Maingear MG-1 Final Evaluate: The Most Highly effective PC We have Ever Examined

Maingear has been a giant identify in {custom} PCs for over 20 years and has earned a sterling fame for its high-end PCs, particularly for gaming, and powerful buyer help. Whereas its flagship MG-1 line, starting from simply over $1,100 to the $4,000 machine I examined, has loads of options for hardcore avid gamers to drool over, the MG-1 may also be an excellent possibility for creatives.

The Specs: The MG-1 Final Has Severe Horsepower

As talked about, the MG-1 as a collection is offered in many various variations, starting from $1,149 to $3,999. Whereas Maingear despatched an MG-1 Final for overview, the top-end possibility, the Silver and Gold pre-configs at $1,149 and $1,299, respectively, are removed from lightweights.

The complete collection presently comes with Nvidia Geforce RTX 4000-series GPUs and, with one exception, moderately high-end Intel CPUs. Base RAM ranges from 16GB DDR4 to the 32GB DDR5 in my take a look at unit.

To contextualize the remainder of this overview, it’s price drilling down on exactly what’s included in my take a look at machine. The MG-1 Final has an Intel Core i9-14900K with 24 cores. That is paired with 32GB of DDR5 RAM, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090, and 2TB of Gen4 M.2 NVMe SSD storage. For a similar value because the “normal” MG-1 Final, there’s an Nvidia Studio configuration, which Maingear despatched me to strive, and this consists of Nvidia Studio drivers pre-installed for content material creation workflows. A Enhance possibility for an additional $400 doubles the RAM and storage, though that’s not the unit I had.

Though particular picture purposes, as we’ll see, don’t take full benefit of the facility the MG-1 Final presents — taking a look at you, Lightroom — there’s a lot to love right here relating to {hardware}.

Design and Construct High quality

The excellent news continues when wanting on the MG-1’s design and construct high quality. Whereas some customers could take a look at the glass facet panel and customizable RGB strip lighting and suppose, “This can be a bit a lot,” others will find it irresistible. I’m extra within the latter camp, though turning them off is all the time a viable possibility. Turning the lights all the way down to a dim white glow is a stunning, considerably classier alternative if continually altering rainbow lights aren’t your factor. I’m a type of simpletons who laments the lack of an illuminated Apple emblem on my MacBook, so take what I say on PC lighting with a grain of salt.

The MG-1’s chassis can also be fairly massive, so customers will want an honest quantity of desk or flooring area for this {powerful} tower. It’s 19 inches tall, 8.1 inches large, and 16.9 inches deep (48.3 by 20.6 by 42.9 centimeters).

The entrance fascia is extraordinarily clear, sporting a customizable face plate that swaps utilizing a magnetic system. It’s a enjoyable manner so as to add a private contact to your tower, particularly if in case you have it in an space the place you gained’t see the clear facet panel and entertaining gentle present. Talking of the within of the machine, Maingear prides itself in actually clear builds with glorious cable administration, and, no shock, the overview unit I used to be despatched ticked all these containers. The corporate additionally ships its machines with extras from element producers, together with a bundle of assorted cables for the CPU and GPU.

On high of the machine are a few USB-A ports, a USB-C port (3.2 Gen 2×2), an audio-out port, and an influence button. There’s additionally an influence swap on the again, by the way in which. I don’t absolutely perceive the redundancy, nevertheless it’s quite common with PCs.

The again of the machine will fluctuate a bit relying on the configuration, as ports are reliant on the interior elements, however there are eight USB sort A ports and one USB-C port on mine, plus a number of DisplayPort and HDMI ports. The HDMI port tied to the GPU is HDMI 2.1, and the RTX 4090 helps 4 screens.

Whereas I respect that Maingear sells pre-configured models which are straightforward to arrange and use, even for a lifelong Mac person like me, I additionally love how straightforward it’s to get contained in the MG-1’s case. After eradicating two screws, rapidly completed by hand, you’re contained in the machine and free to tinker. Every little thing may be very simply seen and accessed. That is nice if you’d like the MG-1 to be a long-term machine, because it allows incremental upgrades over time. Whereas the tower could seem excessively massive once you see all of the area inside, this area is useful at instances. It’s a plug-and-play laptop, which I like, nevertheless it additionally stays straightforward to tweak and broaden as you see match.

Total, the MG-1 design is sweet. I want there have been extra USB-C ports, as that’s primarily what I take advantage of, however I respect that many individuals, particularly PC customers, have extra USB-A gadgets than I do. It’s a gorgeous machine.

Efficiency

There’s no sense beating across the bush right here. Let’s simply dive straight into the outcomes, see how the MG-1 Final performs, and contextualize it in opposition to the opposite machines in our benchmark library.

Lightroom Basic

Wanting first at import efficiency when producing 1:1 previews, the MG-1 Final doesn’t dethrone the present champ, the Mac Studio (M2 Extremely), nevertheless it comes shut and concurrently outperforms the opposite Home windows machines on the listing.

When taking a look at export efficiency, the story is similar, with the MG-1 Final delivering efficiency nearly nearly as good because the Mac Studio. Though Lightroom doesn’t let the MG-1 Final use all its graphical energy, it nonetheless bests the opposite Home windows machines we’ve examined.

