more compact, the iBuyPower Revolt 3 offers similar power potential in a more portable case. However, you sacrifice a lot of the easy access and upgradability of the Y60. Plus, you wouldn't have the same window into what's going on inside your PC during marathon gaming sessions.

The iBuypower Revolt 3 ($3,199 as reviewed) seems tailor-made for LAN parties and college dorms. The eye-catching Revolt 3 case from iBuypower sister company Hyte is a tall, trim tower with a built-in handle, and now the company is offering prebuilt gaming PCs which pack it with plenty of gaming muscle.

Our iBuypower Revolt 3 review unit shows off what this trashcan-sized gaming PC can do with top-tier components from AMD and Nvidia, as it competed favorably in our gaming tests with a compact gaming rig that costs twice as much. 

The unique case design brings with it some unique issues that you should know before buying, but if you like the look of it the iBuypower Revolt 3 is one of the best gaming PCs you can buy — especially if you plan to be lugging it back and forth between home, school, the office, and wherever else you need the power of an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti. 

iBuyPower Revolt 3 review: Price and availability 

• Custom iBuypower PC in Revolt 3 ITX case (also sold separately)
• Expect to pay between $2-$5k for prebuilt ($3,199 as reviewed)

You can buy a variety of prebuilt gaming PCs from iBuypower and third-party retailers like Newegg, or customize your own via the company’s website. Your options for configuring a prebuilt PC will vary depending on when you order and what components the company has in stock.

Our review unit retails for $3,199, and packs an AMD Ryzen 9 5900X CPU, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti graphics card, 16GB of DDR-3200 RAM and a 1TB M.2 PCIe NVMe Western Digital SSD inside a tall, trim Revolt 3 mini-ITX case with a 240mm liquid cooler. 

iBuyPower Revolt 3 review: Design 

• Revolt 3 case is compact, understated and easy to carry
• Built-in handle and headphone rests are a nice touch

The Revolt 3 case our review unit showed up in is a mini-ITX case from iBuypower sister brand Hyte that you can buy separately for $129 (via Hyte's website), and it has a real love-it-or-hate-it design. Personally I think I love it, but you should get a sense of how you'll feel about its compact design before you buy. 

The Revolt 3 measures roughly 16.1 x 9.9 x 7 inches and looks a bit like a bigger Xbox Series X (11.8 x 5.9 x 5.9 inches) with glowing innards. However, unlike the Series X the Revolt 3 is available in either black or white, and it's pretty easy to move around thanks to the pop-out aluminum handle built into the top of the case. A pair of aluminum pegs embedded on the top edge of either side can also be popped out to hold headphones, or whatever else you care to hang off them. 

The Revolt 3’s rectangular steel sides sport a pattern of square cutouts overlaid with mesh, enhancing airflow and allowing the RGB LEDs inside the case to shine out from behind a cage of metal. Each side of the case can be popped on or off without tools once you get the hang of the mechanism, making it pretty easy to get inside the case when necessary. It’s tight in there, however, so don’t expect to have an easy time upgrading or swapping out components.

Along the bottom front lip of the case you’ll find the power button flanked by a port array that includes both USB-A and USB-C ports as well as a headphone jack. You’ll find the rest of the ports on the bottom of the Revolt 3, which is elevated off the floor by its four sides. This creates a little cavern underneath the PC accessed by a cutout at the bottom of the rear panel, with the idea being that you run your cables in through this hole in the back and plug them into the bottom of the PC.

It’s an interesting design choice that gives the Revolt 3 a striking, nearly cable-free look. However, this also means you’ll have to pick the PC up or tip it over every time you want to get at those ports, which can be a hassle. It also means that this case isn’t well-suited to sitting on the floor, as that puts the ports out of easy reach.  

iBuyPower Revolt 3 review: Ports and upgradability

• Ports on the bottom are hard to reach, but help create streamlined look
• Upgrades will be tricky due to compact case 

Once you lift up the Revolt 3, you’ll see a useful array of ports nestled into the base of the PC. I like to call this the port cave, and if you switch inputs often you’ll quickly get used to routing cables through the rear cutout and up into the ceiling of said cave, where the ports are arrayed. 

The ASRock B550 motherboard in our review unit sports four USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports, one USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A port, an RJ-45 Ethernet jack, three jacks for HD audio (line in, front speaker, and mic) and two antenna ports. There's also one USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C port, but on our review unit this is routed via cable to the USB-C port on the front of the case, which is kind of a pain since it limits you to just the USB-C port on the front unless you're willing to get inside the case and reroute some cables. 

There's also an HDMI and DisplayPort out on the motherboard, but you'll want to ignore those in favor of plugging your displays into whatever discrete GPU is built into the case. Our review unit's GeForce RTX 3080 Ti sports two HDMI and two DisplayPort outs, more than enough for most gaming setups.

Near the bottom of the front of the case you'll find a pair of USB-A ports, a USB-C port and a headphone jack flanking the power button. Again, this arrangement is convenient if you have the PC sitting on your desk within easy reach. If you prefer to leave it on the floor or tuck it away inside a desk, however, the ports will be quite hard to reach. You could try using long cables and USB hubs to compensate, but that's an inelegant solution that makes this case less appealing for those who prefer to tuck their PC away beneath the desk.

Getting inside the case is a cinch thanks to the easy-open mechanisms which keep each side attached. You can pop off each side individually by pulling gently, which seems easiest when you grab from the bottom and lift the side off with your fingertips. Each side pops off smoothly to reveal your PC's innards, and you can snap it back on by aligning the requisite holes and gently pressing until it clicks in. The whole process is quick and easy once you get the hang of it, and I really like how accessible the Revolt 3 can be — though the tight confines of the tall, compact case make rooting around inside it an exercise in space management. 

iBuyPower Revolt 3 review: Gaming performance

• Great performance at 1080p-1440p, and solid performance at 4K
• Competes favorably with far more expensive gaming PCs

I had a great time testing games on our review unit, and its Ryzen 9 CPU and RTX 3080 Ti GPU ensured every game I played out of my Steam library ran well at my monitor's native 1440p. This trashcan-sized gaming rig had no trouble playing games like Apex Legends, Cyberpunk 2077, Dark Souls 3 and Total War: Warhammer 2 at the highest settings, often at 45-60 frames per second. 

I was able to play Cyberpunk 2077 for hours with no issues, and with all the settings dialed up and DLSS switched off our review unit consistently kept the game running smoothly at 1440p between 30-40 frames per second. When I played around with DLSS settings I was able to get the game running smoothly at between 40-50 fps, but it couldn't quite reliably deliver 60 frames per second at 1440p. 

The noise of the case fans during serious gaming sessions never gets too loud, but it is noticeable. To put it in gaming console terms, I'd say it gets about as loud as an Xbox Series X but not nearly as noisy as a PlayStation 4.

When we put this iBuypower machine through the suite of gaming benchmarks we use, the results were promising, especially if you're interested in 4K gaming. Our review unit managed to deliver 67 frames per second running both Assassin's Creed Valhalla and Grand Theft Auto V at 4K, and 102 fps running Far Cry New Dawn at the same resolution. 

When we benchmarked Red Dead Redemption 2 at medium settings in 4K this machine still managed to deliver a respectable 49 fps, but when we maxed out RDR2's settings it could only achieve 25 fps at 4K. However, it still managed to hit 59 fps running maxed-out RDR2 in 1080p, which is respectable performance at a still-great resolution.

If you compare that against the performance of the tricked-out Maingear Turbo gaming PC we reviewed recently with similar but beefier components (AMD Ryzen 9 5950X, GeForce RTX 3080 Ti, 64GB RAM, 1TB SSD + 2TB HDD), you'll see how well iBuypower's $3k machine stacks up against a $7k beast of a gaming rig.

As you can see from the chart above, iBuypower's Revolt 3 build reliably delivered equal or better performance as the Maingear Turbo, which achieved 55 fps in Assassin's Creed Valhalla at 4K and 67 fps running GTA 5 at 4K. In fact, the iBuypower PC delivered higher FPS than the Turbo in just about every gaming benchmark we ran it through, an impressive performance for this trim little tower. 

iBuyPower Revolt 3 review: Overall performance

• Plenty of power for most tasks, including video editing
• Slow SSD performance in our review unit

Throughout the review process I used our iBuypower review unit as I would my personal PC, and it never once gave me any trouble in that department. I was able to open 30+ tabs in Chrome and keep multiple videos streaming on my desktop while listening to music and working across Chrome and Word with zero difficulties.

Our performance testing backs up my belief that this gaming PC is more than capable of handling whatever tasks you throw at it, including heavy photo/video editing jobs. When we tasked it with transcoding a 4K video down to 1080p in Handbrake it reliably finished the job in 4 minutes 30 seconds, which is faster than the 5 minutes ten seconds the Origin Chronos (AMD Ryzen 7 5800X, GeForce RTX 3070 Ti, 32GB RAM) gaming desktop we recently tested took to complete the same task. However, the $7k Maingear Turbo we tested a few months ago did the same job in 4 minutes and 2 seconds flat, proving there's still room for improvement.

The iBuypower's Ryzen 9 CPU performed quite well when we put it through the Geekbench 5.4 multicore CPU benchmark, earning a respectable score of 12,366. That's mid-range performance for a gaming PC that costs this much, but still more than good enough for most people. For comparisons' sake, the cheaper Acer Predator Orion 3000 (Intel Core i7-11700F CPU, GeForce RTX 3070 GPU, 16GB RAM, $1,949 as reviewed) scored a far lower 8,058, while the much more expensive Maingear Turbo blew past both with a score of 15,794.

However, the file transfer speeds of the Western Digital SSD in our iBuypower review unit leave something to be desired. When we tasked it with copying 25GB of multimedia files it did so at a speed of 513.86 MBps, which is acceptable but slower than Acer's more affordable Predator Orion 3000 (730.41 MBps) or the ultra-expensive Maingear Turbo (2,004 MBps).

These figures should give you a better sense of how our iBuypower review unit stacks up against recent competition, but unless you're doing a lot of video production work I don't think there's much here to be concerned about; this PC is more than capable of tackling whatever you need it to do in the course of your day-to-day work.

iBuyPower Revolt 3 review: Software

• No bloatware worth worrying about

The pre-installed software you receive will vary depending on how you configure your iBuypower PC. Our iBuyPower Revolt 3 review unit arrived with a copy of Windows pre-installed, as well as some software for managing component features like the RGB lighting and audio inputs. 

