Which MSI Gaming PC is Right For You? Three Systems Tested!

Finding the right PC is a tricky task sometimes, especially as there are seemingly endless combinations for hardware options, and broadly the same again for each budget range too. Trying to see how much you can get for your money or how powerful a system you can afford can be a bit of an endless spiral of research. So I decided to take a slightly new approach. I reached out to MSI for three fairly unique systems, covering a pretty broad budget range, to take a look at the pros, and I guess the cons too, of three very different approaches to a “gaming PC” design. A slimmer mini-ITX, a fairly bonkers mATX and a full ATX gaming PC should give us a good look at what MSI has to offer!

MSI Gaming PCs

These are pretty potent systems in their own right, but they’re also all vastly different in regards to their form factor. Starting with the slim and compact Trident A 11th Gen, which comes in many configurations, but ours features the RTX 2060 Ti and is paired with an Intel Core i7 processor. Then onto the Codex 5 11th Gen Mid-Tower Gaming PC which also comes in more powerful configurations, but again we have their fairly modest Nvidia RTX 2060 Ti on this one too, paired up with an Intel Core i5 processor. However, at the complete other end of the scale, we finish with the very powerful Aegis Ti5 12th Gen, which is by far one of the most unique PC shapes you’ll ever see. However, since the Aegis is packing the latest 12th gen Intel i9 processors and the one I have is also equipped with an MSI triple-fan Nvidia RTX 3090, it’s also likely to be one of the most powerful systems I’ve ever personally tested.

Featured Systems and Configurations

• MSI MPG Trident A 11th Gen
  • RTX 2060 Ti
  • I7-11700F
• MSI MAG Codex 5 11th Gen
  • Intel Core i5-11400F
  • Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 ti
• MSI MEG Aegis Ti5 12th Gen
  • i9-12900K
  • RTX 3090