Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsSmall, fast, quiet, and a great pre-built gaming rig
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 15, 2018
*Updated review: I've had this for just under a year and it's still awesome. Been playing Destiny 2 on highest settings with no trouble. Only issues are with older games that I think have problems saving data due to the way the hard drives are set up -- FFXIV wouldn't launch because the launcher couldn't update, and Dragon Age Origins wouldn't save games. Fixed the FFXIV problem by setting the "My Documents" folder on the C: drive (the ssd) to writable -- no idea why it wasn't already. Haven't gone back to try the Dragon Age again yet. But that isn't a problem with the computer, just a really maddening weirdness with some of the older games.
This is for the i7-7700 with 32GB DDR4 and the GTX 1080.
The short version: I've only had it a day, but it's small, easy to set up, quiet, and fast. I'm running WoW Legion on 8 during peak hours in Dalaran and getting 152 FPS. Ran it on Ultra this morning at between 100 and 120 or so; going to try it in Dalaran, then maybe Alterac Valley, which I previously had to run on the lowest graphics setting in order to be able to move at all during any fight. Then I'm going to test it with capture software and see how it goes, then try running it with my graphics program and Wacom tablet, but I'm very optimistic. So far I'm 100% pleased with this computer.
TL;DR:
I did a lot of research before picking this one. All the reviews I've found for it are terrific, it turns up in numerous "best gaming computers of 2018" lists, and after looking at different options and trying several times to navigate builds at sites that let you customize everything from the case, to the card, to the cooling, to things I've never even heard of, I finally decided to give Corsair a shot (I do love their keyboards). The biggest down-side according to the reviews I read is that it doesn't have a lot of room for upgrades later, but I kind of feel like if you're someone who likes being able to upgrade, you're probably able to navigate those custom sites pretty well and aren't looking for a pre-built solution anyway. The Corsair website does have instructions for upgrading the boot drive, HDD, and memory, though not the video card or any cooling or whatnot.
I had to Google how to unbox it, but yay YouTube, clearly I'm not the only one confused by those little divots, which you squeeze the tabs together and pop them out of the box -- the whole little section pops out. After that, the top just lifts off. Do note that even though it's a small form factor, it's just as heavy as a bigger machine, so be careful not to let it topple when you lift it out of the packing.
I had to run out to get an HDMI cable before I could set it up, because I forgot I was using a VGA cable and this doesn't have the 15-pin VGA connector I'm used to. If you don't have a spare HDMI cable and easy access to a store that carries 'em, well, just be aware.
It has a super small footprint and is very easy to set up once you get it unboxed. The front doesn't have .35mm headphone/mic jacks, which is unfortunate, and the jacks on the back of the machine don't have the obvious "here's your mic jack, here's your headset jack" labels I'm used to, but I expect I'll get it figured out. Worse comes to worst, I'll switch back to my USB headset. It'd be nice if there were some explanation of what the rear ports are, but maybe the target audience already knows, and it is one less piece of paper to keep track of.
It took several hours for the Windows 10 updates to complete even over the Ethernet connection, but installing Battle.net and WoW went very quickly. I don't see a ton of bloatware, but there are set-up files for several game clients including Battle.net, Origin, and Steam, in a folder called Game Launchers. They aren't pre-installed, just there and ready, so if you don't use one, just don't install it. It boots super fast off that SSD, and that's the main drive so I don't have to muck about with changing where something installs. Need to check where files save to by default, but that's generally easy to tweak, and the 2TB HD should give me plenty of storage space even when I'm making guild promo vids or messing around with Manga Studio 5 and my Cintique.
Now, this listing is "sold by/ships from Amazon", and since I can't actually get Amazon to let me leave *them* review on this order, I will say that if timing is an issue, be wary. I paid extra to have it delivered on a day I could be home to sign for it, but it hadn't even left their fulfillment center for the carrier until about 3 hours before it was supposed to arrive at my house. Wound up two days late and caused me a huge headache around making sure someone could be there to sign for it. They can't meet the expectations they've caused the marketplace to expect; poor form, Amazon.
But that's Amazon. This Corsair gaming computer so far is awesome, and now that I finally have my grubby little mitts on it I couldn't be happier.