This is exactly what I want to see when I order a new PC: a fresh Windows install with minimal bloatware. Admittedly, the RGB management utility that came pre-installed with the ASRock motherboard in our review unit is pretty spartan in terms of features, but give me a simple software utility over a nagging antivirus suite any day.

iBuyPower Revolt 3 review: Verdict

If you need a powerful, portable gaming PC iBuypower's Revolt 3 does a remarkably good job of delivering on both counts. Portability isn't typically a major selling point for gaming rigs, but the Revolt 3's compact design and built-in handle make it easier to lug around than most. And with options to configure it (as stock permits) with the latest CPUs and GPUs from AMD, Nvidia and Intel, a prebuilt iBuypower rig can be a reliable way to get your hands on highly sought-after gaming PC components.

But whether you opt to configure a prebuilt iBuypower PC or build your own in a Revolt 3 case, be ready to deal with the tower's unique design limitations. Having the ports all located on the bottom or lower front of the case demands you do some careful planning and cable management if you want the PC to fit nicely into your current setup, and the cramped interior demands great care and good cable management when you're working with the components. 

Still, I can't help but like the Revolt 3. Our review unit ran every game I could think of playing on it at 1440p with all the settings maxed out without issue, and without ever making more noise than my PlayStation 4. You don't need to spend $3,000 or more to get a great gaming rig, but if you have the option you won't be disappointed by the iBuypower Revolt 3 — especially if you're planning on toting your new PC around on a regular basis.

The Alienware Aurora R13 ($1,300 to start, $2,979 as reviewed) is a special edition of the company's flagship series of Aurora gaming desktops. Released in October 2021 to mark Alienware's 25th birthday, the Aurora R13 features a redesigned chassis (the Legend 2.0) that's a little more laid-back than usual. 

The more angular design isn't just for looks. Alienware claims that it gives the case a bit more internal space and better airflow, which helps cut down on fan noise. And sure enough, our eye-catching Aurora R13 review unit stayed relatively quiet during hours and hours of 1080p gaming.

But when I cranked a few of the latest games up to 4K, with all the graphical settings maxed out, our Aurora R13's fans got quite a bit louder as it struggled to maintain a solid 60 frames per second. 

That's not unreasonable, given our unit's mid-range price. Alienware also sells the Aurora R13 in a variety of configurations, which include some truly beefy rigs, with liquid cooling that helps them run whisper-quiet. If you want an R13 that can run Cyberpunk 2077 in 4K at 60+ fps with all the settings cranked up, Alienware can build you one — but it will cost you.

Is the Aurora R13 worth it? Definitely, if you want one of the best gaming PCs on the market, and you like the Aurora's space-age aesthetic. In this Alienware Aurora R13 review I'll lay out why, based on our own hands-on testing.

Alienware Aurora R13 review: Price and availability

• Loads of customization options
• Expect to pay between $1,300 - $5,000+

The Alienware Aurora R13 is available for purchase right now via Dell's website in two colors: Lunar Light (white) and Dark Side of the Moon (black). 

You have a lot of freedom in how you customize your R13. You could end up paying as little as $1,300 for a low-end model, to well over $5,000 if you trick one out with all the best components, including liquid cooling and a top-of-the-line Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 Ti GPU. You can also pay extra for case niceties, such as a transparent removable side panel (instead of the standard opaque one) and a cable cover for the rear, which will help keep messy cables out of sight.

Our Aurora R13 review unit is a little more modest, and lacks such cosmetic flourishes. It arrived packing a liquid-cooled Intel Core i7-12700KF CPU, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 GPU, 32GB of RAM and two storage drives: a 2TB NVMe M.2 SSD and a 2TB 7,200 RPM HDD. If you were to buy the same machine direct from Alienware at the time of this review, you'd pay roughly $2,979. 

Alienware Aurora R13 review: Design

• Redesigned case is roomy, quiet and stylish
• Customizable RBG lighting is tasteful

The Aurora R13 is housed in Alienware's Legend 2.0 chassis. This design takes the familiar tubular case of earlier Aurora desktops and leans it back a bit, giving it a more angled oval face that slopes backward. The redesigned case measures roughly 20.8 x 20.1 x 8.86 inches and weighs between 27 and 35 pounds depending on how you configure it. This makes the R13 makes it just a smidge lighter than some previous Alienware gaming PCs (such as the Alienware Aurora R11, which weighed 39 pounds) in the old Legend chassis.

Inside, you'll find a tasteful amount of customizable RGB lighting, including a lightbar and a light on the rear fan so that you can see it spinning through the grille on the front of the case. It's eye-catching without being too gaudy, much like the Aurora R13 itself.

The redesigned chassis features a number of other design changes that are generally smart. However, the two stubby fins that now stick out from the top of the R13's backside have a tendency to scrape nearby walls and furniture when moving the case around. 

Alienware Aurora R13 review: Ports and upgradability

• Plethora of ports available
• Case is easy to open and work in

The Aurora R13 offers a healthy selection of ports, which should keep you from experiencing any headaches when hooking up your favorite gaming gear. 

Up front, you get a headphone jack and a vertical array of USB-C ports: 2x USB 3.2 Gen 1, 1x USB 3.2 Gen 2 with PowerShare and another USB 3.2 Gen 1 port with PowerShare. This means that the ports can deliver power to connected devices, even when the PC is switched off.

Around the back, you find a port smorgasbord. There's a quartet of classic USB-A 2.0 ports, as well two USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 ports. You also get two more USB-C ports with varying max speeds: a 10Gbps USB 3.2 Gen 2 port and a 20Gbps USB 3.2 2x2.

There's also a slew of audio jacks that are well-suited to setting up a surround sound system for your rig. You get rear, side and center/subwoofer output ports, as well as line in and line out, a microphone in, and two SPDIF digital outputs: one for coax cables and the other for Toslink cables. 

Of course, no gaming PC would be complete without an Ethernet jack, and the Aurora R13 sports one (an RJ-45 Killer E3100). This way, you can enjoy a wired connection for all your online gaming.

If you want to get inside the case to fiddle with components or upgrade something, Alienware has made the process pretty painless. Unscrew one key screw on the back of the R13 and the side panel unlocks, allowing you to remove the panel and get at the PC's innards. 

The Aurora R13 we reviewed is roomy enough to make getting inside and mucking around a breeze. The RAM and storage are pretty easy to get at, but you'll need to move a bracket or two in order to get to the GPU or power supply. The front of the PC is also pretty easy to remove, though you'll need to wrestle with a few screws if, for some reason, you want to remove the top of the Aurora R13.

Alienware Aurora R13 review: Gaming performance

• Excellent 1080p gaming machine
• 4K performance is decent but lags behind more expensive PCs

Our Alienware Aurora R13 review unit ran just about every game I tested on it beautifully, as long as they were running at sub-4K resolutions. I spent many happy hours playing games such as Cyberpunk 2077, Death Stranding, Total War: Warhammer II and Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous in 1080p at buttery smooth framerates, with all the graphics settings maxed out.

However, when I cranked the resolution of those games up to 4K, I saw the performance drop below 60 fps in a few games. Cyberpunk 2077 was the biggest offender here, as I saw performance drop to below 20 fps regularly while playing in 4K with all settings maxed.

When we ran the Aurora R13 through our gauntlet of game benchmarks, we saw impressive performance that nevertheless lags a bit behind other high-end gaming PCs. The Origin PC Millennium (2022) (i9-12900K, GeForce RTX 3080 Ti, 32GB RAM) and the Corsair One i300 (i9-12900K, GeForce RTX 3080 Ti, 64GB RAM), two top-of-the-line machines we've recently tested, generally performed better.

However, the Origin and Corsair configurations that we tested cost roughly $5,000 apiece, so it's not too surprising they outperformed our just-under-$3,000 Aurora R13. When you compare the R13's performance against the more competitively priced $1,900 Acer Predator Orion 3000 (Intel Core i7-11700F, Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070, 16GB RAM), you see performance gains of 10-50 fps.

Here's a look at how the Aurora R13's performance stacks up against them in a few top games running at maximum settings:

Our Aurora R13 review unit had no trouble delivering impressive performance at 1080p. But when we cranked the resolution up to 4K, it started to struggle with achieving rock-solid 60 fps in games such as Grand Theft Auto V and Assassin's Creed Valhalla. While the R13 is a great gaming PC for playing pretty much anything at 1080p, or even 1440p, you'll need to pay for a much beefier rig if you want to play the latest and greatest in 4K.

Alienware Aurora R13 review: Overall performance

• Plenty of power for just about any work task
• Speedy SSD

The powerful components inside the Aurora R13 give it more than enough muscle to handle pretty much any work you need to do on it. Out of the box, I found the R13 quick to start up, quiet during daily use and more than capable of handling however many Chrome tabs, YouTube videos and other apps I decided to open in the background while playing games.

When we put it through our standard suite of benchmark tests, the Aurora R13 delivered great performance. It earned a score of 15,329 in the Geekbench 5.4 multicore CPU benchmark, which puts it just a bit behind the aforementioned Corsair One i300 (17,965) and Origin PC Millennium (18,096) gaming PCs. This slim performance gap seems almost impressive when you consider the Origin and Corsair PCs are nearly twice as expensive as the Aurora R13. 

The Alienware Aurora's SSD is pretty speedy as well, which can be a godsend when you're moving game installs around. When we measured how quickly it transferred 25GB of multimedia files, the Aurora R13 achieved file transfer speeds of 1,894 MBps. That's pretty fast for a gaming PC, outperforming the Origin PC Millennium (1,023 MBps) and the Predator Orion 3000 (739 MBps), but not the Corsair One i300 (3,006 MBps). 

The Aurora R13 should also be pretty decent at photo/video editing, although it can't quite match the performance of more expensive rigs. When we had our R13 review unit transcode a 4K video down to 1080p using Handbrake, it did so in 3 minutes 52 seconds. That's fast, but not as fast as the Origin PC Millennium (3:22) or Corsair One i300 (3:28).

Alienware Aurora R13 review: Software

• Almost no bloatware
• Alienware Command Center app is great, everything else is a wash

Our Aurora R13 arrived with a pretty clean install of Windows 11, which is a nice touch. There are a few Dell/Alienware apps pre-installed, most of which you can safely ignore. 

The one that's actually useful is the Alienware Command Center, which you can use to customize a slew of settings. You can create custom RGB lighting patterns, manage your GPU overclock settings, modify cooling fan performance and adjust your audio settings. You can save all of these settings in distinct profiles, and you can even tie profiles and settings changes to specific games. This way, you can set your PC up to automatically increase the GPU overclock or change the lighting pattern whenever you launch Cyberpunk 2077, for example.

There's also an Alienware Mobile Connect app that lets you use your phone in conjunction with the PC. In theory, you can see and respond to text messages, make calls from the PC and more. However, during over a week of testing I was never able to get the app (running on an iPhone 12) to successfully link with our Aurora R13.

