Originally unveiled at Computex in June and subsequently making quite an impression on European power gamers at IFA 2012 earlier this month, the Republic of Gamers Tytan CG8890 Gaming Desktop PC is now being prepared for release. It features one click overclocking of its liquid-cooled Core i7 CPU, a mesmerizing transforming case, powerful GeForce graphics and generous system memory and storage options.
With dimensions of 11.8 x 20.8 x 24.8 inches (300 x 530 x 630 mm), the huge Tytan CG8890 certainly lives up to its given name. This gaming behemoth features three on-the-fly switchable overclocking modes for the 6-Core Intel Ivy Bridge Core i7-3960X processor on an Intel X79 chipset.
One-click Turbo Gear overclocking allows gamers to dynamically overclock the i7 processor up to a maximum speed of 4.2 GHz without needing to reboot. The ROG logo on the case and bottom grill lights indicate the three different system readiness states – blue for 3.8 GHz (Startup mode), and red for both 4 GHz (Turbo Gear mode) and 4.2 GHz (Turbo Gear extreme mode) clock speeds.
The transforming case automatically opens its top and side panels in Turbo Gear mode to reveal its eye-catching crimson fans that exhaust hot air and redirect cool air into the system. The heady combination of ten-way venting and liquid-cooled CPU is claimed to deliver the most efficient heat dissipation and airflow for improved stability in the heat of battle.
The CG8890 is built around a Rampage IV Formula motherboard and sports four PCIe 3.0/2.0 x16*2 and two PCIe 2.0 x1 expansion slots, four 3 Gb/s SATA and four 6 Gb/s connections, and comes with a choice of NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 (with 2 GB of dedicated DDR 5 video memory) or 690 (with 4 GB VRAM and supporting up to four screens) GPU options. There's up to 16 GB of dual channel DDR 3 memory of over four slots and up to 15 TB of HDD and 256 GB of SSD storage. ASUS says that the dual 128 GB SSDs in RAID 0 configuration offer up to four times faster data access speeds than generic HDDs.
The sounds of the fracas come courtesy of Realtek ALC892 audio with an optional ASUS Xonar DX sound card also available, benefiting from 116dB SNR for cleaner audio delivery. Optical drive options including SuperMulti DVD burner and Blu-ray writer (with space for a second drive if required).
A 16-in-1 media card reader, two USB 2.0 and two USB 3.0 ports have been included on the front of that impressive case, and to the rear there are two 6 Gb/s eSATA ports, four USB 3.0 and six USB 2.0 ports, an optical S/PDIF out and a 8-channel audio I/O, a Gigabit Ethernet LAN port, a Clear CMOS button and a ROG Connect On/Off switch. The whole shebang is juiced from a 900W peak power supply.
The ROG Tytan CG8890 comes with Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit edition pre-installed, and a host of software including Nero 9 Essentials, Power DVD and ASUS Suite II. It also ships with a cabled USB ROG keyboard (with a 50 million key press per key lifespan) and ROG 4,000 dpi laser gaming mouse.
Unfortunately, although ASUS says that the CG8890 is now available in limited numbers, there's currently no official word on pricing. However, it's a safe bet to speculate that this beast of a gaming PC will sit in the more costly corner of the games room.
Product page: Tytan CG8890 Gaming Desktop PC
The video below shows the ASUS Techinstyle folks overviewing the model that was on show at Computex and IFA 2012.