Maingear R2 Razer Edition Portends Arrival Of Mini-ITX X299 Motherboard

Maingear announced a new small form factor (SFF) cobranded gaming PC that offers Intel Core i9 and AMD Ryzen processors, and it portends an August release for a mini-ITX X299 motherboard.

Similar to the Maingear R1 Razer Edition, the Maingear R2 Razer Edition is a joint effort with Razer. Bathed in green LEDs, the system takes a page out of the Maingear R1’s playbook with its Razer-themed chassis, interior lighting, and optional custom liquid cooling loop (you can get it with green liquid). However, the case is roughly 30% smaller than the R1, housing a mini-ITX motherboard instead of a full ATX board. Furthermore, the new iteration can be equipped with AMD Ryzen processors, and soon enough, Intel X299 parts.

For AMD enthusiasts, the Maingear R2 Razer Edition can be equipped with up to a Ryzen 7 1800X processor, 32GB of DDR4-2666, and up to a Radeon RX 580 graphics card (in addition to Nvidia GPU offerings). Currently, Maingear offers only Ryzen-based R2s with an Asrock B250 Gaming-ITX/ac motherboard (one of the only mini-ITX Ryzen motherboards currently available), so X370 chipsets are out for now.

Currently, Intel versions of the Maingear R2 can feature up to an Intel Core i7-7700K processor with the option of an MSI Z270I Gaming Pro Carbon or an Asus Strix Z270I Gaming motherboard. You can also equip the system with up to 32GB of DDR4-2666, with Nvidia graphics options up to a Titan Xp and AMD graphics up to Radeon RX 580. Both AMD and Intel systems can also feature up to a 2TB M.2 NVMe SSD, two drive bays that support up to 4TB SATA 2.5” SSDs, and 10TB HDDs.

Maingear also stated that X299 versions of the R2 Razer Edition will also be available, but with the lack of a mini-ITX X299 motherboard in the wild, the company website doesn’t currently offer it.  When pressed for more information, Maingear revealed that it would offer support for up to an Intel Core i7-7900X using the Asrock X299E-ITX/ac motherboard we saw at Computex. We couldn’t get a firm release date, but we could see the mini-ITX X299 board available for preorder in mid-August, coinciding with Maingear’s X299 availability in the R2 Razer Edition.

The Maingear R2 Razer Edition is available now at Maingear’s website, with AMD rigs starting at $1,100 and Intel systems starting at $1,200. Super Stock versions (with custom hard-line water cooling loops) start at $4,300 and $4,400 for AMD and Intel PCs, respectively.