MSI aegis x. MSI Aegis RS 12 review: Cheaper than building your own

MSI Aegis RS 12 review: Cheaper than building your own

Given the of graphics cards right now, you have to buy a prebuilt desktop to get into PC gaming at a reasonable price. You’ll usually spend a little more than hunting down the parts on your own, but much less than in the past. And MSI’s Aegis RS 12 makes an even more a compelling argument to go prebuilt, with a price lower than the cost of parting out the machine yourself.

It’s among the best gaming desktops, with a design that allows you to upgrade down the line and a price that’s too good to ignore — it can be had for as low as 2,000. Unlike similar PCs you find from Asus and HP, MSI didn’t skimp on the extras, either. Things like a fully modular power supply and DDR5 memory are standard.

For the price, it’s tough to beat the MSI Aegis RS 12. However, a few small oversights in the build and some small issues with the case illustrate what spending extra can get you.

Design

In terms of looks, the Aegis RS 12 is a showstopper. There’s nothing too special about the machine when it’s powered off, but the first drip of RGB shows you why MSI is known for superb lighting. The machine looks great when it’s all lit up, and there’s even a dedicated LED button to change up the lighting if you can’t bother with software.

The lighting is so pronounced because MSI includes a lot of fans in the Aegis RS 12 — six in total, split across the front, top, and back. This is overkill for fans, and they were a bit loud during testing. But they look great. They’re MSI’s own fans that come with frosted blades, allowing the RGB to evenly shine through.

Enough with the unicorn vomit, though. The case itself isn’t too impressive, matching a similar size and form factor as any mid-tower ATX case you could find. The only addition is an angular front panel with an MSI badge in the center, and it goes beyond looks.

In a tempered glass mid-tower like the NZXT H510i, airflow is a problem. That’s not the case with the Aegis RS 12. The unique front panel is almost entirely open, allowing air to spill into the case. MSI even includes a dust filter upfront, so cleaning is easy down the line.

I prefer a stubbier case design like the one on the Origin Neuron, but the Aegis RS 12 is still great. It’s a basic mid-tower with some much-needed improvements, and when it comes to lighting, there’s nothing better.

Specs and internals

The MSI Aegis RS 12 uses all standard components. In fact, short of the memory and case, you could build an exact match yourself. MSI makes everything from graphics cards to power supplies, and the Aegis RS is packed with first-party hardware.

I don’t have an exact price, but a similar configuration to my review unit (see above chart) should cost around 2,200 based on MSI’s current offerings. This is one of the cheaper options available. You can jump down to an RTX 3060 Ti to save about 200, but you should expect to pay at least 2,000. At the top end, you can spend as much as 4,600 for a Core i9-12900K and an RTX 3090.

The price is great. I configured an Origin Neuron and Maingear Vybe with identical specs, and they came out around 3,000. I also put together a custom build using the exact same hardware MSI is offering — minus the case and RAM — and it came out 300 more expensive. Even the HP Omen 45L is about 300 more expensive, and that machine doesn’t come with DDR5.

For the price, the specs are great, and MSI has several configurations available. The Aegis RS 12 comes with six RGB case fans, too, which can cost quite a bit on their own.

As mentioned, six fans is overkill, and the fans caused a couple of problems during testing. For starters, they’re loud. Even at idle, the Aegis RS 12 emits a subtle hum from the fans. The upside is that the machine doesn’t get nearly as loud under load. Pick your poison.

The bigger issue is the front dust filter. It’s plastic, and it sits on top of the three intake fans. There’s a small gap between the filter and the fans, and it created a subtle buzz that would cycle in and out as the machine was running. It was horrendously annoying, so much so that I folded up a piece of paper and stuffed it in between to keep the dust filter from moving.

Inside the PC, there’s a mix of good and bad. The case is remarkably clean in the main chamber, with only a few minor cable runs breaking up the flow. That’s because there’s a mess around back. The cables are all tied down with the built-in velcro ties, but they’re all haphazardly pushed together.

It’s not the worst — read our Asus ROG GA35DX review for that — but you’d have to undo the whole arrangement to get at a single cable. That includes simply adding a hard drive, which shouldn’t require doing cable management all over again.

The case is mostly the same as last-gen’s model, though with a slight update to the front panel. It’s a mid-tower that MSI packs with four 120mm fans (three in the front, one in the back) and a 240mm AIO liquid cooler. You can swap in 140mm fans in the front or top, which is a luxury that few prebuilts afford.

There’s only one minor issue with the case — it doesn’t include captive thumbscrews. MSI went back to redesign the front of the chassis, and I would have liked to see captive thumbscrews to make the upgrade experience easier. Better access to cables would have helped, too. There aren’t extra SATA cables pulled out for the hard drive bay, for example.

Still, those issues are minor. MSI includes all of the extra cables for the modular power supply in the box, and the machine comes with a GPU support bracket, so you can slap in a beefy graphics card down the line without worrying about sag. There are also spots for two 2.5-inch and two 3.5-inch drives, so storage shouldn’t be a problem.

