MSI Infinite X
A beastly PC for the masses
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MSI Infinite X is a high end PC by any measure. Several different configurations are available and you can go all the way to a GTX 1080 Ti and 64Gb of RAM if you like. Our test system came equipped with a GTX 1080 Gaming X 8Gb graphics card, i7-8700K processor, 32Gb of DDR4-2400 RAM, and a 256Gb NVMe SSD plus a 2Tb hard drive. We’d like to see faster RAM to be honest, but the way RAM prices are at the moment, faster RAM would really increase the price. Our test system also came with a MSI DS4200 LED backlit gaming keyboard (not mechanical) and a DS B1 mouse. One of the weaker points is the inclusion of a weak 550W bronze rated PSU. A high end system deserves better than this.
The Infinite X is festooned with a lovely looking array of RGB lighting and a very distinctive angular case design. MSI clearly haven’t cut any corners with the design of case. It’s built like a battleship weighing in at 15 kilograms. The case is divided up into separate cooling zones, with the PSU and graphics card housed in their own separate chambers. CPU cooling is taken care of by a 120mm single radiator water cooler. The front of the case is equipped with a pair of USB 3.0 ports (Type-A and Type-C) as well as a USB 2.0 port. There’s the standard headphone and mic ports too.
The system comes with Windows 10 as we’d expect. There are some useful MSI apps for controlling the system including the RGB and the Nahimic sound, but there are some useless additions like a Norton Antivirus trial that we can certainly live without.
The Infinite X isn’t all about looks, of course; it has the performance to match. Our benchmark suite demonstrated exactly what we expect from a system of this spec. AAA gaming is a breeze, though if you want true 4K at 60Hz+, then the optional GTX 1080 Ti is still the best card for this. The Infinite X returned very respectable benchmark numbers with impressive scores of 18478 and 9872 in the 3DMark Firestrike and Firestrike Extreme tests respectively. 1440p is a good sweet spot for a GTX 1080 system and we saw a very respectable 69.62 average fps in Ghost Recon Wildlands along with 93.95 fps in Rise of the Tomb Raider. 4K is possible without dialling back the eye candy with 41.71 and 48.99 fps in the aforementioned tests.
Having a powerful i7-8700K means there’s ample processing power available, both with multi-threaded apps and single threaded loads thanks to the very aggressive turbo modes of the CPU. The Infinite X returned a score of 1418 in the multi-threaded Cinebench test. A full run of PCMark 10 saw a respectable score of 6406.
The Infinite X is a seriously capable PC and is very competitive at this price point when lined up against systems from the likes of Alienware or HP, though there’s always the price premium when buying a prebuilt gaming PC. It’s cheaper to build your own, though not everyone has the knowledge or will to do it themselves. A plus is that the after sale support and the warranty process will be simplified should you ever need to claim it. If you want to buy a system, plug it in and play games, the Infinite X will serve you well, but there is better value to be had if you build your own system. CHRIS SZEWCZYK