Origin Neuron (2019) Evaluate: The Corvette of the Gaming Fleet

Some avid gamers need unbridled energy and efficiency. The Origin Millennium fills that position properly. However practicality of dimension and worth are a priority for most individuals, and the chunky dimension of a tower like that isn’t for everybody.

Happily, for battle royale victories and quieter setups, Origin’s Neuron guarantees related ranges of efficiency when absolutely geared up in a decidedly extra compact mid-size tower. Don’t let the Neuron’s small stature idiot you – this gaming desktop is filled with energy and could be configured with as much as Intel’s 18-core X-series processor, dual-Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Ti graphics, and loads of storage and reminiscence to offer you an edge.

Whether or not you’re taking a look at a brand new rig for VR, ray-tracing video games, or to play nearly any trendy title on the market, the Neuron’s capabilities will make you the envy of most avid gamers. If the Millennium is a battleship, the Neuron is the corvette of the Origin fleet.

Made for swish getting old

Out there in crimson, black, or white commonplace colours, or a lot of upgraded metallic paint finishes, Origin’s Neuron PC might appear to be a playful client desktop tower with a tinted tempered glass aspect window. However don’t let this gaming PC’s minimalist design idiot you – our sweet apple crimson evaluate unit accented with black trim is a horny focal piece on any desk.

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With a easy polygonal-shaped metal field, the Neuron comes with flat again and aspect panels together with a faceted entrance, including slightly little bit of visible curiosity to an in any other case minimalist design. The desktop measures simply 15.25 x 16.5 x 6.75 inches, making it extra compact than different mid-sized towers, just like the Digital Storm Lynx, Alienware Aurora R7, or Falcon NW Talon. Although the all-metal development provides to the Neuron’s premium type and provides it further sturdiness, the unit continues to be moveable at 18 kilos, making it lighter than the Lynx, Aurora R7, and Talon.

To associate with our battleship analogy, the Neuron is the corvette to the Millennium’s frigate.

Even if all 4 opponents help equally highly effective specs – together with the power to make the most of two graphics playing cards – the Neuron has the only design. Hopefully, which means it feels as trendy right this moment as it’s going to ten years down the street. Freed from obtrusive vents, aggressive grills, and harsh angles, Origin’s design will assist hold the Neuron from trying dated over time, which is a crucial consideration given the unit’s worth and upgradeability.

If you wish to add extra flare, Origin PC gives loads of customization choices. Players can select to laser etch a customized picture to the tempered glass panel, and varied RGB lighting components could be added to the inside.

To guard the Neuron in transit, clients of Origin PC will recognize the corporate’s consideration to element in delivery this rig in its personal picket crate.

Useful kind

One other spotlight to the Neuron’s design is the tool-less entry to the internals by way of the aspect glass panel. Whereas the function is much like Lynx and HP’s Omen Obelisk, Origin went a step additional on the Neuron. As an alternative of getting to completely take away the glass panel – the place it might get broken – you merely should carry open the glass door by way of the notch positioned in the direction of the entrance of the PC. Doing so will permit the glass door to swing open on its rear-mounted hinges.

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Although the door design is intelligent, the notch is definitely a bit tough for these with bigger fingers to entry and a good quantity of power is required to tug open the door. Origin might have made the duty simpler by implementing a push-to-unlock mechanism, the place pushing the glass into the chassis would activate a mechanism to launch it, much like how some kitchen cupboards are opened.

The unit’s compact dimension might make it harder for homeowners with bigger arms to make repairs or upgrades.

Inside, many of the PC’s elements are neatly organized in two compartments. The highest part, which is extra open, homes the motherboard, graphics card, and vents. Cable administration is high notch, as anticipated, designed to showcase liquid-cooled CPU, GPU, and RGB-lit reminiscence playing cards. Although all the interior items are organized and nothing seems muddle, the unit’s compact dimension might make it harder for homeowners with bigger arms to make repairs or upgrades. A closed off backside compartment neatly hides away much less horny PC elements, like the ability provides and exhausting drive bays.