Alienware Aurora R13 review: Verdict

A judgment of the Aurora R13 is in large part a judgment of the new Legend 2.0 chassis, since so much of Alienware's business is based on building you a PC with the specific components you want. And after spending a couple of weeks working, playing and mucking around with our review unit, I can tell you that the Aurora R13's new look is a winner.

The redesigned chassis is easy to access, offers plenty of ports and has enough ventilation that even after gaming in 4K for hours, I noticed only a mild hum and a pleasant warmth emanating from the PC. Since the computer weighs up to 35 pounds, it's a bit hefty to move around (watch those fins) or plop on a desk. But if your desk can accommodate it, the space-age design and customizable RGB lighting are sure to turn heads.

If you can afford it, Alienware will fill the Aurora R13 with top-of-the-line components that make it a top-tier gaming PC. At nearly $3,000, our review unit is far from cheap, but it's powerful enough to play the latest and greatest games for years to come. Just don't expect blazing-fast framerates at 4K.

If you absolutely must have the best 4K PC gaming experience, expect to pay hundreds (if not thousands) more for beefier components — say, a Core i9 CPU and a GeForce RTX 3090.

If you don't like the look of the Aurora R13, or you're not happy with Alienware's component selection and shipping times, you could also try ordering a similarly specced Origin Millennium or Corsair One i300 PC. Both are eye-catching gaming PCs that you can trick out with top-tier components. If space is a concern, the i300 is significantly smaller and lighter than the Aurora R13. However, it offers fewer ports and is harder to open and upgrade due to its small size.

But if I had a few extra thousand dollars to throw down on a new gaming PC this year, the Alienware Aurora R13 would be a strong contender. With a compelling new design and as much muscle as you can afford, it's one of the best gaming PCs I've seen this year.

The Alienware x14 is a gaming laptop I’ve looked forward to reviewing ever since my brief hands-on time with it back in January. Gaming laptops have become thinner over the years, but this slick and futuristic device has to be the thinnest I’ve ever seen. In fact, if you ignore the Alienware logo, the laptop almost looks like a business notebook. Can such a thin machine actually deliver a satisfying gaming experience?

The short answer is yes. With its cutting-edge 12th gen Intel Alder Lake processor and Nvidia RTX 30 series GPU, the Alienware x14 is a proper gaming laptop capable of running modern titles. Thanks to a few cooling innovations like vapor chamber cooling and Smart Fan control technology, this laptop is capable of achieving high performance while remaining relatively cool. 

While the x14 isn’t as impressive as a big, beefy gaming laptop like the Razer Blade 17 in terms of screen size and performance, its comparatively lower price will make it accessible to more folks. And of course, its eye-catching design makes it more appealing than the typical monochrome laptops. As things stand, the Alienware x14 is a solid machine that has earned a spot in our best gaming laptops list.

Alienware x14 review: Price & configurations 

• Priced between $1,649 and $2,299
• Up to 32GB of RAM on high-end model

The base model of the Alienware x14 costs $1,649 and packs an Intel Core i7-12700H CPU, 16GB of RAM, 512GB of NVMe SSD storage and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 GPU. It has a 14-inch Full HD (1920 x 1080) 144Hz display with a 3-millisecond response rate.

The unit I reviewed is a beefier $2,149 configuration that features a 2TB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 GPU. If you want the best x14 possible, the top-of-the-line model with 32GB of RAM costs $2,299.

That pricing puts the x14 in tight competition with the Razer Blade 14, another great 14-inch gaming laptop. While the Blade can get a little pricier, it can also be customized with up to an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080.

Alienware x14 review: Design 

• Out-of-this-world design
• Ultra-thin and easy to carry — for a gaming laptop

The Alienware x14 is one of the thinnest gaming laptops out there, measuring 12.6 x 10.3 x 0.57 inches. Dell claims this is because of the x14's hinge, which sports a dual-torque element that slides back and forth when opening and closing the screen, freeing up more space inside the system itself. Without this sliding hinge, the x14 would either be thicker or less powerful, according to Dell.

The laptop has the slick, semi-futuristic design the Alienware X series is known for. Constructed with CNC aluminum and magnesium alloy parts, the laptop weighs just over 4 pounds. That’s not exactly light, but thanks to its thinness, the x14 is extremely portable and easy to carry in a backpack or around your home.

The Lunar Light chassis is both a strength and a weakness. Don’t get me wrong, the white coloring makes the laptop stand out in a world of grey and black devices. But that same lack of color makes dirt and scratches appear more noticeable. Even if you’re super careful, you’re going to leave marks all over the x14. This isn’t a deal-breaker, but random marks and dirt can mar this otherwise gorgeous gaming laptop.

Alienware x14 review: Display and audio 

• Solid 14-inch FHD display, but lack of OLED is disappointing
• Speakers deliver good but not great sound quality

The 14-inch Full HD display is good enough to immerse you in whatever game you’re playing. Sure, it’s not as spacious as the Razer Blade 17’s enormous 17-inch screen, but the display size is big enough to let you see even minute details. The 144Hz refresh rate and 3ms response time, along with Nvidia G-Sync, provide a silky-smooth visual experience.

When we put it to the test, we found the x14's screen is capable of achieving peak brightness levels of up to 377 nits. That's lower than the advertised 400 nits, but brighter than the screen on the Razer Blade 17 (349 nits), the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (323 nits) and Maingear Vector Pro (345 nits). When we pointed a colorimeter at it to see how much of the DCI-P3 color gamut it could display, the x14 reached 77%, which is less impressive than the Razer Blade 17 (80%), Zephyrus G14 (78%) and Vector Pro (80%).

For my own testing, I fired up Doom Eternal and Cyberpunk 2077 (the most optimized and least optimized games, respectively). Both titles looked incredible on the large 14-inch screen. I was especially impressed by how well the laptop presented Cyberpunk 2077’s ray-traced reflections and bright neon-lit streets and alleys. Despite its grim setting, Doom Eternal’s vibrant and lush colors popped off the screen.

My only complaint in this area is that there isn’t a configuration with an OLED display. Yes, the FHD screen looks gorgeous, but when compared to the Razer Blade 17’s beautiful 4K OLED display, the Alienware x14’s 1080p screen comes up lacking. However, since this laptop is ostensibly an entry-level portable gaming rig with a lower price point, the lack of an OLED display is understandable. Still, it might be nice to have some options to upgrade the display if you want better than 1080p 144Hz. The Razer Blade 14, for example, comes with either a either a 1080p 144Hz screen or an improved 1440p 165Hz screen.

If you're an audiophile, you may be pleased to learn the x14 also supports Dolby Atmos, and its bottom-mounted speakers produce loud and clear sounds at moderate volume. In all honestly, I found the audio quality to be passable at best. It was good, but not great. However, since I wear a headset while gaming, the x14’s relatively basic audio capabilities aren't a problem.

Alienware X14 review: Gaming performance 

• Impressive performance at medium settings
• Can't compete with bigger, more expensive gaming laptops

An Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 GPU gives the Alienware x14 enough power to competently run most modern titles at medium settings. However, it falls behind when compared to other gaming laptops.

The x14 failed to deliver a solid 60 frames per second running modern games like Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Borderlands 3, Dirt 5, Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition and Red Dead Redemption 2. Beefier machines like the Razer Blade 17 and Maingear Vector Pro had no trouble running those games in 1080p at a solid 60 fps or higher. However, the x14 didn't underperform in every game; for some reason it managed to run Ubisoft's 2019 game Far Cry New Dawn better than the Blade 17 we reviewed last year, achieving an impressive 94 frames per second.

During my own testing, I was stunned to see Doom Eternal running at an almost consistent 144 fps on the x14. Conversely, Cyberpunk 2077’s frame rates hovered in the mid to upper 30s. For the latter title, tweaking some of the in-game graphical settings would have produced better overall performance, but I wanted to run it at default settings as a baseline.

Overall, the Alienware x14 is a great gaming laptop. It doesn’t destroy the competition, but it isn’t left in the dust either -- and it's a lot more portable than more powerful gaming laptops.

Alienware X14 review: Productivity performance 

• Cutting-edge Intel CPU delivers outstanding performance
• This Alienware can effectively double as a work laptop

Since the x14 handles gaming so well, it’s no surprise that the laptop also serves as an excellent productivity machine. And with its remarkably thin design, it might not look as out of place in a coffee shop as your average gaming laptop.

The x14 scored an astonishing 13,353 on the Geekbench 5.4 performance benchmark test. Laptops like the Razer Blade 17 (7,010), Vector Pro (8,786) and Zephyrus G14 (7,509) don’t even come close, which is perhaps due to the x14's cutting-edge Alder Lake Intel CPU. These 12th Gen Intel chips only just came out this year, and they're the first Intel CPUs to rival Apple's M1 Max chips in terms of power and efficiency.

Anecdotally, I used the Alienware x14 for work and everyday use and found it every bit as performant as any business laptop I’ve ever used. It didn’t buckle or stutter once, not even when I had multiple open tabs while watching videos on YouTube. While gaming laptops are primarily valued for their capacity to run PC games well, it’s always nice when these machines can double as everyday computing devices.

Alienware X14 review: Ports 

• Enough ports to plug in your favorite devices
• Putting all the ports on the back keeps things interesting

All of the Alienware x14’s ports are located on the back of the machine between the two rear air vents. This includes a USB-C port for charging purposes, a headphone jack, an HDMI out, a microSD card reader, one USB-A port and two USB-C/Thunderbolt 4 ports.

It's a solid port assortment, albeit located on the rear in a potentially frustrating arrangement. And while the x14 lacks the Ethernet port you'll find on bigger gaming laptops like the Maingear Vector Pro, which is handy for hooking up wired Internet so you have the best online gaming experience possible, it does have enough ports to let you hook up pretty much whatever you need -- and you can always plug in a USB hub or dongle if you need more than what's on offer.

Alienware X14 review: Keyboard and touchpad 

• Decent keyboard that's comfortable to use
• Touchpad is smooth and responsive

The keyboard has a 1.5mm key travel distance, which makes it easy to type on even if you have large hands like me. I’m not the biggest fan of laptop keyboards since they feel fragile compared to the mechanical keyboards I typically pound on. The keys on the x14 aren't as satisfying to type on, but they're no better or worse than those found on other laptops I've tested. Considering this is a gaming laptop, I don’t look for an astounding keyboard experience. I’m using a controller to play games anyway.

As with the keyboard, the touchpad is serviceable but not mind-blowing. The fact it doesn’t call attention to itself can be seen as a positive since it functions as intended. If you’re playing an RTS with mouse and keyboard controls, you’re more than likely going to use a proper mouse.