Connectivity

I couldn’t ask for more ports on the Aegis RS 12. It’s sublime. On the front, you have dual USB 3.0 and a single USB-C connection, and around back, there’s a bevy of additional USB ports — six USB 3.2 Gen 1, four USB 2.0, a single USB 3.2 Gen 2, and a USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 through a USB-C connection.

Basically, you have everything you need plus a little extra. I love having a USB-C connection on the front panel for external SSDs like the Samsung T5, and the ample selection on the back leaves plenty of room for peripherals.

The MSI Z690 Pro motherboard is great otherwise, too. This is the Wi-Fi model, so it supports Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2, but I prefer the Ethernet jack. This motherboard comes with a 2.5 Gigabit port, allowing you to get speeds above the standard Gigabit connection if you have fast enough internet.

Processor performance

My configuration of the Aegis RS 12 came with a Core i7-12700KF, which is just a step below Intel’s flagship Core i9-12900K. This isn’t a flagship processor, but it offers flagship performance. It destroys the Core i9-10900K in the Aegis RS 10 and goes toe-to-toe with the Ryzen 9 5900X inside the Asus ROG GA35DX.

Geekbench and Cinebench tell the same story from different perspectives. The single-core strength of Intel’s 12th-gen chips shines through, beating out both the Core i9-10900K and Ryzen 9 5900X. What’s shocking is how much the Core i7-12700KF can do compared to the Ryzen 9 5900X.

Both of these chips come with 12 cores, but only eight of those cores are performance-focused on the Core i7-12700KF. Still, it managed to outshine the 12-core Ryzen 9 5900X in Geekbench and get remarkably close in Cinebench. The flagship Core i9-12900K is about 15% faster, but the Core i7-12700KF is still an excellent productivity and content creation processor.

This midrange Aegis RS 12 configuration is excellent.

Blender and PugetBench are a little more even, though both benchmarks factor in the beefier GPUs inside the MSI Aegis RS 10 and Asus ROG GA35DX (an RTX 3080 and RTX 3090, respectively). The RTX 3070 inside my Aegis RS 12 configuration isn’t as powerful, but it’s still close.

If you’re solely a creative worker, a higher-end configuration is better. For the hobbyist who wants to game and stream, edit video for YouTube, or dip into 3D modeling, this midrange Aegis RS 12 configuration is excellent.

Gaming performance

The Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 is a sweet-spot graphics card, and the Aegis RS 12 shows why. Although all GPUs are expensive right now (thanks a lot, GPU shortage), the RTX 3070 still hits a great value mark. It’s more than enough for 1440p, with just enough juice to make 4K possible, especially with upscaling in the mix.

I tested from 1080p to 4K, but the results below are for 1440p with the highest graphics preset. The other machines, the HP Omen 30L and my custom PC with RX 6700 XT, were both rocking a Core i9-10900K.

Stacked up against the slightly more powerful RTX 3070 Ti in the HP Omen 30L, the MSI Aegis RS 12 holds its own. It was faster in Fire Strike and within a few points in Time Spy, and it destroyed in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. This is the newer Core i7-12700KF at work, which can boost your frame rate in open-world games like Valhalla.

The Ti model is still more powerful, offering extra performance in Fortnite. Compared to AMD’s competing RX 6700 XT, the RTX 3070 looks like a monster. Across the board, the RTX 3070 wipes the floor with rivals. The only game where the RX 6700 XT got close was Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, which tends to favor AMD hardware.

You can go for a higher configuration, but you don’t need to.

For ray tracing, I took the Aegis RS 12 out in Control. Like we’ve seen time and again, Nvidia’s most recent cards are better equipped to handle ray tracing than AMD’s. In a title like Control, that’s especially true thanks to Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS). Turning on the upscaling mode brought the 43 frames-per-second (fps) average up to 84 fps, and that was with the Balanced preset.

Your performance with the Aegis RS 12 will depend on the hardware that’s inside, but I like this configuration a lot. The RTX 3070 is a great graphics card, and the Core i7-12700KF can outclass flagships from previous generations. You can go higher, but you don’t need to, especially if you’re playing at 1440p.

Software

The Aegis RS 12 is light on bloatware, but it’s still present. In addition to a few Microsoft apps, the Aegis RS comes with MSI Center and Norton Security. I like Norton more than McAfee, but I’m still not a fan of having an ad on a PC that costs several thousand dollars.

Norton is a fine antivirus, but having it approve my downloads and constantly insist that I pay for a subscription was annoying at best. It was easy enough to remove, though, unlike McAfee, and Norton hasn’t been caught up in a scandal of selling personal data like Avast/AVG.

MSI Center is a treat. By default, it allows you to monitor system vitals, access support, tweak the lighting, and update your drivers with a single click. What I like most about MSI Center is that it’s modular. You can download other modules if you want them, building out the center for exactly what you need.

MSI Center is the cream of the crop.