Photoshop

Shifting over to the Photoshop benchmarks, we have now a brand new champion. The MG-1 Final delivered the very best total bench rating of any machine we have now examined. Whereas the PC is bested within the “common” rating, its distinctive GPU will get to stretch its legs on this take a look at. Whereas Lightroom is extra CPU-intensive and doesn’t take full benefit of the RTX 4090 GPU, Photoshop does a greater job of using all obtainable sources.

When the person element scores of the Photoshop benchmark take a look at are damaged down, it’s instantly evident how the MG-1 Final took the crown. Have a look at that crimson GPU bar. Due to the RTX 4090, it redefined the chart boundary.

Premiere Professional

On account of revised benchmarking, our Premiere Professional testbed is comparatively skinny. Nevertheless, like Photoshop, Premiere Professional can leverage GPU energy extra effectively than Adobe Lightroom. It ought to come as no shock that the MG-1 Final is the champion right here as effectively. We added a pair extra Macs to the listing at present, together with the M2 Extremely Mac Studio and the M3 Max-powered MacBook Professional.

As you may see, the MG-1’s sturdy efficiency is pushed primarily by its efficiency in graphics-intensive duties. The M2 Extremely comes shut and achieves some strong class efficiency, too. It’s tough to not think about what a machine would possibly seem like if it might leverage the very best of each high-powered desktops.

Efficiency Takeaways

There’s lots to love right here with regards to straight-up efficiency. In Lightroom assessments, the Maingear MG-1 Final slots in between the M2 Extremely-powered Mac Studio, a equally priced albeit a lot smaller and fewer customizable machine, and the M3 Max-powered MacBook Professional, which can also be removed from low-cost.

And with regards to the precise M2 Extremely we examined, the scenario will get a bit murkier. At launch, the take a look at unit would have set prospects again $8,800. Whereas it’s obtainable for underneath $7,000 today, that’s nonetheless a heavy premium. There’s little doubt that the “base” M2 Extremely Mac Studio would nonetheless ship excellent outcomes. Nonetheless, it helps contextualize that even after paying for the comfort of a pre-configured PC just like the MG-1 Final, it presents a whole lot of efficiency per greenback.

In Photoshop and Premiere, the MG-1 Final’s excessive graphics energy is far more evident, enabling the machine to grow to be the brand new high canine in our benchmarks.

For creators who use Home windows-only software program, an admittedly uncommon occasion today, the MG-1 Final presents ample efficiency for picture and video modifying, plus some severe gaming chops because of the Nvidia RTX 4090.

Nevertheless, it’s price contextualizing the general expertise of extracting the MG-1’s energy. Whereas it takes fairly a little bit of heavy lifting to get an Apple Silicon-powered machine to interrupt a sweat and begin respiration closely, the MG-1 Final’s massive followers rapidly set to work throughout intensive duties. They aren’t exceptionally loud, however they are often distracting in a quiet work setting. Importing or exporting a batch of picture information is a really regular factor for a photographer to do, they usually might want to settle for that the MG-1’s sturdy efficiency comes with some noise. In case your tower is tucked underneath a desk, it can doubtless be much less of a difficulty, nevertheless it’s one thing to remember.

A Highly effective, Stunning, and Costly Desktop PC

The Maingear MG-1 Final is a heck of a machine. It’s not your best option for all inventive duties for photographers and videographers, nevertheless it’s the very best for some duties and really a lot within the higher echelon for the remaining.

Is getting extra efficiency for much less cash within the custom-built PC area potential? Certain, if in case you have the time, information, and willingness to construct a pc your self. Nevertheless, the MG-1 Final is a superb plug-and-play PC with good fashion and powerful buyer help. For customers who do greater than use Lightroom, Photoshop, and Premiere, and enterprise off into the gaming area and even tinker with some 3D modeling, the MG-1 Final is greater than up for it.

Are There Alternate options?

Sure. As talked about, you may construct a PC with related elements for lower than the MG-1 Final’s $3,999 asking value. You’re paying for comfort, safety, and help, which understandably comes with a premium. In comparison with one thing like the Intel NUC we reviewed final 12 months, the MG-1 Final is much more accessible. You’d be hard-pressed to get a PC this {powerful} that’s any simpler to rise up and operating. It took 5 minutes to start out utilizing the MG-1 Final.

On the Mac facet of issues, fairly a couple of compelling options provide related (or higher) efficiency for inventive apps. The Mac Studio, whereas not but on the M3 or the even newer M4 platform, stays very {powerful} and comes with the same value (at the least to start out).

There are, after all, notebooks, too, that are extra versatile and never considerably weaker. The M3 Max-powered MacBook Professional goes toe-to-toe with the MG-1 Final in some areas.

There’s additionally the Mac Professional, Apple’s solely conventional tower laptop. That machine is expensive and presents little greater than the Mac Studio, other than extra expandability that almost all customers don’t require.

Ought to You Purchase It?

Sure, in the event you’re firmly within the Home windows camp and don’t require the portability of a laptop computer. In case you’re searching for a tower PC that may shred by means of inventive duties, play the newest video games, and be easy to make use of and keep, the Maingear MG-1 Final is the best choice we’ve examined.

Disclosure: Maingear supplied a loaner MG-1 Final PC for the needs of this overview and it has been returned to the producer. The PetaPixel entrance plate seen above was supplied for example of the corporate’s {custom} plate possibility which prices $69. Maingear requested to not obtain it again on the conclusion of the overview.