MSI Aegis X Barebone Packs Liquid CPU Cooling

MSI first unveiled its Aegis barebone PC just over a month ago, and already it's got a new one: the Aegis X. We ran into this system at Computex 2016, where we grilled MSI for more details.

On the surface, it looks very similar to the original Aegis, but it’s got a few upgrades under the hood. For starters, it’s based on a Z170 motherboard rather than a B150, and it also has an upgraded power supply that can deliver up to 600W.

The board in this system isn’t a standard off-the-shelf one, but rather a custom unit built specifically for the Aegis X. It doesn’t have any flashy lights or an attractive aesthetic design, but it has everything the system needs and nothing that it doesn’t (the board, that is; the case itself is rather flashy).

The cooling solution is something that MSI calls “Silent Storm Cooling 2 Pro,” which means that the GPU has its own fresh air supply and exhaust. The PSU (which resides in its own lower compartment) also has its own air channel, and the CPU is liquid cooled by a small radiator that comes included with the barebone system.

For memory, you’ll be able to populate one DDR4 memory slot on each side of the board (for a total of two), and storage is handled by two M.2 slots (one on each side of the board) along with two 3.5” drive mounts and one 2.5” unit. Cables are already in place for all of these, so it’s really just a matter of dropping the hard drives and SSDs into place. There is also a slim optical drive at the top.

The front of the unit has an HDMI port to make it “VR-Ready,” and yes, the case also has RGB lighting.

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