This is a great solution, solving the problems of the bloated Omen Hub on HP machines and the bare-bones MyAsus app on Asus machines. There’s an automatic game optimizer like you find in Razer Cortex, a network analyzer, and even an A.I. image sorting module — and they’re all optional.

MSI Center is the cream of the crop when it comes to all-in-one apps like it. Now if only MSI could add an Afterburner module.

Our take

The MSI Aegis RS 12 is a gaming desktop that doesn’t compromise, and it still manages to hit a price below the competition. It doesn’t restrict you to DDR4 like the HP Omen 45L, nor does it use no-name parts from unknown vendors. MSI even went with a fully modular power supply and a motherboard that supports Wi-Fi, and a lot of vendors don’t.

If I was configuring a PC with the same CPU and GPU, this is exactly how I’d do it.

There are some problems, particularly with the build quality. The spare twist tie sent me into a frenzy, and the cable management in the back was a hassle to get undone. The case isn’t great, either, though I would rather MSI sacrifice here than with the components.

A little more attention to detail would go a long way, but the MSI Aegis RS 12 is still in the top tier of prebuilt gaming PCs.

Are there any alternatives?

Yes. You can configure a nearly identical machine from a wide range of vendors, though most are more expensive:

• ~2,500 HP Omen 30L — The closest competitor to the Aegis RS 12, but lacks DDR5 support. Includes a much nicer toolless case, though.
• ~3,000 Origin Neuron — Free of bloatware and packed with extras for gamers, though comes at a hefty premium.
• ~2,200 Asus ROG GA35DX — A similarly priced AMD alternative with a Ryzen 7 5800X, but the build quality is worse and the case isn’t as flexible with upgrades.

How long will it last?

This configuration should last the next five to seven years without issues, especially with Nvidia’s DLSS upscaling tech available. The Aegis RS 12 uses standard components, so you can continue upgrading it until it’s the Ship of Theseus.

Should you buy it?

Yes. In this rare case, MSI is offering a prebuilt PC that’s cheaper than building it yourself — and that’s with identical hardware.

Editors’ Recommendations

Jacob Roach is a writer covering computing and gaming at Digital Trends. After realizing Crysis wouldn’t run on a laptop, he…

The RTX 4090 is the best graphics card you can buy right now.- just read our RTX 4090 review. And unfortunately, that means it’s very popular. Across retailers, most (if not all at this point) RTX 4090 models are sold out.

But there’s still a way to buy the RTX 4090.

Nvidia made the RTX 4090 official at its special GeForce Beyond event today, following months of rumors and leaks that detailed everything about this card. It looks like the fastest graphics card ever made, and according to Nvidia, it is. But as we knew from extensive watercooler talk, it comes at the cost of 450W of power.

Although the RTX 4090 leads the lineup, Nvidia announced three new graphics cards. The RTX 4090 launches on October 12, and the RTX 4080 will arrive in November. All of them come with the new Ada Lovelace architecture, as well as a significant boost to cores, clock speeds, and power compared to the previous generation.

While building a PC is fairly straightforward, there are numerous ways to make mistakes without proper planning and preparation for a new build. We rounded up everything you need to build a gaming PC so you can get past compatibility issues and choose hardware that works for your build. Hardware that makes sense The first step in building a PC is selecting hardware that makes sense for both your budget and your interests. Even if you have an unlimited budget, it’s not always the best idea to simply grab the most expensive parts. Here’s an overview of what you need:

A case A graphics card, or GPU A processor, or CPU RAM Storage A power supply A CPU cooler

Upgrade your lifestyleDigital Trends helps readers keep tabs on the fast-paced world of tech with all the latest news, fun product reviews, insightful editorials, and one-of-a-kind sneak peeks.

MSI’s Aegis RS11th desktop is an aggressively priced gaming workhorse

Tom’s Guide Verdict

The MSI Aegis RS11th couples strong performance with a chassis that’ll fit your needs as they grow, at a price that’s fair — if it’s in your budget.

Pros

• Powerful hardware for gaming
• Quiet performance
• Spacious, tinkering-friendly case

Cons

Why you can trust Tom’s Guide

Our writers and editors spend hours analyzing and reviewing products, services, and apps to help find what’s best for you. Find out more about how we test, analyze, and rate.

Price: 2,599 Processor: Intel Core i7-11700K RAM: 16GB Graphics Card: MSI Geforce RTX 3080 Ventus 3X 10G OC Storage: 2TB Seagate Barracuda HDD, 1TB XPG Gammix S70 M.2 SSD Accessories: MSI Vigor GK30 keyboard, MSI Clutch GM08 mouse Ports: USB-C, USB-A, 3.5mm audio, Ethernet, DispalyPort, HDMI Size: 16.93 x 8.46 x 17.72 inches Weight: 29.98 pounds

I’ve always taken the DIY approach with gaming PCs, but MSI’s Aegis RS 11TE-089US (2,599) makes a compelling argument for letting someone else do the work.

