For most of us, a standard black case with some quiet cooling and a powerful graphics card is all we really need to get by for our day-to-day gaming, but for those with more of a visual flair, there is a lot that can be done. Case modders have been showing us the way for the better part of two decades with stunning creations, and now pre-built system makers are really starting to catch up.
Take the ‘case’ of Maingear’s new Rush line of PCs, which takes the age old gamer-centric hard lines and subdued coloring and turns them into something more akin to a work of art. Built inside an Inwin 909 chassis made with tempered glass side panels, this isn’t necessarily the type of case you’ll feel too comfortable carrying to your local LAN party, but it is beautiful.
Not only does it reveal the inner workings of your PC, but it shows off the PSU — which is often overshadowed in other windowed chassis. Power buttons and I/O ports are side-mounted too, giving the front a very clean look that’s augmented by the use of auto-quality paint.
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As pretty as the Rush is externally though, it can also be quite impressive on the inside too. All versions of the system come packing Intel Skylake hardware, with the entry level $2,000 iteration packing an Intel Core i5 6600K running at 3.5GHz, 8GB of HyperX Fury DDR4 running at 2,666MHz in dual channel mode and a Nvidia GTX 750 1GB.
Of course if budget is no option, then you can take things to an extreme level. You can go up to an Intel i7 5960X running at 3.0GHz, with Maingear tested overclocking; an EK Supremacy, BiTurbo Dual Laing, dual reservoir, 240mm + 360mm solderless radiator cooling system; 64GB of HyperX Predator DDR4 memory running at 2,800MHz; quad Titan X or Fury X GPUs with bespoke liquid cooling solutions and you can even throw in a 31.5 inch ASUS PQ321Q 4K LED display if you like.
You will need around $15,000 to spare (and that is before the custom paint jobs and lighting set ups) but if your pockets are bottomless there are a lot less attractive systems you could spend your money on.
It is worth pointing out, however, that this system makes you eligible for a lot of free game promotions, so while you may end up emptying your wallet for a Maingear Rush, if you include an Nvidia GPU that is at least a GTX 970 and an Intel CPU, you can net yourself a free copy of Just Cause 3, Rainbow Six Siege (or Assassin’s Creed Syndicate) and a Heroes of the Storm Kaijo Diablo bundle.