BUILDING COMPLETE
THIS IS A SPECIAL BUILD for a number of reasons, not only because it’s Zak’s first build since his return to the magazine, but also because it’s pink. And there’s a story behind that, as there often is with these systems. In short, Zak asked his significant other what color she thought the coolant should be, and she replied, “Pink!” Not because she’s female, but because it’s one of her favorite colors. And, to be honest, we were more than happy to oblige. Reason being, in the publishing industry, especially in the technology sector, pink is seen as a feminine color, and management doesn’t really like it. After all, the majority of our audience is male. Because of that, we’ve always had an in-joke among the team that it’s secretly a hyper-masculine color, and should therefore be called MANgenta. Because, in our eyes, the fact that management thinks it’s not manly makes us think it is. In fact, during Zak’s original tenure on the magazine, he threatened the erstwhile executive editor, Alan Dexter, multiple times with making a pink liquidcooled PC, because that was the only way to get mangenta on the cover.
That said, after this was built, the pink really does work quite nicely. Combined with the white lighting thrown out by the various LEDs situated across the components, it really does make the machine pop. In fact, it’s one of our all-time favorite builds. Aesthetics aside, it’s not perfect—it has some serious problems. Some that stem from building a show build like this, others due to overlooking stuff from a thermal perspective. It is way too hot; even with no overclocks, the system traps heat after two or three hours, and the fans ramp up anyway, negating a lot of the benefits you find from liquid cooling. The stock Phanteks fans we picked weren’t sufficient, and ideally should be replaced with Noctua NF-F12s, Corsair ML120 Pros, or EK-Vardar fans. Something with high static pressure and low noise. Alternately, if Phanteks releases a mesh variant case, as it has done with the smaller Evolv Shift model, that may help, too.
It could also use some custom cables made to length specifically for it, because the Corsair Pro ones, although a fantastic kit, add far too much bulk to the cablemanagement space. And then there’s the show-build element. With most of the liquidcooled systems we build for the magazine, they have to be put together quickly, considering aesthetics above all else. That means there is usually only one fill port on a build. For long-term use, you need a drain port at the lowest point, too, because it makes it far easier to maintain your loop. We’re using Mayhems coolant here, which is particularly long-life, but if we wanted to swap that out, it would be a real pain.
Build process aside, it’s a fairly solid PC for living-room gaming. It’s not a seamless experience, though. To get it set up properly, you need a standard install of Windows with a local account and no password. Then it’s a case of configuring Steam to open in Big Picture Mode on startup, at which point you have access to your entire library. In fact, you can even link Uplay and other titles with Steam, too, although you need a keyboard and mouse handy from time to time.
Ultimately, our Pink Pariah is a gorgeous showpiece that can manage gaming at 4K, unhindered by any game you throw at it (with a little tweaking, of course), and it’s more than ideal for your living room. Expensive? Yes. Very. And you could achieve something similar for half the cost. But, hey, then it wouldn’t be pink.