Customer Ratings & Reviews

Don’t want to spend time researching and building a gaming PC? Well, the MSI Aegis ZS is an excellent pre-built gaming desktop for gaming. With a high-end AMD processor and graphics card, this PC should be able to run all your favorite games on the market on high settings. After testing the Aegis ZS for a couple of days, I am exceptionally satisfied with its overall performance. This is my review of the MSI Aegis ZS. =============== IN THE BOX/SET UP: The box weighed a little less than 30lbs. The PC arrived well-packed and in excellent condition. The PC had a soft bag covering it and two foam inserts surrounding it. Upon taking the PC out of the box, it was clear that MSI took its time on working to ship this PC to the customer in perfect condition. There was a bag of inflatable foam inside the PC to prevent the components from moving around during shipping. In the box, you also get a good quality RGB keyboard and mouse, cables, Wi-Fi antenna, and a set-up guide. Set-up did not take too long. Make sure you carefully take the inflatable foam out, so you won’t damage the components. Also, make sure to check on all the cabling and make sure nothing is unplugged or out of place. Finally, make sure to plug your monitor(s) into the bottom HDMI or Display ports where the GPU is located. The ports on the top aren’t connected to anything. There is a sticker there reminding you of this. Once the check-up was ready, I plugged in the mouse and keyboard, flipped the PSU switch, and turned on the PC. Note, that this PC comes pre-installed with Windows 11. I did not upgrade to Windows 11 on my other computers, so it did take a bit to get used to the somewhat new UI. =============== DESIGN: I do enjoy the design that MSI chose with the casing. The tempered glass on one side and a small panel of tempered glass on the front does an excellent job at showcasing the components on the inside in gorgeous fashion. Cable management seemed fine to me. The CPU does have an AIO liquid cooler which I thought was pretty neat! There is also an RGB button on the opposite side of the power button that allows you to control the RGB lighting for the fans and the AIO liquid cooler. Overall, MSI did a wonderful job at designing the Aegis ZS desktop! Also, I would like to point out that the mouse and keyboard that arrived with the PC does also have RGB lighting too. I have been using these peripherals for the past couple of days and they are designed as ergonomic as possible. They feel comfortable and haven’t caused any issues. Although, I do prefer my Logitech TKL mechanical keyboard over this MSI one. =============== PERFORMANCE: In terms of performance, the Aegis ZS is a beast! I used three different benchmarks on this PC to see what it can do. I used 3DMark to test out the gaming capabilities. I then used Cinebench to test out its 3-D rendering capabilities. Finally, I used PCMark to test out the complete system performance based on real-world applications and activities. (video conferencing, web processing, etc.) The scores I received after running the benchmarks are down below: 3DMark Graphics Score: 13197 CPU Score: 11058 Time Spy Score: 12824 Cinebench CPU (Multi-Core): 15205 CPU (Single Core): 1573 PCMark Overall Score: 7706 *Individual scores for applications in images Benchmarks show that this is an excellent PC that is capable of pretty much anything whether you are using it for gaming, 3-D model rendering, video editing, or simple word processing. It is safe to say that this computer can handle a lot. I tested a myriad of games with this PC ranging from FPS like Destiny 2 and adventure games like Control, and Tomb Raider. I set all the games in the highest possible settings. This gaming PC handled Control beautifully on the highest settings which some PCs struggle with. Even on gaming with the highest settings the PC was quiet and cool. You won’t have to worry about the PC taking off while gaming. In terms of general productivity tasks like web browsing and word processing, this PC is lightning fast. The SSD allows for a quick boot up and swifter overall speeds so there wasn’t much waiting to go on when opening applications =============== FEATURES/OTHER NOTES: - MSI Center can be used for hardware monitoring - Radeon software can be used to track metrics such as frame rate while gaming - Extra M.2 SSD storage slot available (currently has 1TB SSD) - Two RAM slots available (currently has 2 8GB RAM sticks) - Liquid CPU cooler does an amazing job at keeping temperatures low. - Not a lot of bloatware preinstalled on the PC which was lovely to see - Desktop does take a large amount of space so prepare to set aside a decent amount of space for it - I would’ve liked a Wi-Fi 6 card with this PC, PC is using the Wi-Fi 5 protocol which isn’t bad, but Wi-Fi 6 could’ve been included at this price point - Windows 11 still feels a bit out of touch, I would’ve preferred this PC to arrive with Windows 10 with the option to upgrade to Windows 11 =============== CONCLUSION/TLDR: Overall, MSI did an excellent job at creating this beast of a PC. Benchmarks were all in the high scores. All games tested were smooth with the highest settings enabled. General multitasking was lighting fast, and opening applications did not take long at all. This pre-built PC can do anything whether that be gaming, 3-D rendering, video editing, multitasking, or even simple word processing. There is an extra M.2 SSD storage slot available if you are wanting more storage. If you are in the market for a pre-built, I do wholeheartedly recommend you try this one out!