It’s an understated, aggressively priced workhorse, packing performant hardware (including the nigh-mythical Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080) into a quiet, upgrade-friendly chassis.

No, it’s not cheap. But prospective buyers who don’t want to build their own rig will find a capable machine, with room for upgrades that’ll keep their investment relevant for years to come, making this one of the best gaming PCs currently on the market.

MSI Aegis 11th review: Price and availability

The 2,599 Aegis RS 11TE-089US is, unsurprisingly enough, an MSI showcase. The liquid-cooled Intel Core i7-11700K processor is paired with an MSI GeForce RTX 3080 Ventus 3X 10G OC graphics card on the MSI Z590 Wi-Fi motherboard. They’re powered by an MSI MPG A750 power supply, and built inside an MSI MPG Gungnir 110R chassis. An MSI Clutch GM08 mouse and MSI Vigor GK30 keyboard complete the set.

You’ll also find a 1TB M.2 solid state drive that hosts Windows and other programs, and a 2TB 7,200rpm hard drive for storage. The PC we reviewed is just shy of the highest tier in the Aegis RS 11th series lineup; differences largely boil down to processor and motherboard selection, with less expensive models downgrading the graphics card and storage options.

MSI Aegis 11th review: Design

This is a fairly mundane-looking machine, particularly compared to PCs like Alienware’s Aurora R10 Ryzen Edition. The case’s peaked front face breaks up the traditional boxy monotony, and a transparent panel on the side lends a clear view of the brightly-lit internals.

Color options on the RGB fans and closed-loop liquid cooler are limited, but you can cycle through the presets by pressing the “LED” button on the top face. If you opt for Wi-Fi the antennas can get in the way of cables, but it’s easy enough to make everything fit.

The case measures 16.93 x 8.46 x 17.72 inches, and weighs just under 30 pounds — larger than PCs like Dell’s XPS 8940, but smaller than the aforementioned Aurora R10, or Corsair’s Vengeance i7200. All told, it’s a simple design that would look nice on top of your desk, especially if a splash of color speaks to you.

MSI Aegis 11th review: Ports and upgradability

The machine offers 2.5G Ethernet and Wi-Fi 6 (also known as 802.11ax); if your home network can deliver greater than gigabit speeds, then these are neat nice-to-haves. Also included are Bluetooth 5.1, a pair of USB-C ports (one on the top, one on the rear), four USB 2 ports on the rear, and five USB 3 ports (two USB 3.2 Gen 1 on top, one USB 3.2 Gen 2 and two USB 3.2 Gen 1 on the rear).

The graphics card has three DisplayPort outputs and an HDMI port, complementing the HDMI and DisplayPort from the motherboard. The 16GB of RAM arrives in the form of two 8GB sticks, leaving two free slots for upgrades when you’re ready.

Awful as I am at cable management, I’m partial to a case that gives me lots of room to work with. MSI’s Gungnir does well here. Rubber grommets keep all of the cabling routed out of the main cabin and into the opposite side of the case. It looks a bit untidy back there, but there’s enough room to effortlessly seal the case back up. The case prioritizes airflow from the trio of fans on the front face out through the rear, so there isn’t all that much space left over for additional storage.

There’s a drive bay for a pair of 3.5mm hard drives adjacent to the power supply, on the far side of the case. There are also two SSD mounting brackets: one mounted vertically on the far side of the case, and one in the cabin, sitting on the power supply cage. Their placement feels a little odd to me, but the grommets should keep cable management under wraps.

MSI Aegis 11th review: Gaming performance

The Aegis RS 11TE-089US handles 4K gaming comfortably, if not quite reaching the 60 frames per second threshold in all the games we tested. Its averages in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla (52 fps), Grand Theft Auto V (54 fps), and Shadow of the Tomb Raider (57 fps) aren’t far off the mark, however. The lowest result of 50 fps in Red Dead Redemption 2 is admirable, given that game’s tendency to crush lesser machines.

Anecdotally, the PC churned through my testing with aplomb. I tried out titles like Control, Battlefield V, and Cyberpunk 2077 with nary a hitch at maximum settings on my 1440p display. The machine remained appreciably quiet throughout: I could hear the graphics card purr during especially active gaming sessions, but the fans were never distracting.

MSI Aegis 11th review: Overall performance

The PC averages a GeekBench 5.3 multicore score of 10,102, just shy of the Corsair Vengeance i7200’s 11,047. It completed our Handbrake video encoding test in 5 minutes and 19 seconds, again bested by the Corsair (5:13), and scored 635.3MBps in our 25GB file copy test (versus the Corsair’s 824.4MBps). The Corsair offers twice as much RAM (32GB, vs 16GB), and its Intel Core i9-10850K processor offers more physical cores and threads for multi-core workloads. Adding a bit more RAM will step up performance, but these differences aren’t a dealbreaker for real world use cases.