Alienware X14 review: Webcam

• 720p webcam is serviceable but not great

The x14 features a basic 720p webcam located just above the screen. It's serviceable for video chatting, so long as you're in a well-lit room. If you want to take selfies, however, this camera won't be flattering. 

In all honesty, you're better off plugging in something like the Logitech C920s Pro HD Webcam if you want to look good during video calls or while streaming on Twitch.

Alienware X14 review: Battery life and heat 

• Average battery life for a gaming laptop
• Stays cool at work, but still gets hot when gaming

Gaming laptops don’t exactly have a reputation for having stellar battery life. Though portable, the devices are best left plugged in during use, and the Alienware x14 is no different.

The x14 lasted 5 hours and 32 minutes on the Tom’s Guide battery life test, which tasks the laptop with endlessly surfing the web over Wi-Fi with the screen set to 150 nits of brightness. The x14's 5:32 runtime falls short of the Zephyrus G14’s impressive 11 hours, but surpassed the Razer Blade 17’s 3 hours and 52 minutes.

Keep in mind that's just when browsing the web. When it comes to running games, the x14 lasted 1 hour and 23 minutes on battery power. That's low, but also about average for gaming laptops.

The Alienware x14 remains surprisingly cool while gaming, which may have something to do with its proprietary vapor chamber cooling, smart fan control tech, and other heat management features. 

In our standard heat test, which involves running a heat gun over the laptop after streaming 15 minutes of full HD video on it, we found the hottest point to be on the underside of the x14, which peaked at 95 degrees Fahrenheit. That's awfully warm, and we generally consider temps of 95 or above to be uncomfortable for most people to have in their laps for extended periods. 

Of course, that's just from watching videos. When playing demanding games, the x14 gets quite a bit hotter. To see exactly how hot, we tasked it with running the Metro: Exodus benchmark on Extreme settings six times in a row, then scanned the laptop with our heat gun on the sixth run to see how hot it can get. The answer is pretty hot — as high as 121 degrees on the underside near the vents, according to our measurements. 

That's roughly as hot as a big, beastly gaming machine like the Razer Blade 17 gets while gaming (122 degrees, in the Blade's case), but in our non-gaming heat test the x14 remains as cool as the average ultraportable.

Alienware X14 review: Verdict 

The Alienware x14 is easily one of the most distinctive-looking gaming laptops of 2022. Its all-white ultra-thin chassis and dual-torque hinge set it apart from other devices. 

On the inside, it’s a more-than-competent portable gaming rig that delivers solid performance thanks to its RTX 30 series GPU and advanced cooling features. And though its $1,649 starting price isn’t exactly cheap, it’s more affordable than thicker gaming laptops like the Razer Blade 17 ($2,400) or Maingear Vector Pro ($1,999).

My only gripe with the laptop is its lack of an OLED model. The FHD display is great, but it doesn’t present games at their very best. Because of this, you may want to opt for a rig like the 4K OLED-equipped Razer Blade 17 if you care deeply about display quality in your gaming laptops. But if you're all about gaming on the go and prize portability over power, the Alienware x14 is a great choice.

The Maingear Turbo ($2,162 to start, $7,199 as reviewed) is a juggernaut. Blistering speeds befitting the name are coupled with a dizzying price tag, as the bespoke PC vendor has packed the most powerful (and expensive) hardware available into this singular machine. 

But Maingear takes it one step further, packing top-tier components into a compact chassis that delivers performance in a fraction of the space, silently. I’m a stickler for the DIY approach and most assuredly not the target audience for the experience on offer here, but the Turbo is just that: an experience that’s as fun to use as it is to ogle, with a level of craftsmanship and attention to detail that can’t help but impress.

If you can afford it, this is one of the best gaming PCs you can buy right now — especially if you want a small, quiet machine that can handle the latest games at max settings without breaking a sweat.

Maingear Turbo review: Price and availability

• Expect to pay at least $2,100, and as much as $8,000 or more
• Deep customization options, but expect 2-3 month wait times

You can configure and buy this gaming PC direct from Maingear's website for a starting price of just over $2,000, though that quickly increases if you configure it with more than the starting array of an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 GPU, an AMD Ryzen 5 CPU, 8 GB of RAM a 512 GB SSD and a 240mm liquid cooling system. Case in point: our Maingear Turbo review unit, kitted out with high-end components and Maingear's custom APEX cooling system, costs $7,199 as configured. 

That’s a staggering amount to pay for a PC, but this model is arguably more of a showpiece than something the average person needs to run the latest and greatest games at full clip. The small form factor chassis features Maingear’s APEX open loop cooling, coupling GPU and CPU cooling (plus a reservoir) into tight spaces. AMD’s 16-core Ryzen 9 5950X is paired with 64GB of DDR4 RAM on the ROG Strix X570-I Gaming mini-ITX motherboard, and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti drives the visuals. It's also configured with a 1TB Samsung 980 PRO M.2 Gen 4 NVMe, which hosts the operating system, paired with a 2TB Samsung 860 Pro SSD for general storage.

Maingear’s configurator allows you to drive the price up further still, by fully kitting out the storage options and adding some peripherals and custom artwork. Shipping times will vary based on the customizations you choose, and Maingear says to expect delays due to the supply chain issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. At time of publication, Maingear estimates 7-9 weeks for an APEX system.

Maingear Turbo review: Design

• Case is compact and eye-catching, though there's little room to tinker
• Whisper-quiet, even under heavy load

The Maingear Turbo is almost unreasonably stunning. The automotive paint (Hellcat Red, in this case) is eye-catching, complemented by the translucent red coolant pumping through the APEX open loop cooling system. The cabling (also red) is neatly tucked away, generally hidden from view unless you’re working inside the machine. Don’t like red? That’s fine: there are a few options to choose from, or you can work with Maingear to choose colors and custom imagery that’s more to you’re liking, for that personal touch.

The Turbo is also a desktop in the traditional sense of the word, with a diminutive footprint that belies the raw power packed inside. It measures 14.4 by 6.7 by 12.3 inches, and weighs about 35 pounds. My desk is dominated by triple monitors and spaceflight simulator gear, but if your own space is more amenable, the Turbo should easily find a place at your side, where you can bathe in the glow of the RGB lighting that seems mandatory on modern gaming PCs. The cooling system is key to the machine’s size: the coolant reservoir sits at the front of the chassis, while an arterial network of rigid tubing directs fluid to the graphics card, processor, and 240mm radiator at the top of the case. As the coolant is pumped through the chassis it transfers heat from the components to the radiator, where it’s bled off by the large fans.

The  machine is quiet. Compact liquid cooling, which includes waterblocks for the GPU and CPU, cuts down on the noise and the need for space for airflow and giant fans. As apps and games start to push the CPU, you can hear the fans start to hum, but it’s barely audible. Flash storage cuts down on space requirements further still, and Maingear utilizes every inch of that space efficiently. The result is impressive, albeit limiting, if you’re the type to tinker.

Maingear Turbo review: Ports and upgradability

• Generous port selection
• Not a lot of room to upgrade

I hesitate to call the APEX variant of the Maingear Turbo upgradeable. A single thumbscrew makes it trivial to get access to the machine’s innards, but the open loop cooling system takes up the lion’s share of free space in the chassis; attempting to do any kind of maintenance would require draining the coolant and dismantling the tubing. 

The storage SSD is located on the rear of the chassis, and the SATA cabling is routed through there, so you can squeeze more storage in later on down the line. But unless you’re well versed in working with open loop setups, don’t plan on doing too much tinkering with the hardware. This likely won’t be an immediate issue, but if you opted for lesser hardware, have a technical issue, or hold onto the machine for a few years, you’ll feel the squeeze.

That said, the Turbo’s port selection is generous. You’ll find HDMI 2.0b, DisplayPort 1.4, one USB-C, four USB 3, three USB 3.1, and Gigabit Ethernet port on the rear, and a pair of USB 3 ports on the side, towards the front. The NVIDIA GeForce 3080 Ti offers another trio of DisplayPorts, and an HDMI port. 

I’m personally averse to leaning on Wi-Fi for a desktop, but the motherboard supports Wi-Fi 6, and the machine includes and antenna if you want or need to go that route, or are looking for Bluetooth connectivity.

Maingear Turbo review: Gaming performance

• Our top-of-the-line review unit delivered excellent performance
• Even the most demanding games rarely dip below 30 fps

Gaming performance is unsurprisingly strong, given the caliber of hardware on display here. I spent a great deal of my testing putting the Turbo through its paces with Forza Horizon 5, with all settings dialed up to Extreme on a 1440p, HDR display; frame rates rarely dipped below an average of about 110 frames per second. The Halo Infinite multiplayer beta performed similarly well, with triple-digit frame rates leaving me with nothing to blame my abysmal performance on.

Cyberpunk 2077 proved more demanding, dipping as low as 82 frames per second in complex environments. Perhaps more tellingly, while playing Cyberpunk I could finally hear the Turbo’s 240mm radiator fans, which I’d all but forgotten about, churning to keep temperatures in check. Given that title’s oft-reported performance and optimization challenges, and the fact that it was the only title to give me any trouble, I’m comfortable chalking this up to the software, and not the hardware. On our 4K gaming benchmarks, the only titles that brought the machine below 60 frames per second were Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, at 55 frames per second, and Metro Exodus, at 35 frames per second when dialed up to Extreme.

Maingear Turbo review: Overall performance

• More than enough power to handle any work you need to do
• Easy to overclock for even more power

The performance test scores are similarly unsurprising, as this PC is equipped with some of the most powerful hardware money can buy. The Maingear Turbo earned a score of 15,794 on GeekBench 5.4’s multicore benchmark. It completed our Handbrake video encoding test in four minutes and two seconds, and saw a transfer rate of 2,004 MB/s in our 25GB file copy test.

These are tremendous results. The Turbo’s closest competition comes from the Origin PC Millennium, which is equipped with the same NVIDIA GPU, but half as much RAM (32GB, versus 64GB), and a Ryzen 9 5900X (12 cores and 24 threads, versus 16 cores and 32 threads). The Millennium saw scores of 14,041 in GeekBench 5.4, finished our Handbrake test in 4 minutes and 11 seconds, and saw a transfer rate of 954 MB/s in our 25GB file copy test. That’s not dramatically lower (and easily remedied with upgrades in the right direction), for a significantly lower price tag ($5,216).

