ASUS announces water-cooled ROG STRIX GL12CX, equipped with Intel’s new Core i9-9900K

ASUS ROG STRIX GL12CX - 01

If you’re looking to splurge on your next big gaming PC then cast your attention on ASUS’ latest. Their Republic of Gamers (ROG) line has announced the ROG STRIX GL12CX gaming desktop, an Intel 9th Gen beast with Nvidia GeForce RTX graphics, storage tweaks, and a water-cooling setup.

The reveal comes shortly after news of Intel’s 9th Gen processors, as the flagship Core i9-9900K happens to be sitting in this new machine. The rest of the GL12CX is similarly outfitted with high-end components, such as the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti graphics card, 32GB of DDR4 2666MHz memory, and a 512GB PCIe 3.0 SSD. Scroll on down for the full specifications.

As for ROG’s personal touches, they’ve already factory-overclocked the processors to hit 4.9GHz across all cores and threads, guaranteed through stress testing and sustained via a custom Cooler Master CPU liquid cooler. They’ve also slapped an extra 90mm fan at the back for good measure, just so it remains at optimal operating temperatures.

Advanced users may adjust things a little further through the included ROG Amoury Crate software, which is also where they’ll go to customize the GL12CX’s Aura Sync lighting. There are RGB strips along the front, plus internal lights that spill out through the intake and exhaust vents. Like anything light related, you could even configure it to match peripherals or have it work with games such as Call of Duty: Black Ops 4.

But what’s also interesting about the front casing is it’s magnetic cover. Popping it open reveals a hot-swap SSD bay that they say is developed for esports, “allowing for quick swapping in of profiles and games without needing to shut down the system.” Also useful for content creators needing to back-up their project files.

Other improvements include their own DIMM.2 module for a pair of SSDs, integrated with heatsinks to prevent slowdowns. It even comes with an optical drive, though it’s only a DVD-RW rather than a Blu-Ray combo drive.

Availability

No price has been announced for the ROG STRIX GL12CS just yet, though ASUS did say it’ll be available in Singapore in 2019.

ASUS ROG STRIX GL12CX - 04

ASUS ROG Strix GL12CX
CPU

Intel® Core i9-9900K

Intel® Core i7-9700K

Intel® Core i7-8700

Chipset Intel® Z390
Operating system

Windows 10 Pro

Windows 10

Graphics

NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 2080 Ti 11GB

NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 2080 8GB

NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1080 8GB

NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1070 8GB

NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1060 6GB

NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 1060 3GB

Main memory Up to 32GB DDR4 2666MHz
Storage

128GB / 256GB / 512GB M.2 PCIe® SSD

1TB / 2TB 7200rpm HDD

Connectivity

Intel® Gigabit LAN

2×2 802.11ac gigabit-class Wi-Fi

Bluetooth® 5.0

Optical 1 x SuperMulti DVD-RW optical drive
Interfaces

Front I/O

2 x USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-A

2 x USB 2.0 Type-A

1 x Microphone in / headphone Out

1 x 2-in-1 card reader SD/MMC

Rear I/O

2 x USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A

4 x USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-A

2 x USB 2.0 Type-A

5 x Audio jacks

1 x Optical SPDIF out

1 x RJ45

Expansion

1 x M.2 (for Wi-Fi)

1 x M.2 supporting SATA, NVMe® and Intel® Optane™ memory

1 x M.2 supporting NVMe® and Intel® Optane™ memory

1 x PCIe® X1

5 x SATA 6Gbps

Software

Armoury Crate

Sonic Studio III

Sonic Radar III

GameFirst IV

Accessories Included keyboard and mouse
Lighting Aura Sync support
Power 500 W / 700W
Dimensions 17.9 x 40 x 45.6cm
Weight 11kg

Ade Putra

Ade thinks there's nothing quite like a good game and a snug headcrab. He grew up with HIDEO KOJIMA's Metal Gear Solid, lives for RPGs, and is waiting for light guns to make their comeback.