THE CONCEPT

LONG BEFORE this journalist started working for MaximumPC, he was but a meager enthusiast, a humble bumbling varsity student, fawning over expensive hardware, and meticulously planning hypothetical builds at all sorts of budgets and specifications. Outside of the aesthetically pleasing BitFenix Prodigy and Corsair’s Obsidian lineup of cases, the chassis that attracted the most attention originated from the legendary manufacturer Cooler Master, with its Cosmos II being first and foremost in the list of “awesome stuff I’d like to build in.” Tech journalists around the globe waxed lyrical about its brilliance, with its sturdy frame and intuitive design helping retain its glory since conception.

When we first witnessed the beauty of the Cosmos II’s new sibling, the C700P, the desire to build in it was overwhelming. The plan was to create something a little less restrained than we typically do, in part because, hell, it’s a Cosmos, and secondly because the market is, well, what it is. The cost of GPUs and memory right now has catapulted standard builds into the heady heights of Dream Machine prices—but without the performance. It saddens us to have to say this but, unfortunately, for the time being, that’s just the way it is, at least until Samsung and co. get their proverbial crap together. That said, try to imagine it’s a reasonable build, that parts are priced fairly, that there isn’t a hardware shortage, and that everything is right in the world.

So, we’ve built a rig that showcases the height of Coffee Lake’s prowess, with no expense spared on motherboard, memory, processor, or case.