MSI Aegis 11th review: Software

Bloatware is limited. Norton Security comes pre-installed, aggressively shadowing your steps across the internet with nagging security prompts while regularly nudging you to subscribe. The MSI Center, a grab bag of customization, monitoring, and quality of life tools, is a bit more useful. Enthusiasts can use the Monitor tool to check temperatures, and tweak voltages, clock, fan, and pump speeds, without diving into the BIOS. The interface is a little spartan for a process that could easily turn your gaming rig into a paperweight, but if you know exactly what you’re doing, it’s likely fine for some quick monitoring.

Of dubious note is Mystic Light, which lets you tweak the hardware’s color schemes on the fly. It includes voice commands that let you say Hey Lucky, followed by a phrase (e.g., Mystic Light Rainbow or Mystic Light Steady) to automatically swap to a different LED style. I lack that creative je ne sais quoi required to make the most of RGB lighting, but I cannot fathom a situation where using my voice to change my keyboard’s color scheme would be a value add. It works though, so your mileage may vary.

MSI Aegis 11th review: Peripherals

The included MSI Clutch GM08 mouse is ambidextrous, and fits comfortably in my relatively large hands. There are two thumb buttons on the left edge, and a dots-per-inch (DPI) sensitivity button on the spine; you can cycle between five different DPI sensitivity settings. You can also adjust the lighting effects on the mouse’s palm rest and scroll wheel, provided you were looking for a languid red pulse, or no lighting at all.

The MSI Vigor GK30 ticks all of the boxes for a modern gaming keyboard: a relatively loud clack when you type, RGB lighting, and a function key with the brand’s logo. The keyboard’s lighting is divided into just six zones: you can have a single effect that spans the keyboard, or pick individual colors for blocks of keys.

The keyboard’s mechanical-like plunger switches claim to offer the same typing experience of true mechanical switches, but the mushiness of membrane keys shines through here. And while not quite as loud as Cherry MX Blues, they’re still rather loud — you’re getting the worst of both worlds here. I recommend making the keyboard (and mouse) the first items on any upgrade list.

MSI Aegis RS 11th review: Verdict

I like to make a quick and totally unscientific back of the napkin assessment on desktops, gauging what I’d pay for the build as listed, and weighing that number against the sticker price. My total came out to around 2,360 (excluding taxes and shipping, which will add up). I’ve had absolutely no luck tracking down an Nvidia RTX 3080 at anything close to MSRP so this is purely a theoretical exercise, but buying this pre-built machine and letting someone else handle sourcing the parts, wrangling the cables, and testing the build after assembly is not a bad deal.

This brings us back to the heart of the matter: is 2,599 too much to spend on a gaming rig? That’s a personal choice. MSI seems to be able to keep the price (relatively) reasonable by using their own wares, and when it’s time to upgrade, there are no cages to fiddle with, or obtuse locking mechanisms to get in your way. If you were building your own machine and diligent with regards to sales and component availability you could hit a more favorable price point, and pick components that suit your needs: I’d take a closer look at AMD’s CPU offerings, opt for more RAM, and drop the HDD in favor of a larger, faster SSDs, to start.

All that said, the MSI Aegis RS 11TE-089US gets you most of the way there. Strong performance is coupled with a chassis that’ll fit your needs as they grow, at a price that’s fair — if it’s in your budget. Just keep an eye out for a new mouse and keyboard, and you won’t go wrong here.

Nate Ralph has well over a decade of experience tinkering with, on, and around technology. He’s driven by a need to understand how things work, which manifests as a passion for building and re-building PCs, self-hosting open source services, and researching what’s new and next in the world of tech. When he’s not troubleshooting his home network, he can be found taking and editing photos, dabbling in space and flight sims, or taking baby steps into the world of woodworking.

MSI Aegis Unbuild, Initial Analysis, Tear-Down

A show floor crawling with tens of thousands of people is an interesting environment for a PC tear-down – certainly more chaotic than in our labs. Still, whenever we’ve got an opportunity to take something apart during an unveil, we take it. MSI’s recently unveiled Aegis (video below) fancies itself a barebones machine that borders on a display unit, mounted atop a power-supply enshrining pedestal that resembles Hermes’ winged shoes.

While at PAX East, we weaponized our camera toolkit to disassemble MSI’s Aegis barebones gaming PC, which includes a custom case, motherboard, and unique CPU cooler. Side panels came off, the video card was removed, and we more closely examined the custom cooler that MSI’s packed into its compact enclosure.

External Build

The chassis is mostly steel with plastic accents where it’d be obvious – the front panel and stand, mostly – and is accessible through the usual two side panels. MSI’s Aegis has a custom power supply entombed within the base of the tower (adding weight for balance), which is cooled with a small axial fan and offers 600W ( 80 Plus Silver) of non-user-serviceable power. This is enough power for any single-card configuration you could currently build, based on our own watt draw validation. The axial fan is configured as a pull (pull air out of the PSU, not push air in) and looks to be ~40mm.

