You can build your own PC. It isn’t that hard. The time commitment may be too much for some people, but the end result is normally more compelling since you know what went into it and what may inevitably be upgraded. Custom PC makers like Maingear have to dig up some compelling reasons to sell a more expensive tower. You can already tell by the photo above there’s a big reason you might opt for the Maingear Apex Rush before another PC. Your ultra-expensive tower could look like a piece of art, as long as you treat it right.
The last Maingear desktop I reviewed, the MG-1, was a conscientiously built, customizable PC that looked too much like something I could have pieced together, at least judging from the exterior. Inside, the tower was far better than that thanks to its screw-in GPU bracket and cable management that would leave even the most demanding IT professionals nodding in approval. The interior was inlaid with a strip of RGB lights that offered a subtle internal glow. It was the kind of slapdash DIY project anybody building their own PC could have easily accomplished.
Maingear Apex Rush Artist Series
You could spend way less just by building a PC yourself, but I doubt it would be nearly as pretty and well-put together as a Maingear Apex Rush
- Artwork makes the PC truly unique
- Stable build
- Excellent cable management
- Performance for high-end gaming
- Premium on top of PC parts
- Glass art can be scuffed
- Not a lot of front or rear I/O
When Maingear first announced its Rush PCs at CES 2025, the company’s CEO, Wallace Santos, told Gizmodo they attempted to create a desktop that truly looked unique, hence the special “Artist Series” designs that push a unique case while offering an internal design with everything gamers have come to expect. This design doesn’t come cheap. My review unit, packed with the top-end AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D CPU, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 GPU, 32GB of RAM, 2TB storage, and all the special cooling apparatus blaring RGB lights in and around the case, costs $4,325. That’s $1,000 more than the previous generation MG-1 which contained a high-end Intel 14th-gen CPU and an Nvidia RTX 4080 Super. GPU The Artist Series costs an extra premium above the units without the unique art.
If I try and create a very similar PC using ordered parts, I can build something for closer to $2,600, and that’s without seeking discounts. You’re paying Maingear for the hassle-free experience. At that price, the Apex Rush should be the last PC—for gaming or not—you’d buy for a long, long while. The MSI Pro B850-P motherboard has enough RAM and PCI-E slots to make upgrading easy. But then, you can find many other, far cheaper desktops with similar components for under $3,000, like a specced-out version of the Cyberpower PC Gamer Supreme. Will the beauty of your case last that long? Depends on whether you’re willing to shield your case from any blunt instruments or cats who would use your PC as a launchpad for your windowsill.
Don’t go scratching at your case
Just look at this thing. The Grand Theft Auto: Vice City vibes are almost enough to get me in the gaming mood by themselves. The fishbowl sides on the front and left of the tower are coated with a vinyl artwork and ringed with RGB LED strips. There are three different artworks to chose from, including a cyberpunk-esque “Machina” version and a pan-Asian “Good Fortune” edition, though I found the “Night Drive” version I got to review fit the internal glow of the RGB fans, RGB RAM sticks, and RGB liquid cooling CPU unit much even better. The only thing marring the visage is the overt “gamer” neon signage on the front. Its also bears a giant “Maingear” logo that’s more distracting than fun.
Maingear is so confident about its build quality, it ships its units without foam inserts inside the case itself. The GPU is held tight with a printed bracket screwed into the case. The Apex Rush is a heavy unit, as you may expect from a mid-sized desktop tower full of high-end PCs. It’s probably a good thing you’re not dragging the unit from room to room, since the artwork painted on the glass is liable to get chewed up if you graze it during transit. I’ve hung onto the Apex Rush for long enough; I’ve had to move it from desk to desk, and in that time, I’ve managed to scratch the paint on the top part of the glass and on the lip of the desktop’s top panel. The case’s metal parts fare much better. Still, you’re better off treating the Apex Rush with more care than your normal black aluminum towers.
Too many PC towers stick their front ports on top of the unit. This not only looks ugly with the tumors of several peripheral dongles sticking out, it means you need to plug wired connections up and over the PC if, for instance, you need to connect a headset or mouse. The Apex Rush sets its front I/O right next to the right-hand tower foot. You’ll have access to just one USB-C, two USB-A, and a headphone jack. I would have preferred more USB-C and perhaps placing it on the side closer to the user.