If you're serious about PC gaming, then you will want a desktop gaming PC. You are then face with two choices, DIY and build it yourself or buy a prebuilt gaming PC. Given ongoing shortages of graphics cards, etc. it's now easier to buy than build if you want to get the latest components. The MSI Aegis ZS comes with a very good set of specs for a prebuilt machine. With a Ryzen R7 5800X, and a RX6700XT graphics card. Memory is average (16gb) and the SSD (1TB) is enough to get you started. The motherboard is a MSI B550-A. Everything is upgradeable, and MSI ship the PC with all the cables needed should you want to add an extra hard drive, etc. The CPU is liquid cooled, but FYI it's a single fan cool. There are 3 front facing RGB fans and then 1x rear fan for the liquid cooler. Also in the box are are gaming keyboard and mouse. So all you need to bring is your own monitor. Setup is straight forward. There's some padding inside the case to stop components shifting during transport. The glass access panel was easy to remove, no screwdriver needed. I don't know if it was intentional, but on my MSI Aegis, the GPU power wasn't connected to the motherboard, so I had to plug that in - not a showstopper, just FYI. After boot, like all new PCs there were a truckload of updates to install (Microsoft Windows 11) but after about an hour, I was ready to put this through gaming paces. I tested the MSI Aegis on Destiny and Elden Ring. To really put the PC through its paces. I benchmarked temperature (Celsius) and FPS, results below. Temperature Benchmarks (NZXTCAM) Idle Temps: CPU 48C / GPU 35C Destiny: CPU 79C / GPU 59C Elden Ring: CPU 70C / 57C FPS Destiny: 140-170 fps (Medium Settings) / 60 fps on High Elden Ring: 60 fps (High Settings) These are very good results out-of-the-box unoptimized and on Windows 11 Desktop Gaming Rig. I am confident I can push this higher by tweaking various BIOS settings on the Aegis and some software changes. But I think it's fair to only benchmark on standard settings, so you know what the starting position is with the Aegis. The included (wired) keyboard and mouse were good enough, but I own a Logitech Lightspeed Wireless Gaming Keyboard and Mouse, which I prefer over wired keyboards and somewhat biases my expectations on any other keyboard (sorry MSI). The MSI performs well and there is plenty of headroom to optimize this performance. The User Benchmark Scores reflect this, scores below. UserBenchmark Scores Gaming: 111% (UFO) Desktop: 100% (Nuclear Submarine) Workstation: 116% (UFO) UserBenchmark gives some suggestions for tweaks and I can see myself dropping in a faster SSD and more memory in time. I would go for more memory, as the SSD is fast. Overall, for what you get the MSI Aegis is great value. The case is nice, it's easy to open and access the internals for upgrades, included components are well spec'd. Plus it also has all the 'cool' RGB lighting that most people associate with gaming. I love that MSI include liquid cooling, which is a big plus. Would I recommend the MSI Aegis, yes - for those who aren't going to DIY, it's a great system. If you're more technical, you may find it better to build from components you buy - but do math first and check components. Having built my own gaming PC, I used a lot of MSI Components for my build anyway, so starting with the Aegis as a base build and tweaking performance could save you time and compatibility headaches. Plus you get an all-in-one warranty, which is peace of mind you don't get with a custom buid.

Overall, the MSI Aegis ZS Gaming Desktop provides excellent gameplay and productivity with the latest AMD chips. I have been able to enjoy this PC for a little over a week and right out of the box I could already tell that it was well built. I am a fan of the tempered glass on the case and you can never go wrong with RGB lighting which in this case is on the fans. I am definitely going to install additional RGB lights. Aside from that, this PC has every connection and input/output that you can ask for in a gaming PC. Upgrading if needed is simple enough after removing the tempered glass. All slots have easy access to the motherboard and they did well in the cable management department to tuck everything away. Now, to get in to the performance. I would give this PC a performance rating of 9/10. I was able to play all of my games in my library on Ultra Setting without any stuttering. Although there are better processors on the market, for the price of this PC, this unit handled my games with ease. I have included some benchmark numbers down below for your evaluation. CineBench Scores Multi Score 15069 Ranking 4 Single Score 1596 Ranking 1 *** All scores are max scores*** In Game Benchmark Tests Flight Simulator: Ultra Settings GPU 2.615 GHz GPU TEMP 68 Celsius GPU 2 TEMP 112 Celsius Fan Speed 96% Framerate 57-60 Notes: During my gameplay on MS Flight Simulator, the GPU was working really hard to keep up. It was being maxed out due to all the rendering of the landscapes. The fans kicked up to nearly 100% and the temperatures were rising quickly. I went on and tried in High End Settings to compare results. High End GPU 2.123 GHz GPU GPU TEMP 64 C CPU TEMP 2 96 C Fan Speed 87% Frame Rate 60 Notes: I didn't notice a difference in performance on high end settings. I could barely notice a difference in the rendering of the map as I flew around the cities and landscapes. Red Dead Redemption 2: Ultra Settings GPU Maxed out CPU Clock Speed 2.676 Ghz GPU TEMP 62 C CPU TEMP 93 C Fan Speed 88% Max FPS 69.4256 Average FPS 59.7679 Notes: Similar performance to MS flight simulator on high end. I was getting steady 60 FPS and with everything on Ultra Settings, the gameplay was still smooth as the PC worked hard to render all graphics. I was pleased with the performance on this game. Although the PC was audibly working hard, the gameplay was smooth and the grpahics were eye pleasing. Shadow of the Tomb Raider: Highest Settings GPU Clock Speed 2.657 Ghz Fan Speed 91% GPU TEMP 65 c GPU TEMP 2 103 C Average 108 FPS Notes: Wow. Visibly pleasing and great gaming experience. Graphics were phenomenal and gameplay was smooth once again. This PC is able to handle all of the latest games at the highest settings. If you are ever in the need to upgrade for an even better experience, you can. I however, love this PC and will surely enjoy all the games that will be played on it. Great PreBuilt for a great price!

