We’ve taken a look at a couple of pre-built PCs from ASUS in the past that can replace the hassle of building your own PC. Today, we’ve had the pleasure to experience ASUS ROG’s latest pre-built PC, the ASUS ROG Strix GL12CX.
ASUS ROG Strix GL12CX
| Processor | Intel Core i9-9900K |
| Motherboard | Intel Z390, mATX |
| Graphics | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 |
| Memory | 32GB DDR4 2666MHz, 2x DIMM slots |
| Storage | 512GB M.2 PCIe SSD, 1TB HDD |
| Connectivity | 802.11ac 2×2, Bluetooth 5.0 |
| Front I/O | 2x USB 3.1 Gen1 Type-A, 2x USB 2.0 Type-A, 1x 3.5mm audio jack, 1x 2-in-1 Card Reader |
| Rear I/O | 4x USB 3.1 Gen1 Type-A, 2x USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-A, 2x USB 2.0 Type-A, 5x 3.5mm audio jacks, 1x S/PDIF out, 1x RJ-45 Ethernet |
| Dimensions | 456 x 179 x 40mm (HxWxD) |
| Weight | 11kg |
Design and Features
The ASUS ROG Strix GL12CX was not designed to have space-saving in mind like the ASUS ROG Strix G21 Huracan. Instead, it was made to deliver the best performance that a pre-built PC could deliver. Thus, its chassis is reminiscent of aftermarket cases meant for PC building.
To give it additional flare compared to other cases in the market, the front chassis of the ASUS ROG Strix GL12CX has two lighting strips and the ROG logo completely lit up in RGB.
At the top of the front chassis lies two USB 3.1 Gen1 Type-A ports and two more USB 2.0 Type-A ports. All of the headers of the ports are colored in black, which may confuse some users. Although the legends near the bottom should allow users to differentiate USB 3.1 Gen1 ports from USB 2.0 ports.
Alongside the four USB ports at the front is a 2-in-1 card reader and a single 3.5mm audio jack.
The rear I/O of the ASUS ROG Strix GL12CX is composed of two USB 2.0 ports in Black, two USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-A ports in Teal, four USB 3.1 Gen1 Type-A ports in Blue, an RJ-45 Ethernet port, an S/PDIF out, and five 3.5mm audio jacks. Just beside the rear I/O ports is a single 80mm fan for exhaust.
As far as display outputs go, the device comes with two Displayport 1.4 connections, a single HDMI 2.0b port, and a USB Type-C port for displays who support it. All of these are courtesy of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 inside.
The insides of the ASUS ROG Strix GL12CX
Inside the ASUS ROG Strix GL12CX is an Intel Core i9-9900K processor in a mATX Z390 motherboard. The processor is cooled with what looks like a 120mm variant of the ASUS ROG Ryuo.
The device only comes with two DIMM slots although the GL12CX maximizes these two ports by having two 16GB DDR4 sticks running at 2666MHz for a total of 32GB of RAM.
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 inside the ASUS ROG’s pre-built is ASUS AURA Sync compatible. Unfortunately, the light is partially blocked by a retention bar for the graphics card. It seems that ASUS ROG traded a bit of lighting to avoid any GPU sag.
The ASUS ROG Strix GL12CX does support future upgrades. Although looking at the inside of the chassis, it seems like there will be a lot of work and cable management if users will upgrade the internals of the device.
ASUS has not disclosed the type of power supply they are using with the GL12CX. Based on what we’ve seen, however, it seems that they are using at least a standard ATX-sized PSU on the device.
Initial Benchmarks
We have not had much time with the ASUS ROG Strix GL12CX. Fortunately, we were able to run synthetic and real-world benchmarks with the limited time we had with the device.
3DMark Fire Strike
“Designed to showcase the DirectX 11 API, the Futuremark 3DMark Firestrike became a standard in benchmarking as it not only tests the capabilities of the GPU, but also the capabilities of the whole system for a complete stress test.”
3DMark Time Spy
“Time Spy is a DirectX 12 benchmark test for gaming PCs running Windows 10. With its pure DirectX 12 engine, built from the ground up to support new API features like asynchronous compute, explicit multi-adapter, and multi-threading, Time Spy is the ideal benchmark for testing the DirectX 12 performance of modern graphics cards.”
Rise of the Tomb Raider
“A follow-up to the reboot of the series, Lara is now searching for a lost treasure that her father was investigating before his passing. Following the same gameplay as Tomb Raider reboot from 2013, the Rise of the Tomb Raider is a worthy title under the Tomb Raider series.”
Based on the benchmarks, the ASUS ROG Strix GL12CX was able to top the charts with its top-notch components. This pegs the device as one of the most powerful pre-built PC yet from ASUS ROG.
Initial Conclusion
Pre-builts have a considerable premium over custom-built PCs. At the time of writing, the ASUS ROG Strix GL12CX is priced at around USD 3,799 (or around PhP 200,000). Users could build their PCs for a lot less.
Despite this premium, the ASUS ROG Strix GL12CX does offer an easy alternative from building a PC from scratch. Pre-builts also come with a single warranty, which means that users can just bring the unit to a service center and have the whole device serviced.
From what we’ve seen so far, the ASUS ROG Strix GL12CX is shaping to be one of the best pre-built from ASUS ROG yet. With high-end internals and great performance, the device could be a legitimate option for those who don’t like building their own PCs but want the peak performance that the desktop offers.
