Around the lab, we’re becoming more accustomed to seeing cases with colorful lights and tank-tread bodies, but MSI clearly wants its’ new Aegis gaming PC to leave a mark — and boy, is it working.
If you haven’t already noticed, the Aegis has a standout design feature, with an angled chassis that sits atop the 350-watt power supply. It looks like the case is leaning forward to look over the edge of the desk, but it’s certainly unique, and MSI says it provides some nice benefits.
For one, it houses the brand’s proprietary Silent Storm 2 fan layout. It’s a classic triple threat, with individual air zones and fans for the PSU, CPU, and GPU. Like most gaming machines, the system pulls air from the front and sides and pushes it out the back, but the extra gap in the back helping separate the power supply and processor could prove more efficient than a standard tower.
Not surprisingly, the Aegis is equipped with RGB LED lighting, because it’s 2016 and every gaming product is now lit up like a Christmas tree. As you might imagine, there are all manner of blinking and pulsing effects, with music and gaming responsiveness thrown in for good measure.
Connectivity is a strong point as well, with two USB 2.0, four USB 3.1, HDMI, DisplayPort, and optical audio out, but that’s just the back panel. On the front, users will find another USB 2.0 port with extra power for charging devices, mic and headphone ports, and a USB Type-C connection. The latter is quickly becoming a popular addition to desktops, and its inclusion here helps future-proof the machine further.
Processor options are a bit limited, with either an i5-6400 or i7-6700, neither of which are unlocked. While MSI says the Aegis supports full-length, high-end graphics cards, the only available options are a GTX 960 or 970. With just a 350W power supply, it’s hard to imagine upgrading much higher than that without running into issues, but at least the system is VR ready.
In an odd twist, the Aegis uses So-DIMM DDR4, the same smaller RAM chips often found in laptops and tiny systems. Still, it supports up to 32GB of 2,133MHz, which should be plenty even for power-hungry gamers. Its aggressive stance and unique shape don’t hurt its hard drive options though, with room for two 3.5-inch drives, a 2.5-inch slot, and a PCIe M.2 slot.
There’s no pricing yet, at least in the United States, but we do know the system includes a copy of The Division. We’ve reached out to MSI for more information on the Aegis, and will update this post when we hear back.