This thing is a BEAST!!! In all the good ways! Lighting fast at everything I threw at it! First out of the box… It’s a big tower…think muscle car of computers. And before even turning this bad boy on I was struck with how well thought out the system was. The glass case slide provides easy access to the super powerful AMD Ryzen 7 5800X. Top of the charts and above, when I ran it through some benchmark tests. It’s paired with another beast of GPU power, the AMD Radeon RX6700XT which has 12GB DDR6 ram dedicated. It has two 8GB DDR4 sticks for a total of 16 and that is great…can’t help wondering if bumping that another 16 would be worth the cost right now. Looks like you can max it out to 128 if you really wanted to. The ventilation and cooling system (120mm liquid cooled) are in perfect harmony and the intake and exhaust are really efficient and quiet, which keeps all the power flowing in the same direction…unstoppable game playing right off the store shelf. I also like the dust bag case that it ships in. You can cover your tower when not in use to keep the dust out! Nice little touch. Also the mesh metal screen on the top of the unit is magnetic and removable to allow you to clean it easier and or to open it up when it gets to humming for better ventilation. Nice Note: A little deeper for my fellow geeks: I used UserBenchmark and ran it through the paces Processor- AMD Ryzen 7 5800X 8-Core = AM4, 1CPU, 8 COres, 16 threads with a base clock of 3.8GHZ and turbo to 4.6 (avg). 102% and performed above expectations in the 78th percentile! GPU - AMD RX 6700 - XT 122% “way above expectations” in the 86th percentile! SSD - MSI M390 1TB - Poor is considered 160% and Great is considered 337% and this came in at 242% according to UserBenchmark it is “performing way below expectations in the 18th percentile but also commented that the 242” is “outstanding”. Not sure what to think about that. I guess maybe it is incredibly fast but compared against others it could be faster. I like UserBenchmark because it is comparative and more generalized. Next I ran it through Superposition Benchmark for the gaming slant and it hit all the paces. The VR Ready benchmark was off the chart at 10,000!! Awesome! back to the hard drive, The SSD is utilizing NVMe which really is a big plus with loading up content on this rig. NVMe SSD goes direct with the CPU and was designed to specifically interface with the SSD drives and it’s lightning fast. But the benchmark stated otherwise. Sure feels fast to me though. Ahh the little things that really add up and give you an edge… Having a huge processor is a great start but it’s all the high end parts working in harmony that really delivers. This thing boots up in a blink! Looks like I can add at least one more 2.5” or 3.5” drive and two more PCI-E slots are available as well looking at the motherboard. In game loads are blazing fast as well. Keyboard has a nice feel and strikes well. The mouse is responsive and feels good in the hand. Plenty of buttons to program if desired. It also has one HDMI port and 3 display ports. Great for multiple monitors. I have it plugged into a 40” HDTV currently and plan to utilize this system for VR primarily with an Oculus 2 (Meta Quest 2 now) and Link. Note: If you're new to gaming or to gaming desktops in general or just don’t read instructions…be sure to plug your monitor into the display ports into the GPU itself and not the place holder slots near the top of the back of the unit. The GPU is located in an expansion slot near the middle of the back of the unit. I could see some people in a hurry just plug it into the place holder slots (which connect to nothing) and then wonder why nothing is happening on the screen. The instructions say this…but…. Anyway, Got it all set up and it is just a really beautiful rig. The easy access to the top ports make plugging in the Oculus 2 very easy! Or anything else for that matter. LED’s in the cooling are programmable as well. Hooked up to my home network wireless fiber but it does have an ethernet card as well for the fastest connection. There is no higher workload on a computer that VR and I could not wait to see what this bad boy could deliver. I had been running just Oculus 2 wireless and it was awesome, then got a gaming laptop with a pretty decent GPU and did the link and that was such an improvement, but it sounded like my laptop was going to explode after playing on it for a while and the heat was significant. Also with laptops the GPU is always trying to balance performance with power for the batteries and if you want the best performance you need it plugged in anyway…I mean you could select the optimization of power and batteries but then quality is significantly impacted with gaming especially for VR. Might as well have a tower that has the power and focus and ABILITY to really take your VR experience to the next level. I started with Richie’s plank since its pretty basic on the Oculus 2 wired and wireless. On the MSI, with that Radeon graphics card and Ryzen processor…it feels like going from a PS2 to a PS4 from Oculus 2 to Oculus 2 with the link. The graphics are amazing. Then took it up a notch and loaded up Half-Life: Alyx and this is the kind of game that really shines and utilizes the power this rig can offer. The shading, the detail, the lighting’s movement and reflection in the game are just amazing. My laptop just can’t deliver the detail and smooth frames this MSI rig can. To be fair, It will be harder to pack this MSI up and take to a friend's house to VR BUT…when I do, I will for sure have the advantage and deeper immersion for sure. Ultimately that’s the magic of VR gaming… the transportation to other worlds and places! Google earth VR is also just amazing on this thing. Although VR is my preferred gaming platform these days, getting on there and flexing a bit with Cyberpunk, to go back and visit some really intense (although buggy sometimes) visuals, this rig chews through it all with ease. Ghostrunner, The Witcher 3 and for just beauty’s sake…Microsoft Flight Simulator looks absolutely amazing! Great out of the box gaming rig experience! MSI Delivers hands down with this! It’s a winner for sure!

=== Summary === The AMD MSI Aegis ZS is a good-value, mid-range gaming PC with powerful components that can provide smooth gameplay from 1080P up to 4K gaming. The 8-core 16-thread Ryzen 7 5800X CPU and 12GB Radeon 6700XT GPU feel the most comfortable when doing 2K gaming although 4K gaming is certainly doable dependent on the game and the eye-candy settings turned on. The all-black compact case looks sleek with its tempered glass panels and brightly lit LED fans, and the 120mm watercooler keeps the noise level down and performance level up. With wild and unpredictable CPU and GPU prices, this $1699.99 (as of 2022-03-22) system offers solid performance in gaming, content creation, and for everyday use without the drama or hassle of hunting for components. It’s a solid Win. ____ *Pros: -Clean, sleek design in a compact formfactor with excellent fit-and-finish. -Comes water-cooled, keeping temperatures and noise level down. -Good airflow from large LED fans. -The Ryzen 7 5800X & Radeon 6700XT excel in 2K gaming and does well in 4K. -Surprisingly decent gaming mouse. -Wi-Fi is fast and stable. -Easy to upgrade in the future. ____ *Neutral: -I wish the PSU was at least 850W for future component upgrades. -Windows 11 feels too dumbed down compared to Windows 10. ____ *Cons: -The keyboard is wobbly, mushy, and not comfortable for long gaming sessions. The MSI Aegis ZS 5DS-263 is both my first PC system from MSI and my first time using an AMD CPU. I’ve been running Intel CPUs for the past two decades and my last Radeon GPU was the ATI Radeon 9800 Pro from 2003. I already knew AMD had made a strong come-back against Intel and its Ryzen CPUs were superior in multiple scenarios, such as content creation and video and audio editing. As it turns out, the Ryzen 5800X is also great for PC gaming and VR through my Oculus Rift S. On the GPU side, the 6700XT has also been a revelation. My newest GPU prior to the 6700XT is the Nvidia RTX 2080 and the 6700XT performs better in the games I play and it’s also more future-proof thanks to its 12GB of memory. Two games are taking up most of my free time right now and they’re God of War and Elden Ring. The Aegis is hooked up to my 4K Samsung TV in my living room and it’s been a blast. Both games run smoothly and thanks to the 120mm watercooler, the system’s fans are barely audible. Apparently, AMD has made huge strives toward higher driver quality and software and I didn’t have to relive driver problem nightmares from the early 2000’s. :D I also do some Nintendo Switch and Wii U emulation gaming with my 7-yo daughter, and all the apps run just as fine as they did on an Nvidia GPU and Intel CPU. Besides gaming, the Aegis excels in everything else as well, such video editing through Cyberlink PowerDirector and 3D printing software. I do lots of drone and GoPro video editing and the Aegis rips through them. There are two things about the Aegis that annoy me and one of them is Windows 11, which is not MSI’s fault obviously. I feel Microsoft dumbed down the user interface too much from Windows 10 and it’s been slightly frustrating during my learning curve time. Like it or not, Windows 11 is the future so I’ll get used to it or find ways to make it better. The second annoyance is the included “gaming keyboard.” Although it looks pretty spiffy with its rainbow LED lighting effect, the keys are awful. They’re too soft, mushy, wobbly, and the uptake rate is too slow. I only lasted less than an hour before I switched back to my Razor mechanical keyboard. The MSI gaming mouse was a pleasant surprise. It’s quite a bit heavy compared to my previous gaming mouse but it’s solidly built, responsive, and didn’t hinder my gaming experience. It, too, got replaced eventually by my Corsair M65 RGB Ultra gaming mouse. All in all, I’m very impressed with the AMD system that MSI crafted and I’m in love with it after I changed out the crappy keyboard. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this system to friends and family.

