ASUS ROG Strix GL12CX COD Edition Review

The ROG Strix GL12CX is one of the few gaming PCs currently on the market to combine the dynamism of the RTX 2080 and the Intel i9-9900K, both of which we know a lot about individually. The peculiarity of this power couple lies in the fact that the processor is overclocked in the factory up to 4.9 GHz octa-core, and that everything is assembled in an all-in-one system cooled by liquid that is so quiet that you will forget that it's all. sure. The hardware package alone seems to be a good investment if you are the type of person who needs all the latest technology, but do not commit to spending your holiday bonus for now. Let's talk about the details.

Off, the solid black chassis captures the silent ninja look that Asus was looking for. Sharp edges and bold angles stare at you aggressively, challenging you to duel. Lit, small bands shine in color between cracks, like a diamond emerging from a block of coal in the light of day: the effect is beautifully subtle. The compact design is the same as the original GL12CM.

This special edition of Black Ops 4 also comes with a clear side panel for those who prefer a more intense rough diamond aesthetic and a clear view of all the material. Aura Sync lighting adds a specific color pattern to your keyboard as soon as you start Black Ops 4. It emits a slow heartbeat on a muted orange with specific drum beats in the opening music and then changes the color of specific keys for movement, inventory, etc. and other essential key combinations once you're in the game. It's a nice feature, but ultimately it does not matter once I play the game because I wanted to stay alive, as well as my teammates.

The magnetized front panel is one of the most winning features. It provides easy access to the optical drive and hot swappable SSD, but the panel does not attach to the case in any other way, such as with a hinge or something similar. The whole disappears, which is not a big deal. It just means you have to put it aside, but if you like organized chaos on your desk, you risk losing it under piles of paper or other clutter.

But all this is extra. How it works? As you can imagine, great. At the highest possible 1080p resolution and graphics settings, the RTX 2080 supports some of the most demanding games. Whether I'm struggling to survive the onslaught of zombies, or wandering through a large, lively crowd at a Día de Muertos festival in Mexico, my screen has never stuttered, nor has it suffered diving. The landmarks in play showed that Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Total War: Warhammer II were both between 90 and 100 fps. Tom Clancy: Ghost Recon: Wildlands came in at an average of 65 fps, much lower but still in an ideal range. However, he pushed the GPU to its limits because its storage capacity ranged from 92% to 97%, which brings me to some of the other tests I've done in 3D Mark.

Unfortunately, I do not have a 1440p monitor or a 4K monitor to run our game performance tests at higher resolutions, but I tested the GPU in Fire Strike Extreme and Ultra, the 1440p variants and 4K 3D Mark Game Test. In these tests, the RTX 2080 obtained 11683 for Extreme (1440p) and 6159 Ultra (4K) respectively, which is about the line, perhaps slightly lower, than expected for the new Nvidia graphics processor.

A minor but important problem I encountered: I could not run Shadow of the Tomb Raider with DirectX 12, even after checking all the usual things, such as updated drivers. This could be isolated from the computer I used, or maybe it 's something a little more prevalent, but it' s an easy solution – simply uncheck the corresponding box in the game settings. Since the RTX 2080 is designed to support DirectX 12, it should be noted that there are some issues to be solved.

The i9-9900K provides excellent support for the RTX 2080. Based on Cinebench's single-core benchmarks, this processor averages 212 cb (it should be noted that it is overclocked), which is higher than higher processor. on their list. However, the multicore test only brought the i9-9900K to an average of 2090 cb, which is lower than the i9-7900X. Obviously, take this with a grain of salt; 3D Mark's benchmarks for Ghost Recon: Wildlands's set CPU usage at around 20% and 52% for high-end, allowing the i9-9900K to handle many more games. Armory Crate lets you control CPU and GPU performance, among other things.

Still interested? The GL12CX has an MSRP of $ 3,799. If you examine the current retail price of each material part individually, the price of the i9-9900K is as follows: $ 579.99and the RTX 2080 is $ 849.99which is half of the total cost of this desktop PC. An SSD will cost you between $ 100 and $ 200, 32 GB DDR4 (2×16) RAM of $ 250 to $ 400, a new motherboard between $ 250 and $ 350, a liquid cooler between $ 100 and $ 200, a center box around $ 100. USD and a power block of about 100 USD. . If you add up these numbers, you can save about $ 500 to $ 1,000 by building an equivalent system yourself, but not counting the cost of the predefined benefits such as the guarantee, the labor and, in this case, case, the special extras of the Call of Duty edition.

Speaking of, the special edition CoD does not offer much, except for a free copy of the game (the standard edition, nothing less) and a bunch of stickers that you can apply at your leisure. It is also doubtful whether a keyboard and a mouse are included in this special edition GL12CX. The Asus store lists these devices as add-ons, but other retailers like Newegg say that a version of this desktop comes with a keyboard and a mouse, while Amazon indicates that they are sold separately. The devices also do not have a special CoD feature, but if you need a new mouse and a new keyboard, it's an interesting addition. In any case, it is difficult to say with what this version will be delivered given the fact that the Asus website has not yet listed it for pre-order.

If you do not like the idea of ​​building your own platform, but you do not like the price of the GL12CX, there is a cheaper version with a factory overclocking i7 -9700K, RTX 2080 and 16GB of RAM for $ 2,599.99. The material of the GL12CX is, without question, nice, but too expensive, like most pre-assembled, especially if the extras of CoD do not interest you. If you are looking for a silent and powerful pre-built, it might be worth considering the right time: do not just make stickers and free play your deciding factor.