Meshing is present where VGA push fans would be pressed against the wall (granting access to outside air), though the front of the enclosure also allows minimal air intake in between the “Mystic Lighting” RGB LED mounts. On the left side panel is a tinted red window – it doesn’t offer much visibility into the case, but is an attempt – and small ventilation channels.

With the included motherboard, rear IO consists of 5x 3.5mm audio ports optical, 5x USB (could be 6?), 1x on-board HDMI DP, 1x PS/2, and 1x GbE. Two expansion slots are available for the VGA, which is locked into place with a mounting bracket and a pair of screws.

Taking it Apart

The system uses an inverted motherboard layout. Removing the left side panel reveals the rear of the motherboard. Interestingly, the motherboard has a rear-mounted memory slot (using laptop SODIMM RAM), rear-mounted gumstick SSD slot, and rear-mounted CMOS battery. This last item – the CMOS battery – is actually brilliant, and will hopefully never be realized by most users. Resetting CMOS is one of the simplest, most effective PC troubleshooting steps. To grant easy access in a small enclosure is not trivial (most systems require complete disassembly for CMOS access). We hope some of the SIs, like iBUYPOWER and Origin, take note of this decision.

A PCB (likely for power management and LEDs) is located toward the front of this side. We did not remove the PCB while at PAX.

Switching to the right side (main compartment), the video card conceals almost all of the internal components. Ignore the cabling – that was left messy by the previous media team’s tear-down. The VGA is mounted upside-down and directly into the PCI-e slot on the motherboard, meaning that MSI managed to avoid using a PCI-e riser cable. This will marginally (and likely imperceptibly) reduce latency. Users may purchase any VGA which fits in the enclosure. We are presently unsure of the exact VGA clearance, though MSI has demonstrated a GTX 980 fitting within the enclosure.

Removing the video card grants access to the custom CPU cooler (made by Power Logic and using a 2-ball bearing, DC brushless fan). The cooler is comparable to a high-end notebook cooler, using a thicker and more resolute construction of aluminum fins, copper heatpipes coldplate, and a laptop cooling fan. Two copper heatpipes conduct heat away from the CPU IHS and into an aluminum heatsink, whose fins then dissipate heat with assistance from the fan. Hot air is pushed out the back of the case. Air is received from the top (passively) and front. 2x 3.5” and 1x 2.5” drive cages are present in the top panel region, just above the CPU cooler, and additional RAM and M.2 (looks like E-key) slots are located under the CPU cooler’s heatpipes.

The PCI-e slot is encased in steel plating, which should improve durability and resistance to GPU sagging. A metal bracket encompasses the entire cooling unit and rests between the VGA and CPU cooler.

There are at least 3x SATA connectors available on this motherboard.

Review Forthcoming

We’re curious about how the Aegis will perform with regard to thermals. Such a tight enclosure – without resorting to liquid, anyway – is difficult to ventilate, but MSI’s present solution is to throw a high-end laptop cooler at the CPU. We’ve seen this work in the past, but will reserve judgment until we’ve had adequate time to benchmark the system.

Stay tuned for the full review of MSI’s Aegis.

Editorial Photos: Steve “Lelldorianx” Burke Video Production: Keegan “HornetSting” Gallick

MSI’s Aegis ZS is a powerful, no-fuss gaming desktop with enormous value

Shopping for a reasonably priced gaming PC is a challenge these days, which is why it’s exciting when we run across desktops like the MSI Aegis ZS (available at Best Buy). This all-AMD build can max out just about any 1080p or 1440p game, and its parts are simple to swap. Everything but the monitor comes with the box, and the desktop itself is already configured to maximize its performance—no need to dive into the BIOS just to get the frame rates you expect to see. With an AMD Ryzen 7 processor and a mid-range graphics card, you get the best of both worlds, performance, and price, in the Aegis ZS.

Recommendations are independently chosen by Reviewed’s editors. Purchases made through the links below may earn us and our publishing partners a commission. were accurate at the time this article was published but may change over time.

• Review body
• About the MSI Aegis ZS
• What we like
• What We Don’t like
• Should you buy it?
• Related content

Pros

• Excellent value for performance
• Off-the-shelf parts
• Comes configured from the factory

Review body

MSI’s Aegis ZS is a great, powerful, and value-filled PC for 1080p gaming that’s also easy to upgrade.

About the MSI Aegis ZS

The MSI Aegis ZS desktop PC is an all-AMD build that’s compatible with off-the-shelf PC parts.