As for the rear, there’s a similar lack of USB-C, something I appreciated about Alienware’s utterly massive Area-51 desktop tower. There’s an HDMI port, four USB-A 2.0 ports, plus the two USB-C 10G sockets. With the number of peripherals I’m regularly plugging into my desktop, I quickly ran out of USB.
Maingear knows how to put a PC together
Inside, the Apex Rush’s motherboard isn’t capped with any covers to make the components look “clean.” I’m in the camp that would rather a PC look like a PC. There’s a unique elegance to soldered silicon on a mainboard surrounded by heatsinks and wires. Maingear’s versions look more elegant than other PCs I’ve used thanks to their expert eye with component selection and cable management. All the motherboard, CPU, and GPU wiring exits stage right through several hatchways just behind the mainboard. If you remove the Apex Rush’s back panel, you’ll find all the cabling running in neat packs down to the side-mounted PSU, or power supply unit. Behind a metal panel set on a hinge, you’ll find all the wires are bundled up with velcro strips that make it easy to find the right component connected to the power supply. You won’t have to do any finger gymnastics to reach each port.
My review case came with the 850W MSI MAG A850GL, which is enough juice for the RTX 5080 GPU but is barely enough wattage if you ever wanted to plug in an RTX 5090. It’s not an overly large unit that will offer more upgrade paths, but there is one 16 PIN PCIe connection for the Nvidia GPU and enough connection options if you ever want to turn to an AMD in some apocalyptic future where the RTX 5080 doesn’t cut it anymore.
With these specs, of course, the Apex Rush runs well
If Alienware’s absolutely ginormous Area-51 desktop PC was all about girth while offering expected performance, the Apex Rush pre-built lineup offers a more subtle beauty without the promise of getting the most out of every possible game.
AMD’s Ryzen 7 9800X3D is considered one of the top-end CPUs for a reason. In benchmarks against an Intel Core Ultra 9 285K, AMD’s chip is simply better for gaming purposes. Intel’s Arrow Lake CPUs got a bad rap on release with poor performance even compared to the top-end 14th-gen consumer chips. Intel dropped numerous fixes over the months to push gaming performance back to expected levels, but it wasn’t enough to make a case against Intel’s top-end chip. AMD’s X3D chips use a special layered cache for extended memory within the CPU. This mainly benefits gaming scenarios, and it’s why gamers seek out these chips first and foremost while Intel’s Arrow Lake fell by the wayside.
It’s been long enough since the RTX 50-series launch that Nvidia’s drivers have cleared the way to eke a few more frames from most games compared to months before. I first tested the RTX 5080 Founders Edition on an Origin PC Neuron 3500X build, and after many moons I can say the platform is relatively bug-free and stable enough to enjoy your games without the hassle of reinstalling drivers or messing with your BIOS. With AMD’s top gaming CPU, I can blow past older systems in 3DMark Speedway tests by a little more than 200 points. In 3DMark Steel Nomad, the difference is closer to 500 points. Gaming scenarios can look like I can get around five more average frames in Cyberpunk 2077 benchmarks running with ray tracing on and DLSS balanced settings on Maingear’s build than I could on the Neuron 3500X’s Core Ultra 9 285K with the same GPU. CPU-heavy games like Total War: Warhammer III benefit even more.
You really can’t expect the world from a PC like this, despite its price. If you have any hope of topping out games without any AI upscaling like Nvidia’s deep learning super sampling (DLSS), you’ll need to opt for a RTX 5090 and spend even more. Even then, you’ll come away disappointed. I’m still of the opinion that the RTX 5080 is what a demanding player will need for 4K gaming. If you want an Apex Rush with the highest-end GPU, you may end up spending more than $7,000.
The premium price on top of an already expensive PC is hard to swallow. Again, building a PC yourself can be less expensive and more fun. However, Maingear promises lifetime product support and free repairs. The company doesn’t funnel the PC full of bloatware you need to delete. The build quality on the Apex Rush is, per usual, on point.