I am so glad to purchase this tower as it did satisfy me in getting something at a great price.

Everybody loves to get a new PC, especially gamers. And even though most gamers love building their own PC, its always a welcome thought when you don't have to worry about cable management. Although when buying a new PC vs building, you are a little limited in the packages you get, but at the same time you are getting a turn-key product. You don't have to worry about making sure you picked a big enough PSU, applied sufficient sink to your CPU, or tightened down the liquid cooling properly. A new PC is a chance for a fresh start. A chance to declutter. A chance to make sure you actually installed your OS on the correct drive and have your lightning fast bootup times. And these are all reasons that I was excited to receive this MSI Aegis ZS Gaming Desktop. This AMD/MSI gaming PC and I got off to a little bit of a rocky start. Although it arrived packaged very well and neatly organized, the initial setup was...well...dumb. The newest version of windows requires an internet connection to set up. REQUIRES. Now I know what you are thinking...yes, everyone has internet. I have a gigabit connection in my home. And this PC has a built in wifi card. So no problem right? Well, in theory. If everything works properly. As I was going through the setup process, my wifi card was not detected. So I was unable to connect to the internet. And with this issue, I was dead in the water. It would not let me skip connecting to the internet to continue setup. Absolutely frustrating. I did have a long length of ethernet cable, however was unable to access the cable due to being limited by crutches due to a recent surgery. I was dead in the water. I ended up having a friend bring be over a wifi dongle to try in the USB port if the PC to see if I could use it to access the internet and complete setup, and this did work. As soon as setup was complete, the PC performed an update, then my wifi card began to show and I was able to return the dongle. But this was a rough issue to have. After finally getting up and running, I have been thoroughly impressed with this PC. Typically being an intel fanboy, this was my first opportunity to try an AMD product line. I have previously viewed AMD as being the PC equipment you would get if you ordered on Wish. But I was wrong. This PC with its AMD Radeon RX6700XT GPU and AMD Ryzen 5800X Processor have vastly outperformed my other PC which sports intel equipment. Now this computer is newer with more modern hardware, however with the ability to pull over 100fps on high graphics settings in Escape from Tarkov and Overwatch has been nice, and I can't imagine needing anything more than that. I have not tried rendering 3D video which I regularly did with my other intel machine, but I can only imagine this PC will do just fine. I have attached a benchmark that I completed for this PC. On paper, it definitely performs. In actual use, this PC also performs. My eyes have been opened. AMD is a formidable competitor to Intel, and my future PC builds will definitely include parts from AMD.

This machine was packed well. The box it came in was a sturdy cardboard; the tower was surrounded by foam padding and there was a foam insert inside of the case to prevent the GPU from moving around during transit. Likewise, everything appeared to be installed correctly when I checked it after unboxing. The case and components all looked really nice. Plenty of RGB on the inside for color customization. One benefit of buying this pre-built from a manufacturer like MSI is getting quality MSI parts in the build. The CPU is a Ryzen 7 5800x, which, in my experience, is great for gaming. The GPU is an MSI brand 6700xt; this graphics card is easily capable of 1440p gaming. It comes with an MSI B550 A-Pro motherboard which includes current standards like PCIE 4th gen. It includes 1 terabyte (tb) of storage via an m.2 slot. There is also another m.2 slot and SATA connections available if you wanted to expand. It comes with 2 x 8 gigabyte (8gb) memory sticks but has 2 additional slots so it’s easy to upgrade. Between the motherboard and the case, there is plenty of inputs and outputs. The graphics card can support 4 displays via 3 DisplayPort connections and 1 HDMI connection. There are 2 USB Type A (3.2) ports, 2 USB Type C (3.2) ports, and 4 USB 2.0 ports. If you have a keyboard/mouse that supports PS2, there is a PS2 port on the back as well. Overall, I was really happy with the build and really appreciated that it was designed for expansion as my needs for additional storage/memory grow. The cooling and ventilation in this machine work great. Initially, I was concerned because the front of the machine is mostly closed off with plastic and glass. However, the three front fans, the back fan, and the water cooler on the CPU do a really great job at keeping the temperatures down. I was monitoring the temperatures using the AMD Radeon software and neither the CPU or GPU temp got to a place where I was concerned. Windows 11 was preloaded on the machine which made setting up the computer as simple as turning it on and doing the initial Windows setup. Note: I’d recommend checking the drivers to make sure they’re updated before hopping into any games. There were some programs pre-installed on the machine (specifically Norton Anti-Virus, but if you’re looking for an anti-virus software it at least offered a free 60 day trial). UserBenchmark results came out great (see photo attachment). Everything is performing in line with the benchmark, and as you can see the CPU and GPU perform super well. This is without any sort of tuning or overclocking, just by setting it to the performance mode in the AMD Radeon Software. The first game I tested was Apex Legends in the firing range. I was running the game at 1080p, v-sync off, settings maxed out. FPS averaging in the mid-190s with max of 239 (my monitor’s refresh rate maxes out at 240 so unclear how high it could go). I also tested Tunic at 1080p and it maxed out at 240fps (again my monitor is likely the bottleneck here). I also ran Tunic at 4k on my TV and it was definitely playable, though it’s worth noting that it’s not the most graphic intense application. Overall, this is a great pre-built gaming PC with great performance. I’d recommend to anyone looking to have something great out of the box but also can be enhanced/upgraded as their needs change.