Making ports nice once more

Although having front-facing ports on gaming PCs are nice, these ports might not be as accessible as you assume relying on their positioning. In its commonplace out-of-the-box format, the Neuron’s two front-facing USB ports, audio jacks, and energy button are all positioned in the direction of the underside. Whereas this placement could also be very best for a tower that sits on a desktop, it might make the ports tougher to succeed in in the event you’re establishing the Neuron on the ground.

Happily, there are 4 removable magnetic toes on the underside that may be eliminated and connected on the highest of the case. This permits the Neuron to be inverted to make the ports simpler to entry. Equally, to make use of the Neuron as a house theater unit, you possibly can connect the toes to the aspect panel to offer it a horizontal format.

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There are extra ports on the rear of the unit, together with a USB-C port, 5 USB-A ports, HDMI, DisplayPort, ethernet jack, exterior Wi-Fi connectors, two legacy PS-2 ports, and extra audio connectors. Our evaluate unit, which ships with a single flagship Nvidia RTX 2080 Ti graphics card, comes with extra ports for USB-C, three extra DisplayPort connectors, and a second HDMI port. Relying on the graphics card you select, your number of ports might differ.

Regardless of all the eye to element Origin has paid to the Neuron, the attachment to safe the graphics card might use extra work. The small case dimension signifies that the screw sockets to carry the graphics card in place are usually not as deep as on different items, so part of the ends of the screws protrude past the size of the socket. On condition that this element is positioned on the rear, most customers gained’t care concerning the flaw, but it surely’s notable nonetheless provided that the value of this PC can high out at over $13,000 when absolutely configured with a number of GPUs and solid-state drives.

Constructed to carry out

Relying in your finances, the Neuron could be configured with as a lot energy as you possibly can afford. The PC could be outfitted with silicon from both AMD or Intel, and our evaluate unit comes with the most recent Ninth-gen liquid-cooled Intel Core i9-9900Okay processor on a mini-ITX MSI board. It’ll show to be lots quick for a majority of individuals, together with demanding avid gamers. Creatives with a necessity for velocity can improve to AMD’s 16-core Ryzen Threadripper or Intel’s beefy 18-core Core i9-9980XE silicon for chart-topping efficiency.

Due to the presence of liquid-cooling, warmth and throttling don’t seem to points regardless of the Neuron’s compact case design.

Efficiency of our evaluate unit is aggressive in opposition to related Core i9-equipped system. Due to the presence of liquid-cooling, processor throttling doesn’t appear to be a difficulty regardless of the Neuron’s compact case design, and Origin’s use of six followers to flow into cool air inside helps with thermal regulation. In comparison with the Lynx, which depends on 4 followers and barely massive case to maintain cool, avid gamers will discover that the Neuron runs a bit louder.

When benchmarked with the Geekbench device, the Neuron’s scores of 6,308 and 33,146 factors for single-core and multi-core checks, respectively, is inside vary of beefier items with considerably bigger case designs, like Origin’s Millennium and Digital Storm’s Aventum X. In comparison with the much more compact Origin Chronos and ASUS ROG Strix GL12X, the Neuron’s higher outcomes could possibly be attributable to its bigger chassis, main to higher airflow and cooling. The Chronos scored 5,988 and 32,328 factors, respectively.

In our video encoding check, the Neuron accomplished the duty in 77 seconds, a time much like the Origin Millennium, Asus ROG Strix GL12X, and Digital Storm Aventum X. That is considerably quicker than the Digital Storm Lynx, which took shy of 90 seconds with its weaker Intel Core i7-9700Okay chip.

Whereas we didn’t discover efficiency or warmth to be a difficulty with the smaller case on the Neuron, avid gamers who prefer to tinker with their PCs to make inner upgrades might discover much less room to maneuver inside given the smaller dimension of the mini-ITX board. The bigger ATX board on the Lynx supplied extra entry to swap out elements.

