Corsair One outperforms best gaming PCs in the market

The Corsair One's small footprint disguises itself as a console that's actually a powerful gaming PC.Cosair website

Since its big reveal back at Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2017 in Las Vegas, Corsair's gaming PC has been towering over its competition with powerful performance and ingenious build design.

A review from The Verge called the mid-tower gaming PC "not normal" for cramming that much horse power into a 12-liter case. The 2013 Mac Pro weighs in at a maximum of six liters, mainly because of its ahead-of-its-time build design. An Information Technology Extended (ITX) case will weigh at 20 liters. Most Micro ITX cases will weigh at 40 liters. The Corsair One has the smallest footprint any gaming PC has ever had and still packs that much power.

Corsair One's all-black smooth aluminum finish is indicative of a gaming console, but according to PCmag, this is one gaming PC that the likes of Lenovo and Dell pale in comparison. With two sizes shy of any regular pillar gaming PC in the market, the Corsair One can deliver a high-end gaming experience at just $2000.

The small form-factor PC from Corsair measures at 7.9 x 6.9 x 14.9 inches. According to PCgamer, this is a pre-built system in its truest form, making this desktop proudly stand on the desk and not sulk underneath the table. Instead of riding the RGB band wagon most PCs are doing these days, Corsair went for a Tron-inspired front-side blue lighting. The Input/Output (I/O) can run full-sized graphic cards.

At the back of the form-factor are the audio jacks, AC Wi-Fi, Ethernet and a port for the PlayStation. One of the six USB ports is a type-C. The High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) 2.0 is in front of the One. For Virtual Reality (VR) setups, there is also a USB 3.1.

The entire machine's system is water-cooled using two separate loops — one at the central processing unit (CPU) side and the other at the graphics processing unit (GPU) part. The loops use a thin 240mm radiators that cools the Kaby Lake 7700k. These radiators have no fans. Through assisted convection, cool air is sucked in from the sides through the polygonal perforations on the sides of the case. Hot air rises up to the top of the PC where a Maglev fan is in place.

G-Sync monitors running at 1440p resolution is easy for the Corsair One with a GTX 1080. At 5 GHz, the 7700k can still be comfortable for the system. Playing "Overwatch" or "The Witcher 3" on the Corsair One at 1440p will be the best gaming experience for any gamer — hardcore or casual.

The 16 GB random access memory (RAM) can be replaced for a higher unit with Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) drive options provided through an M.2 slot at the back of the motherboard.