MSI’s pre-built gaming PC is an upper mid-range rig that brings the essentials for AAA gaming. Equipped with a solid mid-range CPU from AMD (5800x), an upper mid-range AMD 6700XT, and other hardware to match, the Aegis represents a competently built computer. Is it more than the sum of its parts however? That’s the question. I'm a seasoned PC builder, so color me impressed to see MSI do a decent job. Before I get into this review, I must say I've seen the horror stories from Gamer's Nexus, and this is a complete different system than what Steve reviewed in March 2022. This system is much more competently built, although some things like GPU backplate, and not the greatest thermals are still observed. Thermals are what they are - and IMHO are more about the quality of cooler found on the CPU and GPU which are still better than most pre-builts IMHO. First of all, I was impressed with the packaging. Many prebuilts can come with cables either glued or cables disconnected. MSI’s approach is pretty sound. Inside the computer you will find expanded foam that fits around all the important bits, relieving stress from the inevitable shipping jarring. Everything is secured and well packaged. Another nice thing (which is pretty standard affair from MSI graphics cards), is the anti-sag bracket that helps keep the GPU from stressing the slot or it’s own PCB - both a boon during shipping and for the lifetime of the PC. Removing the glass and the foam, the PC is basically ready to go. The glass side panel, which is pretty standard these days, comes off easily and has thumb screws. You’ll need a screwdriver to get it started - obviously torqued tighter than what fingers would allow, but once past that you’ll be able to use thumbs for removing the side panel in the future. Attaching the included WiFi antennas, power cord, and keyboard/mouse (and obviously BYOM - bring your own monitor), and bam you’re rocking and rolling. Luckily they’ve figured out to put a sticker over the on board graphics ports so people don’t plug in their monitor to the non-existant onboard video. Windows 11 setup takes a few minutes, but then you’re dumped to a pretty vanilla Windows 11 install without much bloat. The Aegis itself is actually built from all retail channel MSI parts. Yes, everything down to the SSD is available in retail channel, which make it a pretty easy. In fact, as far as I can tell, the only non-MSI part in this build is the RAM (which MSI doesn’t make). WiFi is definitely the afterthought here (with a basic AC card), but easily upgraded if you so choose (thank you Amazon for OEM parts) for around $30-40. So being mostly retail parts, what is the raw cost? Well if you go by retail prices as of March 2022, allowing for a non-retail windows license (about $30), about $1700 on the nose. Considering that’s a price this machine has seen, it makes it a pretty ok value. At full retail, it’s a little less of a deal however. The video card itself accounts for over 40% of the total price, and is sure to fluctuate further, considering not even a month ago, this card trended at $1000 alone. Either way, I can tell you right now - MSI’s build quality is really good if you like the part selection, making this machine a value. Now, back to the parts. All of these can be bought separately at retail, but here you go: A 5800x from AMD, MSI Mech Radeon RX 6700XT 12GB, a B550-A Pro motherboard, MSI MPG A650GF 80 Plus Gold 650W PSU, XPG DDR4 3200MHz 16GB (2x8GB), a MSI Spatium M390 M.2 1TB NVMe SSD (Gen3), the MSI MPG Gungnir 110R case with 4 ARGB fans + controller, MSI MAG Coreliquid 120R aRGB cooler (can’t find this one currently at retail, but the bigger 240mm version is), MSI Dual Band AC AC905C. Considering MSI’s supply chain, I’m impressed at the completeness of how MSI this is. Many OEM’s won’t go to this length to use actual retail parts for their builds. Here you’re getting a pretty decent kit. There was one thing that bothered me out of the box. Given Ryzen’s love for fast RAM, you’d expect a 3200MHz kit to be the bare minimum, with 3600 being really the target. Unfortunately out of the box the ram is running basic 2400MHz settings because XMP isn’t enabled. Going into the bios (press delete after turning on) and finding and clicking the A-XMP button is worth the trouble. This put the RAM (and the Fclk) at 1600MHz (3200 effective) improving performance. Many will miss this, and it’s a ding in an otherwise competent build. Ok, so that’s the PC builder perspective. How does it game? Well, about as well as you’d expect from a 5800x and 6700XT together. This machine drives 1440p AAA gaming pretty well, and honestly I hooked it up to a (*gasp*) MSI 4k monitor and drove most games at high or ultra settings. Cyberpunk 2077 was playable at Ultra 4K with AMD’s Fidelity FX on Quality (mid-50’s on the benchmark with lows in the upper 30’s). Ray tracing hit AMD’s GPU really hard - making a proverbial slide show of the game. But games like Elden Ring, and played cranked up no problem. While neither the 5800x or 6700xt are the highest tier parts, they’re gaming prowess is unquestionable. The included keyboard and mouse are RGB, but the keyboard is definitely just a rubber dome keyboard (not mechanical) - named the Vigor GK20. This may not bother you, and it is quite comfortable to type and game on. The mouse seems to track really well for what it is. Neither parts are high end, but the mouse - the Clutch GM08 - is highly rated and respected. For the price, I would have liked to see another SSD, or a larger NVMe model - one with PCI-E gen 4 support (and speeds to match - the included one does max out the 4x3.0 lanes it uses). Also, the GPU is definitely the rock bottom tier 6700XT, offering no additional power budget, or overclocking headroom really. The board is nice, and pairs well with the 5800x, but I didn’t see too much improvement from enabling PBO, leading me to look at thermals. Honestly the 120mm cooler seems overwhelmed by the 5800x, maxing out around 85C with a 63C over ambient. That’s not a very impressive result for water cooling, so I check pump settings, etc - only to find the pump running at maximum (as it should) and the attached fan properly curved to temperature. That 120mm AIO is just kind of wimpy. Overall I have to give a pretty high recommendation for this build. Most parts are in the realm of things I would choose doing a custom build, the case is nice, and even has a easily removed dust filter in the front. Tempered glass won’t win any thermal challenges, but it sure is pretty and make this a nice show piece. The ability to change the ARGB effects via the button, while low tech, is still easy. Wire management is nice, and no glue was used in the making of this PC (only electrical tape!). Overall it’s competently put together, packaged, and shipped. Highly recommended!