The power on offer here is naturally suited for more than gaming. My personal workflows revolve around image editing in Adobe Lightroom Classic and Photoshop 2022, with 50-megapixel RAW images. Lightroom Classic isn’t the snappiest app, but the Turbo’s hardware powered through every task I presented it with, from making mundane edits, to building 1:1 previews on hundreds of photos, in far less time than I’m used to on my own rig. Opening the files up in Photoshop and making cursory edits was similarly speedy, and while both apps caused the case fans to whirr to life for a few seconds at the start of a major task, the APEX cooling system quickly had things in order. The power on offer is decidedly overkill for my needs, but content creators who stream while they game, or need to process a lot of high resolution photography and video, will appreciate the quiet work environment and time saved.

If the power on display isn’t enough, the Turbo is readily amenable to overclocking, as the cooling system will keep temperatures in check. The machine idles at around 41 degrees Celsius (about 106 F), and climbs as high as about 72 degrees Celsius (about 162 F) when under duress. It remained relatively quiet throughout (with the exception of a few moments while playing Cyberpunk 2077, or at the start of major tasks in Adobe Lightroom Classic), and fan speeds can be readily toggled with the bundled software tools, if they’re too loud for your taste, or if you feel the need for more cooling.

Maingear Turbo review: Software

• Very little bloatware pre-installed
• Asus' Aura Sync RBG management software is fun to use

As befitting a machine at this price point, the Maingear Turbo is just about free of preinstalled hardware. ASUS’ Armory Crate is included to monitor and manage the motherboard, with the requisite tools to check clocks speeds and temperatures, or update drivers and the like. Some standouts include Aura Sync, which you’ll use to control the chassis’ lighting (if you don’t want to use the bundled remote), and Scenario Profiles, which let you tie sound levels and chassis lighting to particular apps.

You’ll need a full complement of ASUS ROG gear to make the most out of Aura Sync, but the Turbo’s internal components are compatible, and available to tinker with. If you’re of a creative mind you can also grab ASUS’ Aura Creator to take the lightscape to the next level, creating individual, timed lighting loops with a bevy of effects for the motherboard, RAM, and interior LED strips. Aura Sync is also compatible with Philips Hue lighting, so your entire living space can join in on the fun. This sort of thing is generally lost on me; I set it to a static color (usually a cool green) and moved along.

Maingear Turbo review: Verdict

Don’t be too distracted by the Turbo’s speed; that’s to be expected when you cram the most performant hardware available into a PC. If money is no object and you’re just looking for power, Origin PC’s Millennium is arguably the “better value,” an odd turn of phrase considering these price tags. Maingear also has a number of different lines to choose from, with larger cases that should offer more room to maneuver, even if you opt for APEX cooling.

The real story here is Maingear’s craftsmanship. The APEX cooling system is a remarkable design that would be a real challenge to replicate, going beyond shoving power into a box to present a machine that really feels one of a kind, especially if you go all in on the customization options. You can get this performance elsewhere for far less but the Maingear Turbo is genuinely exciting, as much a conversation piece as it is a high-water mark for performance.

Naturally, that’s all very subjective. You’ll get a better bang for your buck looking at other options, or waiting for component availability to normalize and building your own. But the Maingear Turbo has inspired me to take another look at my own long dormant open-loop cooling aspirations, and any machine that gets me this excited about tinkering is a winner in my book.

This month marks 25 years since Alienware set up in a garage outside Miami, and to celebrate, the Dell-owned company has announced big changes to the design of its flagship gaming desktop, the Aurora.

The Aurora is a perennial favorite here at Tom's Guide, so we're excited to see the next iteration of this classic chassis. Here’s everything we know so far about 2021’s Alienware Aurora redesign.

• Get great sound with the best gaming headsets around
• The best gaming mouse you can buy
• The best PC games of 2021

Alienware Aurora 2021 release date 

Released on October 27, 2021, both the Alienware Aurora R13 and the Alienware Aurora Ryzen Edition R14 are available to buy now. But you may have some trouble finding one since demand for high-performance PCs and components continues to outstrip supply.

Alienware Aurora 2021 price 

As of October 27 Dell is selling two new models of Alienware Aurora, the Alienware Aurora R13 and the Alienware Aurora Ryzen Edition R14. The Aurora R13 has a starting price of $1,479, while the Aurora Ryzen Edition R14 has a starting price of $1,249.

The big difference here is that the R13 comes with Intel CPUs and the Ryzen Edition R14 comes with, you guessed it, AMD Ryzen CPUs. However, the R13 packs the very latest Intel Alder Lake 12th Gen CPUs, which are hitting the market in October right alongside these new Auroras. These chips are Intel's first hybrid desktop CPUs, and they promise to deliver remarkable power and efficiency.

AMD also has a new line of Ryzen CPUs on the way, but they're not expected to debut until early 2022. That said, the Ryzen 5000-series chips in the Aurora Ryzen Edition R14 are still plenty powerful enough for most PC gaming enthusiasts, and they should stand you in good stead for years to come.

Alienware Aurora 2021 design 

With the initial announcement, this is where Alienware has shared the most details. It all centers around a brand-new chassis: the Legend 2.0. This offers more internal space, more efficient airflow and overall quieter operation.

The addition of an optional clear side panel aside, from the outside the new case certainly looks familiar, albeit somewhat more angled. There’s an optional cylindrical cable cover you can add to the back if you like your desktop computers curvy, though people who need to cable manage often are best advised to leave it off.

That said, it adopts a much larger footprint, measuring 23.2 x 20.1 x 8.86-inches which goes some way to explaining the improved airflow — indeed, it apparently has 50% more internal volume than the current options. The company adds that the custom mainboard has power connections placed on the edges, which also makes for better, more airflow-friendly cable management.  

Additionally, the new Aurora has space for up to four 120mm fans, with liquid cooling options also available. With said liquid cooling and the aforementioned adjustments to airflow, Alienware says the computer is 9% quieter than the current R10 and R12 models when under heavy CPU load and 16% less loud when idle.

The Alienware Aurora 2021 will come in two colors: Lunar Light (white) and Dark Side of the Moon (black).

Alienware Aurora 2021 specs 

Unfortunately, this is another area where the company was quite tight-lipped. The only thing revealed about the 2021 Alienware Aurora’s specs is that it will come with up to an Nvidia RTX 3090 GPU which is something that pretty much anybody could have guessed. (Though it does say that performance was 5% faster using the same GPU as the current R12, which is encouraging.)

Given Alienware’s love of pushing the top-end specs, however, it's possible it will be configurable with Intel’s 12th-generation processors. We wouldn’t be surprised to see DDR5 RAM support, either.

Alienware Aurora 2021 outlook 

All in all, the new Alienware Aurora looks like an elegant way for the company to celebrate its 25th birthday in style. 

In a sense, it doesn’t really matter that details are so light on core specs. Alienware systems have always been as overpowered as your budget allows thanks to the heavy customization options available, and that’s likely to be the case again here. 

The improvement to airflow, volume and performance from the new design could be far more significant — assuming Alienware’s already high prices aren’t also due an unwelcome 25th birthday adjustment.

• More: The best gaming PCs in 2021

The Alienware Aurora R11 is one of the most powerful pre-built gaming PCs you can buy. Naturally, that also makes it one of the most expensive. Ever since the brand’s inception, Alienware’s value proposition has been clear: Get a stylish, functional gaming PC right out of the box, but be ready to dish out a few thousand dollars for it.

The Aurora R11 is the latest evolution of that philosophy, and it’s a pretty good machine. Just be aware that it requires a lot of money and space, as well as some patience to deal with lackluster software.

While you can theoretically get the Aurora R11 for as little as $1,110, you’ll be saddled with an outdated GPU, relatively little RAM and an old-school hard disk drive. More future-proof models of the R11 start at $2,440 and go up from there. Whether it’s worth the premium depends on how much the Alienware brand name means to you — and how much you need the Nvidia GeForce RTX 30-series right now. 

In our tests, the Aurora R11 performed beautifully for both games and productivity, in spite of a few usability hiccups. If you like how the system looks and don’t mind springing for the best hardware, the Alienware Aurora R11 may be one of the best gaming PCs — indeed, one of the best computers period — you can buy. 

However, as of September 2021 Alienware discontinued the Aurora R11, so you may have a hard time finding one for a reasonable price. You can check our best gaming PCs list for some alternative, and there's a new Alienware Aurora 2021 model in the works with a bigger, cooler (literally) case and the latest components — so keep an eye peeled for our review of that model once it becomes available.

Alienware Aurora R11 review: Price and availability

The Alienware Aurora R11 is available right now, although your preferred model may not be available for delivery right away. That’s because these machines employ Nvidia GeForce RTX 30-series GPUs, which are in pretty short supply lately. At the time of writing, shipping time is 2-3 weeks — which, admittedly, might be better than trying to find the GPUs à la carte.

Pricewise, the Aurora R11 runs the gamut from $1,110 all the way up to $5,000 — or more. I was able to configure a $5,120 system with an Intel Core i9-10900KF CPU, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 GPU, 128 GB 3200 MHz RAM, 2 TB SSD + 2 TB HDD storage and a 1000W power supply.

At the absolute other end of the spectrum, for $1,110, you can get an Intel Core i5 10400F CPU, an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 Super GPU, 8 GB 2933 MHz RAM, 1 TB HDD storage and a 550W power supply. Personally, I’m not sure these specs are worth even the modest asking price, but you can also mix and match desired components to find some kind of affordable compromise.

Tom’s Guide reviewed a high-end Aurora R11 model with an Intel Core i9 10900K CPU, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 GPU, 64 GB RAM and 2 TB SSD + 2 TB HDD storage. This configuration would cost about $4,100, depending on your software and case options.

Alienware Aurora R11 review: Design

One of the most striking aspects of the Alienware Aurora R11 is its physical design. Instead of a boxy rectangle, the Aurora R11 has an oval face and a rounded chassis, somewhat like a flattened egg.

It’s futuristic and distinctive, and makes a much better conversation piece than “here’s a black box full of parts.”

Granted, this creativity comes at a price (in addition to the monetary one). The Aurora R11 is a hefty machine, at 18.9 x 17.0 x 8.7 inches, and whopping 41 pounds.

This machine eats desk space for breakfast — assuming your desk won’t crack and splinter under its weight. On the other hand, if it lives on the floor, then you won’t really get to appreciate its design.

Alienware Aurora R11 review: Ports and upgradability

Considering its hardware, it should come as no surprise that the Alienware Aurora R11 comes with a plethora of ports. On the front alone, you’ve got three USB-A ports, a USB-C port, and 3.5 mm ports for discrete mic and audio.

On the back, you’ll find 10 more USB-A ports, another USB-C port, an Ethernet port, an optical audio port, six different 3.5 mm audio inputs, and a handful of DisplayPorts and HDMI ports (depending on your GPU).

Generally speaking, it’s a generous amount of ports, although I feel like having only two USB-C ports is not as forward-thinking as it could be for a machine that could very well last between five and 10 years.