The MSI Aegis ZS desktop is primarily an AMD-based gaming desktop line with a wide performance range. We tested the following configuration:

• Processor: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X
• CPU Cooler: MSI RGB 120mm AIO liquid cooler
• Graphics Card: MSI Mech AMD Radeon RX 6700XT with 12GB VRAM
• Operating System: Windows 11 Home
• Memory: 16GB (2 x 8GB) 3200MHz DDR4
• Storage: 1TB NVMe M.2 SSD
• Motherboard: MSI B550-A Pro mATX
• Ports: (Front) 1 x USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-C; 2 x USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A; 1 Mic in; 1 Headphone-out; dedicated LED Button to modify RGB settings. (Back) 1 x USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C; 1 x USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A; 2 x USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A; 4 x USB 2.0; 1 x HDMI 2.1 out; 3 x DP 1.4 out
• Connectivity: Bluetooth, Wi-Fi 5, Ethernet
• Power Supply: ADATA XPG Core Reactor 650W 80 Gold
• Case: MSI Gungnir 110R
• Weight: 29.98 pounds
• Dimensions: 8.46 x 16.93 x 17.72 inches
• Accessories: Wired gaming keyboard and mouse
• Warranty: 1-year limited

The Aegis ZS comes in a whole host of configurations, including CPU options from AMD as well as GPU options from Nvidia and AMD. The cheapest configuration costs 1,200 and has a last-generation AMD Ryzen 7 3700X CPU with a last-generation AMD Radeon RX 5600XT GPU, 16GB of memory, and a 512GB SSD.

Meanwhile, the most expensive option has an AMD Ryzen 9 5900X processor, a 240mm all-in-one liquid CPU cooler, and an AMD Radeon RX 6700XT GPU, 16GB of memory, 1TB NVMe SSD, and a 750W power supply for 2,200.

Our configuration costs 1,700.

What we like

Fast, fast, fast graphics performance

The myriad of front ports is convenient when you want to plug in a new peripheral or drive.

When you’re on the hunt for a gaming PC, one thing matters above all else: performance. The all-AMD MSI Aegis delivers incredible graphics performance that can smoothly run just about any game on maxed-out graphics settings. Running Shadow of the Tomb Raider is no sweat for the PC’s Radeon 6700XT graphics processor, which ran the game at 146 frames per second at 1080p on the highest graphics preset. However, the Radeon RX 6700XT’s ray tracing performance isn’t as strong as its regular fps performance. Cyberpunk 2077, one of the most demanding games for PC of the moment, ran at 95 frames per second (fps) on the highest graphics preset in 1080p resolution—meanwhile, the frame rate drops to 25 fps when ray tracing is enabled on the highest graphics preset.

If you’re more of an esports gamer, then you better have a high refresh monitor to take advantage of the Aegis’s speed. When I played a few rounds of Overwatch on 1080p Epic graphics settings, I averaged 175 fps. Meanwhile, in Final Fantasy XIV, the framerate was 195 fps for areas with few player characters.

The NZXT Streaming PC Plus, a similar prebuilt PC we tested running on a Ryzen 5 5600X core processor and an Nvidia RTX 3070 graphics processor, hit about the same fps rates in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Cyberpunk 2077, and Overwatch without ray tracing, but it did push out about 45 fps on Cyberpunk 2077 with ray tracing (20 fps more than the MSI Aegis).

Easy set-up

This sticker covering the motherboard graphics ports will save a lot people from headaches.

The desktop’s presentation is incredibly beginner-friendly. For example, one of the first steps to setting up a desktop is to connect it to your monitor; to make sure you use the correct HDMI/DisplayPort ports, there is a sticker covering the graphics ports on the motherboard that reads “use GPU port.” The Ryzen 7 CPU does not have integrated graphics, so stickers blocking the ports can help stop many gamers from plugging their monitors into the wrong place.

The starter guide is clear and concise, too: plug in the monitor, plug in the included mouse and keyboard, plug in the Wi-Fi antenna, plug in the power cord, and turn your power supply on. If you don’t already have a beloved gaming mouse or keyboard, these included peripherals are included with the kit. ( on that later.)

Easily upgradeable

The case is very friendly to other manufacturers’ parts, and its spaciousness makes it easy to swap stuff around.

If you find yourself bottlenecked by the performance on the Aegis, it’s no sweat to upgrade it yourself. The glass side panel slides off easily, and the individual hardware parts are easy to access. The PC components are all standard, off-the-shelf parts so you should have no trouble switching out any of the hardware parts. (The case isn’t riddled with odd mounts or risers that would render it incompatible with off-the-shelf motherboards, for example.) Apart from the XPG power supply and RAM, MSI manufactures every part of this PC.

The case is big, too, so you have a lot of room to work with; You should have no problem fitting three or four-slot graphics cards inside, for instance. The cable management is fine, but not outstanding; everything is organized and tucked into the back where it isn’t visible, but it’s not routed neatly enough to be aesthetically pleasing.

The B550-A Pro ATX motherboard has two M.2 slots if you wish to install a second NVMe SSD to complement the main drive, and if you want to upgrade the included 16GB of 3200MHz DDR4 memory, you can install up to 128GB of 4400MHz DDR4 memory.

What We Don’t like

Loud, underpowered CPU cooler

The 120mm AIO cooler is trying its best, but it’s just not enough.