This variation of the Aegis ZS performs very well to meet most gaming needs. I was able to enjoy high FPS(70+) at 1440p with many of my favorite titles such as Far Cry 6 and Resident Evil Village. What holds this desktop back depends on what you prioritize. I'm in the minority group that enjoys gaming at 4K (with ray tracing) over FPS in certain cases (primarily single play campaigns). The 6700 XT can render 4K. However, temper expectations if you desire ray tracing at a consistent 30fps. If this machine contained a 6800 XT then it would be perfect. An upgraded GPU would pull more performance out of the Ryzen 7 5800X making this a high end computer. Given the current specs, the ZS Aegis falls within the high-end of mid-tier gaming computers. The only issue I ran into is when it came to the 120mm fan which was unexpectedly vibrating against the case ever so often. To solve the issue, I slightly loosened each screw which seemed to solve the problem. The fans were very quiet when not gaming and at good levels during intense sessions. Overall, I love my machine for meeting most of my gaming needs. Quick Notes: - Plays 1440p at 60+ fps well - Acceptable Fan Noise Level - Struggles when desiring 4K or Ray Tracing.

This PC has everything needed for most serious gamers. First off, when you unpack the PC, make sure you check the connections inside like the instructions suggest. One of the extra GPU connections on the power cable had pushed into the GPU fan and made a loud noise when booted up. It was easily corrected by removing the side case and readjusting. The 5800X processer and 6700XT graphics will push almost any AAA game at highest on 1080 and 1440 monitors. You will probably need to tune down the graphics settings if you will be connecting to a 4K monitor. 3DMark tests put this build in the top 78% of all tested systems. This puts in the high-end class of gaming PCs. The case is well made and looks really cool. There are four case fans. three in the front and one in the back). The fans running really quite, even at a heavy load. The front of the case is half glass and gives a good view of the front fans. The fan and CPU cooler colors can easily be changed with a button on the top of the case. There are seven USB ports in the back and one is dedicated to a high speed connection for SSD drives. In addition, there are two USB ports on the top and one min-USB port. My other PC is running an I9 processor and a RTX3080 GPU and all AAA games I've tried ( Destiny 2, New World and Battlefield 2042) run just as good on this PC. I even believe the colors are better using the same 1440p monitor. There is a SSD plate on the bottom of the inside of the case and there is a space for up to two more harddrives in the back for easy upgrades. For the price, power and quality, you will not find a better gaming PC for the price.

I will start out by saying I’m not a full-time gamer. This PC will be used for a variety of different purposes including gaming, video and photo editing, audio production, web surfing and streaming video watching. Typically, I have my computer on for 8-10 hours a day, so I get a TON of use out of it. I was looking for a PC that was up to the challenge and could handle everything I threw at it. Right out of the box, this is a beautiful looking PC. They paid a lot of attention to the design inside and out! From the glass side panel to the excellent cable routing inside the case and the lighted fans, this thing will turn some heads. It was so nicely packaged I had a hard time finding where I could install a secondary SATA hard drive on it! If you’re one of those people, you have to take the side off that isn’t glass and there are bays there to put the hard drives. Once I got everything put together, I fired it up and it booted up very quickly! The 1TB SSD makes this computer lighting fast! I was up and running in a matter of minutes after going through the usual Windows setup procedures. The PC has tons of ports available so you will have plenty of space to plug in whatever you need to. There is also plenty of room for expansion as well if you needed to add more hard drives or USB ports and things like that. As I stated before, the 3 fans in the front and one in the back have lights on them. There is a button on top of the tower that you can press to cycle through the different lighting modes. There is also software on the PC so you can customize it even further. The PC does include a keyboard and mouse. I found them to be OK, but they are nothing special. Very basic. I decided to use the keyboard and mouse I already have. I will just save them as a backup. There is also a bundle of other SATA and power cables and things like that for hooking up other peripherals inside the PC. One note, when I started it up, I noticed a clicking noise coming from the video card fan (like something was touching the fan blade). It only lasted for a little while and then stopped. Once the PC is running, I don’t hear it even when the fan is running, it just happens on startup. So, I’ll have to investigate that a little further and maybe get a replacement if there is a problem. I don’t see anything touching the fan. Since this is a gaming PC, I did some benchmarks using Red Dead Redemption 2. I basically opened the PC and set it up and installed the game and ran the benchmarks. I didn’t do any tweaking at all to the settings of the PC. I am running this into a Samsung AG900 Odyssey Neo G9 49” ultra-wide gaming monitor. I have it set at 240Hz with standard HDR. I have to say all 3 of the settings below looked beautiful on this monitor with this PC. I just used the in-game benchmark tool and used the preset quality slider since that’s the easiest to replicate across various systems. With the slider about ¾ of the way to the right (best quality) I got: Min – 37.26 fps Max – 60.3562 fps Average – 48.774 fps Then I put the slider in the middle Min – 32.3362 fps Max – 69.2324 fps Average – 53.0162 fps Then I put it to the left about ¼ of the way Min – 33.3743 fps Max – 133.533 fps Average – 86.225 fps Im sure if you tweak the settings more you can probably get more FPS out of this PC. I also tried running Photoshop, Premiere, and Cubase 12 as well. They all loaded up very quickly and ran like a dream. Very quick, peppy, and responsive. This is by far the fastest PC I have ever owned. I have no doubt that this will last me for many, many, many years before I will need to get an upgrade. I highly recommend this PC if you are a gamer. I also highly recommend it if you are like me and need a fast machine that can do a little bit of everything. You won't be disappointed!

