You Can’t Get Extra Customized Than This

The good thing about a prebuilt system is that Maingear is aware of the components work collectively and that they match inside its jazzed-up case with a customized AiO CPU cooler. It seems good, particularly the liquid cooling equipment and infinity mirror. If you open it up, you’ll discover two RGB LED strips operating alongside the underside compartment and the facet close to the entrance followers. You don’t discover it until you’re staring down on the glass facet panel from above. If the PC sits in your desk, you don’t should care. If it’s close to your ft, these LED strips look too DIY for the added value of a pre-built PC.

My model of the MG-1 got here with 2 TB of SSD storage, an Intel Core i9-14900K, 32 GB of RAM, and a Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 Tremendous. It can value underneath $3,400 if you choose all of the components from Maingear’s web site. That may be a hefty value, however it’s not out of line, contemplating the RTX 4080 Tremendous is round $1,000. The Intel Core i9 would possibly are available in rather less than $500. It’s the price of comfort, however there are further advantages to purchasing a PC with customized components. The professionals at Maingear have such strong cable administration it places any of my previous makes an attempt to disgrace.

The fashionable model of the MG-1 Legendary with none customization begins at $2,700, lower than the value of the Alienware Aurora R16 with comparative specs and efficiency. It’s a extra upgradable PC with two spare RAM slots and a few spare PCI-e slots.

The corporate additionally provides new variations of its lineup containing AMD’s newest Ryzen 7 and 9 CPUs. When making a purchase order, you’re cementing your allegiance to the AMD or Intel ecosystem, however on condition that techniques just like the MG-1 Legendary begin at $2,800 with what’s ostensibly a strong chip, it’s value critical consideration in comparison with the Intel selection.

Maingear MG-1 Evaluate: Construct High quality

Maingear made some extent of telling me they needed to supply as a lot as a standardized Home windows 11 expertise with their PC. It’s packing fairly just a few components from MSI, and should you’re not cautious, chances are you’ll unintentionally reinstall all of the lacking bloatware you supposed to maintain off your PC. In case you’re like me, and also you take a look at lots of merchandise without delay, reminiscent of Razer’s big glowy mousepad, Blackwidow keyboard, and extra, it’s not lengthy earlier than your PC is full to the gills of apps that need to launch on startup.

As I discussed earlier than, I get pleasure from all of the RGB flooding the cavity of the MG-1, save for the only LED mild strip operating alongside the underside. It might look a lot cleaner to diffuse the sunshine with a single piece of opaque plastic. In any other case, my favourite added doohickey is the CPU liquid cooler unit with the slick infinity mirror impact. It clicks with MSI’s motherboard to supply a clean-looking inside that doesn’t attempt to faux it’s not a PC. 

The facet panel is held collectively by 4 thumb screws that take a bit of longer to take away than I’m used to with most customized instances. The facet panel then slides again and out, revealing these annoying LED strips and the customized mounting bracket for the GPU. The mount is made out of 3D-printed plastic, however that 4080 Tremendous is mounted so securely it doesn’t even wiggle after tugging at it. The draw back is you would want to take away the entrance panel fully to entry the screws protecting the graphics card in place.

Regardless of that, the PC is nicely put collectively. I eliminated the backplate and located excellent cable administration that stored each wire safe whereas delineating the place every goes. And it’s important to give Maingear props for its customizable entrance plate. It locks in with a number of magnets and stays safe regardless of unintentional knocks or shudders. 

This beast is quiet, for probably the most half. The fan techniques don’t are inclined to buzz with helicopter power, even when underneath stress. At most, it’s a low growl that solely made my coworkers working on the desks round me look up with curiosity somewhat than annoyance. 

Maingear MG-1 Evaluate: Efficiency

The Legendary is a system made for high-performance gaming. I didn’t should let you know that, did I? Take a look at the specs; you’ll be able to already inform this method manages simply effective, going as much as 4K native with out upscaling with the very best attainable settings on a number of demanding video games. No, it gained’t grant you the very fringe of what’s attainable on a PC and not using a RTX 4090, however it ought to be greater than sufficient.

I performed and benchmarked a number of video games at 4K decision. The Intel Core i9-1400K is a hefty CPU, although it nonetheless will not be as top-tier as the most recent AMD Ryzen 7 7800x3D that you just get in the latest model of the MG-1 Legendary. The 4080 Tremendous and the CPU collectively are sufficient that can assist you hit 60 FPS or extra at 4K or ultrawide (3440 by 1400) resolutions. 

That doesn’t imply there gained’t be compromises. With a ray tracing set to extremely, I can hit 50 FPS on Cyberpunk 2077 benchmarks at sub-4K with none upscaling or body technology, however once I added the DLSS high quality set to computerized, I used to be pushing previous 100 FPS. At 4K decision, you’ll want the additional enhance from DLSS to succeed in 60 with all of the ray tracing trimmings and settings at excessive or extremely. 

It’s an analogous state of affairs in different video games I examined. Horizon: Forbidden West ran easily as butter, and Black Fantasy Wukong was no match, even once I turned off the upscaling. A recreation like Warhammer 40K: Area Marine 2 wants the additional upscaling assist at 4K with all of the settings set to their max, however even once I relied on the native, it wasn’t dipping under 49 FPS even because the Tyrranids had been swarming throughout.

The CPU in my evaluate unit is not what you get with the MG-1 Legendary until you construct it your self. Nonetheless, the Intel Core i9-14900K is a strong processor for a machine of this kind. It nonetheless beats the Intel Core i9-14900KF in single-core and multi-core CPU benchmarks with Geekbench and Cinebench. The 14th-gen Intel CPUs are under intense scrutiny for his or her current instability points, so it’s honest sufficient to need to keep away till Intel lastly confirms every little thing is ship form.

Maingear MG-1 Evaluate: Verdict

If you look straight on, the MG-1 is a smooth, efficient PC that leaves sufficient room for future customization. You could need to seize some piece of translucent quarter pipe to make the LED strips vibe extra with your complete design, however that’s a niggling problem for such a strong construct. 

There’s not a lot spare area, and the scale would possibly constrain you should you ever need greater than two SSDs on the motherboard. I’d even be cautious of future Nvidia RTX 50-series releases, as we nonetheless don’t understand how large they could get. On the very least, the motherboard helps gen-5 PCI-e slots for future, doubtlessly monstrous GPUs.

However at this level, there’s not a single recreation you’ll be able to’t play on the MG-1 Legendary’s specs. It’s a strong machine that gained’t want a lot upgrades for years on, save for the usual TLC a PC deserves. The customizable entrance panel provides simply the correct amount of aptitude. The MG-1 could seem humble, however that’s solely as a result of it is aware of it doesn’t have to compete.