What’s odd about the Aurora R11, though, is that for all of its girth and weight, there’s not much room to maneuver when you open it up. If you want to upgrade the machine, you can slide off the side and back plates easily enough by manipulating a few switches.

But the interior is very cramped, and unless you want to add a hard drive, or some more RAM, the parts may not play nicely with the PC’s curved chassis. Buy the Aurora R11 with a CPU and GPU you like, because odds are, you’ll be stuck with both for a while.

Alienware Aurora R11 review: Gaming performance

The Alienware Aurora R11 represents my first time using an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 card, and the GPU was as impressive as I’d hoped. Coupled with the Alienware 25 Gaming Monitor (with a 360 Hz refresh rate — more on that shortly), the Aurora R11 played some of my favorite PC games more beautifully and fluidly than I’d ever seen them before. Whether you want to fuel ultra-high-framerate 1080p gaming, cinematic 4K gaming or something in-between, the Aurora R11 can support your setup.

I put the Aurora R11 to the test with Doom Eternal, Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition, Baldur’s Gate III and Final Fantasy XIV — all of which can put demanding machines through its paces, if you turn the settings up high enough. With 1080p resolution, frame rate capped at 360 fps and the rest of the settings turned up as high as they would go, I still got incredible results. Doom Eternal ran at more than 300 frames per second, even during intense firefights; Final Fantasy XIV never dipped below about 150 fps, even when I was in a crowded city center, replete with other players.

We also benchmarked the Aurora R11 with a variety of games at 4K and Ultra settings. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla reached 53 fps; Grand Theft Auto V, 61 fps; and Shadow of the Tomb Raider, 59 fps.

Contrast with the similarly powerful MSI MEG Trident X, which employed the Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Ti, and it’s not even a fair comparison. That machine earned 52 fps on Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (Valhalla was not yet available), 45 fps for GTA V and 44 fps for Shadow of the Tomb Raider. The RTX 3090 represents a significant upgrade with noticeable gameplay benefits — although for the price, we suppose it had better provide top-notch visuals.

The Aurora R11 also fared well in terms of 1080p performance, reaching scores like 152 fps on GTA V, and 136 fps on Shadow of the Tomb Raider. The Trident X, for comparison, achieved 134 fps and 120 fps on those games, respectively.

Overall, the Aurora R11 is one of the most powerful gaming machines we’ve ever tested — but that’s not really surprising, given the hardware that’s gone into it. Whether it’s worth $4,000 is a little harder to quantify.

Alienware Aurora R11 review: Overall performance

As you might imagine, the Alienware Aurora R11 is a productivity powerhouse. Between the PC’s powerful hardware and a 360 Hz monitor, I found that even Windows appeared to run quicker and smoother than usual. I couldn’t faze the machine with my everyday programs. Even with Microsoft Word, Slack, Discord, Steam, Spotify and a multimedia-tab-filled Chrome up and running simultaneously, I was hard-pressed to use more than about 15% of the system’s memory; the CPU was even less bothered. Movies and TV stream without a hitch; music sounds great, provided you can supply high-quality headphones or speakers.

In terms of artificial benchmarks, the Aurora R11 also excelled, copying 5GB of files from a thumb drive in 4.1 seconds, achieving a transfer rate of 1,243 MBps. Oddly, that’s not quite up to the Trident X’s standards, which achieved a transfer rate of 1,275 MBps, but it’s close enough that you’d never be able to tell without a stopwatch.

On an older Geekbench 4.3 general performance test, the Aurora R11 earned an impressive 41,822 score, compared to the Trident X’s 40,378. A newer Geekbench 5.3 test pegged the Aurora R11’s performance at 11,143, but we don’t yet have other systems against which to compare this. In a vacuum, at least, it’s a very high score.

Still, there are some qualitative issues with the Aurora R11’s performance. During everyday productivity tasks, the Aurora R11 runs a little warm and emits a quiet fan hum. But during gaming, the machine essentially becomes a very loud space heater, blasting sound and heat across anything in its immediate vicinity.

After about 30 minutes gaming on the Aurora R11, I took off my sweatshirt and checked my thermostat to see if I’d accidentally turned it up. Imagine my surprise when I came back to my seat and discovered where the heat was actually coming from the PC. The GPU can hit temperatures of 80 degrees Celsius after prolonged use — within tolerable technical limits, but enough to warm up your immediate surroundings.

Alienware Aurora R11 review: Software

If I have one big criticism of the Alienware Aurora R11, it’s the potentially prohibitive price. But if I have a second criticism, it’s the broken, unintuitive software. While the Aurora R11 doesn’t come with much “bloatware,” per se, it does come with a suite of Alienware tools: Command Center, Digital Delivery, Updates and so forth.

When I first set up the Aurora R11, the computer recommended that I run the built-in Dell SupportAssist software. The system ran a series of long, tedious tests — and the second it was done, pinged me with an urgent alert that it had been zero days since my last test; did I want to run it again? I thought that perhaps updating the software would iron out the kinks, but no: After taking a whole afternoon to download about 400 MB worth of files, the system restarted and informed me that it had been zero days since my last scan, and I had to run one again ASAP.

I eventually turned off all the Alienware software and went through Windows Update instead. While Alienware’s heart is in the right place, it’s disappointing that its bespoke software provides a clunkier experience than the default OS. (You can use Alienware software to control some LED lights on the front of the PC, though, which can admittedly be very pretty.)

Alienware Aurora R11 review: Verdict

If nothing else, the Alienware Aurora R11 is consistent. When we reviewed its predecessor, the Alienware Aurora R10, we pointed out that the system provided excellent performance in a stylish and potentially very expensive package. The same is true here. I have a hard time recommending a $4,000 system to PC gamers — particularly when, with a little know-how, they could build something similar for thousands of dollars less — but there’s no reason why you’d have to buy the exact model we reviewed. You could customize a perfectly good Aurora R11 for $2,000 or so, and have a stylish, functional centerpiece for your gaming setup.

The system’s physical design has some charms and some drawbacks, and the performance depends very much on how much you’re willing to spend on parts. But generally speaking, Alienware’s reputation for premium PC products is well-earned. The Aurora R11 could make a sizable dent in your bank account, but you do, at least, get what you pay for.

The 2021 Asus ROG Flow X13 ($1,499 as reviewed) is one of the thinnest, lightest gaming laptops we've seen yet, which is notable given their reputation for being hefty, cumbersome machines. Thanks to tech advances, they've begun to slim down in recent years: devices like the Razer Blade 14 or Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 are great examples of laptops that manage to deliver serious gaming power in a thin and light package — and now they have some competition.

But the Flow X13 is more than just an ultraportable gaming laptop. It's a capable 13-inch 2-in-1 that can transform into a tablet, and its RTX 3050 Ti GPU and Ryzen 9 CPU give it some decent gaming power for its size. The optional XG Mobile external graphics card (not included with my review unit) boasts an even beefier Nvidia RTX 3080 GPU, giving those who opt for that model some additional graphical muscle.

Even without the eGPU, the Flow X13 is a good gaming laptop that's lighter and thinner than most. It’s a little underpowered and, like most gaming laptops, it chews through battery, but if portability is important to you, this might be one of the best gaming laptops you can buy.

Asus ROG Flow X13 review: Price and configurations

• You can buy it with or without the external GPU enclosure
• Expect to pay between $1,499 - $2,799

The Asus ROG Flow X13 is available from the Asus website and comes in two main configurations. The model bundled with the ROG XG Mobile+RTX 3080 comes in at $2,799. As mentioned above, my review unit did not come with the XG Mobile external graphics card, and this configuration costs $1,499. 

Both models sport an AMD Ryzen 9 5900HS CPU, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 Ti GPU, 16GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD.

Asus ROG Flow X13 review: Design

• Remarkably thin and light for a gaming laptop
• Sturdy, minimalist chassis has a plasticky feel

At 11.8 x 8.7 x 0.6 inches and 2.9 pounds, the Flow X13 is one of the smallest and lightest gaming laptops out there. In terms of size and weight, it’s lighter and smaller than the Zephyrus G14. You can toss the Flow X13 into your backpack and almost forget it’s there.

The minimalist, all-black design is what you’d expect from the ROG line. Its lid and bottom have textured diagonal lines, along with an ROG nameplate on the bottom corner. You’ll find similar, albeit thinner, diagonal lines on the palm rests. The textured lines aren’t purely for show, as they provide decent grip.

Though made from a magnesium alloy, the laptop has a somewhat plasticky feel. There’s a slight amount of give in the keyboard that isn’t present in the palm rests. This isn’t a major detriment but it’s something you’ll notice during your initial hours with the device. Despite that, the laptop feels sturdy overall.

Asus ROG Flow X13 review: Ports 

• Right-side port placement makes it tricky to plug in a mouse
• Too easy to accidentally hit the power button while plugging in accessories

The unit’s right side features one USB-A 3.2 port and a USB-C 3.2 port you use for charging. The left side sports a 3.5mm audio jack, an HDMI port, and the proprietary XG Mobile external GPU port. A silicone cover protects the latter.

Port placement isn’t ideal, especially if you’re right-handed. To accommodate the vents, the ports on the right side are located about midway down the device; I frequently brushed the side of the USB-C cable when using an external mouse. This is a small annoyance when browsing the web, but if you’re playing a game, it can be quite debilitating. Having another USB-C port on the left side would have resolved this issue.

I also wasn’t keen on the power button’s location along the right edge of the keyboard deck. Though 2-in-1 laptops usually have power buttons on their sides, the power button on the ROG Flow X13 is especially sensitive — I had to be careful not to accidentally shut the laptop off when plugging in the USB-C port.

Asus ROG Flow X13 review: Keyboard and touchpad

• Comfy, spacious keyboard and touchpad
• No RGB lighting, if that's a thing you're into

Your fingers won’t feel cramped when using the spacious keyboard, which feels similar in size to those found in 15-inch laptops. Ample key spacing gives you plenty of room to move, and keystrokes feel precise. I wrote the majority of this review on the Flow X13 and had a great experience doing so.

There are three brightness settings for the keys’ backlight. Unlike the Zephyrus G14, there are no RGB lighting options. I don’t care much for RGB lighting so I didn’t see this as a major loss, though I understand it may be a bummer for some users.

The smooth touchpad delivers precise swiping and tracking. Its relatively small size could pose problems, especially for those who make large gestures. But in my tests, I found the touchpad intuitive and responsive.