The one part we wish MSI would upgrade on the Aegis is the CPU cooler, which is an AIO (all-in-one) cooler with a 120mm radiator. If you push the CPU, it will thermal throttle. We ran Cinebench R23 to test the CPU performance, and we saw some thermal throttling when we measured temps in HWMonitor. Temperatures hit 90.6 degrees Celsius and stayed around the thermal junction (the max temp a CPU should operate at), so we didn’t get to see the Ryzen 7’s full potential. When we swapped out the cooler for a 360mm Corsair iCue H510i AIO cooler, temps didn’t surpass 80 degrees Celsius.

However, you’ll rarely be pushing this CPU that hard for gaming. With the original cooler, temperatures peaked at 77 degrees Celsius when we ran Metro Exodus at 1440p on the Ultra graphics preset, which is well within the acceptable range for the Ryzen 7 5800X. To be clear, it’s still a high-performing CPU even with thermal throttling.

For multi-core benchmarks, which we run to test raw processing performance, the Aegis scored 8665 points in Geekbench 5, and 15014 points in Cinebench R23. The NZXT Streaming PC Plus, which sports a Ryzen 5 5600X processor, scored 7637 points in Geekbench, while the Intel NUC Beast Canyon, a small form factor PC with an Intel Core i9-11800HKB, scored 9442 points in Geekbench. This puts the MSI Aegis’s Ryzen 7 where it belongs: in between a Ryzen 5 and Intel Core i9 for performance.

That matches up with our experiences in real-world applications, too. One of our favorite benchmarks is the Blender render, where we measure how long it takes a PC to render a scene of a car using its GPU and its CPU. The Aegis took two minutes 44 seconds to render it using its CPU, while the NZXT Streaming Plus took just under four minutes. In our Intel CPU testing, the Ryzen 7 scored about as well as the Intel Core i9-11900K, which took two minutes 33 seconds to render the scene.

Yes, even with thermal throttling, the Ryzen 7 is still a wicked fast processor. However, it’s frustrating to know it could be faster and cooler if MSI upgraded the cooler—the case has plenty of space for a 240mm radiator or a tall air cooler.

Mediocre keyboard

It looks like a classic mechanical gaming keyboard, but looks are deceiving.

The included full-size keyboard has backlit membrane keys with RGB lighting. Its built-in wrist rest is comfortable and keeps my hands from fatiguing, but the keys themselves are stiff and scratchy, however, so light typers will find their fingers exhausted after hours of use.

The keys’ scratchiness won’t necessarily fare better with heavier typists, who may be annoyed at how loud and hollow the board sounds despite using membrane switches. Some cheap linear mechanical switches, like Gateron red or Kailh red switches, would have done a lot to make this a better experience. Linear switches are some of the quietest mechanical switches, and their lack of actuation point makes them ideal for use with fast-paced games.

The included keyboard is usable for short bursts, but serious typists should invest in their own keyboard, for sure.

Should you buy it?

Yes, the MSI Aegis ZS desktop is a great gaming PC

Overall, the MSI Aegis ZS provides a good value for its performance and standardized components with a simple upgrade path.

With configurations starting at 1,200, the MSI Aegis ZS gaming desktop is a great value across the whole lineup. Its quality components, price to performance, simple upgrade path, and novice-friendly presentation make it one of the best-prebuilt PCs you can pick up at a big-box retailer like Best Buy. Our 1,700 model, equipped with an AMD Ryzen 7 5800X CPU and an AMD Radeon RX 6700XT GPU, can run even the most demanding games at the highest graphics preset on 1080p (ray tracing off) with frame rates reaching into the 100s.

The Aegis ZS’s major flaw is its CPU cooler: the 120mm radiator is not enough to keep up with the Ryzen 7’s heat, and the CPU can see some thermal throttling as a result. You can solve the problem yourself by installing a beefier water cooler like the EK 240mm water cooler or a quality air cooler like the Noctua NH-U14S easily enough, however.

There are also a lot of great alternatives to the Aegis ZS. The NZXT Streaming Plus PC is very neatly assembled and uses off-the-shelf parts, like the MSI Aegis ZS. For 1,899, this prebuilt has the same Ryzen 7 processor and an Nvidia RTX 3070 GPU, which slightly outperforms the Radeon RX 6700 XT we tested most of the time. The iBuyPower Slate MR Gaming Desktop has an AMD Ryzen 5 5600X and an AMD Radeon RX 6600XT for just 1,149, and its specs should be more than powerful enough for running 1080p games at maxed-out graphics settings at least 60 fps.

Unless you plan on ray-tracing or driving your CPU to its limits, the MSI Aegis ZS is a great gaming PC for just about any use-case. Its hardware is powerful enough to run modern games at high framerates, its parts are standardized and easy to replace, and it’s a good value for its performance and build quality. MSI nailed it with this one.

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were accurate at the time this article was published but may change over time.

Meet the tester

Adrien is a staff writer for Reviewed, mainly focused on reviewing laptops and other consumer tech. During his free time, he’s usually wandering around Hyrule.

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