Riley Younger/Digital Traits

Just like the Lynx, the Neuron shares the same Samsung 970 EVO sequence solid-state drive but it surely ships with a greater M.2 970 Professional drive, which gives barely higher learn and write efficiency on the 512GB capability. Origin gives a lot of SSD, PCIe SSD, and PCIe M.2 drive choices for larger flexibility in capability and efficiency.

Those that want extra storage however don’t wish to spend a ton of cash on a 4TB Samsung 860 Professional SSD can add as much as 5 extra exhausting drives or solid-state drives to the Neuron. Intel Optane storage can also be a premium possibility as nicely. Along with the 512GB Samsung 970 Professional SSD, our evaluate unit additionally shipped with a 3TB exhausting drive.

Made for gaming

With help for graphics playing cards starting from an Nvidia GTX 1660 Ti and as much as a single GeForce RTX Titan card (or twin RTX 2080 Ti Blower playing cards), the Neuron is clearly focused at avid gamers who demand the most effective efficiency. House owners who don’t wish to make the up-front dedication on a dual-card setup will discover loads of area so as to add a second card sooner or later. Our evaluate unit ships with a single RTX 2080 Ti card and 16GB of system reminiscence, and as anticipated, efficiency is strong throughout most resolutions, save for 4K on the highest stage of particulars.

The Neuron’s rating of 13,995 factors in 3DMark’s Time Spy benchmark is among the many highest we’ve seen on a single-GPU system. It’s larger than the 12,194 factors scored by our check system with a GeForce RTX 2080 Ti and the 13,817 factors posted by the Origin Chronos with the same GPU. The one programs that sored higher are the Origin Millennium and the Digital Storm Aventum X, as each items benefited from dual-RTX 2080 Ti graphics. The Aventum X’s twin playing cards gave it a powerful 21,468 factors on the identical benchmark, exhibiting the potential for what the Neuron might obtain if a second card was added.

With its RTX 2080 Ti card, gaming efficiency is strong on the Neuron as anticipated. Even in graphics intensive titles, like Murderer’s Creed: Odyssey, the framerate solely dipped beneath 60 FPS (frames per second) at 4K when the sport settings had been turned as much as extremely excessive. At 4K with Excessive particulars, the sport carried out at 69 FPS, although we observed a slight little bit of stuttering. Surprisingly the Neuron’s single-GPU efficiency is on par with the Millennium’s dual-graphics setup  on this title, suggesting that the majority avid gamers might not profit from having twin graphics, at the least till extra titles construct in NVLink help.

Most trendy video games play persistently above 100 FPS on the Neuron. Efficiency of the Neuron on Civilization VI was on par with the equally configured Origin Chronos, and the sport carried out at over 100 FPS on each items, even in 4K with the best stage of particulars turned on. When enjoying Fortnite, the scenario may be very related, and the sport solely went underneath 100 FPS when epic mode was enabled on 4K decision. The Neuron notched 72 FPS right here, which is best than the RTX 2070 on the Lynx, which scored simply 59 FPS. Players who demand extra efficiency can select to improve to Origin’s overclocked CPU and GPU options when configuring their programs.

The energy of the RTX 2080 Ti card on the Neuron confirmed on Battlefield V, with the sport persistently acting at over 70 FPS, even in 4K on Extremely. As at all times, when real-time ray tracing was enabled, efficiency noticeably dipped in 4K decision. In 4K extremely, with ray tracing, the Neuron’s body price dropped to simply 47 FPS and the graphics appeared choppier than when the function was disabled.

With the most recent GeForce drivers and Battlefield V’s newest patches, efficiency is extraordinarily clean, even with ray-tracing enabled, delivering at the least 60 FPS when the function is turned on at 1080p and 1440p resolutions. At larger resolutions, like 4K, the body price will dip beneath 50 FPS, however most fanatic avid gamers will seemingly play in 1080p to maximise the advantages of ray tracing and quick body charges for a extra pleasurable expertise. Within the Port Royale ray tracing benchmark, the Neuron scored eight,441 factors at 39 FPS, considerably higher than the RTX 2070 on the Omen Obelisk.