Asus ROG Flow X13 review: Display and audio

• Vibrant 120Hz display looks good, but can be quite reflective in bright light
• Speakers lack bass but otherwise sound good

The Flow X13 features a glossy 13.4-inch screen with a 1920 x 1200 resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate. The display's 16:10 aspect ratio (which we're seeing more and more often in new laptops) gives you additional verticality. Around the screen, bezels are thin on the sides but somewhat chunky up top and at the bottom. 

Based on our lab testing, the display achieves an average brightness of 289 nits, though around the center of the screen it hits the full 300 advertised by Asus. That's good enough for most situations, though even if you're playing in a dimly-lit environment you will see yourself reflected in dark parts of the screen. Conversely, using the device in a bright room or under direct sunlight makes it almost impossible to see what’s happening. 

When we pointed our colorimeter at the Asus ROG Flow X13's screen, we found it achieves 113% of the sRGB color gamut and 80% of the DCI-P3 color gamut (the closer to 100%, the better). What that means, in simple terms, is that colors look good and are pretty accurately rendered, whether you're looking at the neon glare of Cyberpunk 2077’s streets or the earthy tones in Dirt 5’s mud-covered tracks.

If you’re purchasing the Flow X13 for gaming, you won’t find much use for tablet mode. However, artists equipped with a stylus pen will find it a suitable device to use on the road. The stylus is only bundled with certain configurations — not the one we reviewed — and costs about $70 when sold separately.

There’s also a “tent mode” where you can lay the laptop down like a, well, tent. Though this weird position gives the bottom of the unit space to breathe and might make the speakers sound clearer, it doesn't seem like something you'll use often.

Speaking of speakers, the Asus ROG Flow X13 produces rich sounds for a laptop. You won’t get thumping bass, but everything from booming shotguns to hushed whispers come through clearly. Music sounds good too, if you’re willing to deal with weak bass. Of course, if you’re not happy with the speakers, you can always connect your favorite pair of the best gaming headsets.

Asus ROG Flow X13 review: Performance 

My review unit arrived sporting an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 Ti GPU, an AMD Ryzen 9 5900HS CPU, 16 GB of RAM, and a 1TB NVME PCIe Gen 3 SSD. Though impressive, don’t expect to play games at anything above medium settings — not if you want halfway decent framerates. You can squeeze a few extra frames from certain games by plugging the laptop in, but don’t expect to be blown away. Compared to the Razer Blade 14 and Alienware m15 R4, the Asus ROG Flow X13 delivers disappointing performance.

I put our review unit to the test by playing Doom Eternal, Dirt 5, and Cyberpunk 2077 using the Nvidia GeForce Experience-recommended settings for each title. I saw the best framerates while playing Doom Eternal, where the performance hovered around the mid-50s. This isn’t surprising considering how well optimized the game is; the now infamous Cyberpunk 2077, by comparison, delivered a consistent 30 FPS in both open-world and indoor environments. The Flow X13 struggled to run Dirt 5 at an acceptable framerate: when we ran its integrated graphics benchmarking tool in our lab it hovered around 30 frames per second, and in my hands-on testing I consistently saw framerates in the low 20s. For a racer, such low frame rates are unacceptable. 

Below you can see a few of the Asus ROG Flow X13's results from our lab testing stacked up against the similarly priced Razer Blade 14 and Asus' own Zephyrus G14. As you can see, the laptop's 4 GB of VRAM were not enough to run some gaming benchmarks, and I noticed the lack myself when playing Dirt 5.  

However, when tackling day-to-day tasks like browsing the web, word processing, watching YouTube videos, and attending virtual meetings, the ROG Flow X13's AMD Ryzen 9 5900HS octacore CPU ensures a smooth experience.  And in CPU-heavy performance tests, the Flow X13 holds its own. In the Geekbench 5.4 multicore CPU benchmark the Flow X13 put up a solid score of 7,650, which is better than the Ryzen 9-equipped Razer Blade 14 (7,471) and the new Razer Blade 15 Advanced (6,924) packing a Core i7 Tiger Lake CPU.

Asus ROG Flow X13 review: Webcam

You’ll find a webcam sitting above the display of the Asus ROG Flow X13 that's neither great nor terrible. Its 720p resolution is fine for video conferencing or having a quick chat with friends. The image is somewhat washed out and the colors feel muted; good lighting will enhance the image quality, but not by much. 

If you plan to stream, you’ll want to connect an external camera. Note that the webcam does not have IR sensors or privacy shutters, so you won't be able to log in with your face using Windows Hello.

Asus ROG Flow X13 review: Battery life

You won’t find the Flow X13’s battery life impressive. It took me less than two hours to drain the battery when playing the aforementioned games back to back. However, I managed to get a decent five hours when browsing the web and watching videos.

My hands-on experience is backed up by our lab testing. When we set the laptop to endlessly browse the web over Wi-Fi with its screen set to 150 nits of brightness, the Asus ROG Flow X13 managed to last 7 hours and 19 minutes on a single charge. When we tried to test how long it would last while gaming by keeping the same settings and running it through a PCMark 10 benchmark which endlessly loops a 3D-rendered scene, the Flow X13 lasted just 1 hour and 19 minutes before powering off. 

That's about as good as the Razer Blade 14 (6:02 browsing the web, 1:17 gaming) but nowhere near as good as the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14, which managed to last an incredible 11 hours and 32 minutes while browsing the web.

To squeeze the most performance out of the Flow X13, I recommended keeping the bundled charger plugged in, especially if you plan on extended gaming sessions.

Asus ROG Flow X13 review: Heat

Expect an average of 93.1 degrees when performing regular work and 107.6 degrees while gaming. If you’re watching YouTube videos or web-browsing you’ll feel comfortable holding the Flow X13 in your lap. If you’re gaming, you’re going to want to place the laptop on a desk.

Fan volume is noticeable but unobtrusive. I only heard the fan during quiet loading screens. During the heat of battle in Doom Eternal, I couldn’t hear the fan at all. Fans produce a soft white noise that easily blends into the background when you’re not gaming.

Asus ROG Flow X13 review: Verdict

While it has its faults, the Asus ROG Flow X13 provides a solid base for future iterations to build upon. 

13-inch gaming laptops with this much power under the hood aren’t common, so if you need a svelte portable machine with some gaming muscle, this could be a good choice. The 2-in-1 functionality also makes the unit distinct, and could be appealing if you like the idea of a gaming laptop that doubles as a tablet. 

However, the underwhelming gaming performance, mediocre battery life, and cumbersome port placement leave much to be desired. Though impressive in its own right, you’re better off getting the more powerful (and similarly priced) Razer Blade 14 or Zephyrus G14 if performance is your top priority.

Between the PS5, the Xbox Series X and a whole slew of new GPUs, it’s been a tremendous year in the world of gaming. Games in the past year have looked better and loaded faster than ever before, which has let developers try ambitious new gameplay ideas. Meanwhile, on the hardware front, both components and peripherals continue to get smaller and sleeker, giving gamers more choices at better prices — at least when they can find the gear in question.

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart showed us what the new generation of consoles can do, while Microsoft Flight Simulator let us take virtual trips around the world when it was pretty tough to do so in person. The Logitech G915 TKL demonstrated that great gaming keyboards don’t need cumbersome wires, while the HP Omen 27i displayed gorgeous, believable worlds. These games and gear illustrate why now is an incredible time to immerse yourself in the world of gaming.

Best console: Sony PS5

So this was a tough one to call, but there could only be one winner, and that’s Sony’s PS5. It beats Redmond’s console thanks to its bold design, stunningly fast load times, the truly innovative DualSense controller, and 3D audio support that’s seriously good. 

Outside of its hardware, the PS5 proves to be the best console thanks to exclusive games such as Demon’s Souls, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart and Returnal. Furthermore, the patching of some of the best PS4 games to run a lot better on the PS5 is another feather in Sony’s console cap. And there's still a lot more to come, with exclusive games like Deathloop and Gran Turismo 7. PS5 restocks might be a nightmare to track down, but Sony's latest console is very much worth it and truly a generational leap for console gaming.

Highly Recommended: Xbox Series X
The Xbox Series X is the ultimate Xbox, offering 4K gaming and making the best Xbox One games even better to play. With upcoming console exclusives such as Starfield, Halo Infinite, Redfall and more still to come, the next year or two are looking stellar for Xbox. 

Best PS5 game/Best Xbox Series X game: Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart may be less than a month old, but the first next-gen outing for PlayStation's famous duo is already our firm favorite. It's a fresh story covering the pair's adventures in a dimension where series villain Dr. Nefarious has achieved total victory, and their meeting with Ratchet's interdimensional counterpart, Rivet. And while the story is dotted with plenty of nostalgia hits, it stands well by itself as well as within the context of the whole series. 

The PS5's fast load times and excellent graphics really make a difference here, letting players quickly move through rifts from dimension to dimension, and the series' signature hectic gunplay is enhanced by the DualSense controller's haptic triggers. Add in the console's 3D audio capabilities and Rift Apart is perhaps the best demonstration of the PS5's power so far.

Highly Recommended: Demon's Souls
The remastered action RPG has brought the original game's grim atmosphere and challenging gameplay to a whole new audience who may have missed it the first time around.

Highly Recommended: Assassin's Creed: Valhalla
It hasn't done much to evolve the series' formula, or even the story. But AC: Valhalla still offers you plenty of opportunities to enjoy sneaking and fighting around a beautiful open world.

Best PC game: Microsoft Flight Simulator

In a year when we couldn’t leave our neighborhoods, Microsoft Flight Simulator was a much-needed vacation to the far reaches of the globe. This absolutely gorgeous game is, as the title suggests, the latest entry in Microsoft’s long-running Flight Simulator series. What sets this entry apart from previous titles is that this time around, Microsoft used real-world topography from Bing Maps, giving players a realistic simulation of just about every place on Earth. The game contains tons of real-world planes, airports and weather conditions, as well as more than 2 million cities and towns. 

A tutorial mode brings new players up to speed in the wonderful world of aviation, while veterans can grab their trusty joysticks and dive right in. From its impressive graphics to its nuanced gameplay, Microsoft Flight Simulator is just what series fans have been waiting for, as well as a perfect jumping-on point for newbies.

Highly Recommended: Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition
Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition is a beautiful remaster of an underrated game, challenging players to explore the New World, and build an empire with gunpowder and steel.

Highly Recommended: Half-Life Alyx
Half-Life: Alyx is one of the first must-have VR games, making full use of the immersive gaming technology, as well as providing an intriguing new piece of the Half-Life story.

Best Switch game: Hades

While Hades will soon make its way to other consoles (and also came out on PC initially), it still demonstrated that the Switch is the place to find some of the weirdest and most wonderful titles on the market. In this challenging rogue-lite, you take control of Zagreus and fight your way through a world of gods and monsters from Greek myth. The story unfolds organically each time you die and try again, giving players tantalizing new situations and bits of dialogue each time they reload. 