I think that building a pc is a good alternative but it requires some expertise and time for the whole process, however when it comes to buying a pc, especially if we talk about a gaming pc, which already has all the components installed, the task would be to choose the one with the best combination of components but that would take a long time because it depends on the use that will be given, however MSI with this gaming pc has achieved a balance between productivity and gaming, I love to play and share moments with my friends but also the creation of content and in both areas I can say that this pc meets my expectations, it is a pc with a case that looks great with fans with RGB lights that illuminate the pc very well, I really like to see through the tempered glass all the components of my pc XD, it comes with a keyboard which is not a mechanic keyboard it is membrane, it is just fine it is not the best but gets the job done but the mouse is really nice and so precise, I really like it and doesn't weigh much. I do not think it is necessary to rename the specifications, but it is impossible not to bring to the subject the graphics card that obviously plays an important role if we talk about gaming, with a Radeon RX6700 XT graphics card there is not much to envy to other brands, the fluidity with which runs shooters like Fortnie, WarZone, Valorant allows to enjoy almost any current video game in 1440p quality depending on the configuration you can get more than 60fps and in my case I have a 144hz monitor I can limit my games up to 144fps, Tomb Raider, BattleFront, Rocket League, LOL, Forza Horizon etc, are games that easily support the graphics card, I have had no major problems with graphics or temperatures when playing, using the Ryzen Master app, you can activate the automatic overclock that allows you to use the processor at maximum capacity if the current task required it, in this scenario the processor and graphics do not exceed its temperature limit and reached high clock speeds, (48° c - 78° c, 3700 mhz- 4760 mhz) this CPU does an excellent job. In the productivity section is where I could finally take the processor to a use close to 100% editing, and rendering a 4k video at 24fps of a duration of about 20 minutes, the time to render this video was less than 14 minutes, and with a 400 mbps wired connection I could upload the video to the internet in less than 12 minutes (the pc includes a pre installed network card and a couple of antennas but through WiFi I could only reach just over 200 mbps so the wireless connection will be a better alternative), I can confirm then that the combination that msi presents in this gaming pc is very well balanced, we must remember that the performance of a pc will always depend on other factors, however for tasks such as audio editing, image, video, home office and gaming among other things, this pc is a great option, I can definitely recommend it.

Overall a great gamer. I run this pc for an Iracing sim rig and can max out settings at 120fps all day... Only let down is the fact you must change out aio cooler. Supplied MSI single 120mm does not cool ryzen 7 ...Period...Idle temps will be 70C and under load maxes out at 91c with all fans at max rpm. I upgraded to the MSI Coreliquid 240mm dual fan and rad. Temps are great, idle 35c and load 50-60c. Now it's perfect also looks great, heavy duty solid case and a very neat, clean build.

To summarize what you can expect from the MSI Aegis ZS: 15367 Cinebench R23 scores, 12671 Futuremark scores, 150-170 FPS in Destiny 2 @ 2k Resolution with settings on high, Halo Infinite @ 2k Resolution, default settings, with FPS locked at 60. Temperatures are surprisingly good for a smaller water cooling radiator. The CPU didn’t get above 74 Celsius while playing either game, GPU hovered around 65-67 Celsius. The PC comes with enough memory and storage to get you started right out of the box after installing a few of your favorite games, although if video editing, you’ll probably want more RAM. Luckily, there’s two spots available to extend it to 32gb without too much hassle. It’s worth noting that there’s also an additional M.2 slot for fast storage upgrade as well. MSI knows how to ship PC’s. The foam insert inside the tower kept all the components in place with a note reminding you to remove it before powering on. All the cables and components were still secured from shipping. Cables are neatly managed inside the case. MSI also includes a sticker on your I/O reminding you to use the GPU for your HDMI/Display Port cable, which I thought was a nice touch for anyone just getting into PC gaming. Also included is a mouse and keyboard so all you really need is a monitor and display cable to get started. When you first fire it up, you’ll notice the RGB on the water block and fans. The included keyboard and mouse light up too. Once you’re through the initial windows setup which only takes a few minutes, I typically get to work on running windows updates, which the PC seemed fairly up-to-date with it’s Windows 11 System Image. I was pleasantly surprised to not see a ton of bloatware which seems to be a relic of old OEM desktop pre-builds. The system comes with custom MSI software and wallpaper. The MSI software allows you to install apps for system optimizations, RGB control, hardware control, and system monitoring. This system has the full fat AMD flavor. The Ryzen 5800x is an 8-core powerhouse. It’s single core performance doesn’t break any records but excels at multi-core workloads. I was also able to squeeze out a bit more performance by overclocking, but the returns were sub-par, which is typical for Ryzen chips. Paired with the RX 6700 XT, you’ll be working with the full AMD package. The 6700 XT runs cool and quiet from what I’ve noticed and no issues with stuttering or excessive fan noise when playing games, although it is worth noting, I play with headphones on. I was not able to get the OC profile to stick which tells me that overclocking may not be an option on these GPUs. As mentioned, this system comes with, what I would call, “stock” mouse and keyboard. You can set profiles for the keyboard and adjust DPI settings on the mouse using MSI software. I wouldn’t expect a robust customization experience. What I will say is, I don’t notice a huge difference when gaming on this keyboard or a high end wireless mouse and keyboard combo. I’m not an elite pro gamer, but I hold my own in casual games, the mouse and keyboard do just fine. Finally I’ll say this system looks like it was built off the shelves. There doesn’t seem to be any cheap “made for the masses” hardware with ugly multi colored cables and weird proprietary brackets and connectors. This system looks like it was custom built specifically for the customer. I can appreciate this because I know when I go to upgrade down the road, I wont have to worry about compatibility issues with the hardware. If you’re looking to get into PC gaming or just need to upgrade an aging battlestation, I can’t find anything wrong with this build. It’s not the best money can buy but it isn’t far off and the price to performance ratio is in the right spot.