Guarantee

Like competing gaming corporations, Origin PC’s guarantee coverage comes with lifetime phone help, free labor, and one-year protection on elements for the Neuron. Customers must pay for delivery if any defects are found after 45 days of possession, nevertheless.

The Neuron will final you for years to return, packing the most recent silicon and graphics in a compact chassis.

In comparison with Digital Storm’s coverage, Origin’s upgraded Evolve plan gives homeowners extra flexibility after they make future upgrades. If the package deal is added, homeowners can be given credit score equal to present market worth when the unique elements are despatched again. For those who’re seeking to improve your GPU down the street, that is helpful as you don’t have to salvage your half or cope with reselling it – Origin PC will primarily purchase again your previous GPU at market worth.

Nonetheless, Origin’s guarantee falls wanting Dell’s upgraded safety plans, which additionally gives protection for unintended harm. For those who spill a beer in your Neuron and fry the motherboard, you’re out of luck right here. In distinction, Dell gives as much as 4 years of unintended harm protection for $119 on the Aurora R7.

Our Take

The Neuron is a robust pre-built PC that comes with loads of possibility for customizations. Although the bottom worth begins at simply $1,430, upgrading the processor, graphics card, or storage rapidly provides to the associated fee. When absolutely geared up, the Neuron can price as much as 9 instances as a lot, topping out at $13,000, giving avid gamers and creatives insane ranges of efficiency in a really compact and classy package deal.

Happily, for avid gamers who might not wish to make investments all their financial savings into the rig from day one, the Neuron’s upgradeable design means you could add as a lot energy as that you must get the efficiency you need down the street.

Is there a greater various?

Although it has a modest beginning worth, the Neuron can get dear when you improve to a extra succesful processor or graphics card. As configured, our $three,700 evaluate unit with Origin’s liquid cooling answer, an Intel Core i9-9900Okay processor on an upgraded MSI board, single GeForce RTX 2080 Ti graphics, 16GB RAM, 512GB Samsung 970 Professional M.2 SSD, 3TB exhausting drive, upgraded Corsair followers, RGB case lighting, and wrapped cables is among the many high PC builds proper now.

Although the associated fee is sort of double that of the top-of-the-line $1,999 Lynx, Digital Storm’s PC comes with a extra anemic processor and graphics card, inserting it out of rivalry of fanatic avid gamers. For those who’re keen to scale down on efficiency, Origin PC gives the Neuron with much less highly effective specs for extra finances acutely aware buyers.

Regardless that Origin gives extra configurations for the Neuron, as configured, our evaluate unit continues to be $700 costlier than the same configured Alienware Aurora R7 after Dell’s on the spot reductions. Whereas Alienware offers you far much less choices for personalization, it is best to get related efficiency in principle with the Aurora R7. If you’re going with the Neuron, together with the tower’s windowed design, you’re actually paying a premium to have Origin PC “construct” you your individual “customized” gaming rig.

How lengthy will it final?

Given you could have Origin construct the Neuron with probably the most highly effective elements in the marketplace – together with a 16- or 18-core AMD or Intel processor and as much as two flagship Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Ti graphics card, this can be a PC that may final you for years to return, even in the event you select to not make any of the upgrades your self.

Do you have to purchase it?

Sure. Origin PC gives loads of configuration choices alongside the way in which, so shopping for the Neuron feels such as you’re constructing your individual customized gaming rig with out having to speculate the labor with your individual naked arms. The varied configuration choices give homeowners the flexibleness to get the efficiency they want on the worth they’ll afford. When absolutely configured, the Neuron will final you for years to return, packing the most recent silicon and graphics in a compact chassis that look unobtrusively trendy on any desk.