While the game is incredibly tough, it also rewards players for persevering. As such, anyone can triumph over the horrors of the Underworld with a lot of determination and a little bit of luck. Hades was easily one of the best games of 2020, and if you haven’t checked it out yet, now is definitely the time to do so.

Highly Recommended: Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity
In Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, players explore a prequel story to the beloved Breath of the Wild. The combat is fast and fluid, and there are a ton of secrets to unlock.

Highly Recommended: Paper Mario: The Origami King
Paper Mario: The Origami King features a gorgeous papercraft art style, as well as strategic combat that forces you to think several moves ahead. It’s one of the better entries in the series lately.

Best mobile game: Genshin Impact

Genshin Impact demonstrates that the gap between high-quality console games and high-quality mobile games may be smaller than we previously thought. Like a console or PC game, this free-to-play RPG for Android, iOS, PC and PS4 is a huge adventure, with lots of party members to recruit, areas to explore and quests to undertake. It’s particularly impressive on mobile, with colorful 3D graphics, large environments and fast-paced, real-time combat. Fans of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild will particularly like the traversal gameplay, since you can also glide across landscapes as you explore an open world that resembles a watercolor painting.

Highly Recommended: Pascal’s Wager
A dark action/RPG that takes inspiration from console favorites, Pascal’s Wager is a surprisingly deep and robust iOS game.

Highly Recommended: Cozy Grove
Cozy Grove is a laid-back simulation game, in which you camp out on a haunted island — but it’s more relaxing than scary.

Best game design: Final Fantasy VII Remake

Remaking a beloved classic is no easy task, but Square Enix did a fantastic job bringing Final Fantasy VII into the modern day with this from-the-ground-up reimagining. Even more impressive than the obvious graphical leap is how much of the original game’s core design has been preserved. The switch from turn-based fights to real-time combat may be a radical departure, but Final Fantasy VII Remake still includes plenty of elements of the original’s battle system. 

Plus, being able to walk the streets of Midgar is a wonderfully nostalgic experience for any returning player. The city feels lived in and looks absolutely phenomenal, especially in the recent PS5 port. Final Fantasy VII Remake is a roaring success and the wait for the second installment already feels tortuous.

Highly Recommended: Astro’s Playroom
So much more than a throwaway pack-in game, Astro’s Playroom perfectly demonstrates the PS5’s capabilities. Its implementation of the DualSense controller’s features remains first in class even more than six months into the PS5 console’s lifecycle. 

Highly Recommended: Returnal
This tough-as-nails roguelike asks a lot of players, but perseverance is richly rewarded. Returnal might not be the most instantly accessible title, but it offers moments of fist-pumping victory that few games can match. 

Best story: Ghost of Tsushima

Ghost of Tsushima tells the story of Jin Sakai: a 13th-century samurai who vows to fend off a Mongol invasion by any means necessary. As an open-world game, Ghost of Tsushima strikes a delicate balance between nonlinear exploration and linear storytelling. Jin’s struggles to reconcile his two identities — the honorable samurai and the murderous “Ghost” — feel nuanced and believable. His supporting cast comprises three-dimensional characters, too, from the honorable mentor Lord Shimura, to the embittered noblewoman Lady Masako, to the crafty thief Yuna. Even the villainous Khotun Khan reveals unexpected depth as the story unfolds. 

What makes Ghost of Tsushima interesting is that the story is more than just window-dressing for the open-world exploration. Instead, the three acts tie into distinct districts on the island of Tsushima, forcing Jin into darker and darker moral territory as the game continues. It’s a complex and nuanced tale, like the best classic samurai films.

Highly Recommended: The Last of Us Part II
The Last of Us Part II puts Ellie from the previous game front and center, as she embarks on a brutal quest for revenge. The game offers heady moral quandaries without any easy answers.

Highly Recommended: Mass Effect Legendary Edition
Mass Effect Legendary Edition collects the whole Mass Effect trilogy in one package, letting players navigate their way through a quest to save the galaxy any way they see fit.

Best graphics: Ori and the Will of the Wisps

Ori and the Will of the Wisps demonstrates that an inventive art style can trump even the most realistic graphics in the gaming sphere. This charming side-scroller is a sequel to Ori and the Blind Forest, which used a similar colorful, cartoonish art style to weave a dark story about the spirits in an enchanted fantasy world. 

This game looks even better than its predecessor, in part because it can take full advantage of the Xbox Series X’s increased resolution and frame-rate capabilities. From its vibrant blue-green forests, to its frightening brown-purple caves, to its stunning red-gold sunsets, Ori and the Will of the Wisps makes expert use of colors, landscapes and character design to communicate a whole lot without using much dialogue. The gameplay is also excellent, which doesn’t hurt.

Highly Recommended: Star Wars: Squadrons
Star Wars: Squadrons puts you in the cockpits of some beloved snubfighters, including X-Wings and TIE Fighters. It’s all lovingly rendered to look just like the movies set in a galaxy far, far away.

Highly Recommended: MLB The Show 21
MLB: The Show 21 shows off your favorite baseball players and stadiums in lifelike quality, particularly if you can play the game on one of the next-gen consoles. 

Best characters: Yakuza: Like a Dragon

As the seventh installment in the series, Yakuza: Like a Dragon introduces an entirely new character and setting, allowing the player to take control of Tojo Clan member Ichiban "Ichi" Kasuga. Despite the newly introduced focus on JRPG-esque gameplay, this iteration of Yakuza preserves the energetic experience, memorable characters, and a rich storyline riddled with crime genre clichés that you'd expect from one of its predecessors.

Highly Recommended: Resident Evil Village
Resident Evil Village is Capcom’s latest addition to the famous horror franchise. With its memorable boss fights, stunning visuals and versatile gameplay, this game proves to be one of the best horror games to date. 

Highly Recommended: Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is undoubtedly one of the Nintendo Switch’s most successful titles, due in no small part to the way it blends interactive gameplay with adorable characters for a singularly relaxing experience.

Best music/sound: Spider-Man: Miles Morales

The tagline of Spider-Man: Miles Morales is "Be Yourself," and the game — a standalone expansion to 2018's Spider-Man — does a great job of representing who Morales is through the soundtrack. While Morales’ web-slinging antics are still backed by epic orchestral moments, hip-hop-tinged sounds are used elsewhere to better reflect his character and to root him in his home town of Harlem. 

Much of the hard work is done by ambient tracks that blend dramatic brass instruments with optimistic or moody beats while you're swinging around New York City, but there are also some original songs which play over dramatic moments in the story. Some of the latter have even made it onto our personal Spotify playlists, and if that's not an endorsement of how well the soundtrack turned out, then nothing is.

Highly Recommended: Doom Eternal
Doom Eternal hasn't changed the recipe it inherited from Doom (2016); the industrial metal soundtrack remains the perfect accompaniment to your mission to crush the armies of Hell.

Highly Recommended: Persona 5 Royal
The original version of Persona 5 already had a fantastic jazz soundtrack; the Royal expansion simply adds more of it, and that’s just fine by us.

Most rewarding challenge: The Nioh Collection

The Nioh Collection gathers up Nioh and its sequel, Nioh 2, in a lightly remastered package for the PC and PS5. The basic pitch is simple enough: take control of a samurai in a fantasy version of feudal Japan, and fight your way through swaths of human and demonic foes. Where this action/RPG series sets itself apart, though, is in its brutal difficulty. Comparisons to Dark Souls are apt, although the Nioh series is much faster-paced, with a strong focus on swordplay. 

Nioh and Nioh 2 aren’t easy, but they’re also rarely cheap or unfair, giving players plenty of opportunities to improve their skills, learn enemy patterns and pick up powerful new equipment. The balance between carrot and stick is superb, as you’ll always feel just a little outmatched, but never completely hopeless. The Nioh Collection’s improved resolutions and more fluid frame rates won’t make your journey easier, but at least you’ll see some pretty scenery before demons tear you apart.

Highly Recommended: Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout
Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout is multiplayer party game that came out of nowhere to become one of the most popular games of the last year. Other players are devious, and rewards are tough to acquire.

Highly Recommended: Monster Hunter Rise
Monster Hunter Rise, like other games in the series, is a deep and challenging experience, particularly if you stick around for the brutal post-game quests.

Best boss level: Khotun Khan (Ghost of Tsushima)

Khotun Khan is a 13th-century Mongol warlord, intent on launching a full-scale invasion of Japan. Early on in Ghost of Tsushima, Khotun nearly kills protagonist Jin Sakai in a one-sided swordfight, and the Khan’s brutality only increases from there. By the time you finally fight him near the end of the game, there’s a lot at stake, from Jin’s personal honor to the fate of Japan itself. Mechanically speaking, it’s also an intense battle, starting with a one-on-one swordfight and transitioning into an all-out brawl with Khotun and a legion of his followers aboard a fearsome warship. To defeat Khotun, Jin needs to employ every trick at his disposal, from his superior swordsmanship to his arsenal of throwing daggers, smoke bombs and explosives. While Khotun isn’t the hardest fight in the game — or the last — it’s a satisfying resolution for a character with more layers than he initially lets on.

Highly Recommended: Flamelurker (Demon’s Souls)
Flamelurker in Demon’s Souls on PS5 is just as difficult as he was in the PS3 version of the game. His strong defenses and unpredictable movements make him a tricky — and satisfying — boss to defeat.

Highly Recommended: Emperor Nefarious (Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart)
Emperor Nefarious in Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is ruthless and self-assured — everything that the comical, bumbling Dr. Nefarious isn’t. Taking him down requires a difficult, multi-stage fight with plenty of dimension-hopping.

Best gaming laptop: Asus Zephyrus G14

The Asus Zephyrus G14 overshadows a lot of its industry rivals, thanks to its great performance, incredible battery life, and unbeatable portability. This impressive gaming machine is priced at a reasonable $1,449, featuring an AMD Ryzen 9-4900HS CPU, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Max-Q graphics card, 16GB of RAM, and an entire 1TB of SSD storage. And with its 14-inch 1080p display, you’ll be able to play some of the best PC games at a smooth 120Hz. As we said in our review, “it’s the sort of gaming machine that gamers have dreamed of for years.”

Highly Recommended: Alienware m15 R4
Dell’s newly introduced Alienware m15 R4 looks beautiful and will run games wonderfully. However, this powerful piece of hardware also comes with a hefty price tag of $2,150 and up.

Highly Recommended: Razer Blade 15 Advanced
The Razer Blade 15 Advanced pairs a thin, lightweight build with great game performance. However, its premium price and lackluster keyboard will raise more than a few eyebrows.

Best budget gaming laptop: Acer Nitro 5