As we all know building a PC right now is not easy with graphic card prices. So that means pre-built, at least for awhile, is the way to go. This machine came in a nice big box and was excellently protected with not just packing material around the PC but actually packing material INSIDE the PC to protect the very expensive and very awesome 6700 XT graphics card. It is really a nice first impression to see that MSI knows how to package a product and spent extra time to secure the all important video card! So that was a good sign. Opening up the package revealed a mouse, a keyboard and some documentation. The mouse is nice but most gamers will likely replace it first thing. The keyboard is a bit better and actually a very good membrane keyboard. It's not overly lit up but you can see some lighting and it really matches the PC in aesthetics. Personally I do not like membrane keyboards so I will be replacing this asap but for those of you who are ok with membrane keyboards I think you'll really like this keyboard. I also liked the fact that on the back of the PC there was a small note that indicated to NOT use the integrated graphics card plug in. This is nice sign that MSI knows consumers...a large portion of which would likely plug their DP or HDMI cable to the wrong port so this is excellent that MSI chose to label it as such. The first thing I did was take off the side case to see the interior. What I saw inside was really good cable management and very little that could be improved upon. I did see one wire that was small that I plan to redirect but otherwise MSI has done a most excellent job of making this a very clean and tidy build inside. It may be a pre-built but who has to know right? It sure looks like something a very fervent gamer put together as it is a very elegant mid-tower case inside. I also noticed that the top of the case had no fans so I made a mental note to rectify that situation as soon as possible with some Razer or Corsair fans. Do note that the air flow though is excellent and temps rarely exceeded 60 celsius no matter what I threw at the PC. However, I do have extra fans with some extra lighting so that will mean that I will likely add those fans to the top of the case at some point. Starting up Windows 11 for the first time was easy and after a few questions typical to a new install and a login and there I was in Windows 11 with almost no bloatware whatsoever to install. I did notice that there is a 60 day trial for Norton anti-virus which I will remove soon but other than that there is absolutely nothing on this machine that you will find troublesome and want to uninstall. This has been a major issue for us gamers who buy a prebuilt so seeing no bloatware on this PC was another excellent point made in favor of MSI for gamers. Moving on to installing some games the first games I installed were purposefully demanding: Microsoft Flight Simulator and Forza Horizon 5. To install I used the Wifi-6 card that the PC has and speeds were excellent, almost as good as ethernet direct, which is great to see. After awhile I was able to fire up both games, both ran flawlessly on my 2560x1440 @ 165Hz monitor at about 60 FPS with nearly everything on ULTRA (there were a few settings such as shadows I moved down some) and I was very happy to see this. If this PC can handle Flight Simulator with aplomb then I have no doubt all other games should run excellent. Having used this PC for about two weeks now I can safely say it is a SUPER BEAST! I love everything about it, the aesthetics, the build out, the excellent cable management, the speed and of course the overall design which is very futuristic looking. All you really need after you get this is a headset, speakers and a good monitor and you're all set to game well into the future. I would definitely recommend this PC to anyone whether you are new to PC gaming or you're an old pro who would usually build a PC but for now, due to the graphic card shortage, is going to be interested in a pre-built. Other than perhaps the lackluster mouse and the membrane keyboard this PC is absolutely top notch. And make no mistake, the keyboard and mouse are ok for most folks but experienced users will likely be bringing their own to the party anyways. Oh and one last thing, not a SINGLE crash in two weeks of heavy use by myself and my wife. Now that is rock strong stability. MSI HAS CREATED A DEFINITE WINNER WITH THIS ONE!! STRONGLY RECOMMEND.

This desktop is a high quality gaming desktop that's setup to get in the action right away. In the box is a tower, RGB Keyboard and Mouse along with power cords. One thing that I noticed right away that's awesome is that MSI included extra SATA cables and Power Cables so you can easily add additional storage in the empty storage bays. There are two SATA SSD spots and there are two 3.5" hard drive bays. In addition, there's still another NVME slot to add more high-speed storage. Plugging it in and setting it up is as easy as adding a monitor and speakers (or just a monitor with built-in speakers). The included keyboard and mouse are decent and will work to get started gaming. Both have RGB controls and the software enables some basic extended control for the lighting and profiles. In terms of performance, this machine is solid and every bit as fast as my 9th gen i7 gaming desktop. The discrete graphics card included in this system is a solid middle of the road card that yield excellent performance for all of the games I like including CSGO, Assassin's Creed, Control, Halo and World of Warcraft. Out of the box, with nothing installed on it and nothing tweaked this system scores 9481 on the Superposition Benchmark with an average FPS of just under 72, which is decent for a 4K benchmark. Playing all games at 4K with high settings may not yield the highest FPS but for most gamers this card will perform solid for most titles, and especially using scaling which will increase FPS also. Because the CPU is water cooled, this system runs cool and quiet so you won't hear much even under heavy loads outside of the GPU's fans which can get a bit louder if the system is under heavy load and has been warm for a while. There's plenty of ports on this machine with several USB Ports and a USB Type C on the front panel in addition to type A ports. Lighting in the case with RGB fans, RGB AIO liquid cooler, RGB motherboard, Keyboard and Mouse is easily customizable with the Mystic Light software. MSI also makes it easy to tweak your system settings with their software once it's installed. This pro series gives you PLENTY of expandability and control. Something important to note: The MSI Software is not pre-installed, and it was not immediately evident where/how or even that I needed to download it. This for me was good in the respect that this system has absolutely NO bundled bloatware software, which is something I prefer so note that you'll need to download the software you want to install including MSI and AMD's control software which is not required to run this system but is if you want to control lighting and other things. The only thing pre-installed was Norton which for me is not my preferred security software but it's better than not having anything out of the box. Overall this system is SOLID and I would recommend it. It performs as good as or better than some Intel systems for gaming specifically. This systems GPU having 12GB of VRAM ensures you can play the most demanding games with readiness for future games that require more VRAM to run at high framerates. The included ram is decent and you can easily expand it without having to replace existing modules (though you'll have to look up specs for your individual system in the BIOS to match close to what's installed). There's only ONE thing that I would say that isn't so good is the included NVME SSD which is not the fastest one out there for random read which helps games load faster. I would recommend adding a faster NVME SSD for your games and you'll be ready for Windows DirectStorage as games are updated to support it.

Was capable of running games while streaming, playing music, streaming camera in a discord call, separating audio and running what ever random things I had going. It was a great buy and it was very reliable. Although it was a great buy, the water cooling system gave out when I pushed it by running a 24 hour stream. Even with that, I would recommend it to anyone who casually games. Be weary of using total tech for any problems, the parts are oddly unavailable and you would be best off replacing parts yourself.

I've had this PC for over a year now. And it runs fantastically, almost all of the time. I had some issues with the liquid cooler, and it is the biggest con to the PC, although most pre-builts have liquid coolers now. PC runs anything I throw at it great at 1440p and 140hz.

Computer is fast and easy to set up. One of the fans started to stick after a month. They would not replace it so I had to buy another fan to fix it. Everything else is working great.