Advertisement

MSI ships its Mac Pro-like Vortex gaming PC

You can get a ton of gaming power in a small tube.

Do you like the Mac Pro's concept of stuffing a lot of computing power into a small cylinder, but wish there was a gaming PC inside instead of workstation hardware? You just got your wish. MSI has started shipping the Vortex, a riff on Apple's formula that crams a full-on game rig into a tube that's just 10.6 inches tall. It uses similar vertical cooling and includes Thunderbolt ports (Thunderbolt 3 in this case), but it's clearly aimed at a crowd that's more interested in Far Cry Primal than Final Cut Pro. The mini desktop is billed as relatively upgradeable, and there's even customizable lighting if you think the system isn't attention-grabbing enough.

Just be prepared to pay through the nose for the privilege. In the US, the Vortex starts at $2,199 with a 4GHz Core i7, dual GeForce GTX 960 graphics, 16GB of RAM, twin 128GB SSDs, a 1TB hard drive and Killer-made networking. It'll cost you $3,999 to get a no-compromise model with dual GeForce GTX 980 video chipsets and 32GB of RAM. This PC is strictly for well-heeled enthusiasts, then, but it's likely your best bet if you want a compact game machine that doubles as a conversation piece.